or, as Mr. Lane, whose translation (ed. 1883) I use, calls him,
Es-Sindibád of the Sea:--“We continued our voyage until we arrived at an
island like one of the gardens of Paradise, and at that island, the
master of the ship brought her to anchor with us. He cast the anchor,
and put forth the landing plank, and all who were in the ship landed
upon that island. They had prepared for themselves fire-pots, and they
lighted the fires in them, and their occupations were various: some
cooked, others washed, and others amused themselves. I was among those
who were amusing themselves upon the shores of the island, and the
passengers were assembled to eat and drink, and play and sport. But
while we were thus engaged, lo, the master of the ship, standing upon
its side, called out with his loudest voice, ‘O ye passengers, whom may
God preserve! come up quickly into the ship, hasten to embark, and leave
your merchandise, and flee with your lives, and save yourselves from
destruction; for this apparent island upon which ye are, is not, in
reality, an island, but it is a great fish that hath become stationary
in the midst of the sea, and the sand hath accumulated upon it, so that
it hath become like an island, and trees have grown upon it, since times
of old; and, when ye lighted upon it the fire, it felt the heat, and put
itself in motion, and now it will descend with you into the sea, and ye
will all be drowned; then seek for yourselves escape before destruction,
and leave the merchandise!’ The passengers, therefore, hearing the words
of the master of the ship, hastened to go up into the vessel, leaving
the merchandise, and their other goods, and their copper cooking-pots,
and their fire-pots; and some reached the ship, and others reached it
not. The island had moved, and descended to the bottom of the sea, with
all that were upon it, and the roaring sea, agitated with waves, closed
over it.”
Olaus Magnus, too, tells of sleeping whales being mistaken for
islands:--“The Whale hath upon its Skin a superficies, like the gravel
that is by the sea side; so that oft times when he raiseth his back
above the waters, Sailors take it to be nothing else but an Island, and
sayl unto it, and go down upon it, and they strike in piles upon it, and
fasten them to their ships: they kindle fires to boyl their meat; until
at length the Whale feeling the fire, dives down to the bottome; and
such as are upon his back, unless they can save themselves by ropes
thrown forth of the ship, are drown’d. This Whale, as I have said before
of the Whirlpool and Pristes, sometimes so belcheth out the waves that
he hath taken in, that, with a Cloud of Waters, oft times, he will drown
the ship; and when a Tempest ariseth at Sea, he will rise above water,
that he will sink the ships, during these Commotions and Tempests.
Sometimes he brings up Sand on his back, upon which, when a Tempest
comes, the Marriners are glad that they have found Land, cast Anchor,
and are secure on a false ground; and when as they kindle their fires,
the Whale, so soon as he perceives it, he sinks down suddenly into the
depth, and draws both men and ships after him, unless the Anchors
break.”
But _apropos_ of the whale casting forth such quantities of water, it
is, as a matter of fact, untrue. The whale has a tremendously strong
exhalation, and when it breathes under water, its breath sends up two
columns of _spray_, but, if its head is above water, it cannot spout.
One thing in favour of whales, is “The Wonderful affection of the whales
towards their young. Whales, that have no Gills, breathe by Pipes, which
is found but in few creatures. They carry their young ones, when they
are weak and feeble; and if they be small, they take them in at their
mouths. This they do also when a Tempest is coming; and after the
Tempest, they Vomit them up. When for want of water their young are
hindered, that they cannot follow their Dams, the Dams take water in
their mouths, and cast it to them like a river, that she may so free
them from the Land they are fast upon. Also she accompanies them long,
when they are grown up; but they quickly grow up, and increase ten
years.”
[Illustration]
According to Olaus Magnus, there be many kinds of whales:--“Some are
hairy, and of four Acres in bigness; the Acre is 240 foot long and 120
broad; some are smooth skinned, and those are smaller, and are taken in
the West and Northern Sea; some have their Jaws long and full of teeth;
namely, 12 or 14 foot long, and the Teeth are 6, 8, or 12 foot long. But
their two Dog teeth, or Tushes, are longer than the rest, underneath,
like a Horn, like the teeth of Bores, or Elephants. This kind of whale
hath a fit mouth to eat, and his eyes are so large, that fifteen men may
sit in the room of each of them, and sometimes twenty, or more, as the
beast is in quantity.
