weighing from eight to ten pounds; after la yin g these eggs, the bird goes away, forgetting or forsaking them, and i f some other ostrich discover them, she hatches them, as i f they were her own, forgetting probably whether th e y are or are n ot; so deficient is the recollection o f this bird. In addition to their usual food, they swallow stones, g rav e l, sand, and m e ta ls ; it is not ascertained whether th e y drink or not. Am ong the various animals which the Arabs hunt for sport o r profit, that which most fu lly rewards their exertions, is the o s tr ich : a party o f about tw en ty A ra b s, mounted on the desert horses already described,* set out together, riding gently against the wind, one after the other, at the distance o f about h a lf a mile a su n d e r; th e y w alk on, tracing the foot-marks, till the y discover those o f the ostrich, which they then fo l lo w ; when the y come in sight o f their game, they rush towards it at full speed, always keeping n early the same distance as at first; the bird finding he r wings an impediment to he r progress against the wind, turns towards the horsemen, and after escaping the first and second, is perhaps shot, or brought down by the third o r fourth, or some o f those that fo l lo w ; they are, however, often a whole day in the chase before they secure their bird . W e re it not for this stratagem, aided b y the stupidity o f the ostrich, it would be impossible to take it. T h e Saharawans ca rry muskets, but in hunting the ostrich the y rarely use them, trusting rather to their Zerwata, which is a stick about two feet long, and three inches in circumference, taken from the A ik Soudan tree, or the tree that produces the Senegal gum, being a hard close-grained h e a v y w o o d ; this Zerwata th e y throw w ith extraordinary d e x te rity at the legs o f the bird s, and b y * See the description, page 94. breaking or maiming them, impede their progress, and b y that means secure them. Having cut the throat according to the Mohammedan practice, th e y p lu ck o ff the feathers and div ide them, as w e ll as the carcase, into different po rtion s . on these occasions, as on all others, whether ¡n hunting, pillaging, or attacking (Akkabahs) the accumulated caravans from Soudan, they d iv id e the booty into as many shares as there are persons to partake, caring but little about the equ ality o f them ; then each person taking something that he has about him (such as a key, a knife, or a piece o f mon ey), th e y put it into the corner o f a h a y k o r garment, and covers it ove r, waiting till some stranger or uninterested person appears, whom they engage to take out o f the garment before mentioned, the different articles deposited therein, and to place one on each o f the parcels or lots o f feathers and meat, when each person takes up that portion on which the article belonging to him is p la c ed ; th e y then separate, and retire to the ir respective douars, where th e y regale themselves and the ir families w ith the produce o f their sport. T h e flesh o f the ostrich is b y no means palatable to an E u rop e an ; it is a dark coloured and strong m e a t ; the fat is much esteemed in medicine for ail kinds o f bruises and sprains, and is.sold at a v e ry high price : but money w ill not always procure it, friendship or hospitality being more powerful in these regions than even money itself ! this medicine, therefore, is often procurable only through the former. T h e feathers are sold b y the hunters to the agents o f the merchants o f Mogodor established at Wedinoon, for the purpose o f transportation fina lly to Europe, to adorn the heads o f our fashionable females. W r itin g as I am for the information o f merchants as well as others, it may not be unacceptable to my readers, some o f
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