Curious Creatures in Zoology
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Title: Curious Creatures in Zoology
Author: John Ashton
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CURIOUS CREATURES IN ZOOLOGY ***
[Illustration: EX LIBRIS]
_PUBLISHER’S NOTE._
_Two hundred and ten copies of this Work printed on superfine Royal 8vo
paper. Each copy numbered. Type distributed._
_No. 175_
CURIOUS
CREATURES
IN
ZOOLOGY
With 130 Illustrations
throughout the Text
JOHN ASHTON
[Illustration]
LONDON
JOHN C. NIMMO
14, KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND
1890
[Illustration]
PREFACE.
“Travellers see strange things,” more especially when their writing
about, or delineation of, them is not put under the microscope of modern
scientific examination. Our ancestors were content with what was given
them, and being, as a rule, a stay-at-home race, they could not confute
the stories they read in books. That age of faith must have had its
comforts, for no man could deny the truth of what he was told. But now
that modern travel has subdued the globe, and inquisitive strangers have
poked their noses into every portion of the world, “the old order
changeth, giving place to new,” and, gradually, the old stories are
forgotten.
It is to rescue some of them from the oblivion into which they were fast
falling, that I have written, or compiled, this book. I say compiled it,
for I am fonder of letting old authors tell their stories in their
old-fashioned language, than to paraphrase it, and usurp the credit of
their writings, as is too much the mode now-a-days.
It is not given to every one to be able to consult the old Naturalists;
and, besides, most of them are written in Latin, and to read them
through is partly unprofitable work, as they copy so largely one from
another. But, for the general reader, selections can be made, and, if
assisted by accurate reproductions of the very quaint wood engravings, a
book may be produced which, I venture to think, will not prove tiring,
even to a superficial reader.
Perhaps the greatest wonders of the creation, and the strangest forms of
being, have been met with in the sea; and as people who only
occasionally saw them were not draughtsmen, but had to describe the
monsters they had seen on their return to land, their effigies came to
be exceedingly marvellous, and unlike the originals. The Northern Ocean,
especially, was their abode, and, among the Northern nations, tales of
Kraken, Sea-Serpents, Whirlpools, Mermen, &c., &c., lingered long after
they were received with doubt by other nations; but perhaps the most
credulous times were the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, when no
travellers’ tales seem too gross for belief, as can well be seen in the
extreme popularity, throughout all Europe, of the “Voyages and Travels
of Sir John Maundeville,” who, though he may be a myth, and his
so-called writings a compilation, yet that compilation represented the
sum of knowledge, both of Geography, and Natural History, of countries
not European, that was attainable in the first half of the fourteenth
century.
All the old Naturalists copied from one another, and thus compiled
their writings. Pliny took from Aristotle, others quote Pliny, and so
on; but it was reserved for the age of printing to render their writings
available to the many, as well as to represent the creatures they
describe by pictures (“the books of the unlearned”), which add so much
piquancy to the text.
Mine is not a learned disquisition. It is simply a collection of
zoological curiosities, put together to suit the popular taste of
to-day, and as such only should it be critically judged.
JOHN ASHTON.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
CONTENTS.
PAGE
INTRODUCTORY 1
AMAZONS 23
PYGMIES 26
GIANTS 32
EARLY MEN 38
WILD MEN 44
HAIRY MEN 47
THE OURAN OUTAN 51
SATYRS 55
THE SPHYNX 61
APES 65
ANIMAL LORE 67
THE MANTICORA 71
THE LAMIA 74
THE CENTAUR 78
THE GORGON 83
THE UNICORN 87
THE RHINOCEROS 97
THE GULO 101
THE BEAR 105
THE FOX 125
THE WOLF 134
WERE-WOLVES 140
THE ANTELOPE 145
THE HORSE 146
THE MIMICK DOG 150
THE CAT 154
THE LION 156
THE LEONTOPHONUS--PEGASUS--CROCOTTA 157
THE LEUCROCOTTA--THE EALE--CATTLE FEEDING BACKWARDS 159
ANIMAL MEDICINE 160
THE SU 163
THE LAMB-TREE 165
THE CHIMÆRA 170
THE HARPY AND SIREN 171
THE BARNACLE GOOSE 174
REMARKABLE EGG 179
MOON WOMAN 180
THE GRIFFIN 180
THE PHŒNIX 183
THE SWALLOW 186
THE MARTLET, AND FOOTLESS BIRDS 189
SNOW BIRDS 191
THE SWAN 193
THE ALLE, ALLE 194
THE HOOPOE AND LAPWING 196
THE OSTRICH 197
THE HALCYON 199
THE PELICAN 200
THE TROCHILUS 201
WOOLLY HENS 202
TWO-HEADED WILD GEESE 203
FOUR-FOOTED DUCK 203
FISH 206
MERMEN 206
WHALES 214
THE SEA-MOUSE 234
THE SEA-HARE 234
THE SEA-PIG 235
THE WALRUS 235
THE ZIPHIUS 238
THE SAW FISH 239
THE ORCA 239
THE DOLPHIN 242
THE NARWHAL 244
THE SWAMFISCK 245
THE SAHAB 247
THE CIRCHOS 247
THE REMORA 253
THE DOG-FISH AND RAY 255
THE SEA DRAGON 256
THE STING RAY 256
SENSES OF FISHES 258
ZOOPHYTES 259
SPONGES 260
THE KRAKEN 261
CRAYFISH AND CRABS 267
THE SEA-SERPENT 268
SERPENTS 278
WORMES AND DRAGONS 293
THE CROCODILE 311
THE BASILISK AND COCKATRICE 317
THE SALAMANDER 323
THE TOAD 326
THE LEECH 329
THE SCORPION 330
THE ANT 332
THE BEE 332
THE HORNET 333
INDEX 335
[Illustration]
CURIOUS CREATURES.
Let us commence our researches into curious Zoology with the noblest of
created beings, Man; and, if we may believe Darwin, he must have gone
through many phases, and gradual mutations, before he arrived at his
present proud position of Master and Conqueror of the World.
This philosopher does not assign a high place in the animal creation to
proud man’s protogenitor, and we ought almost to feel thankful to him
for not going further back. He begins with man as an Ascidian, which is
the lowest form of anything of a vertebrate character, with which we are
acquainted; and he says thus, in his “Descent of Man”:--
“The most ancient progenitors in the kingdom of the Vertebrata, at which
we are able to obtain an obscure glance, apparently consisted of a group
of marine animals, resembling the larvæ of existing Ascidians. These
animals probably gave rise to a group of fishes, as lowly organised as
the lancelet; and from these the Ganoids, and other fishes like the
Lepidosiren, must have been developed. From such fish a very small
advance would carry us on to the amphibians. We see that birds and
reptiles were once intimately connected together; and the Monotremata
now, in a slight degree, connect mammals with reptiles. But no one can,
at present, say by what line of descent the three higher, and related
classes--namely, mammals, birds, and reptiles, were derived from either
of the two lower vertebrate classes, namely, amphibians, and fishes. In
the class of mammals the steps are not difficult to conceive which led
from the ancient Monotremata to the ancient Marsupials; and from these
to the early progenitors of the placental mammals. We may thus ascend to
the Lemuridæ; and the interval is not wide from these to the Simiadæ.
