390 OSTRICH. 



themselves in a skin of one, and by this means are able to approach 

 near enough to surprise them. When hunted by persons on horse- 

 back, with dogs, the huntsman, wh?n near enough, applies the 

 hooked end of a staff round the legs, and by thus throwing them 

 down, they are killed on the spot, or taken alive.* 



Independent of the flesh, which, though coarse, is sometimes 

 eaten, the skins are so thick as to be substituted for leather by the 

 Arabians: as to the feathers, the value of them, and the purposes to 

 which they are put, are too well known to be much enlarged on here. 



It is said that great numbers of Ostriches are found in the 

 mountains east of Wadan, and that at all the three towns of Sockna 

 Hoon and Wadan, it is customary to keep them tame in a stable, 

 and every two years to take three cuttings of their feathers ; and it 

 appears, that the greater part of the fine feathers sent to Europe are 

 from tame birds, as the plumage of the wild ones is generally so 

 ragged and torn, that not above half a dozen perfect can be found ; 

 that is the white feathers ; for the black being shorter, and more 

 flexible, are generally good f. 



The fat J is of medicinal use in Arabia, for the cure of the palsy 

 and rheumatism, and it is likewise prescribed to be taken inwardly. 



The eggs serve for drinking cups and other utensils, and are often 

 set in silver, and gold, for that purpose ; and being very hard and 

 durable, are equal in appearance to polished ivory. In the east, 

 also, the shells, both of the Ostrich and Cassowary, serve as a 

 medicine. § 



* I remember to have seen a painting, which represented this mode very justly. 



f Lyon's Travels in Africa. — Skins of the Ostrich with the feathers, are an article of trade 

 with the London Merchants, Id. p. 156. 



% They have a method of putting the dead body of the Ostrich in motion in such " a 

 " manner, as to make the fat dissolve into a kind of oil, which they sell as a drug, and is called 

 " the fat of the Ostrich." — Pocock, Trav. i. 209. Thevenot mentions the same thing. 



§ See Faun. Arab. Mater. Med. p. 142. 



