is not much larger than a sparrow; its colour is blue and green, and
somewhat purple; its whole body is composed of these colours as well as
the wings and neck, nor is any part without every one of these colours.
Its bill is somewhat yellow, long and slight; this is its external form.
Its nest resembles the marine balls which are called halosachnæ
(_probably a Zoophyte_, Alcyonia) except in colour, for they are red; in
form it resembles those sicyæ (cucumbers) which have long necks; its
size is that of a very large sponge, for some are greater, others less.
They are covered up, and have a thick solid part, as well as the cavity;
it is not easily cut with a sharp knife, but, when struck or broken with
the hand, it divides readily like the halosachnæ. The mouth is narrow,
as it were a small entrance, so that the sea water cannot enter, even if
the Sea is rough: its cavity is like that of the Sponge. The material of
which the nest is composed is disputed, but it appears to be principally
composed of the spines of the _belone_, for the bird lives on fish.”
Pliny says:--“It is a thing of very rare occurrence to see a halcyon,
and then it is only about the time of the setting of the Vergiliæ, and
the summer and winter solstices; when one is sometimes to be seen to
hover about a ship, and then immediately disappear. They hatch their
young at the time of the winter solstice, from which circumstance those
days are known as the ‘halcyon days;’ during this period the sea is calm
and navigable, the Sicilian sea in particular.”
“Halcyon days” is used proverbially, but the Kingfisher had another
very useful trait. If a dead Kingfisher were hung up by a cord, it would
point its beak to the quarter whence the wind blew. Shakespeare mentions
this property in _King Lear_ (ii. 1):--
“Turn their halcyon beaks
With every gale and vary of their masters.”
And Marlowe, in his _Jew of Malta_ (i. 1):--
“But now, how stands the wind?
Into what corner peers my halcyon bill?”
THE PELICAN.
[Illustration]
The fable of the Pelican “in her piety, vulning herself,” as it is
heraldically described--is so well known, as hardly to be worth
mentioning, even to contradict it. In the first place, the heraldic bird
is as unlike the real one, as it is possible to be; but the legend seems
to have had its origin in Egypt, where the vulture was credited with
this extraordinary behaviour, and this bird is decidedly more in
accordance with the heraldic ideal. Du Bartas, singing of “Charitable
birds,” praises equally the Stork and the Pelican:--
“The _Stork_, still eyeing her deer _Thessalie_,
The _Pelican_ comforteth cheerfully:
Prayse-worthy Payer; which pure examples yield
Of faithfull Father, and Officious Childe:
Th’ one quites (in time) her Parents love exceeding,
From whom shee had her birth and tender breeding;
Not onely brooding under her warm brest
Their age-chill’d bodies bed-rid in the nest;
Nor only bearing them upon her back
Through th’ empty Aire, when their own wings they lack;
But also, sparing (This let Children note)
Her daintiest food from her own hungry throat,
To feed at home her feeble Parents, held
From forraging, with heavy Gyves of Eld.
The other, kindly, for her tender Brood
Tears her own bowells, trilleth-out her blood,
To heal her young, and in a wondrous sort,
Unto her Children doth her life transport:
For finding them by som fell Serpent slain,
She rends her brest, and doth upon them rain
Her vitall humour; whence recovering heat,
They by her death, another life do get.”
THE TROCHILUS.
This bird, as described by Aristotle, and others, is of a peculiar turn
of mind:--“When the Crocodile gapes, the trochilus flies into its mouth
to cleanse its teeth; in this process the trochilus procures food, and
the other perceives it, and does not injure it; when the Crocodile
wishes the trochilus to leave, it moves its neck that it may not bite
the bird.”
Giovanni Leone--before quoted--says, respecting this bird:--“As we
sayled further we saw great numbers of crocodiles upon the banks of the
ilands in the midst of Nilus lye baking them in the sunne with their
jawes wide open, whereinto certaine little birds about the bignesse of a
thrush entering, came flying forth againe presently after. The occasion
whereof was told me to be this: the crocodiles by reason of their
continuall devouring beasts and fishes have certaine pieces of flesh
sticking fast betweene their forked teeth, which flesh being putrified,
breedeth a kind of worme, wherewith they are cruelly tormented; wherefor
the said birds flying about, and seeing the wormes enter into the
Crocodile’s jaws to satisfie their hunger thereon, but the Crocodile
perceiving himselfe freede from the wormes of his teeth, offereth to
shut his mouth, and to devour the little bird that did him so good a
turne, but being hindred from his ungratefull attempt by a pricke which
groweth upon the bird’s head, hee is constrayned to open his jawes, and
to let her depart.”
