Ostrich Egg-shell Cups of Mesopotamia and the Ostrich in Ancient and Modern Times BY BERTHOLD LAUFER Curator ok Anthropology 9 Plates and 10 Text-figures Anthropology Leaflet 23 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY CHICAGO 1926 The Anthropological Leaflets of Field Museum are designed to give brief, non-technical accounts of some of the more interesting beliefs, habits and customs of the races whose life is illustrated in the Museum's exhibits. LIST OF ANTHROPOLOGY LEAFLETS ISSUED TO DATE 1. The Chinese Gateway $ .10 2. The Philippine Forge Group 10 3. The Japanese Collections 25 4. New Guinea Masks 25 5. The Thunder Ceremony of the Pawnee . . . . .25 6. The Sacrifice to the Morning Star by the Skidi Pawnee 10 7. Purification of the Sacred Bundles, a Ceremony of the Pawnee 10 8. Annual Ceremony of the Pawnee Medicine Men . .10 9. The Use of Sago in New Guinea 10 10. Use of Human Skulls and Bones in Tibet ... .10 11. The Japanese New Year's Festival, Games and Pastimes 25 12. Japanese Costume 25 13. Gods and Heroes of Japan 25 14. Japanese Temples and Houses 25 15. Use of Tobacco among North American Indians . .25 16. Use of Tobacco in Mexico and South America . . .25 17. Use of Tobacco in New Guinea 10 18. Tobacco and Its Use in Asia . .25 19. Introduction of Tobacco into Europe 25 20. The Japanese Sword and Its Decoration 25 21. Ivory in China 75 22. Insect Musician and Cricket Champions of China (in press) 23. Ostrich Egg-shell Cups of Mesopotamia and the Ostrich in Ancient and Modern Times ... .50 D. C. DA VIES DIRECTOR FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY CHICAGO, U. S. A. LEAFLET 23. OSTRICH EGG-SHELL CUP FROM GRAVE AT KISH, MESOPOTAMIA (p. 2). ABOUT 3000 B.C. IN FIELD MUSEUM. About one-third actual size. Field Museum of Natural History DEPARTMENT OP ANTHROPOLOGY Chicago, 1926 LsArurr Nun be* 23 Ostrich Egg-shell Cups of Mesopotamia and the Ostrich in Ancient and Modern Times CONTENTS P*»e The Ostrich in Mesopotamia 2 The Ostrich in Palestine, Syria, and Arabia 9 The Ostrich in Ancient Egypt 16 The Ostrich in the Traditions of the Ancients. ... 21 The Ostrich in the Records and Monuments of the Chinese 29 The Ostrich in Africa 34 The Domestication of the Ostrich 41 The Ostrich in America 47 Bibliographical References 51 THE OSTRICH IN MESOPOTAMIA In his "Report on the Excavation of the 'A' Ceme- tery at Kish, Mesopotamia" published by Field Museum (Memoirs, Vol. I, No. 1), Ernest Mackay writes as follows: "A rare object found in grave 2 was a cup which had been made from an ostrich shell by cutting about one-third of the top of the shell away and roughly smoothing the edge. It was the only one of its kind found in the cemetery, and it was in such a very bad condition with so many pieces missing that it could neither be restored nor drawn. The remains of a similar cup were found in one of the chambers of a large building of plano-convex bricks, about a mile from the 'A' cemetery, which appears to be of the same date. The ostrich is still found in the Arabian desert, and was doubtless plentiful in early times. Its feathers as well as its eggs were utilized by the ancients." In the course of further excavations on the ancient sites of Kish great quantities of fragments of ostrich egg-shell were brought to light and, together with other collections, mainly pottery, stone, and metal, were recently received in the Museum. Having read in Chinese records of ostrich eggs anciently sent as gifts from Persia to the emperors of China and being aware of the importance of this subject in the history of ancient trade, I took especial interest in these egg- shell fragments and induced T. Ito, a Japanese expert at treating and repairing antiquities, to restore three of these cups completely. The result of his patient and painstaking labor is shown in Plates I and II illus- trating two of the cups. These restorations are true and perfect ; that is, they consist of some eighty shards each, accurately and perfectly joined, without the use of other substances or recourse to filling-in. Thanks to Ostrich Egg-shell Cups 3 the admirable skill of Mr. Ito we now have these beauti- ful cups before us, exactly in the shape, as they were anciently used by the Sumerians. These cups, almost porcelain-like in appearance, have the distinction of representing the oldest bird-eggs of historical times in existence, and may claim an age of at least five thou- sand years. Being the eggs of the majestic winged camel of the desert, the largest living bird, the fleetest and most graceful of all running animals that "scorn- eth the horse and his rider," they are the only eggs of archaeological and historical interest. But they are more than mere eggs; they are ingeniously shaped into water-vessels or drinking goblets by human hand, a small portion at the top having been cut off and the edge smoothed. They were closed by pottery lids over- laid with bitumen, one of the oldest pigments used by mankind. They are thus precious remains of the earli- est civilization of which we have any knowledge. In Plate III single fragments of egg-shell are shown, as they came out of the graves, and some patched together from several pieces. These are decorated with banded zones of brown color brought out by means of bitumen. The shell is extremely hard and on an average 2 mm thick. The trade in ostrich eggs was of considerable extent and importance in the ancient world. They have been discovered in prehistoric tombs of Greece and Italy, in Mycenae (Fig. 3), Etruria (Fig. 9), Latium, and even in Spain, in the Punic tombs of Carthage as well as in prehistoric Egypt. We find them in ancient Persia and from Persia sent as tribute to the emperors of China. The Spartans showed the actual egg of Leda from which the Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux, were said to have issued; there is no doubt that the egg of an ostrich rendered good ser- vices for this pious fraud. In 1833, Peter Mundy, an energetic English traveler, saw ostrich (or, as he 4 Field Museum of Natural History spells, estridges) eggs hung in a mosque in India. In 1771, General Sir Eyre Coote found the cupola of a Mohammedan tomb fifty miles north-east of Palmyra adorned with ostrich