The Simiadæ then branched off into two great stems, the New World, and
Old World monkeys; and from the latter, at a remote period, Man, the
wonder and glory of the Universe, proceeded.”
* * * * *
“We have thus far endeavoured rudely to trace the genealogy of the
Vertebrata, by the aid of their mutual affinities. We will now look to
man as he exists; and we shall, I think, be able partially to restore
during successive periods, but not in order of time, the structure of
our early progenitors. This can be effected by means of the rudiments
which man still retains, by the characters which occasionally make their
appearance in him through reversion, and by the aid of morphology and
embryology. The various facts to which I shall here allude, have been
given in the previous chapters. The early progenitors of man were no
doubt once covered with hair, both sexes having beards; their ears were
pointed and capable of movement; and their bodies were provided with a
tail, having the proper muscles. Their limbs and bodies were also acted
on by many muscles, which now only occasionally reappear, but are
normally present in the Quadrumana.... The foot, judging from the great
toe in the fœtus, was then prehensile; and our progenitors, no doubt,
were arboreal in their habits, frequenting some warm, forest-clad land.
The males were provided with great canine teeth, which served them as
formidable weapons.”
In fact, as Mortimer Collins satirically, yet amusingly, wrote:--
“There was an APE, in the days that were earlier;
Centuries passed, and his hair became curlier,
Centuries more gave a thumb to his wrist,--
Then he was MAN, and a POSITIVIST.”
[Illustration]
The accompanying illustration, which seems to embody all the
requirements of Darwin, as representing our maternal progenitor, is from
an old book by Joannes Zahn, published in 1696--and there figures as
“Ourani Outains.”
[Illustration]
Darwin says that the men of the period wore tails, and if they were no
longer than that in this illustration (which is copied from the same
book), they can hardly be said to be unbecoming--still that is a matter
for taste--they are certainly more graceful than if they had been
rat-like, or like a greyhound, or toy terrier. Many old authors speak of
tailed men in Borneo and Java, and not only were men so adorned, but
women. Peter Martyr says that in a region called Inzaganin, there is a
tailed race--these laboured under the difficulty of being unable to move
them like animals--but as he observes, they were stiff like those of
fishes and crocodiles--so much so, that when they wanted to sit down,
they had to use seats with holes in them.
Ptolemy and Ctesias speak of them, and Pliny says there were men in
Ceylon who had long hairy tails, and were of remarkable swiftness of
foot. Marco Polo tells us: “Now you must know that in this kingdom of
Lambri[1] there are men with tails; these tails are of a palm in length,
and have no hair on them. These people live in the mountains, and are a
kind of wild men. Their tails are about the thickness of a dog’s.” Many
modern travellers have heard of hairy and tailed people in the Malay
Archipelago, and Mr. St. John, writing of Borneo, says that he met with
a trader who had seen and felt the tails of a race which inhabited the
north-east coast of the island. These tails were about four inches long,
and so stiff that they had to use perforated seats. The Chinese also
declare that in the mountains above Canton there is a race of tailed
men. M. de Couret wrote about the Niam Niams, tailed men, who, he says,
are living in Abyssinia or Nubia, having tails at least two inches long.
We all know the old Lord Monboddo’s theory that mankind had originally
tails--nay, he went further, and said that some were born with them
now--a fact which will be partially borne out by any military medical
inspecting officer, who in the course of his practice has met with men
whose “os coccygis” has been prolonged, so as to form a pseudo tail,
which would unfit the man for the cavalry, although he would still be
efficient as an infantry soldier.
Here is a very fine picture from a fresco at Pompeii representing tailed
men, or, maybe, æsthetic young Fauns, treading out the vintage.
[Illustration]
But tailed men are as nothing, compared to the wonderful beings that
peopled the earth in bygone times. It seems a pity that there are none
of them now living, and that, consequent upon never having seen them, we
are apt to imagine that they never existed, but were simply the
creatures of the writer’s brain. They were articles of belief until
comparatively recent times, and were familiar in Queen Elizabeth’s time,
as we learn from Othello’s defence of himself (Act i. sc. 3):--
“And of the Cannibals that each other eat,
The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads
Do grow beneath their shoulders.”
They were thoroughly believed in, a century or two previously, in
connection with Geography, and, in the “Mappa Mundi” (one of the
earliest preserved English maps), now in Hereford Cathedral, which dates
from the very early part of the fourteenth century, nearly the whole of
the fanciful men hereafter mentioned are pourtrayed.
[Illustration]
Sluper, who wrote in 1572, gives us the accompanying picture of a
Cyclope, with the following remarks:--
“De Polipheme & de Ciclopiens
Tout mention Poetes anciens:
On dit encor que ce lignage dure
Auec vn oeil selon ceste figure.”
Pliny places the Cyclopes “in the very centre of the earth, in Italy
and Sicily;” and very likely there they might have existed, if we can
bring ourselves to believe the very plausible explanation that they were
miners, whose lanthorn, or candle, stuck in cap, was their one eye. At
all events we may consider Sluper’s picture as somewhat of a fancy
portrait.
Among the Scythians, inhabiting the country beyond the Palus Mæotis, was
a tribe which Herodotus (although he has been christened “The father of
lies”) did not believe in, nor indeed in any one-eyed men, but Pliny,
living some 500 years after him, tells afresh the old story respecting
these wonderful human beings. “In the vicinity also of those who dwell
in the northern regions, and not far from the spot from which the north
wind arises, and the place which is called its cave, and is known by the
name of Geskleithron,[2] the Arimaspi are said to exist, a nation
remarkable for having but one eye, and that placed in the middle of the
forehead. This race is said to carry on a perpetual warfare with the
Griffins,[3] a kind of monster, with wings, as they are commonly
represented, for the gold which they dig out of the mines, and which
these wild beasts retain, and keep watch over with a singular degree of
cupidity, while the Arimaspi are equally desirous to get possession of
it.”
Milton mentions this tribe in “Paradise Lost,” Book 2.
“As when a Gryphon through the wilderness,
With winged course, o’er hill, or mossy dale,
Pursues the Arimaspian, who, by stealth,
Had from his wakeful custody purloin’d
The guarded gold.”
