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  The people of this island report that at a certain season of the year, an extraordinary giant bird, which they call a Rukh, makes an appearance in the southern regions. The Grand Khan having heard this extraordinary relation, sent messengers to the island to enquire about these curious matters.

  Marco Polo’s account of Madagascar was written in 1294 after his return by ship via the Indies and the coast of Africa from the court of the Great Khan. Arab traders had for centuries before Europeans traded along the coast of Africa and long believed Madagascar to be the home of this legendary giant Rukh or Roc. Anyone familiar with the stories of Sinbad and Aladdin from the Thousand and One Nights was acquainted with this extraordinary bird; but its celebrity is not confined to that work.

  “Rukh,” says one Arabic and Persian Dictionary, “is the name of a monstrous bird, which is said to have powers sufficient to carry off a live rhinoceros.” Its existence seems to have been universally credited in the East; and those Arabian navigators with whom Marco Polo conversed did not hesitate to attest to its existence.

  However, it was not until 1866 that a complete skeleton of this bird was discovered. And it was not until then that the bird’s size was calculated. It may have not been the size of the mythical Roc, but with a height of ten feet and weight of half a ton, it was certainly the largest and heaviest bird to ever walk the earth.

  The name Elephant Bird seems somewhat peculiar, as Madagascar has never had an indigenous elephant population. It does serve to indicate the bird’s huge size, or perhaps is a reference to Sinbad’s legend, wherein it was so large it was capable of carrying off elephants. Its scientific name, Aepyornis, means “tall or lofty bird.”

  Sieur Etienne de Flacourt – 1658

  History of the Great Island of Madagascar

  The Vouron Patra is a giant bird that lives in the country of the Amphrates people in the south of Madagascar. The great eggs of these birds are used to store water. So that people of these places may not catch it, the Vouron Patra seeks the loneliest places.

  France took possession of Madagascar in 1642, and Flacourt was the island’s first governor and a keen naturalist. Shortly after completing his History, Flacourt was killed by Algerian pirates while on a return voyage to France, and there were no other written accounts of this bird for nearly two centuries.

  Then, in 1832, Victor Sganzin, a French artillery officer stationed in Madagascar, found one native family using as a water bowl half an eggshell a foot in diameter. Upon querying, he was told that such eggs were quite common in certain parts of the island. Sganzin purchased the egg and sent it to Jules Verreaux, a French collector of curiosities in Cape Town. Verreaux excitedly sailed for Paris with his discovery. Sadly, a terrible storm struck and Verreaux, the ship and the Roc’s egg all sank beneath the waves.

  The Elephant Bird’s egg is the largest that any egg could possibly grow. It is estimated that any egg larger would have to have a shell so thick that it could not be broken by a hatching chick. Over the last century a considerable number of these eggs have been discovered, the largest measuring a metre in circumference with a fluid capacity of two imperial gallons – equal to 200 chicken eggs, or three times the size of the largest dinosaur eggs.

  Ship Surgeon John Joliffe – 1848

  Voyage to the Spice Islands, Indian Ocean

  Monsieur Dumarele, a merchant of Reunion, spoke of having seen at Port Leven the shell of an enormous egg, the production of an unknown bird inhabiting the wilds of the country, which held the almost incredible quantity of thirteen wine quart bottles of fluid!!! He having himself carefully measured the quantity. Dumarele offered to purchase the egg from the natives, but they declined selling it, stating that it belonged to their chief, and that they could not dispose of it without his permission. The natives said that the egg was found in the jungle, and observed that such eggs were very rarely met with, and that the bird which produces them is still more rarely seen.

  John Joliffe was the surgeon on a British ship that stopped in Madagascar in 1848, where he was befriended by Dumarele, a trader from Reunion, who traded extensively along the Madagascar coast. Joliffe was somewhat sceptical, but reported his account to the British ornithologist, Hugh Strickland. Lacking physical evidence, Strickland replied: “The sight of one sound egg would be worth a thousand theories.”

