LOCOMOTION. 223 



M. Adanson saw two tame ostriches which had 

 been kept two years at the factory of Podor, on the 

 south bank of the Niger. " They were so tame," 

 he says, " that two little blacks mounted both together 

 on the back of the largest : no sooner did he feel 

 their weight, than he began to run as fast as ever he 

 could, till he carried them several times round the 

 village ; and it was impossible to stop him, otherwise 

 than by obstructing the passage. This sight pleased 

 me so well, that I would have it repeated : and to 

 try their strength, I made a full-grown negro mount 

 the smallest, and two others the largest. This burden 

 did not seem to me at all disproportioned to their 

 strength. At first they went a moderate gallop ; 

 when they were heated a little they expanded their 

 wings as if it were to catch the wind, and they 

 moved with such fleetness that they seemed to be 

 off the ground. Everybody must some time or other 

 have seen a partridge run, consequently must know 

 there is no man whatever able to keep up with it ; 

 and it is easy to imagine that if this bird had a longer 

 step its speed would be considerably augmented. 

 The ostrich moves like the partridge, with both 

 these advantages ; and I am satisfied that those I am 

 speaking of would have distanced the fleetest race- 

 horses that were ever bred in England. It is true 

 they would not hold out so long as a horse ; but 

 without all doubt they would be able to perform 

 the race in less time. I have frequently beheld this 

 sight, which is capable of giving one an idea of 

 the prodigious strength of an ostrich, and of showing 

 what use it might be of, had we but the method of 

 breaking it and managing it as we do a horse*.'' 



The traveller, Moore, mentions that he saw a 

 man journeying mounted upon an ostrich f ; though 



* Voyage, to Senegal, Pinkerton's Collection, xvi. 69. 

 t Quoted by M, Antoine, Anim. Celebres, i. xix. 1. 