But there seems every probability that the story of the Gryphon was
invented by the goldfinders, in order to deter people from coming near
them, and interfering with their livelihood. There were, however,
smaller Arimaspians, which probably the Gryphons did not heed, for Pliny
tells us about the little thieves of mice. “In gold mines, too, their
stomachs are opened for this purpose, and some of the metal is always to
be found there, which they have pilfered, so great a delight do they
take in stealing!” Livy, also, twice mentions mice gnawing gold.
[Illustration]
There were Anthropophagi--cannibals--as there are now, but, of course,
they then lacked the luxury of cold missionary--and there were, besides,
many wonderful beings. “Beyond the other Scythian Anthropophagi, there
is a country called Abarimon, situate in a certain great valley of Mount
Imaus (_the Himalayas_), the inhabitants of which are a savage race,
whose feet are turned backwards, relatively to their legs; they possess
wonderful velocity, and wander about indiscriminately with the wild
beasts. We learn from Beeton, whose duty it was to take the measurements
of the routes of Alexander the Great, that this people cannot breathe in
any climate except their own, for which reason it is impossible to take
them before any of the neighbouring kings; nor could any of them be
brought before Alexander himself.
The Anthropophagi, whom we have previously mentioned as dwelling ten
days’ journey beyond the Borysthenes (_the Dneiper_), according to the
account of Isogonus of Nicæa, were in the habit of drinking out of human
skulls, and placing the scalps, with the hair attached, upon their
breasts, like so many napkins. The same author relates that there is, in
Albania, a certain race of men, whose eyes are of a sea-green colour,
and who have white hair from their earliest childhood (_Albinos_), and
that these people see better in the night than in the day. He states
also that the Sauromatæ, who dwell ten days’ journey beyond the
Borysthenes, only take food every other day.
Crates of Pergamus relates, that there formerly existed in the vicinity
of Parium, in the Hellespont (_Camanar, a town of Asia Minor_), a race
of men whom he calls Ophiogenes, and that by their touch they were able
to cure those who had been stung by serpents, extracting the poison by
the mere imposition of the hand. Varro tells us, that there are still a
few individuals in that district, whose saliva effectually cures the
stings of serpents. The same, too, was the case with the tribe of the
Psylli, in Africa, according to the account of Agatharcides; these
people received their name from Psyllus, one of their kings, whose tomb
is in existence, in the district of the Greater Syrtes (_Gulf of
Sidra_). In the bodies of these people, there was, by nature, a certain
kind of poison, which was fatal to serpents, and the odour of which
overpowered them with torpor; with them it was a custom to expose
children, immediately after their birth, to the fiercest serpents, and
in this manner to make proof of the fidelity of their wives; the
serpents not being repelled by such children as were the offspring of
adultery. This nation, however, was almost entirely extirpated by the
slaughter made of them, by the Nasamones, who now occupy their
territory. This race, however, still survives in a few persons, who are
descendants of those who either took to flight, or else were absent on
the occasion of the battle. The Marsi, in Italy, are still in possession
of the same power, for which, it is said, they are indebted to their
origin from the son of Circe, from whom they acquired it as a natural
quality. But the fact is, that all men possess, in their bodies, a
poison which acts upon serpents, and the human saliva, it is said, makes
them take to flight, as though they had been touched with boiling water.
The same substance, it is said, destroys them the moment it enters their
throat, and more particularly so, if it should be the saliva of a man
who is fasting.
Above the Nasamones (_living near the Gulf of Sidra_), and the Machlyæ,
who border upon them, are found, as we learn from Calliphanes, the
nation of the Androgyni, a people who unite the two sexes in the same
individual, and alternately perform the functions of each. Aristotle
also states, that their right breast is that of a male, the left that of
a female.
Isigonus and Nymphodorus inform us that there are, in Africa, certain
families of enchanters, who, by means of their charms, in form of
commendations, can cause cattle to perish, trees to wither, and infants
to die. Isigonus adds, that there are, among the Triballi, and the
Illyrii, some persons of this description, who, also, have the power of
fascination with the eyes, and can even kill those on whom they fix
their gaze for any length of time, more especially if their look denotes
anger: the age of puberty is said to be particularly obnoxious to the
malign influence of such persons.
A still more remarkable circumstance is, the fact that these persons
have two pupils in each eye. Apollonides says, that there are certain
females of this description in Scythia, who are known as Bythiæ, and
Phylarcus states that a tribe of the Thibii in Pontus, and many other
persons as well, have a double pupil in one eye, and in the other the
figure of a horse. He also remarks, that the bodies of these persons
will not sink in water, even though weighed down by their garments.
Damon gives an account of a race of people, not very much unlike them,
the Pharnaces of Æthiopia, whose perspiration is productive of
consumption to the body of every person that it touches. Cicero also,
one of our own writers, makes the remark, that the glance of all women
who have a double pupil is noxious.
To this extent, then, has nature, when she produced in man, in common
with the wild beasts, a taste for human flesh, thought fit to produce
poisons as well in every part of his body, and in the eyes of some
persons, taking care that there shall be no evil influence in existence,
which was not to be found in the human body. Not far from Rome, in the
territory of the Falisci, a few families are found, who are known by the
name of Hirpi. These people perform a yearly sacrifice to Apollo, on
Mount Soracte, on which occasion they walk over a burning pile of wood,
without being scorched even. On this account, by virtue of a decree of
the Senate, they are always exempted from military service, and from all
other public duties.
Some individuals, again, are born with certain parts of the body endowed
with properties of a marvellous nature. Such was the case with King
Pyrrhus, the great toe of whose right foot cured diseases of the spleen,
merely by touching the patient. We are informed that this toe could not
be reduced to ashes together with the other portions of his body; upon
which it was placed in a temple.
India and the region of Æthiopia, more especially, abounds in wonders.
In India the largest of animals are produced; their dogs, for instance,
are much bigger than those of any other country. The trees, too, are
said to be of such vast height that it is impossible to send an arrow
over them. This is the result of the singular fertility of the soil, the
equable temperature of the atmosphere, and the abundance of water;
which, if we are to believe what is said, are such, that a single fig
tree (_the banyan tree_) is capable of affording shelter to a whole
troop of horse. The reeds here (_bamboos_) are of such enormous length,
that each portion of them, between the joints, forms a tube, of which a
boat is made that is capable of holding three men. It is a well-known
fact, that many of the people here are more than five cubits in
height.[4] These people never expectorate, are subject to no pains,
either in the head, the teeth, and the eyes, and, rarely, in any other
parts of the body; so well is the heat of the sun calculated to
strengthen the constitution.... According to the account of Megasthenes,
dwelling upon a mountain called Nulo, there is a race of men who have
their feet turned backwards, with eight toes on each foot.
On many of the mountains again, there is a tribe of men who have the
heads of dogs, and clothe themselves with the skins of wild beasts.