“His horns are 6 or 7 foot long, and he hath 250 upon each eye, as hard
as horn, that he can stir stiff or gentle, either before or behind.
These grow together, to defend his eyes in tempestuous weather, or when
any other Beast that is his enemy sets upon him; nor is it a wonder,
that he hath so many Horns, though they be very troublesome to him;
when, as between his eyes, the space of his forehead is 15 or 20 foot.”
[Illustration]
The Spermaceti whale (_Physeter macrocephalus_) is the subject of a
curious story, according to Olaus Magnus. He declares Ambergris is the
sperm of the male Whale, which is not received by the female. “It is
scattered wide on the sea, in divers figures, of a blew colour, but more
tending to white; and these are glew’d together; and this is carefully
collected by Marriners, as I observed, when, in my Navigation I saw it
scattered here and there: This they sell to Physitians, to purge it; and
when it is purged, they call it _Amber-greese_, and they use it against
the Dropsie and Palsie, as a principal and most pretious unguent. It is
white; and if it be found, that is of the colour of Gyp, it is the
better. It is sophisticated with the powder of Lignum, Aloes, Styrax,
Musk, and some other things. But this is discovered because that which
is sophistocated will easily become soft as Wax, but pure _Amber-greese_
will never melt so. It hath a corroborating force, and is good against
swoundings and the Epilepsie.”
As a matter of fact, it is believed to be a morbid secretion in the
intestinal canal of the whale, originating in its bile. It is found in
its bowels, and also floating on the sea, grey-coloured, in lumps
weighing from half an ounce to one hundred pounds. Its price is about £3
per oz. It is much used in perfumery, but not in medicine, at least in
Europe: but in Asia and Africa, it is, in some parts, so used, and also
in cookery.
Olaus Magnus, too, tells us of the benefits the whale confers on the
inhabitants of the cold and dreary North. How they salt the flesh for
future eating, and the usefulness of the fat for lighting and warming
through the long Arctic winter, while the small bones are used as fuel.
Of the skin of this useful mammal, they make Belts, Bags, and Ropes,
whilst a whole skin will clothe forty men. But these are not all its
uses.
“Having spoken that the bodies of Whales are very large, for their head,
teeth, eyes, mouth and skin; the bones require a place to be described;
and it is thus. Because the vehemency of Cold in the farther parts of
the North, and horrid Tempests there, will hardly suffer Trees to grow
up tall, whereof necessary houses may be builded: therefore provident
Nature hath provided for the Inhabitants, that they may build their
houses of the most vast Ribs of Sea Creatures, and other things
belonging thereunto. For these monsters of the Sea, being driven to
land, either by some others that are their Enemies, or drawn forth by
the frequent fishing for them by men, that the Inhabitants there may
make their prey of them, or whether they die and consume; it is certain,
that they leave such vast bones behind them, that whole Mansion Houses
may be made of them, for Walls, Gates, Windows, Coverings, Seats, and
for Tables also. For these Ribs are 20, 30, or more feet in length.
Moreover the Back-bones, and Whirl-bones, and the Forked-bones of the
vast head, are of no small bigness: and all these by the industry of
Artists, are so fitted with Saws and Files, that the Carpenter in Wood,
joyn’d together with Iron, can make nothing more compleat.
[Illustration]
“When, therefore, the flesh of this most huge Beast is eat and
dissolved, onely his bones remain like a great Keel; and when these are
purged by Rain, and the Ayr, they raise them up like a house, by the
force of men that are called unto it. Then by the industry of the Master
Builder, Windows being placed on the top of the house, or sides of the
Whale, it is divided into many convenient Habitations; and gates are
made of the same Beasts Skin, that is taken off long before, for that
and some other use, and is hardened by the sharpness of the winds. Also
a part within this Keel raised up like a house, they make several Hog
Sties and places for other creatures, as the fashion is in other houses
of Wood; leaving always under the top of this structure, a place for
Cocks, that serve instead of Clocks, that men may be raised to their
labour in the night, which is there continual in the Winter-time. They
that sleep between these Ribs, see no other Dreams, than as if they were
always toiling in the Sea-waves, or were in danger of Tempests, to
suffer shipwreck.”