Du Bartas gives another colour to the behaviour of the Trochilus:--
“The _Wren_, who seeing (prest with sleep’s desire)
_Nile’s_ poys’ny Pirate press the slimy shoar,
Suddenly coms, and, hopping him before,
Into his mouth he skips, his teeth he pickles,
Clenseth his palate, and his throat so tickles,
That, charm’d with pleasure, the dull _Serpent_ gapes.
Wider and wider, with his ugly chaps:
Then, like a shaft, th’ _Ichneumon_ instantly
Into the Tyrants greedy gorge doth fly,
And feeds upon that Glutton, for whose Riot,
All _Nile’s_ fat margents scarce could furnish diet.”
WOOLLY HENS.
Sir John Maundeville saw in “the kingdome named Mancy, which is the best
kingdome of the worlde--(Manzi, _that part of China south of the river
Hoang-ho_) whyte hennes, and they beare no feathers, but woll as shepe
doe in our lande.”
TWO-HEADED WILD GEESE.
Near the land of the _Cynocephali_ or dog-headed men, there were many
islands, and, “Also in this yle, and in many yles thereabout are many
wyld geese with two heads.” But these were not the only extraordinary
breed of wild geese, extant.
“As the wise Wilde-geese, when they over-soar
Cicilian mounts, within their bills do bear,
A pebble stone both day and night: for fear
Lest ravenous Eagles of the North descry
Their Armies passage, by their Cackling Cry.”
Aristotle mentions the Crane as another stone-bearing bird:--“Among
birds, as it was previously remarked, the Crane migrates from one
extremity of the earth to the other, and they fly against the wind. As
for the story of the stone, it is a fiction, for they say that they
carry a stone as ballast, which is useful as a touchstone for gold,
after they have vomited it up.”
FOUR-FOOTED DUCK.
[Illustration]
Gesner describes a four-footed duck, which he says is like the English
puffin, except in the number of its feet: but Aldrovandus “out-Herods
Herod” when he gives us “A monstrous Cock with Serpent’s tail.”
If we can believe Pliny, there are places where certain birds are never
found:--“With reference to the departure of birds, the owlet, too, is
said to lie concealed for a few days. No birds of this last kind are to
be found in the island of Crete, and if any are imported thither, they
immediately die. Indeed, this is a remarkable distinction made by
Nature; for she denies to certain places, as it were, certain kinds of
fruits and shrubs, and of animals as well;...
“Rhodes possesses no Eagles. In Italy, beyond the Padus, there is, near
the Alps, a lake known by the name of Larius, beautifully situate amid a
country covered with shrubs; and yet this lake is never visited by
storks, nor, indeed, are they ever known to come within eight miles of
it; whilst on the other hand, in the neighbouring territory of the
Montres, there are immense flocks of magpies and jackdaws, the only bird
that is guilty of stealing gold and silver, a very singular propensity.
“It is said that in the territory of Tarentum, the woodpecker of Mars is
never found. It is only lately, too, and that but very rarely, that
various kinds of pies have begun to be seen in the districts that lie
between the Apennines, and the City; birds which are known by the name
of _Variæ_, and are remarkable for the length of the tail. It is a
peculiarity of this bird, that it becomes bald every year at the time of
sowing rape. The partridge does not fly beyond the frontiers of Bœotia,
into Attica; nor does any bird, in the island in the Euxine in which
Achilles was buried, enter the temple there consecrated to him.
[Illustration]
“In the territory of Fidenæ, in the vicinity of the City, the storks
have no young, nor do they build nests; but vast numbers of ring-doves
arrive from beyond sea every year in the district of Volaterræ. At Rome,
neither flies, nor dogs ever enter the temple of Hercules in the Cattle
Market.”...