Instead of speaking, they bark; and, furnished with claws, they live by
hunting, and catching birds. According to the story, as given by
Ctesias, the number of these people is more than a hundred and twenty
thousand; and the same author tells us that there is a certain race in
India, of which the females are pregnant once only in the course of
their lives, and that the hair of the children becomes white the instant
they are born. He speaks also of another race of men who are known as
Monocoli,[5] who have only one leg, but are able to leap with surprising
agility. The same people are also called Sciapodæ,[6] because they are
in the habit of lying on their backs, during the time of extreme heat,
and protect themselves from the sun by the shade of their feet. These
people, he says, dwell not very far from the Troglodytæ (_dwellers in
caves_); to the west of whom again there is a tribe who are without
necks, and have eyes in their shoulders.[7]
Among the mountainous districts of the eastern parts of India, in what
is called the country of the Catharcludi, we find the Satyr, an animal
of extraordinary swiftness. These go sometimes on four feet, and
sometimes walk erect; they have also the features of a human being. On
account of their swiftness, these creatures are never to be caught,
except that they are aged, or sickly. Tauron gives the name of
Choromandæ to a nation which dwells in the woods, and have no proper
voice. These people screech in a frightful manner; their bodies are
covered with hair, their eyes are of a sea-green colour, and their teeth
like those of a dog. Eudoxus tells us, that in the southern parts of
India, the men have feet a cubit in length, while the women are so
remarkably small that they are called Struthpodes.[8]
Megasthenes places among the Nomades of India, a people who are called
Scyritæ. These have merely holes in their faces instead of nostrils, and
flexible feet, like the body of the serpent. At the very extremity of
India, on the eastern side, near the source of the river Ganges, there
is the nation of the Astomi, a people who have no mouths; their bodies
are rough and hairy, and they cover themselves with a down[9] plucked
from the leaves of trees. These people subsist only by breathing, and by
the odours which they inhale through the nostrils. They support
themselves neither upon meat nor drink; when they go upon a long journey
they only carry with them various odoriferous roots and flowers, and
wild apples, that they may not be without something to smell at. But an
odour, which is a little more powerful than usual, easily destroys
them....
Isogonus informs us that the Cyrni, a people of India, live to their
four-hundredth year; and he is of opinion that the same is the case also
with the Æthiopian Macrobii,[10] the Seræ, and the inhabitants of Mount
Athos. In the case of these last, it is supposed to be owing to the
flesh of vipers, which they use as food; in consequence of which they
are free also from all noxious animals, both in their hair and their
garments.
[Illustration]
According to Onesicritus, in those parts of India where there is no
shadow, the men attain the height of five cubits and two palms,[11] and
their life is prolonged to one hundred and thirty years; they die
without any symptoms of old age, and just as if they were in the middle
period of life. Pergannes calls the Indians, whose age exceeds one
hundred years, by the name of Gymnetæ;[12] but not a few authors style
them Macrobii. Ctesias mentions a tribe of them, known by the name of
Pandore, whose locality is in the valleys, and who live to their
two-hundredth year; their hair is white in youth, and becomes black in
old age. On the other hand, there are some people joining up to the
country of the Macrobii, who never live beyond their fortieth year, and
their females have children once only during their lives. This
circumstance is also mentioned by Agatharchides, who states, in
addition, that they live on locusts, and are very swift of foot.
Clitarchus and Megasthenes give these people the name of Mandi, and
enumerate as many as three hundred villages which belong to them. Their
women are capable of bearing children in the seventh year of their age,
and become old at forty.
Artemidorus states that in the island of Taprobane (_Ceylon_) life is
prolonged to an extreme length, while at the same time, the body is
exempt from weakness. Among the Calingæ, a nation also of India, the
women conceive at five years of age, and do not live beyond their eighth
year. In other places again, there are men born with long hairy tails,
and of remarkable swiftness of foot; while there are others that have
ears so large as to cover the whole body.
Crates of Pergamus states, that the Troglodytæ, who dwell beyond
Æthiopia, are able to outrun the horse; and that a tribe of the
Æthiopians, who are known as the Syrbotæ, exceed eight cubits in height
(_twelve feet_). There is a tribe of Æthiopian Nomades dwelling on the
banks of the river Astragus, towards the north, and about twenty days’
journey from the ocean. These people are called Menismini; they live on
the milk of the animal which we call cynocephalus (_baboon_), and rear
large flocks of these creatures, taking care to kill the males, except
such as they may preserve for the purposes of breeding. In the deserts
of Africa, men are frequently seen to all appearance, and then vanish in
an instant.”[13]
It may be said that these descriptions of men are only the belief about
the time of the Christian era, when Pliny lived--but it was the faith of
centuries, and we find, 1200 years after Pliny died, Sir John Mandeville
confirming his statements, and, as before stated, these wondrous
creatures were given in illustrations, both in the Mappa Mundi, and in
early printed books. Mandeville writes: “Many divers countreys &
kingdoms are in Inde, and it is called Inde, of a river that runneth
through it, which is called Inde also, and there are many precious
stones in that river Inde. And in that ryver men finde Eles of xxx foote
long, & men y^t dwell nere that river are of evill colour, yelowe &
grene....
“Then there is another yle that men call Dodyn, & it is a great yle. In
this yle are maner diverse of men y^t have evyll maners, for the father
eateth the son, & the son the father, the husband his wyfe, and the wyfe
hir husbande. And if it so be that the father be sicke, or the mother,
or any frend, the sonne goeth soone to the priest of the law & prayeth
him that he will aske of the ydoll if his father shall dye of that
sicknesse, or not. And then the priest and the son kneele down before
the ydole devoutly, & asketh him, and he answereth to them, and if he
say that he shall lyve, then they kepe him wel, and if he say that he
shall dye, then commeth the priest with the son, or with the wyfe, or
what frende that it be unto him y^t is sicke, and they lay their hands
over his mouth to stop his breath, & so they sley him, & then they smite
all the body into peces, & praieth all his frendes for to come and eate
of him that is dead, and they make a great feste thereof, and have many
minstrels there, and eate him with great melody. And so when they have
eaten al y^e flesh, then they take the bones, and bury them all singing
with great worship, and all those that are of his frendes that were not
at the eating of him, have great shame and vylany, so that they shall
never more be taken as frends.
“And the king of this yle is a great lord and mightie, & he hath under
him liii greate Yles, and eche of them hath a king; and in one of these
yles are men that have but one eye, and that is in the middest of theyr
front, and they eat flesh & fishe all rawe. And in another yle dwell
men that have no heads, & theyr eyen are in theyr shoulders & theyr
mouth is on theyr breste. In another yle are men that have no head ne
eyen, and their mouth is in theyr shoulders. And in another yle are men
that have flatte faces, without nose, and without eyen, but they have
two small round holes in stede of eyen, and they have a flatte mouth
without lippes. And in that yle are men that have their faces all flat
without eyen, without mouth & without nose, but they have their eyen,
and their mouth, behinde on their shoulders.