Besides men, Whales had their foes, in the deep, and there was,
according to Du Bartas, one very formidable and cunning enemy, in the
shape of a bird:--
“Meanwhile the _Langa_, skimming, (as it were,)
The Ocean’s surface, seeketh everywhere,
The hugy Whale; where slipping in (by Art),
In his vast mouth, shee feeds upon his Hart.”
But it is cheering to find, on the authority of the same author, that he
also has a helpful friend:--
“As a great Carrak, cumbred and opprest
With her-self’s burthen, wends not East and West,
Star-boord, and Lar-boord, with so quick Careers
As a small Fregat, or swift Pinnass steers;
And as a large and mighty limbed Steed,
Either of _Friseland_, or of _German_ breed,
Can never manage half so readily,
As _Spanish_ Jennet, or light _Barbarie_;
So the huge _Whale_ hath not so nimble motion
As smaller fishes that frequent the Ocean;
But, sometimes, rudely ’gainst a Rock he brushes,
Or in some roaring straight he blindly rushes,
And scarce could live a Twelve month to an end,
But for the little _Musculus_ (his friend),
A little Fish, that, swimming still before,
Directs him safe from Rock, from shelf and shoar.”
But we have only spoken of a very few varieties of Whales; some yet
remain, which may be styled “fancy” Whales. At all events, they are lost
to our times. Herodotus tells us that in the Borysthenes (_Dneiper_)
were “large whales without any spinal bones, which they call Antacæi,
fit for salting.” Then, Gesner gives us varieties of Whales, of which we
know nothing. There is the bearded and maned creature with a face
somewhat resembling that of a human being, found only in the remotest
North, and there is the hairy whale, _Cetum Capillatum vel Crinitum_, or
_Germanice_, Haarwal, but no particulars of this curious creature are
given.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
He presents us with the image of a Cetacean, which he calls an Indian
Serpent--but he evidently is so doubtful of the creature’s authenticity
that he tells us that Hieronimus Cardanus sent it formerly to him. He
cannot quite make it out, with its monkey’s head, and paws, but points
out that it must be an aquatic animal, because of its tail.
[Illustration]
In his _Addenda et Emendanda_, he gives, on the authority of Olaus
Magnus, a picture of an unnamed Whale--he says it was of great size, and
had terrible teeth.
[Illustration]
He also gives us two or three curious pictures of now extinct Cetaceans,
something like terrestrial animals or men. And the first is a Leonine
Monster, and for its authority he quotes Rondeletius.
This creature had none of its parts fitted to act as a marine animal of
prey, but he says that Gisbertus (_Horstius_) Germanus, a physician at
Rome, certifies that it was taken on the high seas, not long before the
death of Pope Paul III., which took place A.D. 1549. It was of the size
and shape of a Lion, it had four feet, not mutilated, or imperfect as
those of the Seal, and not joined together as is the case with the
beaver or duck, but perfect, and divided into toes with nails: a long
thin tail ending in hair; ears hardly visible, and its body covered with
scales--but he adds that Gisbertus found fault with the artist, who had
made the feet longer than they ought to have been--and the ears too
large for an aquatic animal.
[Illustration]
Gesner also gives us (and so does Aldrovandus) pictures of the Monk
and Bishop fishes. The Monk-fish, he says, was caught off Norway, in a
troubled sea: and he quotes Bœothius as describing a similar monster
found in the Firth of Forth. The Bishop-fish was only _seen_ off the
coast of Poland, A.D. 1531.
[Illustration]
The existence of these marine monsters had, at all events, very wide
credence, even if they never existed, for Sluper, whom I have before
quoted, gives, in his curious little book, two pictures of these two
fishes (more awful than Gesner did). Of the Sea Monk he says:
“La Mer poissons en abondance apporte,
Par dons divins que devons estimer.
