colour of the leopard, with a neck six cubits in length, and having a head like that of a roebuck.[1] To these they added an account of a bird standing six cubits in height from the ground, with slender legs, feet resembling those of a goose, the neck and head small, and the beak like that of a hen. It flies but little, but in running surpasses the swiftness of the horse.[2]
Many other things which they told me I have omitted, in order that I might not weary the reader; for they stated that there were some desert places which were inhabited by serpents, some of which were fifty cubits long, without feet and with a scorpion's tail, and which would swallow a whole calf at once.[3] As almost all of them agreed in these statements, and they appeared to be worthy men, who could have no object in deceiving me, I have thought it good that the information they gave me should be handed down for the common advantage of posterity.[4]
- ↑ Another description of the giraffe.
- ↑ The ostrich.
- ↑ Boa constrictor.
- ↑ These references to animals are particularly valuable, as they seem to indicate that our travellers had penetrated farther south than even Abyssinia. The "Mountains of the Moon" have wonderfully disappeared or diminished, and it almost seems as if our travellers may have reached the lands within the Mozambique Coast, or further south towards Latterkoo, or the country between the N'gami and Natal, where the fine Koodoo antelope and the rarer striped Inagelaphus Angasii, figured and described by Dr. Gray, is found. The rhinoceros seems to be found in Darfur, but rarely, whereas the R. Keitloa, R. Simus, and another species, abound in some parts of the more southern lands.