“And in another yle are foule men that have the lippes about the mouth
so greate, that when they sleepe in the sonne they cover theyr face with
the lippe. And in another yle are little men, as dwarfes, and have no
mouth, but a lyttle rounde hole & through that hole they eate their
meate with a pipe, & they have no tongue, & they speake not, but they
blow & whistle, and so make signes one to another. And in another yle
are wild men with hanging eares unto their shoulders. And in another yle
are wild men, with hanging eares & have feete lyke an hors & they run
faste, & they take wild beastes, and eate them. And in another yle are
men that go on theyr handes & feete lyke beasts & are all rough, and
will leape upon a tree like cattes or apes. And in another yle are men
that go ever uppon theyr knees marvaylosly, and have on every foote viii
Toes....
“There is another yle that men call Pitan, men of this lande till no
lande, for they eate nought, and they are smal, but not so smal as
Pigmes. These men live with smell of wild aples, & when they go far out
of the countrey, they beare apples with them, for anon, as they lose
the savour of apples they dye--they are not reasonable, but as wyld
beastes. And there is another yle where the people are all fethers,[14]
but the face and the palmes of theyr handes, these men go as well about
the sea, as on the lande, and they eate flesh and fish all raw.... In
Ethiope are such men that have but one foote, and they go so fast y^t it
is a great marvaill, & that is a large fote, that the shadow thereof
covereth y^e body from son or rayne, when they lye upon their backes;
and when their children be first borne they loke like russet, and when
they waxe olde then they be all black.”
There were also elephant-headed men.
[Illustration]
In the olden times were men who did not build themselves houses--but
sheltered themselves in caves, fissures of rocks, &c., and many are the
remains we find of their flint implements, and the bones, which they
used to split in order to extract the marrow of the animals they had
slain with their rude flint arrows and spears. These, in classical
times, were called Troglodytes (from the Greek τρωγλοδὺται, _dwellers in
caves_). It was a generic term, although particularly applied to
uncivilised races on the banks of the Danube--those who dwelt on the
western coasts of the Red Sea--and Ethiopia. These latter could not have
led a particularly happy life, for Herodotus tells us that the
“Garamantes hunt the Ethiopian Troglodytes in four horse chariots; for
the Ethiopian Troglodytes are the swiftest of foot of all men of whom we
have heard any account given. The Troglodytes feed upon serpents and
lizards, and such kind of reptiles; they speak a language like no other,
but screech like bats.”
Pliny, as we have seen, speaks of an adder eating people, whose food
enables them to achieve extraordinary longevity, and Mandeville tells us
that “From this yle, men go to an yle that is called Tracota, where all
men are as beastes, & not reasonable, they dwell in caves, for they have
not wyt to make them houses--they eate adders, and they speake not, but
they make such a noyse as adders doe one to another, and they make no
force of ryches, but of a stone that hath forty colours, and it is
called Traconyt after that yle, they know not the vertue thereof, but
they covete it for the great fayreness.”
This stone was probably some kind of agate. It could not possibly have
been a topaz, as some have thought, as the context from Pliny will show.
“Topazos is a stone that is still held in very high estimation for its
green tints; indeed, when first it was discovered, it was preferred to
every other kind of precious stone. It so happened that some Troglodytic
pirates, suffering from tempest and hunger, having landed upon an island
off the coast of Arabia, known as Cytis, when digging there for roots
and grass, discovered this precious stone; such, at least, is the
opinion expressed by Archelaüs. Juba says that there is an island in
the Red Sea called _Topazos_, at a distance of three hundred stadia
from the mainland; that it is surrounded by fogs, and is often sought by
navigators in consequence; and that, to this, it received its present
name, the word _Topazin_[15] meaning “to seek” in the language of the
Troglodytæ.... At a later period a statue, four cubits in height, was
made of this stone.... Topazos is the largest of all the precious
stones.”
This shows that the Troglodytæ of Ethiopia had some commercial energy,
and they did a good trade in myrrh and other condiments. Pliny says that
the Troglodytæ traded among other things in cinnamon. They “after buying
it of their neighbours, carry it over vast tracts of sea, upon rafts,
which are neither steered by rudder nor drawn or impelled by oars or
sails. Nor yet are they aided by any of the resources of art, man alone,
and his daring boldness, standing in the place of all these; in addition
to which, they choose the winter season, about the time of the equinox,
for their voyage, for then a south-easterly wind is blowing; these winds
guide them in a straight course from gulf to gulf, and after they have
doubled the promontory of Arabia, the north-east wind carries them to a
port of the Gebanitæ, known by the name of Ocilia. Hence it is that they
steer for this port in preference, and they say that it is almost five
years before the merchants are able to effect their return, while many
perish on the voyage. In return for their wares, they bring back
articles of glass and copper, cloths, buckles, bracelets, and necklaces;
hence it is that this traffic depends more particularly upon the
capricious tastes and inclinations of the female sex.”
This shows that some, at least, of the Troglodytes had a commercial
spirit, and were in a comparative state of civilisation; in fact the
latter is thoroughly proved, when, a little later on, Pliny speaks of
Myrobalanum, “Among these various kinds, that which is sent from the
country of the Troglodytæ is the worst of all,” thus showing that they
had reached the civilised pitch of adulteration! There are also several
notices of peculiarities connected with this people, which deserve a
passing glance. They had turtles with horns (or more probably fore-feet)
which resembled the branches of a lyre; with these they swam. These were
in all likelihood the tortoise-shell turtles, for they called them
_Chelyon_. The Troglodytæ worshipped them. Their cattle were not like
other oxen, for their horns pointed downwards to the ground, so that
they were obliged to feed with their heads on one side. These oxen
should have been crossed with those of Phrygia, whose horns were as
mobile as their ears. And they were the happy possessors of a lake,
called the _Unhealthy Lake_, which thrice a day became salt and bitter,
and then again fresh, and this went on both day and night. We can hardly
wonder that this _Lacus Insanus_ was full of white serpents thirty feet
long.
AMAZONS.