eggs, and at present also, devout Moslems of the Near East are fond of honoring the sepulchre of a beloved dead with such an egg which is suspended from a tree or shrub on the burial place. Even in the Christian churches of the Copts they are reserved for the decoration of the cords from which the lamps are suspended. Pliny writes that the eggs of the ostrich were prized on account of their large size, and were em- ployed as vessels for certain purposes. The eggs were also eaten and found their way to the table of the Pharaohs. The Garamantes, a group of Berber tribes in the oases of the Sahara south of Tripolis, anciently had a reputation for being fond of the eggs. Peter Mundy (1634) found ostrich eggs, whose acquaintance he made at the Cape of Good Hope, "a good meate." The egg is still regarded as a rare delicacy in Africa. The contents of one egg amounts to forty fluid ounces, and in taste it does not differ from a hen's egg. An omelet prepared from one egg is sufficient for eight persons. Cuvier, the French naturalist, remarks that an ostrich egg is equal to twenty-four to twenty-eight fowl's eggs, and that he had frequently eaten of them and found them very delicate. Arabic poetry is full of praise for the beauty of ostrich eggs, and the delicate complexion of a lovely woman is compared with the smooth and brilliant sur- face of an ostrich egg. The Koran, in extolling the bliss and joys of Paradise, speaks of "virgins with chaste glances and large, black eyes which resemble the hidden eggs of the ostrich." The thickness of the egg-shell in the African spe- cies (Struthio camelus) varies from 1.91 to 1.98 mm; the length of the eggs from 140.01 to 156.75 mm, the Ostrich Eggs 5 width from 121.02 to 138 mm. In Struthio molybdo- phanes (so called from the leaden color of its naked parts) of the Somali country, the egg-shell is even 2.02 mm thick; the length varies from 145 to 159.95 mm, the width from 119.50 to 125.4 mm. The weight of the full eggs is from one to two thousand grams, that of the empty ones varies from 225 to 340 grams. The eggs of birds living in captivity differ con- siderably from those of wild birds, both in size, color- ation, and structure. The former are frequently larger and more oblong, and have a thin shell ; the colors are more lively, and the enamel layer is flat, sometimes entirely obliterated. The egg of a domesticated ostrich from a Cali- fornian farm, 163 mm in length, is shown for com- parison in Plate IV. As the Californians are all descendants of birds imported from South Africa, their eggs exhibit to a marked degree the pitting which is characteristic of the South African species and which is associated with the respiratory pores of the shell. In the egg-shell of the North African bird, according to J. E. Duerden, the pores are so small and open so close to the surface, as to be scarcely visible to the naked eye, and are mostly scattered singly, with but little group- ing, hence the surface appears almost uniformly smooth. In the southern egg, the shell pores are larger, sunken below the general surface, and mostly in small groups, varying from about six to twelve in a group. It is the close grouping of the sunken pores which give rise to the pitted surface. In both types the outer enamel layer shows differences in thickness, and with it the polished character of the surface. All the eggs are a cream or yellow color when freshly laid, but fade considerably on exposure and harden in course of time. The egg of the North African bird is larger than that of the southern, the shell is almost free from pores or pittings, and presents an ivory-like smooth surface. 6 Field Museum op Natural History The northern egg is usually rounded in shape and less oval. The egg of the southern bird is deeply pitted all over the surface, the pits often larger and more plenti- ful at the air-chamber end, hence the shell does not present the ivory smoothness of the northern egg. According to J. E. Duerden, who has devoted a special investigation to the two varieties, no mistake is pos- sible in discriminating the one type from the other in a mixed lot of eggs from northern and southern birds. In cases where the North African hen was mated with the South African cock, a peculiar feature was noted, namely, that the egg-shells of this cross-breed were only pitted in certain patches, while other patches were quite smooth. In our Mesopotamian eggs the pores are exceed- ingly fine, and for this reason it may be concluded that the species represented by them is identical with, or closely allied to the present Syrian and North African ostriches. The latter extends right across the Sahara from the Sudan and Nigeria to Tunis and Algeria and from Senegal eastwards. The egg of the Syrian spe- cies, if a distinct species it is, is said to be of smaller size and higher polish than the North African one. In ancient Elam rows of ostriches are found de- picted on early pottery, closely resembling the ostriches on the pre-dynastic pottery of ancient Egypt. In 1849 Austen H. Layard (Nineveh and Its Re- mains) wrote, "The only birds represented on the Assyrian monuments hitherto discovered are the eagle or vulture, the ostrich and the partridge, and a few smaller birds at Khorsabad, whose forms are too con- ventional to permit of any conjecture as to their spe- cies. The ostrich was only found as an ornament on the robes of figures in the most ancient edifice at Nim- rud. As it is accompanied by the emblematical flower, and is frequently introduced on Babylonian and As- syrian cylinders, we may infer that it was a sacred LEAFLET 23. OSTRICH EGG-SHELL CUP FROM GRAVE AT KISH. MESOPOTAMIA (p. 2). ABOUT 3000 B.C. IN FIELD MUSEUM. About one-third actual size. The Ostrich in Mesopotamia 7 bird." The statement that the ostrich is represented on an Assyrian king's robe is repeated by Perrot and Chipiez, Handcock, and Meissner; but this bird, in my Fig. i. Assur Strangling Two Ostriches. Engraved on an Assyrian Seal-cylinder. After Dorow. opinion, is not an ostrich ; it has a short neck, and its head is entirely different from that of an ostrich. The fact, however, remains that the latter is clearly repre- sented on seals and cylinders. Fig. a. The God Marduk