FISH.
Terrestrial and Aerial animals were far more familiar to the Ancients
than were the inhabitants of the vast Ocean, and not knowing much about
them, their habits and ways, took “omne ignotum pro magnifico.”
We have seen the union of Man and Beast, and Man and Bird; and Man and
Fish was just as common, and perhaps more ancient than either of the
former--for Berosus, the Chaldean historian, gives us an account of
Oannes, or Hea, who corresponded to the Greek Cronos, who is identified
with the fish-headed god so often represented on the sculptures from
Nimroud, and of whom, clay figures have been found at Nimroud and
Khorsabad, as well as numerous representations on seals and gems.
[Illustration]
Of this mysterious union of Man and Fish, Berosus says:--“In the
beginning there were in Babylon a great number of men of various races,
who had colonised Chaldea. They lived without laws, after the manner of
animals. But in the first year there appeared coming out of the
Erythrian Sea (_Persian Gulf_) on the coast where it borders Babylonia,
an animal endowed with reason, named Oannes. He had all the body of a
fish, but below the head of the fish another head, which was that of a
man; also the feet of a man, which came out of its fish’s tail. He had a
human voice, and its image is preserved to this day. This animal passed
the day time among men, taking no nourishment. It taught them the use of
letters, of sciences, and of arts of every kind; the rules for the
foundation of towns, and the building of temples, the principles of
laws, and geometry, the sowing of seeds, and the harvest; in one word,
it gave to men all that conduced to the enjoyment of life. Since that
time nothing excellent has been invented. At the time of sunset, this
monster Oannes threw itself into the sea, and passed the night beneath
the waves, for it was amphibious. He wrote a book upon the beginning of
all things, and of Civilisation, which he left to mankind.”
Helladice quotes the same story, and calls the composite being Oes;
while another writer, Hyginus, calls him Euahanes. M. Lenormant thinks
that it is evident that this latter name is more correct than Oannes,
for it points to one of the Akkadian names of Hea--“Hea-Khan,” _Hea, the
fish_--and must be identified with the fish-God in the illustration.
Alexander Polyhistor, who mainly copied from Berosus, says that Oannes
wrote concerning the generation of Mankind, of their different ways of
life, and of their civil polity; and the following is the purport of
what he wrote:--
“There was a time in which there existed nothing but darkness, and an
abyss of waters, wherein resided most hideous beings, which were
produced on a twofold principle. There appeared men, some of whom were
furnished with two wings, others with four, and two faces. They had one
body, but two heads; the one that of a man, the other of a woman; they
were likewise in their several organs both male and female. Other human
beings were to be seen with the legs and horns of a goat; some had
horse’s feet, while others united the hind-quarters of a horse with the
body of a man, resembling in shape the hippocentaurs. Bulls likewise
were bred then with the heads of men, and dogs with fourfold bodies,
terminated in their extremities with the tails of fishes; horses also
with the heads of dogs; men, too, and other animals, with the heads and
bodies of horses, and the tails of fishes. In short, there were
creatures in which were combined the limbs of every species of animals.
In addition to these, fishes, reptiles, serpents, with other monstrous
animals, which assumed each other’s shape and countenance. Of all which
were preserved delineations in the temple of Belus, at Babylon.”
[Illustration]
But, undoubtedly, the earliest representation of the _real_
Merman--half-man, half-fish--comes to us from the uncovered palace of
Khorsabad. On a portion of its sculptured walls is a representation of
Sargon, the father of Sennacherib, sailing on his expedition to Cyprus,
B.C. 720--on which occasion he had wooden images of the gods made and
thrown overboard in order to accompany him on his voyage. Among these is
Hea, or Oannes, which I venture to assert is the first representation of
a Merman.
In Hindoo Mythology, one of the incarnations, or _avatars_ of Vishnu,
represents him as issuing from the mouth of a fish. The God Dagon (Dag
in Hebrew, signifying fish) was probably Oannes or Hea--and Atergatis
was depicted as a Mermaid, half-woman, half-fish. The Greeks worshipped
her as Astarte, and later on as Venus Aphrodite she was perfect woman,
still, however, born of the Sea-foam, and attended by Tritons or Mermen.
