Ostrogoths

“ The provinces of the Danube had been already relieved from the oppressive weight of the Gruthungi, or Ostrogoths, by the voluntary retreat of Alatheus and Saphrax, whose restless spirit had prompted them to seek new scenes of rapine and glory. Their destructive course was pointed towards the West; but we must be satisfied with a very obscure and imperfect knowledge of their various adventures. The Ostrogoths impelled several of the German tribes on the provinces of Gaul; concluded, and soon violated, a treaty with the emperor Gratian; advanced into the unknown countries of the North ”

“ These starving troops of the Black forests and White seas, themselves half wolf, half drift-wood, (as we once called ourselves
Lion-hearts, and Oak-hearts, so they) , merciless as the herded hound, enduring as the wild birch-tree and pine. You will hear of few beside them for five centuries yet to come: Visigoths, west of Vistula;—Ostrogoths, east of Vistula ”

“ Theodoric started for Italy, not only with a great army, but with all the people of his country. He meant to take Italy and be its king and settle in it with all his Ostrogoths. When he set out he had with him two hundred and fifty thousand persons—men, women, and children—with a great number of horses and wagons to carry them and their things. He had also an army of sixty thousand brave soldiers. ”

“ To the influence of these Asian Christians, exerted mainly, if not entirely upon the Ostrogoths, must be added the ever-increasing intercourse carried on by sea between the Crimea and both the southern shore of the Euxine and Constantinople. To these probabilities has now to be added the fact that the only traces of an organised Gothic Church existing before the year 341 are clearly to be referred to a community in this neighbourhood. ”

“ When Theodoric was a boy he was given as a hostage for his father's good faith in carrying out a treaty with the Emperor and was sent to Constantinople to live. Here the youth was well treated by Leo. He was educated with great care and trained in all the exercises of war.
Theodemir died in 475, and then Theodoric returned to his own country and became king of the Ostrogoths. At this time he was eighteen years of age. He was handsome and brave and people loved him, for in those days a man who was tall and strong and brave was liked by everybody. ”

“ Several of these movements were due, without doubt, to pressure from the Huns, an eastern people who had conquered many Teutonic tribes and established the centre of their power in Hungary. Their empire, however, speedily broke up after the death of their king Attila in 453. The chief events of the latter part of the century were the conquest of the eastern part of Britain by the Angli, the invasion of Italy by the Ostrogoths and the complete subjugation of northern Gaul by the Franks. ”

“ Although the Ostrich, like many other inhabitants of the desert, can live for a long time without water, yet it is forced to drink, and like the camel, which it resembles in so many of its ways, drinks enormously, taking in the water by a succession of gulps. When the weather has been exceptionally hot, the Ostrich visits the water-springs daily, and is so occupied in quenching its thirst that it will allow the hunter to come within a very short distance. ”

“ The Ostrich stands about eight feet high, being the largest of existing birds; it frequents sandy wastes and dry arid localities, such as are found in the Sahara and the plains and valleys of Southern Africa, while districts studded with low bushes are not unfrequently tenanted. Though the fable of the head being hidden to avoid detection is of course devoid of foundation, this species is timid and wild in its native haunts, and being keen-sighted as well as wary, gives an impression of great restlessness. ”

“ The skin they fix on one of their sides, and carry the head and neck in one of their hands, while the other holds the bow and arrows. In this disguise—of course with the feathered side of him presented to the bird or beast he would get near to—he walks along, pecking with the head at the bushes, and imitating the motions of the ostrich. By this stratagem he very often is enabled to get within shot of the other ostriches, or the quaggas and gnoos which consort with these birds. ”

“ These consist entirely of living species; but, in the first place, the common eatable oyster is among them, attaining its full size, whereas the same Ostrea edulis cannot live at present in the brackish waters of the Baltic except near its entrance, where, when ever a north-westerly gale prevails, a current setting in from the ocean pours in a great body of salt water. Yet it seems that during the whole time of the accumulation of the 'shell-mounds' the oyster flourished in places from which it is now excluded. ”

“ Ostrich.
Africa is still, as in ancient days, the continent in which the ostrich chiefly flourishes. There it appears to inhabit every waste sufficiently extensive to afford it the solitude it loves. Yet even there it has to contend with the many species of carnivore which prey upon its eggs and young—the latter especially, and H. Lichtenstein long ago remarked [3] that if it were not for its numerous enemies “the multiplication of ostriches would be quite unexampled.” ”

“ Or American Ostrich, is about half as big as the African species. It has its head covered with feathers, and each of its feet consists of three toes. It is found on the great plains of South America, and, like the African Ostrich,{341} is polygamous, but the curious part of the matter is that the females often lay their eggs almost anywhere on the ground, and the male takes the trouble of collecting them into a sort of nest, and sitting on them until the young birds are hatched. When thus occupied, the males often become very fierce, and will attack any one that approaches them too closely. ”

“ The Ostrich, which the Arabians call Naama, is a wild Bird of the Shape of a Goose, but much bigger than that; it is very high upon its Legs, and has a Neck of more than four or five Spans long: The Body is very gross, and in its Wings and Tail it has large Feathers black and white (like those of the Stork) and some grey; it cannot fly, but it runs very fast; in which it is much assisted by the Motion of its Wings and Tail: And when it runs, it wounds itself with the Spurs which it has on its Legs. ”

“ The country we now traversed began to differ essentially from the regions I had hitherto passed through. The monotonous alternation of plains and ravines gave way to a not less monotonous succession of soft swells or undulations. The height of the crests of these undulations was about twenty feet, and the soil which covered them, judging from the appearance of the grass, seemed of a more fertile nature than that of the country farther north. As yet, however, there was no appearance of any new species of bush. Occasionally an ostrich would start up at our approach ”

