ruc's quills] were the immensely
long midribs of the leaves of the rofia palm. These are from twenty to
thirty feet long, and are not at all unlike an enormous quill stripped of
the feathering portion'" (p. 55).

In another passage he describes the palm, _Sagus ruffia (? raphia_):

"The _rofia_ has a trunk of from thirty to fifty feet in height, and at
the head divides into seven or eight immensely long leaves. The midrib of
these leaves is a very strong, but extremely light and straight pole....
These poles are often twenty feet or more in length, and the leaves proper
consist of a great number of fine and long pinnate leaflets, set at right
angles to the midrib, from eighteen to twenty inches long, and about one
and a half broad," etc. (pp. 74, 75).

When Sir John Kirk came home in 1881-1882, I spoke to him on the subject,
and he felt confident that the _rofia_ or _raphia_ palm-fronds were the
original of the ruc's quills. He also kindly volunteered to send me a
specimen on his return to Zanzibar. This he did not forget, and some time
ago there arrived at the India Office not one, but four of these ruc's
quills. In the letter which announced this despatch Sir John says:--

"I send to-day per s.s. _Arcot_ ... four fronds of the Raphia palm, called
here 'Moale.' They are just as sold and shipped up and down the coast. No
doubt they were sent in Marco Polo's time in exactly the same state,
i.e. stripped of their leaflets, and with the tip broken off. They are
used for making stages and ladders, and last long if kept dry. They are
also made into doors, by being cut into lengths, and pinned through. The
stages are made of three, like tripods, and used for picking cloves from
the higher branches."

The largest of the four midribs sent (they do not differ much) is 25 feet
4 inches long, measuring 12 inches in girth at the butt, and 5 inches at
the upper end. I calculate that if it originally came to a point the whole
length would be 45 feet, but, as this would not be so, we may estimate it
at 35 to 40 feet. The thick part is deeply hollowed on the upper (?) side,
leaving the section of the solid butt in form a thick crescent. The
leaflets are all gone, but when entire, the object must have strongly
resembled a Brobdingnagian feather. Compare this description with that of
Padre Bolivar in Ludolf, referred to above.

"In aliquibus ... regionibus vidi pennas alae istius avis prodigiosae,
licet avem non viderim, Penna illa