The race of Amazons or fighting women, is not yet extinct, as the
chronicles of every police court can tell, and as an organised body of
warlike soldiers--the King of Dahomey still keeps them up, or did until
very recently. According to Herodotus, the Greeks, after having routed
the Amazons, sailed away in three ships, taking with them as many
Amazons, as they had been able to capture alive--but, when fairly out at
sea, the ladies arose, stood up for women’s rights, and cut all the
Greeks in pieces. But they had not reckoned on one little thing, and
that was, that none among them had the slightest idea of navigation;
they couldn’t even steer or row--so they had to drift about, until they
came to Cremni (supposed to be near _Taganrog_), which was Scythian
territory. They signalised their landing by horse-stealing, and the
Scythians, not appreciating the joke, gave them battle, thinking they
were men; but an examination of the dead proved them to be of the other
sex. On learning this, the Scythians were far too gentlemanly to
continue the strife, and, little by little, they established the most
friendly relations with the Amazons. These ladies, however, objected to
go to the Scythians’ homes, for, as they pertinently put it, “We never
could live with the women of your county, because we have not the same
customs with them. We shoot with the bow, throw the javelin, and ride on
horseback, and have never learnt the employments of women. But your
women do none of the things we have mentioned, but are engaged in
women’s work, remaining in their wagons, and do not go out to hunt, or
anywhere else; we could not therefore consort with them. If, then, you
desire to have us for your wives, and to prove yourselves honest men, go
to your parents, claim your share of their property, then return, and
let us live by ourselves.”
This the young Scythians did, but, when they returned, the Amazons said
they were afraid to stop where they were, for they had deprived parents
of their sons, and besides, had committed depredations in the country,
so that they thought it but prudent to leave, and suggested that they
should cross the Tanais, or _Don_, and found a colony on the other side.
This their husbands acceded to, and when they were settled, their wives
returned to their old way of living--hunting, going to war with their
husbands, and wearing the same clothes--in fact they enjoyed an actual
existence, of which many women nowadays, fondly, but vainly dream. There
was a little drawback however--the qualification for a young lady’s
presentation at court, consisted of killing a man, and, until that was
effected, she could not marry.
Sir John Mandeville of course knew all about them, although he does not
pretend to have seen them, and this is what he tells us. “After the land
of Caldee, is the land of Amazony, that is a land where there is no man
but all women, as men say, for they wil suffer no man to lyve among
them, nor to have lordeshippe over them. For sometyme was a kinge in
that lande, and men were dwelling there as did in other countreys, and
had wives, & it befell that the kynge had great warre with them of
Sychy, he was called Colopius, and he was slaine in bataill and all the
good bloude of his lande. And this Queene, when she herd that, & other
ladies of that land, that the king and the lordes were slaine, they
gathered them togither and killed all the men that were lefte in their
lande among them, and sithen that time dwelled no man among them.
“And when they will have any man, they sende for them in a countrey that
is nere theyr lande, and the men come, and are ther viii dayes, or as
the woman lyketh, & then they go againe, and if they have men children
they send them to theyr fathers, when they can eate & go, and if they
have maide chyldren they kepe them, and if they bee of gentill bloud
they brene[16] the left pappe[17] away, for bearing of a shielde, and,
if they be of little bloud, they brene the ryght pappe away for shoting.
For those women of that countrey are good warriours, and are often in
soudy[18] with other lordes, and the queene of that lande governeth well
that lande; this lande is all environed with water.”
PYGMIES.
The antitheses of men--Dwarfs, and Giants--must not be overlooked, as
they are abnormal, and yet have existed in all ages. Dwarfs are
mentioned in the Bible, _Leviticus_ xxi. 20, where following the
injunction of “Let him not approach to offer the bread of his God”--are
mentioned the “crookbackt or dwarf.” Dwarfs in all ages have been made
the sport of Royalty, and the wealthy; but it is not of them I write,
but of a race called the Pygmies, very small men who were descended from
Pygmæus. They are noted in the earliest classics, for even Homer
mentions them in his Iliad (B. 3, l. 3-6), which Pope translates:--
“So, when inclement winter vex the plain
With piercing frosts, or thick descending rain,
To warmer seas, the Cranes embody’d fly,
With noise, and order, through the mid-way sky;
To pigmy nations, wounds and death they bring,
And all the war descends upon the wing.”
Homer also wrote a poem, “Pygmæogeranomachia,” about the Pygmies and
Cranes. The accompanying illustration is from a fresco at Pompeii.
[Illustration]
Aristotle says that they lived in holes under the earth, and came out in
the harvest time with hatchets, to cut down the corn, as if to fell a
forest, and went on goats and lambs of proportionable stature to
themselves to make war against certain birds, called Cranes by some,
which came there yearly from Scythia to plunder them. Pliny mentions
them several times, but especially in B. 7, c. 2. “Beyond these people,
and at the very extremity of the mountains, the Trispithami,[19] and
the Pygmies are said to exist; two races, which are but three spans in
height, that is to say, twenty-seven inches only. They enjoy a
salubrious atmosphere, and a perpetual spring, being sheltered by the
mountains from the northern blasts; it is these people that Homer has
mentioned as being waged war upon by Cranes. It is said that they are in
the habit of going down every spring to the sea-shore, in a large body,
seated on the backs of rams and goats, and armed with arrows, and there
destroy the eggs and the young of those birds; that this expedition
occupies them for the space of three months, and that otherwise it would
be impossible for them to withstand the increasing multitudes of the
Cranes. Their cabins, it is said, are built of mud, mixed with feathers
and egg shells.”
[Illustration]
Mandeville thus describes them. “When men passe from that citie of
Chibens, they passe over a great river of freshe water, and it is nere
iiii mile brode, & then men enter into the lande of the great Caan. This
river goeth through the land of Pigmeens, and there men are of little
stature, for they are but three span long, and they are right fayre,
both men and women, though they bee little, and they live but viii[20]
yeare, and he that liveth viii yeare is holden right olde, and these
small men are the best workemen in sylke, and of cotton, in all maner of
thing that are in the worlde; and these smal men travail not, nor tyl
land, but they have amonge them great men, as we are, to travaill for
them, & they have great scorne of those great men, as we would have of
giaunts, or, of them, if they were among us.”
Ser Marco Polo warns his readers against _pseudo_ Pygmies. Says he: “I
may tell you moreover that when people bring over pygmies which they
allege to come from India, ’tis all a lie and a cheat. For those little
men, as they call them, are manufactured on this Island (_Sumatra_), and
I will tell you how. You see there is on the Island a kind of monkey
which is very small, and has a face just like a man’s. They take these,
and pluck out all the hair, except the hair of the beard, and on the
breast, and then dry them, and stuff them, and daub them with saffron,
and other things, until they look like men. But you see it is all a
cheat; for nowhere in India, nor anywhere else in the world, were there
ever men seen so small as these pretended pygmies.”
But there are much more modern mention of these small folk. Olaus Magnus
not only reproduces the classical story, but tells of the Pygmies of
Greenland--the modern Esquimaux. These are also mentioned in Purchas his
Pilgrimage, as living in Iceland, “pigmies represent the most perfect
shape of man; that they are hairy to the uttermost joynts of the
fingers, and that the males have beards downe to the knees; but,
although they have the shape of men, yet they have little sense or
understanding, nor distinct speech, but make shew of a kinde of hissing,
after the manner of geese.”
