42 
HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
We have only noticed some of the more useful and 
conspicuous among the feathered tribes: that the birds 
are numerous, and exhibit many distinguishing charac¬ 
teristics, may be gathered from the following popular 
fable, under which some Malagasian JEsop has expressed 
his ideas of the difficulties attending the selection of a 
king, the extent of obligation devolving on the subjects, 
and the facility with which the determined and the power¬ 
ful set aside all engagements with those who are unable 
in order that when dead it might prey upon its carcass. Persons who have 
seen this bird assert, that when the wings are spread, they measure sixteen 
paces in extent, from point to point, and that the feathers are eight paces 
in length, and thick in proportion. Messer Marco Paulo, conceiving that 
these creatures might be griffins, such as they are represented in paintings, 
half birds or half lions, particularly questioned those who had reported 
their having seen them, as to this point; but they maintained that 
their shape was altogether that of birds, or, as it might be said, of 
the eagle. The grand khan having heard of this extraordinary relation, 
sent messengers to the island on the pretext of demanding the release 
of one of his servants who had been detained there; but in reality, 
to examine the circumstances of the country, and the truth of the wonder¬ 
ful things told of it. When they returned to the presence of his majesty, 
they brought with them, as I have heard, a feather of the rukh, positively 
affirmed to have measured ninety spans, and the quill-part to have been 
two palms in circumference. This surprising exhibition afforded his majesty 
extreme pleasure ; and upon those by whom it was presented, he bestowed 
valuable gifts. 
On this marvellous account, the intelligent editor of Marco Paulo observes, 
“ All who have read the stories of the Thousand-and-one Nights, must be 
acquainted with the size and powers of this extraordinary bird, there called 
the roe ; but its celebrity is not confined to that work. ‘ Rukh,’ says the 
Arabic and Persian Dictionary, ‘ is the name of a monstrous bird, which is 
said to have powers sufficient to carry off a live rhinoceros.’ *' Its existence 
seems indeed to have been universally credited in the East, and those Arabian 
navigators with whom our author conversed would not hesitate to attest a 
fact of such notoriety, but they might find it convenient, at the same time, 
to lay the scene at a place so little frequented as the southern extremity of 
Madagascar, because the chances were small of any contradiction from 
local knowledge. Mr.Marsden supposes this bird to have been nothing more 
than the albatross of the sea, or the condor of Africa or America. 