Executing an Ostrich. Engraved on an Assyrian Seal-cylinder. After W. Houghton. One of these seals is shown in Fig. 1. It was the seal of Urzana, king of Musasir, a contemporary of King Sargon (eighth century B.C.), and represents 8 Field Museum of Natural History Assur, king of the great Assyrian gods, with four wings, in the act of strangling two ostriches. On an- other seal (Fig. 2) the god Marduk is shown in the act of executing vengeance on an ostrich. With his left hand he firmly grasps the bird's long neck, and in his right he holds a scimitar which will apparently be used to sever the bird's head. These illustrations appar- ently hint at a ritual act and seem to indicate that the ostrich was also a sacrificial bird and that its flesh was solemnly offered to the gods. Perrot and Chipiez (His- tory of Art in Chaldea and Assyria, II, p. 153) figure a scene from a chalcedony cylinder in Paris, which rep- resents an ostrich about to attack a man with outspread wings and raised left foot; the man tries to lure the bird with a fruit which he holds in his right hand, while behind his back he hides a deadly scimitar in his left. In the language of the Sumerians the ostrich was known under the names gir-gid-da, which is explained as "the long-legged bird" and gam-gam, which means as much as "benefactor" or "well disposed." The latter name was borrowed by the Assyrians in the form gam- gam-mu. Other Assyrian designations of the bird are sha-ka-tuv and se-ip-a-rik, the latter also meaning "long-legged." THE OSTRICH IN PALESTINE, SYRIA, AND ARABIA The ostrich was well known to the Hebrews, and as attested by several allusions to the bird in the Old Testament, must in ancient times have been frequent in Palestine. It is included among unclean birds in the Mosaic code (Leviticus XI, 16; Deuteronomy xiv, 15), and its flesh was prohibited. This may hint at the fact that the ostrich had occasionally served as food to the Hebrews, although we have no positive information on this point. The reason for the interdiction is not revealed. The ancient apostolic fathers explain that it was forbidden, because the ostrich cannot rise from the earth ; modern commentators, because it is a vora- cious animal and hunting it is cruel. Those who assert that it was abhorred as an exotic animal in Palestine err in a point of zoogeography. The simplest interpre- tation seems to be that, like other unclean animals of the Mosaic legislation, it was tabooed by Moses, because the surrounding pagan nations availed themselves of its flesh both as a sacrifice to their gods (see above, p. 8) and for their own use. The Arabs of ancient and modern times feast on the bird, and as related by Leo Africanus of the sixteenth century, its flesh was con- sumed to a large extent in Numidia, where young birds were captured and fattened for this purpose. There are other tribes like the Shilluks of the Sudan who for superstitious reasons abstain from ostrich flesh. Those who have tasted it state unanimously that it is both wholesome and palatable, although in the wild bird, as might be expected, it is somewhat lean and tough. The meat of domesticated birds, however, especially those fed on alfalfa and grain, becomes juicy and tender. Dr. Duncan of the Department of Agriculture recom- mends it as a New Year or Easter bird. 10 Field Museum of Natural History Job (xxx, 29) laments, "A brother I have become to the jackals, and a companion to the young ostriches." And the prophet Micah (I, 8) exclaims in a similar vein, "Like jackals will I mourn, like ostriches make lamentation." The comparison alludes to the plaintive voices of these animals. The jackal and ostrich are again combined in a passage of Isaiah (xxxiv, 13) : "And it shall be an habitation of jackals, and a court for ostriches." The cry of the ostrich has been de- scribed variously by observers: some define it as a loud, mournful kind of bellowing roar, very like that of a lion ; others define the common sounds of the cock as a dull lowing which consists of two shorter tones followed by a longer note ; in a state of excitement he will give a hissing sound, and his warning cry is an abrupt, shrill note. The Hebrew word renanim used for the female ostrich means literally "cries, calls," and refers to the twanging cry of the female. Another designation of the ostrich, bath haya'anah, signifies lite- rally "daughter of the desert" ; that is to say, a desert- dweller, a very appropriate name for the bird. A paral- lel term occurs in Arabic with the meaning "father of the desert." Isaiah (xm, 21), in his prediction of the fate of Babylon, says, "But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there ; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and ostriches shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there." The famous passage in Job (xxxix, 13-18) is thus rendered in the Revised Version: "The wing of the ostrich rejoiceth; but are her pinions and feathers kindly (or, as the stork's) ? which leaveth her eggs in the earth, and warmeth them in dust, and forgetteth that the foot may crush them, or that the wild beast may break them. She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers: her labour is in vain without fear; because God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath He imparted to her understand- The Ostrich in Palestine 11 ing. What time she lifteth up herself on high, she scorneth the horse and his rider." The text is difficult, especially in the opening para- graph, and various translations have been proposed, thus, for instance : "The wing of the ostriches is raised joyfully; but is it a pinion and feather as kindly as that of the stork? No, the ostrich hen leaves her eggs to the earth," etc. Professor J. M. Powis Smith of the University of Chicago has been good enough to communicate to me his own translation prepared for his coming version of the Old Testament. It runs thus : Is the wing of the ostrich joyful, Or has she a kindly pinion and feathers, That she leaves her eggs on the ground, And warms them on the dust, And forgets that the foot may crush them, Or the beast of the field trample them ? She is hard to her young, as though not her own; For nothing is her labour; she has no