  Two years later, in 1850, an awe-struck Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, the director of the Paris Zoo, received not one, but three “sound eggs” along with a crate of massive bones of this bird. These were collected by Captain Abadie, master of a French merchant ship recently returned from Madagascar. The largest measured approximately 13" by 16" in diameter and had a fluid capacity of nine litres.

  Arab and Malay settlers came to settle Madagascar about a millennium before the French, and began to cut down its virgin forest and invade the nesting grounds that once were the sandy shores of Madagascar. When the final blow fell – whether by gun, spear or fire – is not known, although by 1700 the Elephant Bird was almost certainly extinct.

  The discovery of Elephant Bird eggs in the late 19th century prompted H. G. Wells to write a little-known pre-Jurassic Park short story entitled “Aepyornis Island.”

  THE RUKH’S EGG

  Elephant Bird or Rukh – 1700

  1.

  O Kings of the Ages – what deeds have been done?

  What taboos broken and whirlwinds unleashed?

  For Alá al-Din’s wish to possess the Rukh’s Egg

  The mighty Slave of the Lamp turned

  On his Master with the threat of annihilation:

  “O Ignorant Man, Know ye not what ye ask?

  Know ye not from its outward form

  What is held within the Rukh’s Egg?

  For this wish I should slaughter you!”

  And then came the Destroyer of Worlds,

  The Plunderer of Palaces, the Despoiler of Cities.

  2.

  And yet, for all else the great Jin

  Answered Alá al-Din, with a flourish:

  “To hear is to obey!”

  In a single night, the Slave of the Lamp

  Raised a grand pavilion all built of alabaster,

  Of Sumaki-marble, of jasper and jet and jade.

  And beneath the great dome was a belvedere

  With the latticed casements of four and twenty windows

  Glazed and glittering with rubies and with emeralds.

  And therein, Alá al-Din was placed upon a golden throne

  And guarded by mamuluks and eunuchs

  And served by handmaids and dancers

  And eight and forty slave girls.

  And all were covered in raiments of silk

  And gold brocades and or frayed cloths

  Embroidered with pearls and precious gems

  Lit with candles of camphor and ambergris

  And filled with the sounding of trumpets

  And beating of kettle drums.

  But all this ended with Alá al-Din’s fatal wish.

  For at that utterance, from the abyss a voice thundered:

  “By Allah, ye deserve that I reduce you to ashes

  This very moment and scatter you upon the wind.

  “Better ye wish to hang the mother of the Prophet

  From the pavilion dome.”

  3.

  Once prized above all things,

  What was the meaning of the Rukh’s Egg?

  What made it the one great taboo?

  Like Alá al-Din, we are still unknowing

  Of its inner from its outer significance.

  What was the secret of this talisman

  Known only to the Wise?

  What is here to be discovered?

  What fatal prophecy is to be revealed?

  The Rukh’s Egg is like a planet unto itself,

  But bone white, barren as the moon

  And now hollow, bereft of all life:

  Vision of our world to come.

  LA GRANDE CARAPACE

  T
HIRD WATCH 8 A. M. PRIME

  MAURITIAN GIANT TORTOISES – 1700

  Cylindraspis inepta; Cylindraspis trisserata

  Sir Thomas Herbert – 1630

  Some Yeares Travaile, Mauritius

  The Ile has no humane inhabitants. Those creatures that possesse it, have it on condition to pay tribute to such ships as famine, or foule weather force to anchor there. Here are land Tortoyses so great that they will creepe with two men’s burthen, and serve more for sport than service or solemne Banquet.

  Sir Thomas Herbert, who gave us the first descriptions of the Dodo in English, also wrote this early account of the similarly doomed Mauritius Giant Tortoises. There were two species of giant tortoise on Mauritius, but sadly Herbert was quite wrong about them being unpalatable. The French and Portuguese slaughtered tens of thousands for meat for their crews on their Indian Ocean ships. On Mauritius, one Abbé Pengré noted that, while on the island, his diet consisted entirely of “soupe de tortue, tortue enficasee, tortes en doube, tortue en godiveau, oeufs de tortue, foie de tortue, tells etaient Presque nos unique ragouts.” Predictably, both species soon became extinct.