These Tritons and Nereids, male and female, were firmly believed in by
both Greek and Roman--who both depicted them alike--the Triton,
sometimes having a trident, sometimes without, but both Triton, and
Nereid, perfect man and woman, of high types of manly and feminine
beauty, to the waist--below which was the body of a fish of the
Classical dolphin type. So ingrained have these forms become in
humanity, that it would seem almost impossible to realise a Merman, or
Mermaid, other than as usually depicted.
Pliny, of course, tells about them:--“A deputation of persons from
Olisipo (_Lisbon_) that had been sent for the purpose, brought word to
the Emperor Tiberius that a Triton had been both seen and heard in a
certain cavern, blowing a Conch shell, and of the form they are usually
represented. Nor yet is the figure generally attributed to the nereids
at all a fiction, only in them the portion of the body that resembles
the human figure, is still rough all over with scales. For one of these
creatures was seen upon the same shores, and, as it died, its plaintive
murmurs were heard, even by the inhabitants, at a distance.
[Illustration]
“The legatus of Gaul, too, wrote word to the late Emperor Augustus, that
a considerable number of nereids had been found dead upon the sea-shore.
I have, too, some distinguished informants of equestrian rank, who state
that they themselves once saw, in the Ocean of Gades, a sea-man, which
bore in every part of his body, a perfect resemblance to a human being,
and that during the night he would climb up into ships; upon which the
side of the vessel, where he seated himself, would instantly sink
downward, and, if he remained there any considerable time, even go under
water.”
Ælian tells us, that it is reported that the great sea which surrounds
the Island of Taprobana (_Ceylon_) contains an immense multitude of
fishes and whales, and some of them have the heads of lions, panthers,
rams, and other animals; and (which is more wonderful still) some of the
Cetaceans have the form of Satyrs.
[Illustration]
Gesner obligingly depicts this Pan, Sea Satyr, Ichthyo centaurus, or Sea
Demon, as he is indifferently called, and wants to pass it off as a
veritable Merman, probably on account of its human-like trunk. He also
quotes Ælian as to the authenticity of this monster,--and he gives a
picture of another Man-fish, which he says was seen at Rome, on the
third of November, 1523. Its size was that of a boy about five years of
age. (See next page.)
Mermen and Mermaids do not seem to affect any particular district, they
were met with all over the world--and records of their having been seen,
come to us from all parts. That was well, and occurred in the ages of
faith, but now the materialism of the present age would shatter, if it
could, our cherished belief in these Marine eccentricities, and would
fain have us to credit that all those that have been seen, were some of
the Phocidæ, such as a “Dugong,” or else they would attempt to persuade
us that a beautiful mermaid, with her comb and looking-glass, was
neither more nor less than a repulsive-looking “Manatee.”
[Illustration]
Sir J. Emerson Tennent quotes in his “Natural History of Ceylon” from
the description of one of the Dutch Colonial Chaplains, named Valentyn,
who wrote an account of the Natural History of Amboyna. He says that in
1663, a lieutenant in the Dutch army was with some soldiers on the
sea-beach at Amboyna, when they all saw mermen swimming near the beach.
He described them as having long and flowing hair, of a colour between
grey and green. And he saw them again, after an interval of six weeks,
when he was in company with some fifty others. He also says that these
Marine Curiosities, both male and female, have been taken at Amboyna:
and he cites a special one, of which he gives a portrait, that was
captured by a district visitor of the Church, and presented by him to
the Governor.
This last animal enjoyed European fame, as in 1716, whilst Peter the
Great was the guest of the British Ambassador at Amsterdam, the latter
wrote to Valentyn, asking that the marvel should be sent over for the
Czar’s inspection--but it came not. Valentyn also tells how, in the year
1404, a mermaid, tempest-tossed, was driven through a breach in a dyke
at Edam, in Holland, and was afterwards taken alive in the lake of
Parmen, whence she was carried to Haarlem. The good Dutch vrows took
kindly care of her, and, with their usual thriftiness, taught her a
useful occupation, that of spinning; nay, they Christianised her--and
she died a Roman Catholic, several years after her capture.
The authentic records, if trust can be placed in them, are various and
many--but are hardly worth recapitulating because of their sameness, and
the smile of incredulity which their recital provokes.
