in _Catalonia_, _Dragons of houses_; these, when they bite, leave their
teeth behind them, so as the wound never ceaseth swelling, as long as
the teeth remain therein, and therefore, for the better cure thereof,
the teeth are drawne forth, and so the wound will soone be healed.
“And thus much for the hatred betwixt men and dragons, now we will
proceede to other creatures.
“The greatest discord is between the Eagle and the Dragon, for the
Vultures, Eagles, Swannes and Dragons, are enemies to one another. The
Eagles, when they shake their winges, make the dragons afraide with
their ratling noyse; then the dragon hideth himselfe within his den, so
that he never fighteth but in the ayre, eyther when the Eagle hath taken
away his young ones, and he, to recover them, flieth aloft after her, or
else when the Eagle meeteth him in her nest, destroying her egges and
young ones: for the Eagle devoureth the dragons, and little Serpents
upon earth, and the dragons againe, and Serpents do the like against the
Eagles in the ayre. Yea, many times the dragon attempteth to take away
the prey out of the Eagle’s talants, both on the ground, and in the
ayre, so that there ariseth betwixt them a very hard and dangerous
fight.
“In the next place we are to consider the enmitie that is betwixt
Dragons and Elephants, for, so great is their hatred one to another,
that in Ethyopia the greatest dragons have no other name but Elephant
killers. Among the Indians, also, the same hatred remaineth, against
whom the dragons have many subtile inventions: for, besides the greate
length of their bodies, wherewithall they claspe and begirt the body of
the Elephant, continually byting of him, untill he fall downe dead, and
in the which fall they are also bruzed to peeces; for the safeguard of
themselves, they have this device. They get and hide themselves in
trees, covering their head, and letting the other part hang downe like a
rope: in those trees they watch untill the Elephant come to eate and
croppe of the branches; then, suddenly, before he be aware, they leape
into his face, and digge out his eyes, then doe they claspe themselves
about his necke, and with their tayles, or hinder parts, beate and vexe
the Elephant, untill they have made him breathlesse, for they strangle
him with theyr fore parts, as they beate them with the hinder, so that
in this combat they both perrish: and this is the disposition of the
Dragon, that he never setteth upon the Elephant, but with the advantage
of the place, and namely from some high tree or Rocke.
“Sometimes againe, a multitude of dragons doe together observe the
pathes of the Elephants, and crosse those pathes they tie together their
tailes as it were in knots, so that when the Elephant commeth along in
them, they insnare his legges, and suddainly leape uppe to his eyes, for
that is the part they ayme at above all other, which they speedily pull
out, and so not being able to doe him any more harme, the poore beast
delivereth himselfe from present death by his owne strength, and yet
through his blindnesse received in that combat, hee perrisheth by
hunger, because he cannot choose his meate by smelling, but by his
eyesight.”
THE CROCODILE.
The largest of the Saurians which we have left us, is the Crocodile; and
it formerly had the character of being very deceitful, and, by its
weeping, attracted its victims. Sir John Mandeville thus describes
them:--“In this land, and many other places of Inde, are many
cocodrilles, that is a maner of a long serpent, and on nights they dwell
on water, and on dayes they dwell on land and rocks, and they eat not in
winter. These serpents sley men, and eate them weeping, and they have no
tongue.”
On the contrary, the Crocodile has a tongue, and a very large one too.
As to the fable of its weeping, do we not even to this day call sham
mourning, “shedding crocodile’s tears?” Spenser, in his “Faerie Queene,”
thus alludes to its supposed habits (B. I. c. 5. xviii.):--
“As when a wearie traveller, that strayes
By muddy shore of broad seven-mouthed Nile,
Unweeting of the perillous wandring wayes,
Doth meete a cruell craftie crocodile,
Which in false griefe hyding his harmeful guile,
Doth weepe full sore, and sheddeth tender tears:
The foolish man, that pities all this while
His mourneful plight, is swallowed up unawares,
Forgetfull of his owne, that mindes another’s cares.”
And Shakespeare, from whom we can obtain a quotation on almost anything,
makes Othello say (Act iv. sc. 1):--
“O devil, devil!
If that the earth could teem with woman’s tears,
Each drop she falls would prove a crocodile;--
Out of my sight!”
Gesner, and Topsell, in his “Historie of Four-Footed Beastes,” give the
accompanying illustration of a hippopotamus eating a crocodile, the
original of which, they say, came from the Coliseum at Rome, and was
then in the Vatican.