  Curiously, after his return to England, Sir Thomas Herbert became embroiled in the civil war (on the side of Cromwell), and found himself watching over another endangered species: the British monarchy. Herbert was appointed servant and jailer to the imprisoned Charles I. During the King’s last months, Herbert was the monarch’s sole attendant, and accompanied the King to the scaffold. Later, after the phoenix-like resurrection of the monarchy, Herbert was made a baronet by Charles II for his kindness toward Charles I, and wrote his compassionate Threnodia Carolina – Last Days of Charles I. The Threnodia was published in 1678, a date that almost exactly coincides with the extinction of Herbert’s Dodo, and is within two decades of the same fate befalling the Mauritius Tortoises.

  REUNION GIANT TORTOISES – 1773

  Cylindraspis indica; Cylindraspis borboica

  Marquis Henri Du Quesne – 1689

  Memoire – Projet de Republique a L’ile Eden, Reunion

  There are vast numbers of Tortoises: their flesh is very delicate and the fat better than butter or the best oil, for all kinds of sauces which is also a good remedy for many ills. The biggest ones can carry a man with greater ease than a man can carry them. Each animal usually makes two pots of oil and twenty people can be fed from one of these turtles.

  Here the Marquis Henri Du Quesne writes glowingly of one of the many bounteous natural treasures awaiting colonists he is commissioned to transport to the L’ile Eden – or Reunion – the largest of the three Mascarene islands. As on Mauritius, the two species of Giant Tortoise on Reunion were slaughtered in the thousands to supply meat for traders.

  However, this new Eden for the exiled and endangered Huguenots failed. In fact, Du Quesne was the naval commander of the frigate La Hirondelle, whom Francois Leguat accuses of abandoning the colonists (including himself) on the uninhabited Rodriguez.

  To give some idea of the number of giant tortoises once inhabiting these islands, it should be observed that in the widely scattered array of islands in the Seychelles Group, there is the tiny islet of Aldabra Atoll. Measuring less than eighteen by seven miles (most of which is a lagoon), it was inhabited by over one hundred thousand tortoises. Uninhabited by humans and without a safe harbour or sufficient fresh water, Aldabra was the habitat of the only surviving species of Indian Ocean Tortoise (Aldabrachelys gigantean).

  RODRIGUEZ GIANT TORTOISES – 1800

  Cylindraspis vosmaeri; Cylindraspis peltastes

  Francois Leguat of Bresse – 1708

  A New Voyage to the East Indies, Rodriguez

  There are such plenty of Land Turtles on this Isle, that sometimes you see 2-3000 of them in a Flock; so that you can go above a hundred paces on their backs without setting foot on the ground. They meet together in the evening in shady places, and lie so close, that one would think those spots were paved with them.… We all unanimously agreed ’twas better than the best Butter in Europe. To anoint one’s self with this Oil is an excellent Remedy for Surfeits, Colds, Cramps, and several other Distempers. The Liver of the animal is extraordinarily delicate, ’tis so Delicious that one may say of it, it always carries its own Sauce with it, dress it how you will.

  During the reign of Louis XIV, Francois Leguat was forced to flee to Holland, where, in 1691, along with other Huguenots, he was persuaded to establish a new Protestant Colony in the “New Eden” of Reunion. They were promised two ships, but instead were deserted on Rodriguez.

  In 1693, after two years as the only inhabitants on an island 40 miles square, they built a boat and sailed to Mauritius, where they were imprisoned before they escaped to Batavia, where they were once again imprisoned. When finally released by the Dutch after seven years, Leguat and two others were the only survivors of L’ile Eden.