Let us therefore turn to the monarch of the deep, the Whale--and of this
creature we get curious glimpses from the Northern Naturalists; but,
before investigating this authentic denizen of ocean, we will examine
some whose title to existence is not quite so clearly made out. Olaus
Magnus gives us an introduction to some of “The horrible Monsters of the
Coast of Norway. There are monstrous fish on the Coasts or Sea of
_Norway_, of unusual Names, though they are reputed a kind of _Whales_;
and, if men look long on them they will fright and amaze them. Their
forms are horrible, their heads square, all set with prickles, and they
have sharp and long Horns round about, like a tree rooted up by the
roots: they are ten or twelve Cubits long, very black, and with huge
eyes, the Compass whereof (i.e., _of the fish_) is above eight or ten
Cubits: the apple of the eye is of one Cubit, and is red and fiery
coloured, which in the dark night appears to Fisher-men afar off under
Waters, as a burning Fire, having hairs like Goose-Feathers, thick and
long, like a beard hanging down; the rest of the body, for the greatness
of the head, which is square, is very small, not being above fourteen or
fifteen cubits long; one of these Sea Monsters will drown easily many
great ships, provided with many strong Marriners.”
[Illustration]
He also speaks of a Cetacean, called a Physeter:--“The Whirlpool, or
Prister, is of the kind of Whales, two hundred Cubits long, and is very
cruel. For, to the danger of Sea men, he will sometimes raise himself
beyond the Sail yards, and cast such floods of Waters above his head,
which he had sucked in, that with a cloud of them, he will often sink
the strongest ships, or expose the Marriners to extream danger. This
Beast hath also a long and large round mouth like a Lamprey, whereby he
sucks in his meat or water, and by his weight cast upon the Fore or
Hinder-Deck, he sinks, and drowns a ship.
[Illustration]
“Sometimes, not content to do hurt by water onely, as I said, he will
cruelly over throw the ship like any small Vessel, striking it with his
back, or tail. He hath a thick black Skin, all his body over; long fins,
like to broad feet, and a forked tail 15 or 20 foot broad, wherewith he
forcibly binds any parts of the ship, he twists it about. A Trumpet of
War is the fit remedy against him, by reason of the sharp noise, which
he cannot endure: and by casting out huge great Vessels, that hinders
this Monster’s passage, or for him to play withall; or with Strong Canon
and Guns, with the sound thereof he is more frighted, than with a Stone,
or Iron Bullett; because this Ball loseth its force, being hindered by
his Fat, or by the Water, or wounds but a little, his most vast body,
that hath a Rampart of mighty Fat to defend it. Also, I must add, that
on the Coasts of _Norway_, most frequently both Old and New Monsters are
seen, chiefly by reason of the inscrutable depth of the Waters.
Moreover, in the deep Sea, there are many kinds of fishes that are
seldome or never seen by Man.”
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
We have the saying, “Throw a tub to the Whale,” and we not only find
that it is the proper treatment to conciliate Physeters, but Gesner
shows us the real thing applied to Whales, trumpet and all complete, and
he also shows us the close affinity between the Whale and the Physeter,
in the accompanying illustration, which depicts a whale uprearing, and
coming down again on an unfortunate vessel.
There is another Whale, described by Gesner, which he calls the “Trol”
whale, or in German, “Teüfelwal,” or Devil Whale. This whale lies asleep
on the water, and is of such a deceptive appearance that seamen mistake
it for an island, and cast anchor into it, a proceeding which this
peculiar class of whale does not appear to take much heed of. But, when
it comes to lighting a fire upon it, and cooking thereon, it naturally
wakes up the whale. It is of this “Teüfelwal” that Milton writes
(“Paradise Lost,” Bk. i., l. 200):--
“Or that sea-beast
Leviathan, which God of all His works
Created hugest that swim the ocean-stream.
Him, haply slumbering on the Norway foam,
The pilot of some small night-foundered skiff,
Deeming some island, oft, as seamen tell,
With fixèd anchor in his scaly rind,
Moors by his side under the lee, while night
Invests the sea, and wishèd morn delays.”
[Illustration]