anxiety. For God has made her oblivious of wisdom, And has not given her a share in understanding. When she flaps her wings aloft, She laughs at the horse and his rider. According to those scholars who translate the word chasidah by "stork," the Hebrew poet contrasts the ostrich with the stork. The stork, as indicated by its name chasidah ("the pious one") , was the symbol of kindness and piety, and was regarded as a model of filial love ; for this reason it is venerated by all Oriental peoples. The ostrich may resemble the stork in some respects, but differs from it in the care for its young. The description that follows is based on the widely spread, but erroneous assumption that the ostrich is in the habit of leaving its eggs in the sand to be hatched by the sun. The Hebrew poet is intent on making the point that in spite of the careless treatment of the eggs the bird is propagated as a striking evidence of God's constant solicitude for his creatures. To make amends 12 Field Museum op Natural History for the lack of wisdom, fleetness of foot has been granted the ostrich. In case its life is endangered, it leashes the air with its wings which assist in running, and derides horse and rider who are in pursuit of it, — a sign that the ostrich, after all, is not so stupid. The alleged cruelty of the ostrich to its young is also referred to in the passage, "Even the sea monsters draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones : the daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness" (Lamentations rv, 3) . The observation made in the book of Job that the ostrich treats her offspring harshly does not conform with the real facts. The birds, on the contrary, are tender parents and feed and watch their young ones very carefully. The eggs are laid in a shallow pit or depression of the soil scraped out by the feet of the old birds with the earth heaped around to form a wall or rampart. The female incubates the eggs during the day, while the male takes her place at night. As eggs are sometimes dropped in the neighborhood of the nest or scattered around, the popular belief in the careless- ness of the birds and in the hatching of the eggs by the heat of the sun may have arisen. Any eggs not hatched are broken by the parents and fed to the young for whom they display great solicitude, and whom they defend in case of danger. As to Palestine, the ostrich still occurs in the farther parts of the Belka, the eastern plains of Moab, and is still obtained near Damascus. It is no doubt now but a straggler from central Arabia, though formerly far more abundant (Tristram, Fauna and Flora of Palestine) . The portion of the Syrian desert lying east of Damascus denotes the northernmost limit of the range of the ostrich. According to Burckhardt, it inhabits the great Syrian Desert, some being found in Hauran, and a few being taken almost every year, even within two days' journey from Damascus. The Ostrich in Palestine and Syria 18 As regards ancient Syria, the ostrich is attested by relief -pictures in the theatre at Hierapolis of Roman times, one of these depicting a lioness seizing an ostrich by the neck, and by its introduction into the Syriac version of the Physiologus. In the Physiologus, a Greek allegorical natural history, which originated at Alexandria in the second century of our era, the following story is told: "The ostrich looks up to heaven in order to see when her time has come to lay her eggs. She does not lay before the Pleiades rise, at the time of the greatest heat. She lays her eggs in the sand and covers them with sand ; thereupon she goes away and forgets them, and the heat of the sun hatches them in the sand. Since the ostrich knows her time, man ought to know his to a still higher degree : we have to look up toward heaven, forget worldly existence, and follow Christ." This story has doubtless been formed by com- bining Job xxxix, 14, with Jeremiah vm, 7 ("the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed time"). From the Hebrew name of the stork, chasidah, the Greek text of the Physiologus has derived the word asida in the sense of ostrich. In mediaeval Europe the notion still prevailed that the ostrich hatches her eggs merely by glancing at them or by the steadfast gaze of mater- nal affection. In consequence of this imaginary exploit the bird was chosen as an emblem of faith. The great outlets from Syria for the ostrich plumes are Aleppo, Damascus, and Smyrna, where the bazars always contain a good supply. The Janizaries of Turkey who had excelled in battle had the privilege of adorning their turbans with an ostrich feather. At the time of the Ottoman empire there was an imperial ostrich-park in Beylerbey Serai on the Bosporus. From times immemorial the ostrich has been an inhabitant of Arabia. Heraclides and Xenophon, sub- 14 Field Museum op Natural History sequently Agatharchides and Diodorus mention it as a native of the peninsula. The valuable white plumes of the wings and tail are in great demand among the Arabs for their own wants in the decoration of tents and spears of the sheikhs. Ostrich hunting is alluded to in early Arabic poetry, and has always been a popu- lar sport with the Arabs, who rely on the speed of their horses and run the birds down. As these are in the habit of circling their favorite haunts, the horsemen hunt in relays, and are apt to overtake the birds by pursuing in a straight line. Kazwini (1203-83), the Arabic author of a Cos- mography in which a section is devoted to animals, tells this story : "When the ostrich has laid her eggs, twenty in number or more, she buries them under the sand, leaving one third in one place, exposing another third to the sun, and hatching another third. When the chicks have come out, she breaks the hidden eggs and feeds her young with them. And when the chicks have grown strong, she breaks the last third on which vermin will collect, and this serves as food for the young until they are able to graze." There is a germ of truth under- lying this story, and this is that the old birds feed their young on the contents of eggs which they trample down for them. When the eggs are left during the heat of the day, they are covered up with sand, and the occa- sional finding