[Illustration]
Topsell, in his “History of Serpents,” dwells lovingly, and lengthily,
on the crocodile. He says:--“Some have written that the Crocodile
runneth away from a man if he winke with his left eye, and looke
steadfastly uppon him with his right eye, but if this bee true, it is
not to be attributed to the vertue of the right eye, but onely to the
rarenesse of sight, which is conspicuous to the Serpent from one eye.
The greatest terrour unto Crocodiles, as both _Seneca_ and _Pliny_
affirme, are the inhabitants of the Ile _Tentyrus_ within _Nilus_, for
those people make them runne away with their voyces, and many times
pursue and take them in snares. Of these people speaketh _Solinus_ in
this manner:--There is a generation of men in the Ile _Tentyrus_ within
the waters of _Nilus_, which are of a most adverse nature to the
Crocodile, dwelling also in the same place. And, although their persons
or presence be of small stature, yet heerein is theyr courage admired,
because at the suddaine sight of a Crocodile, they are no whit daunted;
for one of these dare meete and provoke him to runne away. They will
also leape into Rivers and swimme after the Crocodile, and, meeting
with it, without feare cast themselves uppon the Beasts backe, ryding on
him as uppon a horse. And if the Beast lift uppe his head to byte him,
when hee gapeth they put into his mouth a wedge, holding it hard at both
ends with both their hands, and so, as it were with a bridle, leade, or
rather drive, them captives to the Land, where, with theyr noyse, they
so terrifie them, that they make them cast uppe the bodies which they
had swallowed into theyr bellies; and because of this antypathy in
Nature, the Crocodyles dare not come neare to this Iland.
“And _Strabo_ also hath recorded, that at what time crocodiles were
brought to Rome, these _Tentyrites_ folowed and drove them. For whom
there was a certaine great poole or fish-pond assigned, and walled
about, except one passage for the Beast to come out of the water into
the sun shine: and when the people came to see them, these _Tentyrites_,
with nettes would draw them to the Land, and put them backe againe into
the water at theyr owne pleasure. For they so hooke them by theyr eyes,
and bottome of their bellyes, which are their tenderest partes, that,
like as horses broken by theyr Ryders, they yeelde unto them, and forget
theyr strength in the presence of these theyr Conquerors....
“To conclude this discourse of Crocodiles inclination, even the
Egyptians themselves account a Crocodile a savage, and cruell murthering
beast, as may appeare by their Hieroglyphicks, for when they will
decypher a mad man, they picture a Crocodile, who beeing put from his
desired prey by forcible resistance, hee presently rageth against
himselfe. And they are often taught by lamentable experience, what
fraude and malice to mankind liveth in these beasts; for, when they
cover themselves under willowes and greene hollow bankes, till some
people come to the waters side to draw and fetch water, and then
suddenly, or ever they be aware, they are taken, and drawne into the
water.
“And also, for this purpose, because he knoweth that he is not able to
overtake a man in his course or chase, he taketh a great deale of water
in his mouth, and casteth it in the pathwaies, so that when they
endeavour to run from the crocodile, they fall downe in the slippery
path, and are overtaken and destroyed by him. The common proverbe also,
_Crocodili lachrimæ_, the Crocodile’s teares, justifieth the treacherous
nature of this beast, for there are not many bruite beasts that can
weepe, but such is the nature of the Crocodile, that to get a man within
his danger, he will sob, sigh, and weepe, as though he were in
extremitie, but suddenly he destroyeth him. Others say, that the
Crocodile weepeth after he hath devoured a man....
“Seeing the friendes of it are so few, the enemies of it must needes be
many, and therefore require a more large catalogue or story. In the
first ranke whereof commeth (as worthy the first place), the _Ichneumon_
or _Pharaoh’s Mouse_, who rageth against their egges and their persons;
for it is certaine that it hunteth with all sagacity of sense to find
out theyr nests, and having found them, it spoyleth, scattereth,
breaketh, and emptieth all theyr egs. They also watch the old ones a
sleepe, and finding their mouths open against the beames of the Sunne,
suddenly enter into them, and, being small, creepe downe theyr vast and
large throates before they be aware, and then, putting the Crocodile to
exquisite and intollerable torment, by eating their guttes asunder, and
so their soft bellies, while the Crocodile tumbleth to and fro sighing
and weeping, now in the depth of water, now on the Land, never resting
till strength of nature fayleth. For the incessant gnawing of the
_Ichneumon_ so provoketh her to seek her rest, in the unrest of every
part, herbe, element, throwes, throbs, rowlings, tossings, mournings,
but all in vaine, for the enemy within her breatheth through her breath,
and sporteth herselfe in the consumption of those vitall parts, which
wast and weare away by yeelding to her unpacificable teeth, one after
the other, till shee that crept in by stealth at the mouth, like a puny
theefe, come out at the belly like a conquerour, thorough a passage
opened by her owne labour and industry....
