“Although Mussulmen consider dogs as unclean animals, so much so that they avoid touching them, and prevent them from entering into their houses, yet they suffer them to breed considerably in most towns.
“The charity of the Turks in regard to them, consists in giving them sometimes bread, and what they cannot consume, in distributing to them daily the liver, lights, entrails, and head of the sheep which are killed in the slaughter-houses, because they never make use of those aliments, proscribed by their religion, and because the Christians, following their example, dare not eat them. Every day are seen in the streets men carrying on a long pole a great number of these livers and lights, in order to sell them at one or two sous to the devout and rich, who may be desirous of regaling with them the dogs of their neigbourhood.
“There are persons, who cause to be built near the door of their houses, huts for the purpose of lodging bitches and their young: they carry thither straw, and give them every day bread or meat. It is even said, that some have, on their death-bed, left legacies for the support of a certain number of these animals.”
Numerous also are the places where facts are mentioned, which are similar to others in works of authority. In the history of Codadad, Vol. III. p. 277, there is a custom, similar to that mentioned in the New Testament, of wiping the feet with the hair, as a mark of respect, where a woman, who was a sinner, wipes the feet of our Saviour. Luke, chap. vii. ver. 38, and John xii. v. 3. Thus in the story, “O, prince, what is there we can do for you? If either prayers or knowledge could restore you to life, we would wipe your feet with our white beards, we would address you in speeches of wisdom: but the King of the Universe has taken you away for ever.
Again, also, in the History of Schemselnihar and the prince of Persia, when the former was told that the caliph was coming to visit her, she ordered the paintings on silk, which were in the garden, to be taken down. In the same manner are paintings, or hangings, used in the Old Testament, where it is said, “The women wove hangings for the grove.” II. Kings, xxiii. v. 7.
It is in this manner that Mr. Hole proceeds to illustrate the seven voyages of Sindbad, which he calls the “Arabian Odyssey:” and by quoting from the different authors he has consulted for the occasion, accounts for, and sometimes even justifies, the most singular and extraordinary circumstances. I will here give an instance, which relates to that immense bird, the rock, which is also mentioned in various other places. Sindbad, in his second voyage, after trading successfully to different islands, lands on one abounding in fruit-trees, and meadows with streams running through them. He and his companions sit down by the side of a river, when Sindbad falls fast asleep, and on waking, finds himself deserted, and the ship making sail at a distance from the island. “You may easily imagine,” says Sindbad (Vol. I. p. 240), “the reflections that occurred to me in this dismal state. I thought I should have died with grief; I groaned and cried aloud; I beat my head, and threw myself on the ground, where I remained a long time overwhelmed with a confusion of thoughts, each more distressing than the other: I reproached myself a thousand times for my folly, in not being contented with my first voyage, which ought to have satisfied my desire of seeking adventures; but all my regrets were of no avail, and my repentance came too late. At length I resigned myself to the will of Heaven; and not knowing what would become of me, I ascended a high tree, from whence I looked on all sides, to see if I could not discover some object to inspire me with hope. Casting my eyes towards the sea, I could discover nothing but water and sky, but perceiving on the land side something white, I descended from the tree, and taking with me the remainder of my provisions, I walked towards the object, which was so distant that I could not distinguish what it was. As I approached, I perceived it to be a large white ball, of a prodigious size, and when I got near enough to touch it, I found it was soft. I walked round it to see if there were an opening, but could find none; and it appeared so even, that it was impossible to get up it. The circumference might be about fifty paces.
“The sun was then near setting; the air grew suddenly dark, as if obscured by a thick cloud. I was surprised at this change, but much more so when I perceived it to be occasioned by a bird of a most extraordinary size, which was flying towards me. I recollected having heard sailors speak of a bird called a rock; and I conceived, that the great white ball, which had drawn my attention, must be the egg of this bird. I was not mistaken; for shortly after it lighted on it, and placed itself as if to sit upon it. When I saw it coming I drew near to the egg, so that I had one of the claws of the bird just before me; this claw was as big as the trunk of a large tree.
“I tied myself to it with the linen of my turban, in hopes that the rock, when it took its flight the next morning, would carry me with it out of that desert island. My project succeeded; for at the break of day the rock flew away, and carried me to such a height, that I could not distinguish the earth: then it descended with such rapidity, that I almost lost my senses. When the rock had alighted, I quickly untied the knot that confined me to its foot, and had scarcely loosed myself, when it darted on a serpent, of an immeasurable length, and seizing it in its beak, flew away.”
“If any one choose, (says Mr. Hole,) to look into Bochart’s Hierozoicon, [d] he may find a more extravagant account of this bird, extracted from Arabian authors, than what is here given by Sindbad. Marco Paulo de Veneto, [e] a celebrated traveller in the 13th century, has a whole chapter “de maximâ ave Ruch.” [f] He there says, that this bird was occasionally found in islands difficult of access, which lie towards the south of Madagascar; that some people, who had seen it, affirmed, that the wing feathers were twelve paces in length, and all the other parts correspondent to them. These birds, he adds, would sometimes seize and fly away with an elephant, on whose flesh they usually fed: and that he acquired his information from an officer of the great Khan, who had been confined many years in one of those islands.
“Though this account of the officer was highly exaggerated, it was probably built on some foundation in truth. Pigafetta mentions, that he had heard there were fowls of such strength and magnitude near the gulf of China, as to be capable of carrying large animals [g] through the air: and that a bird, of stupendous size, exists in the southern parts of the Indian ocean, appears from the testimony of an English navigator, whose veracity is as unquestionable as his professional abilities. It is mentioned in Dr. Kippis’s Life of Cook, “that he found in an island, not far from New Holland, a bird’s nest, which was built with sticks upon the ground, and was no less than six and twenty feet in circumference, and two feet eight inches in height.”