of such eggs may have given rise to Kazwini's story. He relates another anecdote to the effect that the ostrich, when it has withdrawn from its own eggs and spies other birds' eggs, will hatch the latter and desert its own. There is a Moslem legend in explanation of the bird's inability to fly. "Once upon a time the ostrich was winged, and like other birds, was capable of flight. He once laid a wager with the bustard, but relying on his strength he forgot before rising to invoke Allah's assistance. He flew in the direction of the sun which The Ostrich in Arabia 15 scorched his pinions, so that he pitifully plunged down to earth. His progeny has since suffered from the curse which befell its ancestor, and restlessly roves about in the desert." The Arabs have many names for the ostrich like camel-bird, father of the desert, the magician, the strong one, the fugitive one, the stupid one, and the gray one (for a young bird). Ostrich fat is regarded as a powerful remedy for both external and internal use. Fie. 3. Engraving on an Ostrich Egg from Mycenae, Greece. After Perrot and Chipie*. THE OSTRICH IN ANCIENT EGYPT The ancient Eygptians received the ostrich and its products from Nubia, Ethiopia, and the country Punt on the east coast of Africa. An expedition to Punt, probably of a peaceful nature, is recorded on the wall connecting the two Karnak pylons of King Harmhab of the nineteenth dynasty. A relief shows the king at the right, holding audience, receiving the chiefs of Punt approaching from the left, bearing sacks of gold dust, ostrich feathers, etc. (Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt, III, 37). In the rock temple of Abu Simbel are represented scenes depicting a war of Ramses II against the Li- byans and the Nubian war. In one of these scenes Ramses sits enthroned on the right side; approaching from the left are two long lines of Negroes, bringing furniture of ebony and ivory, panther hides, gold in large rings, bows, myrrh, shields, elephants' tusks, bil- lets of ebony, ostrich feathers, ostrich eggs, live ani- mals, including monkeys, panthers, a giraffe, ibexes, a dog, oxen with carved horns, and an ostrich (Breasted, op. cit., Ill, 475). Fig. 4 illustrates a very instructive Egyptian scene. The man on the left leads a captured ostrich, grasping its neck with his right hand, while his left holds a rope slung around the bird's neck ; this double precaution hints well at the strength of the powerful avian giant. The man on the right carries three ostrich feathers and a basket filled with three ostrich eggs. The ostrich was sometimes used as a riding-beast, as may be seen from the scene in Fig. 5. Oppianus re- marks that it can easily carry a boy on its back. Heuglin says that the possibility of riding the ostrich has often been doubted, but he assures us that the ani- mal is able to carry a heavy man, but not for a long 16 The Ostrich in Ancient Egypt 17 time, and after a brief run will throw itself on the ground. A prehistoric serpentine figure of a seated ostrich is illustrated by Flinders Petrie (Amulets, No. 246). Ostrich eggs showing traces of painting and en- graving have been found in prehistoric tombs of Egypt, and are figured by Jean Capart (Primitive Art in Egypt, p. 40). They were also imitated in clay and decorated with black zigzag lines in imitation of cords or simply painted with white spots. In the Egyptian department of the British Museum is shown an enor- Fig. 4. Egyptian Scene Showing a Captured Ostrich and Man with Ostrich Feathers and Eggs. After O. Keller. mous marble egg which is apparently intended for an enlarged ostrich egg, and which was once deposited in a sacred place. During the historic period, ostrich eggs and feathers were imported from the land of Punt and probably also from Asia. Imitations of ostrich eggs in terracotta have been found in the tombs of Vulci in Italy, which, according to G. Dennis (Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria) , seems to indicate that the demand was greater than the supply. 18 Field Museum op Natural History EGG OF DOMESTICATED OSTRICH FROM OSTRICH FARM IN CALIFORNIA (p. 5). IN FIELD MUSEUM. About two-thirds actual size. The Ostrich in Ancient Egypt 19 Flinders Petrie (Naukratis, part 1, p. 14) recov- ered from the temple of Apollo at Naukratis a piece of an ostrich egg-shell with a pattern of wreath etched out of the inside, and the upper part stained red ; the etching was probably done by drawing the wreath with wax on the shell and then eating out the background with vinegar; and the higher surface of the wreath was polished, like the rest of the inside, before etching. Ostrich feathers were worn by men in ancient Egypt, being stuck in their hair, and a religious sig- nificance was possibly connected with this custom. Such feathers are invariably found in the hair of lightly-equipped soldiers of ancient times, and there is a hieroglyph showing a warrior thus adorned. An os- trich plume symbolized truth and justice, and was the emblem of the goddess Ma'at who personified these vir- tues, and who was the patron-saint of the judges. Her head is adorned with an ostrich feather, her eyes are closed, similarly as Justice is blindfolded. The image of this goddess was the most precious offering for the gods, and was attached to the necklace of the chief judge as a badge of office. Subsequently when the insignia of the various ranks in the court ceremonial were regulated, the os- trich feather became the exclusive prerogative of the kings, and these and the princes of royal blood exclu- sively were permitted to wear it. Those decorated with the ostrich feather are designated as "fan-carriers on the left of the king" in the inscriptions of the monu- ments. The princesses had fans made from ostrich feathers. In the tomb of the queen Aa Hotep, mother of Amasis I (about 1703 B.C.) was discovered a semi- circular fan decorated all over with gold plates and provided along its edge with perforations for receiv- ing the feathers. When the Pharaoh showed himself to the people, high dignitaries carried ostrich-feather fans 20 Field Museum of Natural History attached to long poles alongside the royal palanquin. Among the amulets of power conferred upon the