“The medicines arising out of it are also many. The first place
belongeth to the Caule, which hath moe benefits or vertues in it, than
can be expressed. The bloud of a Crocodile is held profitable for many
thinges, and among other, it is thought to cure the bitings of any
Serpent. Also by annoynting the eyes, it cureth both the dregs, or spots
of blood in them, and also restoreth soundnesse and clearenesse to the
sight, taking away all dulnesse, or deadnesse from the eyes. And it is
said, that if a man take the liquor which commeth from a piece of a
Crocodyle fryed, and annoynte therewithall his wound or harmed part,
that then he shall bee presently rid of all paine and torment. The
skinne both of the Land and Water Crocodile dryed into powder, and the
same powder, with Vineger or Oyle, layd upon a part or member of the
body, to be seared, cut off or lanced, taketh away all sense and feeling
of paine from the instrument in the action.
“All the Ægytians doe with the fat or sewet of a Crocodile, (_is to_)
annoynt all them that be sick of Feavers, for it hath the same
operation which the fat of a Sea-dogge, or Dog-fish hath, and, if those
parts of men and beasts which are hurt and wounded with Crocodile’s
teeth, be annoynted with this fat, it also cureth them. Being concocted
with Water and Vineger, and so rowled uppe and downe in the mouth, it
cureth the tooth-ache: and also it is outwardly applyed agaynst the
byting of Flyes, Spyders, Wormes, and such like, for this cause, as also
because it is thought to cure Wennes, bunches in the flesh, and olde
woundes. It is solde deare, and held pretious in _Alcair_, (Cairo.)
_Scaliger_ writeth that it cureth the _Gangren_. The Canyne teeth which
are hollow, filled with Frankinsence, and tyed to a man or woman, which
hath the toothach, cureth them, if the party know not of the carrying
them about: And so they write, that if the little stones which are in
their belly be taken forth and so used, they work the same effect
against Feavers. The dung is profitable against the falling off of the
hayre, and many such other things.”
THE BASILISK AND COCKATRICE.
[Illustration]
Aldrovandus portrays the Basilisk with eight legs. Topsell says it is
the same as the Cockatrice, depicts it as a crowned serpent, and
says:--“This Beast is called by the Græcian _Baziliscos_, and by the
Latine, _Regulus_, because he seemeth to be the King of Serpents, not
for his magnitude or greatnesse: For there are many Serpents bigger than
he, as there be many foure-footed Beastes bigger than the Lyon, but,
because of his stately pace, and magnanimious mind: for hee creepeth not
on the earth like other Serpents, but goeth halfe upright, for which
occasion all other Serpentes avoyde his sight. And it seemeth nature
hath ordayned him for that purpose; for, besides the strength of his
poyson, which is uncurable, he hath a certain combe or Corronet uppon
his head, as shall be shewed in due place.”
[Illustration]
Pliny thus describes “The Serpents called Basilisks. There is the same
power[40] also in the serpent called the Basilisk. It is produced in
the province of Cyrene, being not more than twelve fingers in length. It
has a white spot on the head, strongly resembling a sort of diadem. When
it hisses, all the other serpents fly from it: and it does not advance
its body, like the others, by a succession of folds, but moves along
upright and erect upon the middle. It destroys all shrubs, not only by
its contact, but even those that it has breathed upon; it burns up all
the grass too, and breaks the stones, so tremendous is its noxious
influence. It was formerly a general belief that if a man on horseback
killed one of these animals with a spear, the poison would run up the
weapon and kill, not only the rider, but the horse as well. To this
dreadful monster the effluvium of the weasel is fatal, a thing which has
been tried with success, for kings have often desired to see its body
when killed; so true is it that it has pleased Nature that there should
be nothing without its antidote. The animal is thrown into the hole of
the basilisk, which is easily known from the soil around it being
infected. The weasel destroys the basilisk by its odour, but dies itself
in this struggle of nature against its own self.”