But to bring the history of pygmies down to modern times--I quote from
“Giants and Dwarfs,” by E. J. Wood, 1868, and I am thus particular in
giving my authority, as the news comes from America, whence, sometimes,
fact is mixed with fiction (pp. 246, 247, 248). “It is alleged by
contemporary newspapers, that in 1828 several burying-grounds, from half
an acre to an acre and a half in extent, were discovered in the county
of White, state of Tennessee, near the town of Sparta, wherein very
small people had been deposited in tombs or coffins of stone. The
greatest length of the skeletons was nineteen inches. The bones were
strong and well set, and the whole frames were well formed. Some of the
people appeared to have lived to a great age, their teeth being worn
smooth and short, while others were full and long. The graves were about
two feet deep; the coffins were of stone, and made by laying a flat
stone at the bottom, one at each side, or each end, and one over the
corpse. The dead were all buried with their heads toward the east, and
in regular order, laid on their backs, and with their hands on their
breasts. In the bend of the left arm was found a cruse, or vessel, that
would hold nearly a pint, made of ground stone, or shell, of a grey
colour, in which were found two or three shells. One of these skeletons
had about its neck ninety-four pearl beads. Near one of these
burying-places was the appearance of the site of an ancient town.
Webber, in his ‘Romance of Natural History,’ refers to the diminutive
sarcophagi found in Kentucky and Tennessee; and he describes these
receptacles to be about three feet in length, by eighteen inches deep,
and constructed, bottom, sides, and top, of flat, unhewn stones. These
he conjectures to be the places of sepulture of a pigmy race, that
became extinct at a period beyond reach even of the tradition of the
so-called Indian aborigines.
Newspapers for 1866 tell us that General Milroy, who had been spending
much time in Smith County, Tennessee, attending to some mining business,
discovered near Watertown in that county some remarkable graves, which
were disclosed by the washing of a small creek in its passage through a
low bottom. The graves were from eighteen inches to two feet in length,
most of them being of the smaller size, and were formed by an excavation
of about fifteen inches below the surface, in which were placed four
undressed slabs of rock--one in the bottom of the pit, one on each side,
and one on the top. Human skeletons, some with nearly an entire skull,
and many with well-defined bones, were found in them. The teeth were
very diminutive, but evidently those of adults. Earthen crocks were also
found with the skeletons. General Milroy could not gain any satisfactory
information respecting these pigmy graves. The oldest inhabitants of the
vicinity knew nothing of their origin or history, except that there was
a large number of similar graves near Statesville in the same county,
and also a little burial-ground at the mouth of Stone River, near the
city of Nashville. General Milroy deposited the bones found by him in
the State Library at Nashville.”
That a race of dwarfs live in Central Africa, is now well known. Ronzo
de Leo, who travelled in Africa, for many years with Dr. Livingstone, at
one time almost stood alone in his assertion of this fact. But he was
supported in his statement by G. Eugene Wolff, who had been in Central
Africa with Stanley, and he maintained that, on the southern branches of
the Congo, he had seen whole villages of Lilliputians, of whom the men
were not over four and a half feet high, whilst the women were a great
deal smaller. He described them as being both brave and cunning, expert
with bow and arrow, with which they readily bring down the African
bison, antelope, and even elephants. As trappers of small animals they
are unsurpassed. In a close pinch they use the lance with astonishing
dexterity, and an ordinary sling, in their hands, is wielded with
wonderful skill.
These dwarfs collect the sap of the palm, with which they make soap. The
men are smooth-faced, and of a rich mahogany colour, while the hair is
short, and as black as night. Tens of thousands of them live on the
south branch of the Congo.
Mr. Stanley in his expedition for the relief of Emin Pacha,[21]
encountered some tribes of these pigmies, but he does not agree with the
account which Mr. Wolff gives of them, who describes them as an affable,
kind-hearted people, of simple ways, and devoid of vicious tendencies to
a greater degree than most semi-barbaric races. The women are
industrious and amiable.
Stanley, on the contrary, found them very annoying, and had a lively
recollection of their poisoned arrows--but, at the present writing, he
not having returned, and we, having no record but his letters, had
better suspend our judgment as to the habits and tempers of these small
people.
Wolff says they stand in awe of their bigger neighbours, but are so
brave and cunning that, with all the odds of physique against them, the
pigmies are masters of the situation.
GIANTS.
This last sentence seems almost a compendium of _The History of Tom
Thumb_, for his wit enabled him to overcome the lubber-headed giants, in
every conflict he was engaged in with them--they were no match for him.
Take the Romances of Chivalry. Pacolet, and all the dwarfs, were endowed
with acute wits, and there was very little they could not compass--but
the giants! their ultimate fate was always to be slain by some knight,
and their imprisoned knights and damsels set free. A dwarf was a cleanly
liver, but a giant was turbulent, quarrelsome, lustful, and occasionally
cannibal. Fe Fi Fo Fum was the type of colossal man, and, as it is quite
a pleasure to whitewash their characters in these respects, I hasten to
do so before further discoursing on the subject of these great men.
It is Olaus Magnus who thus tells us
“Of the sobriety of Giants and Champions.”
[Illustration]
“That most famous Writer of the _Danish_ affairs, _Saxo_, alleged
before, and who shall be often alleged hereafter, saith, that amongst
other mighty strong men in the _North_, who were as great as Giants,
there was one _Starchaterus Thavestus_, whose admirable and heroick
Vertues are so worthily extolled by him, that there were scarce any
like him in those dayes in all _Europe_, or in the whole World, or
hardly are now, or ever shall be. And amongst other Vertues he ascribes
to that high-spirited man, he mentions his sobriety, which is
principally necessary for valiant men: and I thought fit to annex that
peculiarly to this relation, that we may, as in a glass, see more
cleerly the luxury of this lustful age. For, as the same _Saxo_
testifies, that valiant _Starchaterus_ loved frugality, and loved not
immoderate dainties. Alwayes neglecting pleasure, he respected Vertue,
imitating the antient manner of Continency, and he desired a homely
provision of his Diet; he hated costly suppers; wherefore hating
profusion in Diet, and feeding on smoaked and rank meat, he drove away
Hunger, with the greater appetite, as his meat was but of one kind, lest
he should remit and abate the force of his true Vertue, by the contagion
of outward Delights, as by some adulterate sweetness, or should abrogate
the Rule of antient Frugality, by unusual Superstitions for Gluttony.
Moreover, he could not endure to spend rost and boyled meat all at one
Meal; holding that to be a monstrous Food, that Cookery had tampered
with divers things together: Wherefore, that he might turn away the
Luxury of the _Danes_, that they borrowed from the _Germans_, that made
them so effeminate, amongst the rest he made Verses in his Country
Language.” Omitting many of them, he sang thus:
“_Starchaterus_ his Verses on _Frugality_.