dead were two ostrich plumes supposed to fly away in the wind, bearing the king's soul, and the pair of plumes therefore were provided as a vehicle for the soul of the deceased (Flinders Petrie, Amulets). The British Museum has a terracotta from Nau- cratis representing a goddess on horseback with a lyre, wearing a head-dress surmounted by the solar disk, horns, and ostrich feathers (Walters, Cat. of the Terra- cottas in the British Museum, p. 256, with illustration) . In the eighteenth and first part of the nineteenth century the ostrich still lived in the plains of northern Egypt and along the Arabic coast of the Red Sea (Heuglin). Near the oases of middle Egypt it still occurs at present, likewise along the south-eastern frontier of the country. THE OSTRICH IN THE TRADITIONS OF THE ANCIENTS The ancients knew the bird as an inhabitant of northern Africa, upper Egypt, and Arabia. The first Greek author who mentions the ostrich is Herodotus (iv, 175, 192). With reference to the Macse who inhabited the coast of Libya, he states that they wore the skins of ostriches as a protection in war. He terms the ostrich "the bird remaining on the ground." The skin of the ostrich is very thick, and still serves as a cuirass to Arabic tribes. Pierre Belon, a famous French naturalist of the sixteenth century, saw large numbers of ostrich skins with the feathers on in the shops of Alexandria, where they had arrived from Ethiopia. In northern Africa an ostrich skin is valued at about $75. Xenophon (Anabasis I, 5), when he accompanied the army of Cyrus through the desert along the Eu- phrates, in northern Arabia, noticed numerous wild asses and many ostriches which he calls "large spar- rows," as well as bustards and antelopes; and these animals were sometimes hunted by the horsemen of the army. While they succeeded in catching some asses, no one succeeded in capturing an ostrich. The horse- men who hunted that bird soon desisted from the pur- suit ; for it far outstripped them in its flight, using its feet for running and raising its wings like a sail. This description is quite to the point. Macaulay said of John Dryden, "His imagination resembled the wings of an ostrich. It enabled him to run, though not to soar." The wings serve the ostrich, while running, as poy and rudder, and it has been observed that with favorable wind they are even used as sails. Xenophon confirms the fact that in ancient times the ostrich ranged right up to the Euphrates. The last record of ostriches in 21 22 Field Museum op Natural History the region of this river was in 1797 when Oliver men- tioned them in the desert west of Rehaba, about twenty- three miles due south of Deir-ez-Zor. Strabo (xvi, 4, 11) , the Greek geographer (63 B.C.- A.D. 19) , speaks of a tribe of Elephant-eaters near the city Darada in Ethiopia. Above this nation, he con- tinues, is a small tribe, the Struthophagi ("Bird- eaters"), in whose territory there are birds of the size of a deer, which are unable to fly, but run with the swiftness of an ostrich. Some of the people hunt these birds with bows and arrows, others by putting on the skins of the birds. They hide their right arm in the neck of the skin and move the neck as the birds use to do. With their left hand they scatter grain from a bag suspended to the side. They thus lure the birds, driving them into ravines where they are slain with cudgels. Their skins are used both as clothes and as coverings for beds. This method of hunting by means of a decoy-bird is perfectly credible and universally employed. In South Africa the native hunters hide in a hole which they dig close to the nest of the birds. Having accounted for one bird, they stick up its skin on a pole near the nest, and in this way decoy another ostrich. Other tribesmen who keep tame ostriches avail themselves of the latter to approach wild ones and shoot them with poisoned arrows. George W. Stow (Native Races of South Africa) gives the following graphic account of the Bushmen's method of hunting (compare Plate V) : "In stalking the quagga (Equus quagga), the Bushmen generally disguised themselves in skins of the ostrich, with a long pliant stick run through the neck to keep the head erect, and which also enabled them to give it its natural movement as they walked along. Most of them were very expert in imitating the actions of the living bird. When they sighted a herd of quaggas which they > 5 a uj co Q. UJ < I a o • K I- H O co so , -J z > 1U 3 ^ II,. O « 8 I «, . ji>. After S. Killermann. The Domestication of the Ostrich 43 that you cannot travel for a quarter of a mile without seeing some of them. They can easily be tamed, and many are kept in the Citadel of the Cape." As early as 1662, Jan van Riebeek, Dutch com- mander of the Cape Colony (1652-62) , directed his suc- cessor's attention to the taming of young ostriches. On several occasions tame ostriches had been sent to the Indies, where they had proved acceptable presents to native potentates. Their feathers were saleable, but it does not seem to have occured to any one in those days that it would pay to tame the bird for the sake of its plumage (G. M. Theal, History of Africa South of the Zambesi). When in 1865 the domestication was first attempt- ed in South Africa, natives who had some experience in managing the birds were employed as trainers ; but when it has been recognized that the domestication is historically connected with the crude efforts of the natives, it must be frankly admitted, on the other hand, that the success of the actual domestication is solely to the merit of the Africanders. They certainly availed themselves, as it could not be expected otherwise, of some of the experiences previously accumulated for many centuries, not as mere imitators, however, but as novel investigators who grasped the situation with open eyes and energetically applied themselves to a minute study of the bird's life-habits. By creating for their favorite its natural surroundings, by reserving to it vast spaces for movement and exercise, and by proper feeding and care-taking, above all, by sympathy and understanding, their success was permanently in- sured. Just because these simple farmers were simply human and humane, they achieved what was