Du Bartas says:--
“What shield of Ajax could avoid their death
By th’ Basilisk whose pestilentiall breath
Doth pearce firm Marble, and whose banefull eye
Wounds with a glance, so that the wounded dye.”
The origin of the Cockatrice is, to say the least, peculiar:--“There is
some question amongest Writers, about the generation of this Serpent:
for some, (and those very many and learned,) affirme him to be brought
forth of a Cockes egge. For they say that when a Cocke groweth old, he
layeth a certaine egge without any shell, instead whereof it is covered
with a very thicke skinne, which is able to withstand the greatest force
of an easie blow or fall. They say, moreover, that this Egge is layd
onely in the Summer time, about the beginning of the Dogge-dayes, being
not so long as a Hens Egge, but round and orbiculer: Sometimes of a
Foxie, sometimes of a yellowish muddy colour, which Egge is generated of
the putrified seed of the Cocke, and afterward sat upon by a Snake or a
Toad, bringeth forth the Cockatrice, being halfe a foot in length, the
hinder part like a Snake, the former part like a Cocke, because of a
treble combe on his forehead.
“But the vulger opinion of Europe is, that the Egge is nourished by a
Toad, and not by a Snake; howbeit, in better experience it is found that
the Cocke doth sit on that egge himselfe: whereof _Levinus Lemnius_ in
his twelfth booke of the hidden miracles of nature, hath this discourse,
in the fourth chapter thereof. There happened (saith he) within our
memory in the Citty _Pirizæa_, that there were two old Cockes which had
layd Egges, but they could not, with clubs and staves drive them from
the Egges, untill they were forced to breake the egges in sunder, and
strangle the Cockes....
“There be many grave humaine Writers, whose authority is irrefragable,
affirming not onely that there be cockatrices, but also that they infect
the ayre, and kill with their sight. And _Mercuriall_ affirmeth, that
when he was with _Maximilian_ the Emperour, hee saw the carkase of a
cockatrice, reserved in his treasury among his undoubted monuments....
Wee doe read that in Rome, in the dayes of Pope _Leo_ the fourth (847 to
855), there was a cockatrice found in a Vault of a Church or Chappell,
dedicated to Saint _Lucea_, whose pestiferous breath hadde infected the
Ayre round about, whereby great mortality followed in Rome: but how the
said Cockatrice came thither, it was never knowne. It is most probable
that it was created, and sent of God for the punnishment of the Citty,
which I do the more easily beleeve, because _Segonius_ and _Julius
Scaliger_ do affirme, that the sayd pestiferous beast was killed by the
prayers of the said _Leo_ the fourth....
“The eyes of the Cockatrice are redde, or somewhat inclyning to
blacknesse; the skin and carkase of this beast have beene accounted
precious, for wee doe read that the _Pergameni_ did buy but certaine
peeces of a Cockatrice, and gave for it two pound and a halfe of Sylver:
and because there is an opinion that no Byrd, Spyder, or venomous Beast
will endure the sight of this Serpent, they did hang uppe the skinne
thereof stuffed, in the Temples of _Apollo_ and _Diana_, in a certaine
thinne Net made of Gold; and therefore it is sayde, that never any
Swallow, Spider, or other Serpent durst come within those Temples; And
not onely the skinne or the sight of the Cockatrice worketh this effect,
but also the flesh thereof, being rubbed uppon the pavement, postes, or
Walles of any House. And moreover, if Silver bee rubbed over with the
powder of the Cockatrices flesh, it is likewise sayde that it giveth it
a tincture like unto Golde: and, besides these qualities, I remember not
any other in the flesh or skinne of this serpent....
