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Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

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CHAP. XXXIV. p. 422.   GIRAFFES ZANGHIBAR.   123

resemble a camel, which feed on herbs and flesh and are able to

eat fire.' In the Tang• shu, 221 , 7a, it is said that this bird is

commonly called camel-bird.' It is seven feet high, black of

colour, its feet like those of the camel, it can travel three hundred

li a day, and is able to eat iron. The ostrich is called by the

Persians ushturrnurg-h and by the Arabs teir al-djamal, both

meaning ' camel birds.' "

Dr. Bretschneider in his Notes on Chinese Mediæval Travellers

to the West (1875), p. 87, n. 132, has a long note with a figure

from the Pen ts'ao kang mu on the " camel-bird " (p. 88).

Cf. F. Hirth, Die Länder des Islam, Supp. Vol. V. of T'oung-

Pao, 1894, p. 54. Tsuboi Kumazo, Actes XIIe Cong. Int. Orient.,

Rome, 1899, II., p. 120.

33.  p. 421.

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GIRAFFES.

Speaking of Pi p'a lo (Berbera Coast) Chau Ju-kwa (p. 128)

says : " There is also (in this country) a wild animal called tsu-

la ; it resembles a camel in shape, an ox in size, and is of a

yellow colour. Its fore legs are five feet long, its hind legs only

three feet. Its head is high up and turned upwards. Its skin

is an inch thick." Giraffe is the iranised form of the arabic

zurāfa. Mention is made of giraffes by Chinese authors at Aden

and Mekka. Cf. FERRAND, J. Asiatique, July—August, 1918,

pp. 155-158.

34.  p. 422.

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ZANGHIBAR.

We read in the Tao i chi lio : " This country [Ts'eng yao

lo] is to the south-west of the Ta Shih (Arabs). There are no

trees on the coast ; most of the land is saline. The arable

ground is poor, so there is but little grain of any kind, and they

mostly raise yams to take its place.

" If any ship going there to trade carries rice as cargo, it

makes very large profits.

" The climate is irregular. In their usages they have the

rectitude of olden times.

" Men and women twist up their hair ; they wear a short

seamless shirt. The occupation of the people is netting birds

and beasts for food.

" They boil sea-water to make salt and ferment the juice of

the sugar-cane to make spirits. They have a ruler.