HISTOEICAL TRADITIONS AND MYTHS OF OBSERVATION. 311 



pointed iron spear on the top of a pine-tree^ and tlie bird 

 alighted there^ and skewered itself upon the lance. 



Adolf Ei'man connects^ with much plausibility, the well- 

 known ruhh of the Arabian Nights, and the griffin {jpv-^) of 

 Herodotus, with the tales of monstrous birds current in the 

 gold-producing regions of Siberia ; and he even suggests the 

 remark that gold-bearing sand really underlies the beds which 

 contain these fossil "bird's claws" as an explanation of the 

 passage, "it is said that the Arimaspi, one-eyed men, seize 

 (the gold) from underneath the griffins {Xiyerao Be inreK twv 

 'ypvTTwv dpiru^eiv 'ApL/xaaTrovi dvSpaf fiovvo<^6ak[xov<i)} At 

 about the same time as Herodotus, Ctesias brings out more 

 fully fhe familiar figure of the griffin. " There is also gold," 

 he says, " in the Indian country, not found in the streams and 

 washed, as in the river Pactolus ; but there are many and great 

 mountains, wherein dwell the griffins, four-footed birds of the 

 greatness of the wolf, but with legs and claws like Hons. The 

 feathers on the rest of their bodies are black, but red on the 

 breast. Through them it is that the gold in the mountains, 

 though plentiful, is most difficult to get."^ That the Siberian 

 myths of monstrous birds have passed into the mediaeval no- 

 tions of the griffins admits of no question whatever. Albertus 

 Magnus describes them as quadrupeds, with birds' beaks ant' 

 wings ; they dwell in Scythia, and possess the gold, and silver, 

 and precious stones. The Arimaspi fight with them. In its 

 nest the griffin lays the agate for its help and medicine. It is 

 hostile to men and horses ; it has long claws, which are made 

 into goblets ; they are as big as ox-horns, as indeed the crea- 

 ture itself is bigger than eight lions ; of its feathers are made 

 strong bows, arrows, and lances.^ With regard to this descrip- 

 tion, it is to be observed that the horns, cut in slices, are really 

 used for plating bows ;"*■ but the bird's quills, as they are still 

 considered to be in the country where they are found, are the 

 leg-bones of other animals.^ The rhinoceros horns, supposed 



1 Herod., iii. 116. Erman, Eeise, vol. i. pp. 711-2. 



- Ctesias, ' De Eebus Tndicis,' 12. 



' Klemm, C. G-., vol. i. p. 155, and see p. 101. 



* Olfers, p. 13. 5 Erman, vol. i. p. 711. 