Mais fort estrange est le Moyne de Mer,
Qui est ainsi que ce pourtrait le porte.”
And of the Sea Bishop:
“La terre n’a Evesques seulement,
Qui sōt p̱ bulle en grād hōneur et titre,
L’evesque croist en mer sembablement,
Ne parlāt point, cōbien qu’il porte Mitre.”
[Illustration]
And Du Bartas writes of them, as if all in air, or on the earth, had its
double in the sea--and he specially mentions these piscine
ecclesiastics:--
“Seas have (as well as skies) Sun, Moon, and Stars;
(As well as ayre) Swallows, and Rooks, and Stares;
(As well as earth) Vines, Roses, Nettles, Millions,[38]
Pinks, Gilliflowers, Mushrooms, and many millions
Of other Plants (more rare and strange than these)
As very fishes living in the Seas.
And also Rams, Calfs, Horses, Hares, and Hogs,
Wolves, Lions, Urchins, Elephants and Dogs,
Yea, Men and Mayds; and (which I more admire[39])
The mytred Bishop, and the cowled Fryer;
Whereof, examples, (but a few years since)
Were shew’n the Norways, and Polonian Prince.”
Was the strange fish that Stow speaks of in his _Annales_ one of these
two?--“A.D. 1187. Neere unto Orforde in Suffolke, certaine Fishers of
the sea tooke in their Nettes, a Fish having the shape of a man in all
pointes, which Fish was kept by _Bartlemew de Glanville_, Custos of the
castle of Orforde, in the same Castle, by the space of sixe monethes,
and more, for a wonder: He spake not a word. All manner of meates he
gladly did eate, but more greedilie raw fishe, after he had crusshed out
all the moisture. Oftentimes he was brought to the Church where he
showed no tokens of adoration. At length, when he was not well looked
to, he stale away to the Sea and never after appeared.” If this was not
the real Simon Pure, yet I think it may put in a claim as a first-class
British production, and, as far as I know, unique--all other denizens of
the deep having some trace of their watery habitat, either in wearing
scales, or a tail.
Following Du Bartas’ idea, let us take some marine animals which have a
somewhat similar counterpart on shore.
Gesner gives us the picture, Olaus Magnus gives us the veracious
history, of the Sea-cow:--“The Sea Cow is a huge Monster, strong, angry,
and injurious; she brings forth a young one like to herself; yet not
above two, but one often, which she loves very much, and leads it about
carefully with her, whithersoever she swims to Sea, or goes on Land.
Lastly this Creature is known to have lived 130 years, by cutting off
her tail.”
[Illustration]
Olaus Magnus calls the Seal, the Sea-calf; and with trifling exceptions,
gives a fair account of its habits, only there are some points which
differ from the modern Seal, at all events:--“The Sea-Calf, which also
in Latine is called _Helcus_, hath its name from the likeness of a
Land-Calf, and it hath a hard fleshy body; and therefore it is hard to
be killed, but by breaking the Temples of the head. It hath a voice like
a Bull, four feet, but not his ears; because the manner and mansion of
its life is in the Waters. Had it such ears, they would take in much
Water, and hinder the swimming of it.... They will low in their sleep,
thence they are called Calves. They will learn, and with their voyce and
countenance salute the company, with a confused murmuring; called by
their names, they will answer, and no Creature sleeps more profoundly.
The Fins that serve them for to swim in the Sea, serve for legs on Land,
and they go hobling up and down as lame people do. Their Skins, though
taken from their bodies, have always a sense of the Seas, and when the
Sea goes forth, they will stand up like Bristles. The right Fin hath a
soporiferous quality to make one sleep, if it be put under one’s head.
They that fear Thunder, think those Tabernacles best to live in, that
are made of Sea-Calves Skins, because onely this Creature in the Sea, as
an Eagle in the Ayr is safe and secure from the Stroke of Thunder.... If
the Sea be boisterous and rise, so doth the Sea Calfe’s hair: if the Sea
be calm, the hair is smooth; and thus you may know the state of the Sea
in a dead Skin. The _Bothnick_ Marriners conjecture by their own
Cloaths, that are made of these Skins, whether the Sea shall be calm,
and their voyage prosperous, or they shall be in danger of Shipwreck....
