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The work done in Algiers

Take a colt of three or 4 years & feed it on
ryebarley & strawpig cut in the manner one feeds horses in
Spain, and water it with good fountain or river
water. I do not know if it would be good to water it
occasionally with water of sulfurous baths, & to sometimes
give it fenugreek or other hot foods, for the intention
of the worker is to it to use the heat of its
dung, & the climate here is cooler than that of
Algiers. Keep it in a warm & close place &
so that none of its dung & urine should be lost, of
which you will make a heap or two in order that while one cools, the
other will be at the appropriate heat to continue. Also take a large
glass mattras, as thick as you can, & one
finger thick if it can be done, & of the
capacity of one pitcher or earthen
jug. Around the feast of St John, put into
it a dozen & a half chicken eggs, that is to say, the
yolk without the glair & the germ (see). Others
say lx yolks. And it will be with this dozen & a
half egg yolks put in half an ounce (others say for lx
eggshalf a lb) of female silkworm
seeds. And after having thoroughly luted the
mattras (I do not know if there needs to be air for the
generation), put it & bury it in the heat of the dung up to
the neck, and leave it there until several fworms are engendered. And then remove the mattras
& do not bury it in the dung any longer, but only keep it
placed on the hot layer of the dung
until all the worms will have eaten & consumed one
d another, bustling & stirring, and only one
remains. When this is the case you need to feed it at regular
intervals, day & night, with the aid of two men, who by
intervals will take care of it, and you will feed it with an egg
yolk covered with a gold leaf, or with a liquid egg
yolk with the gold leaf incorporated; & take good care
that it does not want for such food (some say one egg yolk per
hour, others three, but the thing itself will demonstrate the
practice). Nourished in this way it will achieve its growth in two
months or seven weeks & will become like a
snake, one empan & 4
fingers long, & one lb in weight, and as
the wings begin to arise on it, one will need to make it die, doing so
with a charcoal fire in a ring around the bottle one
empan distant from it, and then stopper &
lute the bottle well in order that it does not
exhale.