denied to the Egyptians, Romans, or Arabs with their vain con- ceit. The barbarous treatment which the poor bird had hitherto received from the hands of African savages 44 Field Museum of Natural History gave way to a charitable attitude and an enlightened method prompted by truly scientific research. The domesticated stocks of South Africa were pro- duced from captured wild chicks who, on reaching the age of maturity, were allowed to breed. Due to careful handling and selected breeding, the quality of the feathers has vastly improved. The following figures may illustrate the rapid progress made by the industry in South Africa since ostriches were first domesticated. In 1865 there were in South Africa 80 domesticated ostriches ; the weight of feathers exported in that year was 17,000 lbs., most of which were feathers of wild birds, valued at £65,000. Ten years later, in 1875, there were 32,000 domesticated birds, and the export of feathers amounted to 100,000 lbs., to the value of £300,000. In 1891 the number of domesticated birds had increased to 154,000 ; weight of feathers exported was 212,000 lbs., probably including a small amount of wild birds' feathers, to the value of £563,000. In 1904 there were 307,000 domesticated ostriches ; the export of feathers was 470,000 lbs., val- ued at £1,058,000. In 1908 a maximum of 700,000 domesticated ostriches was reached; the weight in feathers exported came to 800,000 lbs., valued at £2,098,000. In 1913 a million pounds of feathers were exported, valued at £2,750,000. There is, accordingly, the remarkable result that during a period of forty- eight years the industry has risen from an export value of £65,000 to £2,750,000 ; that is, an increase of 4130 per cent. In mediaeval Europe ostrich plumes decked the helmets of knights, later the hats of cavaliers, and the fashion came in again for a time at the Restoration. The fashion of the seventeenth century was dominated by a large felt hat decorated with ostrich plumes laid around the brim. Their natural beauty, particularly The Domestication of the Ostrich 46 the graceful curve taken toward the tip, has always had a strange fascination for the human heart. The feathers are now utilized for the decoration of ladies' hats, as well as for the making of fans and boas. For the latter the flue or soft portion of the feathers only, also damaged and inferior feathers, are used. The flue of inferior feathers serves also for padding clothes and quilts. The market, of course, is subject to fluctua- tions due to changes of fashion, but it is very unlikely that the demand for ostrich feathers will ever complete- ly die out. Each bird has twenty-five white plumes in each wing with a row of protectors, floss feathers under- neath. Above these are a row of black feathers and still another row of shorter ones which are black in the adult male and drab in the hen. The feathers are removed by clipping ; at the age of six months the birds receive their first clipping, and thereafter are clipped at inter- vals of nine months. The bird will continue to produce good feathers for practically an indefinite period. This method is perfectly humane, the bird does not receive any injury whatever. Feeding was found to have a very marked effect on the feather growth. This led to the pampering of the bird to such an extent that it is now fed on everything it desires. This method of hu- morizing its appetite has produced the best results. The fact that the highly-fed ostrich gave the greatest finan- cial return was the cause of erecting the majority of the largest irrigation-works undertaken in South Afri- ca. The return was so enormous that many irrigation- works which could not have been undertaken otherwise were carried out as paying propositions, and are at present a source of immense wealth to the country. The farmer of South Africa, as R. W. Thornton justly says, is under an inestimable debt of gratitude to the ostrich as being the means by which the best areas of arid land have been converted under irrigation into 46 Field Museum of Natural History highly productive fodder-producing areas, which, even if the industry were to fail, would be of incalculable value as fodder-producing areas for any class of farming. Experiments to introduce ostrich domestication into Algeria in 1881 were unsuccessful. Egypt has an ostrich farm near Matarieh north of Cairo. In view of the similar climatic and soil conditions of South Africa and Australia and considering the fact that the camel introduced in 1846 was rapidly accli- matized in Australia, it was suggested to naturalize there also the South African ostrich. Its breeding was started in 1880 in the southern part of the continent, but has thus far not been very successful. The statis- tics of the Australian Government for the year 1922 give the number of ostriches in the Commonwealth as 780, which is a small figure as compared, for instance, with 11,738 camels. Good results were attained on an ostrich farm near Christchurch in New Zealand. Near Buenos Ayres, in Montevideo, Argentina, and Patago- nia ostrich farms were also founded. I < THE OSTRICH IN AMERICA In 1882 Dr. Charles J. Sketchly, one of the greatest ostrich-farmers in South Africa, transported a troop of two hundred picked ostriches from Cape Town via Buenos Ayres to New York. From there the birds were forwarded by railroad via Chicago and Omaha to the Pacific coast, having covered a distance of 23,000 miles. Twenty-two arrived in California in fair condi- tion, and were at once taken to Anaheim. The Cali- fornia Ostrich Company was soon formed with a capital of $30,000, and Dr. Sketchly was made superintendent. The first year these birds resided in America they pre- sented the company from April to October with 270 eggs. At the same time the American Ostrich Company was organized in Maine with E. J. Johnson as manager. He went to Africa and spent there a year, studying the habits and management of the birds. He started with twenty-three of them and landed at New Orleans in December, 1884, after a voyage of fifty-three days, with all the birds alive, — a remarkable result, as the usual loss at sea is about 25 per cent. He settled in the valley of the San Luis Rey, about seven miles