  Mahé de Labourdonnais – 1730

  French East India Company Decree , Rodriguez

  All ship’s captains must be forbidden to send out their boats to collect tortoises without informing the island commandants and stating the numbers they require.

  Though pirates and occasional Dutch naval ships had been taking tortoises from Rodriguez for some time, it was not until Leguat’s memoirs were published in 1708 that the island came to be regarded as a meat reservoir for the French and English navies. By 1730, Reunion Tortoises were becoming scarce and the Mauritian herds had entirely vanished. This decree was made – not so much to preserve the island tortoises – as to attempt to enforce a monopoly on their harvesting. In any case, the decree was ignored and the tortoise populations continued to rapidly plummet.

  Rodriguez was later re-colonized by the Mauritius governor Mahé de Labourdonnais with a small group of soldiers, lascars and slaves who were required to gather live tortoises. They sent 10,000 tortoises off annually. Some shiploads were of 6,000 tortoises and on several occasions three quarters of the cargo perished. The last big haul was in January 1768 when L’Heureux took off 1215 “carosses” (the largest size tortoises).

  In 1791, the last overseer, Jean de Valgny, died on Rodriguez, a virtual castaway dependent for food for himself and two slaves largely on the generosity of visiting ships. For the tortoises were gone and, with them, went France’s interest in Rodriguez. The last tortoises ever seen were two down at the bottom of an inaccessible ravine in 1795.

  MARION’S GIANT TORTOISE – 1929 Cylindraspis sumeri

  Albert Gunther – 1875

  Letter to The Times, London

  As to the origin of the large tortoise – known as Marion’s Tortoise – living in Mauritius… I am afraid positive evidence will be obtained only when, after the death of the animal, the bones can be compared with those of the other Mascarene tortoises. But I trust that great care will be taken in prolonging the existence of one of the oldest terrestrial creatures and, probably, the last of its race.

  Marion’s Tortoise was named after Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne who was a renowned naval officer, trader and explorer. In 1766, the Chevalier Marion brought this captive tortoise from Reunion to Mauritius. There in Port Louis the captain served as harbour master, and upon his departure, placed the tortoise in the care of the French Garrison. Marion’s Tortoise remained there until 1810, when the British bombarded Port Louis and forced a French surrender. During the attack, Marion’s Tortoise was wounded – scarring its shell – but fortunately recovered to serve as the British Royal Artillery mascot for another half century before it came to the attention of Albert Gunther of the zoology department of the British Museum through correspondence with Captain Samuel Pasfield Oliver who served as an artillery officer on Mauritius.

  In the months following his letter to The Times, Albert Gunther received photographs and numerous reliable accounts that proved beyond doubt that Marion’s Tortoise was indeed the last living Mascarene Tortoise – and probably the only one still living after 1800. It was largely due to Gunther’s persistence in gathering the publi
c support of Walter Baron Rothschild, Sir Joseph Hooker, Richard Owen and Charles Darwin that any Giant Land Tortoises elsewhere in the world survived into the twentieth century.

  Marion’s Tortoise lived on as the Royal Artillery mascot until 1929, when he died as the result of a fall down a well. He had been in captivity for 163 years. His actual age is unknown, but as he was brought to Mauritius as a large mature adult, he must have survived for at least two entire centuries.

  METHUSELAH’S TURTLE

  Marion’s Giant Tortoise – 1929

  In the year 1929, Marion’s Tortoise

  Suffered a fatal fall

  He was two hundred years old

  If he was a day, when he toppled

  From the Mauritian garrison’s parapet

  Who among us could imagine

  What it was like?

  Death is before me today

  Like the sweet scent of myrrh

  Rising from a thorn tree in the desert

  In 1766, a decade before the American Revolution –

  Already full-grown and the last of his race –

  He was brought from the Isle of Rodriguez

  To the garrison by the Chevalier de Marion

  He outlived the last of the Bourbon Kings,

  The Emperor Napoleon on his lonely isle,

  Bismarck, and Queen Victoria

  He kept an even keel

  Even as the Titanic turned turtle