4 
MADAGASCAR 
an island called Chezbezat, which is obviously identical 
with Madagascar. Other Arabic authors use other appella¬ 
tions, as Serendah, or El Komr (Moon-Island). 
The first to make use of the name Madagascar was 
the Venetian, Marco Polo. He never visited the island, 
but depended entirely on the information of the Arab 
mariners. It will not be without interest to quote his 
description word for word. He says: “ Madagascar is 
a large and beautiful island a thousand miles distant from 
Socotra. It is 4000 miles in extent. Its inhabitants are 
Moslem and all live by trade. Every day they slaughter 
a large number of camels for food. In this island, as in 
Zanzibar, which lies to the south of it, there are more 
elephants than anywhere else in the world, and there are 
found there also leopards, lions, giraftes and wild asses. 
The forests abound in red sandal-wood and on the 
coast ambergris is collected. This is a product of the 
whale, which is numerous in those seas. 
“ Many ships sail thither and obtain rich profits from 
silks and other articles; there is an important trade in ivory. 
Madagascar and Zanzibar are the most southerly islands 
visited by the Indian mariners, but the current towards the 
south is so strong that the return voyage is difficult. 
“ In the countries which lie yet further off is found the 
‘ Griffin ’, or Roc, which is not, as related, half bird and 
half lion, but is rather a gigantic eagle, which covers with 
its wings a space of thirty paces and carries off elephants 
in its talons; these it drops down from a height and then 
feeds on the crushed flesh. The Khan of Tartary 
possesses a feather of this Roc, nineteen spans in length, 
and two wild-boar tusks each weighing fourteen pounds.” 
We may assume that in these statements of Marco 
Polo there is a mixture of truth and falsehood. The imagin¬ 
ative Orientals had communicated many gross exaggera¬ 
tions to the Venetian. Many of these statements may, how¬ 
ever, refer not to Madagascar, but to Magadoxo on the 
