Page:Researches into the Early History of Mankind and the Development of Civilization.djvu/329

Rh iron spear on the top of a pine tree, and the bird alighted there, and skewered itself upon the lance.

Adolf Erman connects with much plausibility the well-known rukh of the Arabian Nights, and the griffin of Herodotus, with the tales of monstrous birds current in the gold-producing regions of Siberia; and he even suggests the remark that gold-bearing sand really underlies the beds which contain these fossil "birds' claws" as an explanation of the passage, "it is said that the Arimaspi, one-eyed men, seize (the gold) from underneath the griffins". At about the same time as Herodotus, Ctesias brings out more fully the familiar figure of the griffin. "There is also gold," he says, "in the Indian country, not found in the streams and washed, as in the river Pactolus; but there are many and great mountains, wherein dwell the griffins, four-footed birds of the greatness of the wolf, but with legs and claws like lions. The feathers on the rest of their bodies are black, but red on the breast. Through them it is that the gold in the mountains, though plentiful, is most difficult to get." That the Siberian myths of monstrous birds have passed into the mediæval notions of the griffins admits of no question whatever. Albertus Magnus describes them as quadrupeds, with birds' beaks and wings; they dwell in Scythia, and possess the gold, and silver, and precious stones. The Arimaspi fight with them. In its nest the griffin lays the agate for its help and medicine. It is hostile to men and horses: it has long claws, which are made into goblets; they are as big as ox-horns, as indeed the creature itself is bigger than eight lions; of its feathers are made strong bows, arrows, and lances. With regard to this description, it is to be observed that the horns, cut in slices, are really used for plating bows; but the bird's quills, as they are still considered to be in the country where they are found, are the leg-bones of other animals. The rhinoceros horns, supposed to be griffins' claws, were mounted in gold and silver in Europe