“We read also that many times in _Affrica_, the Mules fall downe dead
for thirst, or else lye dead on the ground for some other causes, unto
whose Carkase innumerable troupes of Serpentes gather themselves to
feede there uppon; but when the Bazeliske windeth the sayd dead body,
he giveth forth his voyce: at the first hearing whereof, all the
Serpents hide themselves in the neare adjoyning sandes, or else runne
into theyr holes, not daring to come forth againe, untill the Cockatrice
have well dyned and satisfied himselfe. At which time he giveth another
signall by his voyce of his departure: then come they forth, but never
dare meddle with the remnants of the dead beast, but go away to seeke
some other prey. And if it happen that any other pestiferous beast
cometh unto the waters to drinke neare the place wherein the Cockatrice
is lodged, so soone as he perceiveth the presence thereof, although it
be not heard nor seene, yet it departeth back againe, without drinking,
neglecting his owne nutriment, to save itselfe from further danger:
whereupon _Lucanus_ saith,
_----Late sibi submovet omne
Vulgus, et in vacua regnat Basiliscus arena._
Which may be thus englished;
_He makes the vulgar farre from him to stand,
While Cockatrice alone raignes on the sand._
“Now we are to intreate of the poyson of this serpent, for it is a hot
and a venemous poyson, infecting the Ayre round about, so as no other
Creature can live neare him, for it killeth, not onely by his hissing,
and by his sight, (as is sayd of the Gorgons) but also by his touching,
both immediately, and mediately; that is to say, not onely when a man
toucheth the body it selfe, but also by touching a Weapon wherewith the
body was slayne, or any other dead beast slaine by it, and there is a
common fame, that a Horseman taking a Speare in his hand, which had
beene thrust through a Cockatrice, did not onely draw the poyson of it
unto his owne body, and so dyed, but also killed his horse thereby.”
THE SALAMANDER.
Many writers have essayed this fabled creature, but almost all have
approached the subject with diffidence, as if not quite sure of the
absolute entity of the animal. Thus, Aristotle does not speak of it
authoritatively:--“And the Salamander shews that it is possible for some
animal substances to exist in the fire, for _they say_ that fire is
extinguished when this animal walks over it.” Pliny, on Salamanders,
writes:--“We find it stated by many authors, that a serpent is produced
from the spinal marrow of a man. Many creatures, in fact, among the
quadrupeds even, have a secret, and mysterious origin.
[Illustration]
“Thus, for instance, the salamander, an animal like a lizard in shape,
and with a body starred all over, never comes out except during heavy
showers, and disappears the moment it becomes fine. This animal is so
intensely cold as to extinguish fire by its contact, in the same way
that ice doth. It spits forth a milky matter from its mouth; and
whatever part of the human body is touched with this, all the hair falls
off, and the part assumes the appearance of leprosy.... The wild boar of
Pamphylia, and the mountainous parts of Cilicia, after having devoured
a Salamander, will become poisonous to those who eat its flesh; and yet
the danger is quite imperceptible by reason of any peculiarity in the
smell and taste. The Salamander, too, will poison either water or wine
in which it happens to be drowned; and, what is more, if it has only
drunk thereof, the liquid becomes poisonous.”
This idea of an animal supporting life in the fire is not confined to
the Salamander alone, for both Aristotle and Pliny aver that there is a
fly which possesses this accomplishment. Says the former:--“In Cyprus,
when the manufacturers of the stone called _chalcitis_ burn it for many
days in the fire, a winged creature something larger than a great fly is
seen walking and leaping in the fire: these creatures perish when taken
from the fire.” And the latter:--“That element, also, which is so
destructive to matter, produces certain animals; for in the
copper-smelting furnaces of Cyprus, in the very midst of the fire, there
is to be seen, flying about, a four-footed animal with wings, the size
of a large fly: this creature, called the ‘pyrallis,’ and by some the
‘pyrausta.’ So long as it remains in the fire it will live, but if it
comes out, and flies a little distance from it, it will instantly die.”
Ser Marco Polo thoroughly pooh-poohs the idea of the Salamander, and
says it is Asbestos. Speaking of the Province of Chingintalas, he
says:--“And you must know that in the same mountain there is a vein of
the substance of which Salamander is made. For the real truth is that
the Salamander is no beast, as they allege in our part of the world, but
is a substance found in the earth; and I will tell you about it.
“Everybody must be aware that it can be no animal’s nature to live in
fire, seeing that every animal is composed of all the four elements.
Now, I, Marco Polo, had a Turkish acquaintance of the name of Zurficar,
and he was a very clever fellow, and this Turk related to Messer Marco
Polo how he had lived three years in that region on behalf of the Great
Kaan, in order to procure those Salamanders for him. He said that the
way they got them was by digging in that mountain till they found a
certain vein. The substance of this vein was then taken and crushed,
and, when so treated, it divides, as it were, into fibres of wool, which
they set forth to dry. When dry, these fibres were pounded in a great
copper mortar, and then washed, so as to remove all the earth, and to
leave only the fibres, like fibres of wool. These were then spun, and
made into napkins. When first made, these napkins are not very white,
but by putting them in the fire for a while they come out as white as
snow. And so again, whenever they become dirty they are bleached by
being put in the fire.