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CHAPTER XXII.

A PEEP INTO AFRICA-THE MYTHICAL ROC AND ITS MIGHTY EGGS-THE EXPLOITS OF KING CAIDU'S DAUGHTER-CONCLUSION.

HE eastern coast of Africa was an unknown

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region in Marco Polo's day; and when he had travelled so far to the southern end of Asia that he began to get glimpses of Africa, he could not believe that he heard reports from the eastern side of the African Continent, of which he already knew something, as it formed the southern border of the Mediterranean Sea. So he speaks of Madagascar (which he calls Madeigascar) and Zanzibar (which he calls Zanghibar) as though they were parts of India. If we remember that Marco was the first writer, European or Asiatic, to mention Madagascar by that name, and almost the first to give the world any information concerning that unknown land, we may overlook the fact that his geography is sometimes mixed. But his descriptions of the people and the animals of Eastern Africa are pretty accurate, as thus:

They are all black, and go naked, with only a little covering for decency. Their hair is as black as pepper, and

so frizzly that even with water you can scarcely straighten it. And their mouths are so large, their noses so turned up, their lips so thick, their eyes so big and blood-shot, that they look like very devils; they are, in fact, so hideously ugly that the world has nothing to show more horrible.

There are also lions that are black and quite different from ours. And their sheep are all exactly alike in colour-the

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body all white and the head black; no other kind of sheep is found there, you may rest assured. They have also many giraffes. This is a beautiful creature, and I must give you a description of it. Its body is short and somewhat sloped to the rear, for its hind legs are short, whilst the fore legs and the neck are both very long, and thus its head stands about three paces from the ground. The head is small, and the animal is not at all mischievous. Its colour is all red and white in round spots, and it is really a beautiful object.

XXII.]

THE MYTHICAL ROC.

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The women of this Island are the ugliest in the world, with their great mouths and big eyes and thick noses. The people live on rice and flesh and milk and dates; and they make wine of dates and of rice and of good spices and sugar. There is a great deal of trade, and many merchants and vessels go thither.

To Abyssinia, which he calls Abash, Marco devotes a few pages, where we find that branding in the face with a hot iron forms part of the rite of baptism among the Abyssinian Christians :

The Christians in this country bear three marks on the face; one from the forehead to the middle of the nose, and one on either cheek. These marks are made with a hot iron, and form part of their baptism; for after that they have been baptised with water, these three marks are made, partly as a token of gentility, and partly as the completion of their baptism. There are also Jews in the country, and these bear two marks, one on either cheek; and the Saracens have but one, to wit, on the forehead, extending half-way down the nose.

It was somewhere in Eastern Africa that Marco heard of the existence of that marvellous and gigantic bird, the Roc. Stories like this, no doubt, served to shake the faith of the Venetians in the truth of the tales of the Polos when they returned to their native land. Marco gives us the tale here with some "grains of salt," as you will see:

You must know that this Island lies so far south that ships cannot go further south or visit other Islands in that

direction, except this one and that other of which we have to tell you, called Zanghibar. This is because the sea-current runs so strong towards the south that the ships which should attempt it never would get back again. Indeed, the ships of Maabar which visit this Island of Madeigascar, and that other of Zanghibar, arrive thither with marvellous speed, for great as the distance is they accomplish it in twenty days, whilst the return voyage takes them more than three months. This is because of the strong current running south, which continues with such singular force and in the same direction at all seasons.

'Tis said that in those other Islands to the south, which the ships are unable to visit because this strong current prevents their return, is found the bird Gryphon, which appears there at certain seasons. The description given of it is, however, entirely different from what our stories and pictures make it. For persons who had been there and had seen it told Messer Marco Polo that it was for all the world like an eagle, but one indeed of enormous size; so big, in fact, that its wings covered an extent of thirty paces, and its quills were twelve paces long, and thick in proportion. And it is so strong that it will seize an elephant in its talons and carry him high into the air, and drop him so that he is smashed to pieces; having so killed him, the bird gryphon swoops down upon him and eats him at leisure. people of those isles call the bird Ruc, and it has no other So I wot not if this be the real gryphon, or if there be another manner of bird as great. But this I can tell you for certain, that they are not half lion and half bird, as our stories do relate; but enormous as they be, they are fashioned just like an eagle.

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The Great Kaan sent to those parts to inquire about these curious matters, and the story was told by those who went thither. He also sent to procure the release of an envoy of his who had been despatched thither, and had

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