there been more, the world could hardly have maintained itself
against them. The act of copulation occurs but once in seventy
years between them, for God has so ordered it that the male and
female reem are at opposite ends of the earth, the one in the
east, the other in the west. The act of copulation results in the
death of the male. He is bitten by the female and dies of the
bite. The female becomes pregnant and remains in this state for
no less than twelve years. At the end of this long period she
gives birth to twins, a male and a female. The year preceding her
delivery she is not able to move. She would die of hunger, were
it not that her own spittle flowing copiously from her mouth
waters and fructifies the earth near her, and causes it to bring
forth enough for her maintenance. For a whole year the animal can
but roll from side to side, until finally her belly bursts, and
the twins issue forth. Their appearance is thus the signal for
the death of the mother reem. She makes room for the new
generation, which in turn is destined to suffer the same fate as
the generation that went before. Immediately after birth, the one
goes eastward and the other westward, to meet only after the
lapse of seventy years, propagate themselves, and perish.[144] A
traveller who once saw a reem one day old described its height to
be four parasangs, and the length of its head one parasang and a
half.[145] Its horns measure one hundred ells, and their height
is a great deal more.[146]

One of the most remarkable creatures is the "man of the
mountain," Adne Sadeh, or, briefly, Adam.[147] His form is
exactly that of a human being, but he is fastened to the ground
by means of a navel-string, upon which his life depends. The cord
once snapped, he dies. This animal keeps himself alive with what