, prout ex forma colligebatur, erat ex
mediocribus, longitudine 28 palmorum, latitudine trium. Calamus vero a
radice usque ad extremitatem longitudine quinque palmorum, densitatis
instar brachii moderati, robustissimus erat et durus. Pennulae inter se
aequales et bene compositae, ut vix ab invicem nisi cum violentia
divellerentur. Colore erant valde nigro, calamus colore albo." (_Ludolfi,
ad suam Hist. Aethiop., Comment._, p. 164.)

The last particular, as to colour, I am not able to explain: the others
correspond well. The _palmus_ in this passage may be anything from 9 to 10
inches.

I see this tree is mentioned by Captain R.F. Burton in his volume on the
Lake Regions (vol. xxix. of the _Journal_ of the Royal Geographical
Society, p. 34),[1] and probably by many other travellers.

I ought to mention here that some other object has been shown at Zanzibar
as part of the wings of a great bird. Sir John Kirk writes that this
(which he does not describe particularly) was in the possession of the
Roman Catholic priests at Bagamoyo, to whom it had been given by natives
of the interior, who declared that they had brought it from Tanganyika,
and that it was part of the wing of a gigantic bird. On another occasion
they repeated this statement, alleging that this bird was known in the
Udoe (?) country near the coast. These priests were able to communicate
directly with their informants, and certainly believed the story. Dr.
Hildebrand, also, a competent German naturalist, believed in it. But Sir
John Kirk himself says that "what the priests had to show was most
undoubtedly the whalebone of a comparatively small whale."

12.--A SPANISH EDITION OF MARCO POLO.

As we go to press we receive the newly published volume, _El Libro de
Marco Polo--Aus dem vermaechtnis des_ Dr. Hermann Knust _nach der Madrider
Handschrift herausgegeben von_ Dr. R. Stuebe. Leipzig, Dr. Seele & Co.,
1902, 8vo., pp. xxvi.-114. It reproduces the old Spanish text of the
manuscript Z-I-2 of the Escurial Library from a copy made by Senor D. Jose
Rodriguez for the Society of the Spanish Bibliophiles, which, being
unused, was sold by him to Dr. Hermann Knust, who made a careful
comparison of it with the original manuscript. This copy, found among the
papers of Dr. Knust after his death, is now edited by Dr. Stuebe. The
original 14th century MS., written in a good hand on two columns, includes
312 leaves of parchment, and contains several works; among them we