“ This ostrog is three hundred wersts from Poustaretsk, and is situated upon an eminence near the sea coast, and at the mouth of the river Pengina. It contains a great number of balagans and twelve yourts, all of them very large, and built in a similar manner to those I have already described. Though very near to one another, these habitations occupy a considerable space of ground. The palisades which surround them are fortified with spears, bows and arrows, and musquets. ”

“ I must learn. That is what I want to tell you, Ostrog. I do not want to be King in a Pleasure City; that is not my pleasure. I have spent enough time with aeronautics—and those other things. I must learn how people live now, how the common life has developed. Then I shall understand these things better. I must learn how common people live—the labour people more especially—how they work, marry, bear children, die—”
“You get that from our realistic novelists,” suggested Ostrog, suddenly preoccupied.
“I want reality,” said Graham.
“There are difficulties,” said Ostrog, and thought. ”

“ She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers; her labor is in vain without fear; because God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her understanding.” The Ostrich lays from thirty to fifty eggs, not placed, like those of some other birds, upon trees, or in the clefts of rocks, but in the sand, forgetting the danger to which they are exposed from the feet of travellers or wild beasts. On the most trivial occasion, she forsakes her eggs, or her young ones, to which, perhaps, she never returns ”

“ And the ostrich answered, "Yes, I will." At dawn they flew away, first up towards the sun, higher and higher, the ostrich far before the others. It flew on in its pride up towards the light; it relied upon its own strength, not upon the Giver of that strength; it did not say, "God willing." Then the avenging angel drew aside the veil from the streaming flames, and in that moment the bird's wings were burnt, and he sank in wretchedness to the earth. Neither he nor his species were ever afterwards able to raise themselves up in the air. They fly timidly—hurry along in a narrow space ”

“ The breast-bone of the Ostrich is of great thickness and strength, and of course keelless. Its lower edge has a hard pad, which must be useful to this heavy, long-legged bird when it bumps down to the recumbent position. It is obvious that the great weight and speed of the Ostrich, and its liability to collide against objects on the ground over which, when frightened, it makes its headlong indiscriminate way, would need that it be protected in front. ”

“ The ostrich-tracks present a numerous natural and most remarkable group; remarkable from the great size of some species,—all of them tridactylous and pachydactylous. The ostrich of the Old World has only two toes, but this family exists in South America at the present time under the name of Rhea Americana; and tracks of an animal, probably of the same family, are found in the numerous impressions near Connecticut River,—all of them having three toes in front, and the rudiment of a fourth behind. ”

“ The ostrich of Southern Patagonia (Rhea Darwinii) is smaller than the 'Avestruz moro' (Rhea Americana) , as the species which frequents the country near the River Negro is called by the natives. The colour of its plumage is brown, the feathers being tipped with white, whereas the moro, as its name indicates, is uniformly grey. The R. Darwinii are extremely shy birds, and as their vision is remarkably acute, it is by no means an easy matter to catch them, unless one has very swift dogs to hunt with. ”

“ How indeed could an animal so remarkably large, and so wonderfully prolific, and peculiarly suited to the climate as is the ostrich, remain unknown in Africa, and part of Asia, countries peopled from the earliest ages, full of deserts indeed, but where there is not a spot which has not been traversed by the foot of man? The family of the ostrich, therefore, is of great antiquity. Nor in the course of ages has it varied or degenerated from its native purity. It has always remained on its paternal estate; and its lustre has been transmitted unsullied by foreign intercourse. ”

“ Talking of the ostrich's food-passage, it is rather a curious sight to watch the progress of a large bone, or of a good beakful of mealies, as it travels down the long throat of the bird. During its journey, the large, slowly-moving lump is seen to make the circuit of the whole neck, and while passing round the back of the latter it looks comical indeed. Queer things sometimes find their way down this tortuous passage ”

“ The flesh of the young ostrich is very palatable, but that of an old bird is rather tough and rank. Their eggs, however, are esteemed a delicacy, though some think them heavy.
The voice of the ostrich under ordinary circumstances is a deep sonorous chuckle, though at times it gives out a roar resembling that of the lion. When wounded or brought to bay, it hisses like an enraged gander.
So much for the ostrich; and now Hans proceeded, as he had promised, to say a word or two about its relatives. ”

“ What are the people doing? Why is Ostrog left there? Why is he not captured? They will lift him—the monoplane will lift him! Ah!"
The exclamation was echoed by a shout from the ruins. The rattling sound of the green weapons drifted across the intervening gulf to Graham, and, looking down, he saw a number of black and yellow uniforms running along one of the galleries that lay open to the air below the promontory upon which Ostrog stood. They fired as they ran at men unseen, and then emerged a number of pale-blue figures in pursuit. These minute fighting figures had the oddest effect ”

“ In the plains that stretch from lat. 40° to 53° S., and from the sea-coast to the Cordilleras, the ostrich and the guanaco roam in immense numbers, their procreativeness being such as to more than neutralise the ravages caused among them by their numerous enemies, such as the Indians, the pumas, and the foxes. The Patagonian ostrich is much smaller than his African cousin, and the feathers are not nearly so valuable, the price usually paid for them at Sandy Point being from $1 to $2 per lb. The trade of the ostrich-hunter is not, therefore, very lucrative ”

“ In running it carries its neck stretched forward almost horizontally, which makes it seem lower in stature than the allied species,—hence the vernacular name of “short Ostrich.” It is found in flocks of from three or four to thirty or more individuals. It begins to lay at the end of July, that is a month before the Rhea americana. Several females lay in one nest, which is merely a slight depression lined with a little dry rubbish; as many as fifty eggs are sometimes found in one nest. A great many wasted or huacho eggs, as they are called, are also found at a distance from the nest. ”