How people used to travel the world

NOTE 5.–The Burmese kings used to have the odoriferous _Durian_
transmitted by horse-posts from Tenasserim to Ava. But the most notable
example of the rapid transmission of such dainties, and the nearest
approach I know of to their despatch by telegraph, was that practised for
the benefit of the Fatimite Khalif Aziz (latter part of 10th century), who
had a great desire for a dish of cherries of Balbek. The Wazir Yakub
ben-Kilis caused six hundred pigeons to be despatched from Balbek to Cairo,
each of which carried attached to either leg a small silk bag containing a
cherry! (_Quat. Makrizi_, IV. 118.)