HI ST OR Y OF DISCO VER Y AND EXPL ORA TI ON 5 
Benadir coast, the inhabitants of which, like all the Somali, 
breed camels for food. Lions, giraffes and wild asses are 
frequent on the East Coast, but are not to be found in 
Madagascar, nor is ivory to be obtained there. 
On the other hand, the account of a giant griffin receives 
some real support from the discovery of the remains of 
gigantic ostriches [^pyornis maximtLS^ ingens) ^ which 
once inhabited Madagascar, as these huge cursores were 
apparently still living in those days, or at any rate they 
still lingered in the memory of the people. If we consider 
how fond the Arabs are of exaggeration, we shall under¬ 
stand these strange additions to the simple facts. Of course 
the Mvpyornis could not fly; the so-called feathers of 
which the Khan possessed a specimen, were, according 
to the opinion of Grandidier, which appears very probable 
to me, nothing but bamboo stems which the Arabs con¬ 
sidered as the shafts of large bird feathers. The 14- 
pound tusks also cannot be accepted as coming from 
the island; they were either hippopotamus teeth, or, as 
appears to me more likely, the huge tusks of the East 
African wart hog (Phacochoe 7 nts cethiopicns) \ these are 
often offered for sale on the sea-coast as curiosities. 
It was in the beginning of the Sixteenth Century that 
more accurate information was first obtained in Europe. 
The epoch-making expeditions of the Portuguese under 
Vasco da Gama and Bartholomew Dias had reached the 
south point of Africa and had discovered the sea route 
to India by the end of the Eifteenth Century, and thus, 
through the neighbouring Arab traders on the Mozam¬ 
bique coast, had heard also of Madagascar. 
In the year 1505 King Manuel of Portugal fitted out 
an expedition of 22 ships and 15,000 men. This sailed 
in March 1505, under the command of Dom Erancisco 
de Almeida, the first Viceroy of India, and was com¬ 
missioned to establish fortresses for the protection of 
the Portuguese trade in Sofala and Quiloa. In the follow- 