These Creatures are so bold, that when they hear it thunder, and they
see it clash and lighten, they are glad, and ascend upon the plain
Mountains, as Frogs rejoyce against Rain.”
A very fine piece of casuistry is shown, in “the perplexity of those
that eat the flesh of _Sea-Calves_ in _Lent_,” and it seems to be
finally settled that, according to “the men of a more clear judgment,
rejecting many Reasons, brought on both sides, do say, and prove, that
when the Sea-Calf brings forth on the shore, if the Beast driven by the
Hunter, run into the Woods, men must forbear to eat of it in Lent, when
flesh is forbidden; but if he run to the Waters, one may fairly eat
thereof.”
Gesner, in giving this delineation of a Sea-Horse, openly says that it
is the Classical horse, as used by Neptunus; but Olaus Magnus declares
that “The Sea Horse, between _Britany_ and _Norway_, is oft seen to have
a head like a horse, and to neigh; but his feet and hoof are cloven
like to a Cow’s; and he feeds both on Land, and in the Sea. He is
seldome taken, though he grow to be as big as an Ox. He hath a forked
Tail like a Fish.
[Illustration]
“THE SEA-MOUSE.
“The Sea-Mouse makes a hole in the Earth, and lays her Eggs there, and
then covers them with Earth: on the 30th day she digs it open again, and
brings her young to the Sea, first blind, and, afterwards, he comes to
see.
“THE SEA-HARE.
“The Sea-Hare is found to be of divers kinds in the Ocean, but so soon
as he is caught, onely because he is suspected to be Venemous, how like
so ever he is to a Hare, he is let loose again. He hath four Fins behind
his Head, two whose motion is all the length of the fish, and they are
long, like to a Hare’s ears, and two again, whose motion is from the
back, to the depth of the fishes belly, wherewith he raiseth up the
weight of his head. This Hare is formidable in the Sea; on the Land he
is found to be as timorous and fearful as a hare.”
THE SEA-PIG.
[Illustration]
Again we are indebted to Gesner for the drawing of this Sea Monster.
Olaus Magnus, speaking of “The Monstrous Hog of the _German Ocean_,”
says:--“I spake before of a Monstrous Fish found on the Shores of
_England_, with a clear description of his whole body, and every member
thereof, which was seen there in the year 1532, and the Inhabitants made
a Prey of it. Now I shall revive the memory of that Monstrous Hog that
was found afterwards, _Anno_ 1537, in the same _German Ocean_, and it
was a Monster in every part of it. For it had a Hog’s head, and a
quarter of a Circle, like the Moon, in the hinder part of its head, four
feet like a Dragon’s, two eyes on both sides in his Loyns, and a third
in his belly, inclining towards his Navel; behind he had a forked Tail,
like to other Fish commonly.”
THE WALRUS.
[Illustration]
Of the Walrus, Rosmarus, or Morse, Gesner draws, and Olaus Magnus
writes, thus:--“The _Norway_ Coast, toward the more Northern parts,
hath a great Fish, as big as Elephants, which are called _Morsi_, or
_Rosmari_, may be they are (called) so from their sharp biting; for, if
they see any man on the Sea-shore, and can catch him, they come suddenly
upon him, and rend him with their Teeth, that they will kill him in a
trice. Therefore these Fish called _Rosmari_, or _Morsi_, have heads
fashioned like to an Oxes, and a hairy Skin, and hair growing as thick
as straw or corn-reeds, that lye loose very largely. They will raise
themselves with their Teeth, as by Ladders to the very tops of Rocks,
that they may feed on the Dewie Grasse, or Fresh Water, and role
themselves in it, unless in the mean time they fall very fast asleep,
and rest upon the Rocks; for then Fishermen make all the haste they can,
and begin at the Tail, and part the Skin from the Fat; and unto this
that is parted, they put most strong Cords, and fasten them on the
rugged rocks or Trees, that are near; then they throw stones at his
head, out of a Sling, to raise him, and they compel him to descend,
spoiled of the greatest part of his Skin, which is fastned to the Ropes:
he being thereby debilitated, fearful, and half dead, he is made a rich
prey, especially for his Teeth, that are very pretious amongst the
_Scythians_, the _Muscovites_, _Russians_, and Tartars, (as Ivory
amongst the Indians,) by reason of its hardness, whiteness, and
ponderousnesse. For which Cause, by excellent industry of Artificers
they are made fit for handles for Javelins: And this is also testified
by _Mechovita_, an historian of _Poland_, in his double _Sarmatia_, and
_Paulus Jovius_ after him, relates it by the Relation of one
_Demetrius_, that was sent from the great Duke of _Muscovy_ to Pope
Clement the 7th.”