from the town of Fallbrook, north of San Diego, in southern California. The clear, dry air, the excellent water, and the shelter afforded by the Santa Rosa hills furnished suitable con- ditions for the establishment of an ostrich farm. The birds took kindly to their adopted home, and have thriven well, the old ones maintaining their natural vigor, and the American-born being at two years un- usually fine, both in size and quality of feathers. The breeding birds are kept paired in corrals of an acre in extent. Those one and two years old are left a range of some thirty acres on the mesa, while the young chicks are allowed to run with the other barnyard fowls. The 47 48 Field Museum op Natural History ostrich is now perfectly acclimatized in this country, and it is even asserted that the American birds are finer and larger than their African progenitors. Other farms soon followed, and are now estab- lished near Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Jose, Cali- fornia; Hot Springs, Arkansas; Jacksonville, Florida; Phoenix, Arizona, also in Oklahoma and Texas. Os- trich farming has developed into an industry of great importance. The scientist is gratified at the domestication of the ostrich, because it supplies the demands of the feather trade and will therefore lessen or ultimately stop the reckless slaughter of wild ostriches and, let us hope, also the killing of song-birds formerly sought for their feathers. It will enable us, further, to obtain an ac- curate account of the bird's life history and habits and to render it justice and correct the numerous errors to which the ill-founded fables of past centuries have sub- jected it. Until recent times it was believed, for in- stance, that the ostrich is polygamous and mates with from two to five or more females. A. Reichenow (1900) is the first who observed that the wild cock pairs only with a single hen, and I am inclined to assume that he is right ; for it has been found that the birds reared in captivity are monogamous, and it can hardly be sup- posed that the ostrich, perhaps under the influence of American environment, should have suddenly repented and changed from harem habits to a state of mono- gamy. Some years ago F. J. Haskin, after studying an ostrich farm near Los Angeles, reported, "The ostrich is abnormally finicky about mating. Some birds re- main determined bachelors all their lives, and every one chooses his mate only with great delay and caution. Usually it takes two or three years of earnest and pa- tient courtship on the part of the hen before she en- snares her prey. But once captured, the male ostrich is her devoted slave for life. He flutters anxiously The Domestication of the Ostrich 49 about her while she sits on the family eggs and takes up an unnecessarily combatant attitude, one deadly toe-nail raised for fight, whenever another bird or the keeper ventures within ten feet of her. If she dies, moreover, he remains a melancholy widower to the end of his days. When one of the males was widowed as a result of his wife getting her head caught in the fence, the keeper picked out the finest female in the flock and offered her as a substitute. She was in the pen just three seconds when the keeper had to risk his life to get her out. As it was, she received such a hard kick that she nearly died and had to be removed to the hos- pital pen. The hen has no such scruples when it comes to remarrying, and is polite, if not enthusiastic, to every suitor introduced to her. Once in a long while, also, a male bird is found who is not so sternly mono- gamous. There is one of this type at the farm who has condescended to espouse two wives. They call him 'Brigham Young'." Captivity has brought about a remarkable change in the attitude of the old birds toward their young. Whereas in the wild state they are good and tender parents, they apparently do not recognize the young bred at the farms under the incubator system. They cherish no affection for their offspring which has thus not been hatched or raised by them, and their impulse usually is to kill the young on sight. What is said in the book of Job about the ostrich's want of regard for its young now sounds like a true prophecy. Pliny, how- ever, if he could come back to life and would visit one of our ostrich farms, would doubtless offer an apology for his somewhat hasty verdict. Civilization, after all, advances: from a mercilessly persecuted and tor- mented creature we have transformed the ostrich into a happy and contented bird and an eminently useful denizen of our soil. The domestication of the ostrich is a positive contribution to the progress of humanity and 50 Field Museum op Natural History humaneness, and may be designated one of the great achievements of modern civilization of which the Afri- cander may justly be proud and for which we have every reason to be grateful to him. B. Laufer. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES Only articles which might prove of interest to the general reader are listed here. Caruthers, D. — The Arabian Ostrich. Ibis, 1922, pp. 471-474. Douglas, A. — Ostrich-farming in South Africa. Ibis, 1906, pp. 46-52. Dueroen, J. E. — The Domesticated Ostrich in South Africa. Re- port of the South African Association for the Advancement of Science, Vol. vi, 1909, pp. 155-161. The Plumages of the Ostrich. Smithsonian Annual Report for 1910, pp. 561-571. 8 plates. Some Results of Ostrich Investigations. Report of the Sixteenth Annual Meeting of the South African Association for the Advancement of Science, 1918, pp. 247-284. Duncan, T. C. — Ostrich Farming in America. Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture, U. S. Department of Agricul- ture, 1888, pp. 685-702. Pearson, T. G. — The Ostrich as a Protector of Wild Birds. The Craftsman, Vol. xxv, 1913-14, pp. 470-476. Prater, S. H. — The Arabian Ostrich. In: A Survey of the Fauna of Iraq. Made by Members of the Mesopotamia Ex- peditionary Force "D" 1915-19. Bombay, 1923, pp. 43-46. Schalow, H. — Beitrage zur Oologie der recenten Ratiten. Jour- nal fur Ornithologie, 1894, pp. 1-28. Thornton, R. W. — The Ostrich Feather Industry in South Afri- ca. The South African Journal of Science, Pretoria, Vol. XII, 1916, pp. 272-279.