Although Olaus Magnus is very circumstantial in his detail as to the
intense somnolence, and brutal flaying alive of the “thereby
debilitated” Walrus, I can find no confirmation of either, in any other
account--on the contrary, in “A Briefe Note of the Morse and the use
thereof,” published in Hakluyt, it is described as very wakeful and
vigilant, and certainly not an animal likely to have salt put on its
tail after Magnus’s manner:--
“In the voyage of Jacques Carthier, wherein he discovered the Gulfe of
S. Laurance, and the said Isle of Ramea in the yeere 1534, he met with
these beastes, as he witnesseth in these words: About the said island
are very great beasts as great as oxen, which have two great teeth in
their mouthes like unto elephant’s teeth, and live in the Sea. Wee sawe
one of them sleeping upon the banks of the water, and, thinking to take
it, we went to it with our boates, but so soon as he heard us, he cast
himselfe into the sea. Touching these beasts which Jacques Carthier
saith to be as big as oxen, and to have teeth in their mouthes like
elephants teeth; true it is that they are called in Latine _Boves
marini_ or _Vaccæ marinæ_, and in the Russian tongue morsses, the hides
whereof I have seene as big as any ox hide, and being dressed, I have
yet a piece of one thicker than any two oxe, or bul’s hides in England.
“The leather dressers take them to be excellent good to make light
targets against the arrowes of the savages; and I hold them farre better
than the light leather targets which the Moores use in Barbarie against
arrowes and lances, whereof I have seene divers in her Majesties stately
armourie in the Toure of London. The teeth of the sayd fishes, whereof I
have seene a dry flat full at once, are a foote and sometimes more in
length; and have been sold in England to the combe and knife makers at 8
groats and 3 shillings the pound weight, whereas the best ivory is solde
for halfe the money; the graine of the bone is somewhat more yellow than
the ivorie. One Mr. Alexander Woodson of Bristoll, my old friend, an
excellent mathematician and skilful phisitian, shewed me one of these
beasts teeth which were brought from the Isle of Ramea in the first
prize, which was half a yard long, or very little lesse: and assured mee
that he had made tryall of it in ministering medicine to his patients,
and had found it as sovereigne against poyson as any unicorne’s horne.”
THE ZIPHIUS.
This Voracious Animal, whose size may be imagined by comparison with the
Seal it is devouring, is thus described by Magnus:--“Because this Beast
is conversant in the Northern Waters, it is deservedly to be joined with
other monstrous Creatures. The Swordfish is like no other, but in
something it is like a Whale. He hath as ugly a head as an Owl: his
mouth is wondrous deep, as a vast pit, whereby he terrifies and drives
away those that look into it. His Eyes are horrible, his Back
Wedge-fashion, or elevated like a Sword; his snout is pointed. These
often enter upon the Northern Coasts as Thieves and hurtful Guests, that
are always doing mischief to ships they meet, by boring holes in them,
and sinking them.
[Illustration]
“THE SAW FISH.
“The Saw fish is also a beast of the Sea; the body is huge great, the
head hath a crest, and is hard and dented like to a Saw. It will swim
under ships and cut them, that the Water may come in, and he may feed on
the men when the ship is drowned.”
THE ORCA