“Strong men do love raw meat; nor do they need,
Or love, on dainty Cates and Feasts to feed,
War is the thing they most delight to breed,
You may sooner bite off their beards that are
Full hard, and stiff with bristled, rugged, hair,
Than their wide mouths leave Milk their daily fare:
We fly from dainty Kitchins, and do fill
Our Bellies with rank Meats, and Countray swill,
Of old, men fed on boyl’d Meats, ’gainst their will.
A dish of Grass, that had no smack, did hold
Hog’s and sheep’s flesh together, hot or cold,
Nor to pollute their meats with mingling were they bold;
He that eats Cream we bid him for to be
Strong, and to have a mind that’s bold and free.
* * * * *
Eleven Lords of elder time we were,
That waited on King Hachon, and at fare
_Helgo Begachus_ sat first in order there.
First dish he eat was a dry’d Gammon, and
A Crust as hard as Flint he took in hand,
This made his hungry, yawning stomach stand:
No man at Table fed on stinking meat,
But what was good and common, each man eat,
Content with simple fare, though nere so great;
The greatest were not Gluttons, nor yet fine,
The King himself full sparingly would dine.
No Drinks were used that did of Honey bost,
Beer was their common Liquor, _Ceres_ owest,
They fed on Meats were little boyl’d, no rost.
Each Table was with Meats but meanly drest,
Few Dishes on’t, Antiquity thought best;
And in plain Fare each held himself most blest.
There were no Flagons, nor broad Bowls in use,
Nor painted Dishes grown to great abuse,
Each, at the Tap, did fill his wooden cruze.
No man, admirer of the former days,
Did use Tankards or Oxeys;[22] for their ways
Were sparing, almost empty Dishes this bewrays.
No Silver Basons, or guilt Cups were thought
Fit by the Host, and to the table brought,
To garnish, or by Ghests were vainly sought.”
By precept, and example, he induced many to Temperance and
Sobriety--but, in spite of his moderation in food and drink, he was a
most outrageous pirate, and Berserker.
At last, however, old, and weary of life, he sought death, and meeting
Hatherus, son of a noble whom he had killed, begged him as a favour to
cut his head off--and the young man, obligingly consenting, his head was
severed from his body, and literally bit the ground. There are records
of many more Northern giants, but none of so edifying a life as
Starchaterus.
Giants are plentiful in the Bible, the Emins, Anakims, and the
Zamzummims: there was Og, King of Bashan, whose iron bedstead was 9
cubits long by 4 broad--_i.e._, 13 ft. 6 in. by 6 ft. That redoubtable
champion of the Philistines, Goliath of Gath, was six cubits and a span
high--_i.e._, 9 ft. 9 in. In 2 Samuel xxi. 15-22, we find mention made
of many giants.
“15 Moreover the Philistines had yet war again with Israel; and David
went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the
Philistines; and David waxed faint.
“16 And Ishbi-benob, which was of the sons of the giants, the weight of
whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of brass in weight, he being
girded with a new sword, thought to have slain David.
“17 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah succoured him, and smote the
Philistine, and killed him....
“18 And it came to pass after this, that there was again a battle with
the Philistines at Gob: then Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Saph, which
was of the sons of the giant.
“19 And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where
Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, a Bethlehemite, slew the brother of
Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.
“20 And there was yet a battle in Gath, where was a man of great
stature, and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in number; and he
also was born to the giant.
“21 And when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimeah, the brother
of David, slew him.
“22 These four were born to the giant in Gath, and fell by the hand of
David, and by the hand of his servants.”
But these were mere pigmies if we can believe M. Henrion, who in 1718
calculated out the heights of divers notable persons--thus he found Adam
was 121 ft. 9 in. high, Eve 118 ft. 9 in., Noah 27 ft., Abraham 20 ft.,
and Moses 13 ft.
Putting aside the mythical classical giants, Pliny says: “The tallest
man that has been seen in our times, was one Gabbaras by name, who was
brought from Arabia by the Emperor Claudius; his height was nine feet
and as many inches. In the reign of Augustus, there were two persons,
Posio and Secundilla, by name, who were half a foot taller than him;
their bodies have been preserved as objects of curiosity in the Museum
of the Sallustian family.”
But it is reserved to Sir John Mandeville to have found the tallest
giants of, comparatively speaking, modern times. “And beyond that valey
is a great yle, where people as great as giaunts of xxviii fote long,
and they have no clothinge but beasts skyns that hang on them, and they
eate no bread, but flesh raw, and drink milke, and they have no houses,
& they ate gladlyer fleshe of men, than other, & men saye to us that
beyonde that yle is an yle where are greater giaunts as xlv or l fote
long, & some said l cubits long (_75 feet_) but I saw them not, and
among those giaunts are great shepe, and they beare great wolle, these
shepe have I sene many times.”
EARLY MEN.
On the antiquity of man it is impossible to speculate, because we have
no data to go upon. We know that his earliest existence, of which we
have any cognisance, must have been at a period when the climate and
fauna of the Western continent was totally different to their present
state. Then roamed over the land, the elephant, rhinoceros,
hippopotamus, the Bos-primigenius, the reindeer, the cave bear, the
brown and the Arctic bears, the cave hyæna, and many other animals now
quite extinct. We know that man then existed, because we find his
handiwork in the shape of manufactured flint implements, mixed with the
bones of these animals--and, occasionally, with them human remains have
been found, but, as yet, no perfect skull has been found. There were two
types of man, the Dolicho Cephalous, or long-headed, and the Brachy
Cephalous, or round-headed--and, of these, the long-headed were of far
greater antiquity.
All we can do is to classify man’s habitation of this earth, as well as
we can, under certain well-defined, and known conditions. Thus, that
called the Stone Age, must be divided into two parts, that of the
roughly chipped flint implements--which is designated the _Palæolithic_
period--and that of the polished and carefully finished stone arms and
implements, which necessarily show a later time, and a higher state of
civilisation--which is called the _Neolithic_ period. The next age is
that of bronze, when man had learned to smelt metals, and make moulds,
showing a great advance--and, finally, the Iron Age, in which man had
subdued the sterner metal to his will--and this age immediately precedes
History.
The cave men were of undoubted antiquity--and were hunters of the wild
beasts that then overran Western Europe, and who split the bones of
those animals which they slew in order to obtain the marrow. Although
strictly belonging to the Palæolithic period, they manufactured out of
that stubborn material, flint, spear-heads, knives, scrapers--and, when
the bow had been invented, arrow-heads. Nor were they deficient in the
rudiments of art, as some tracings and carvings on pieces of the horns
of slaughtered animals, clearly show. Mr. Christie in digging in the
Dordogne caves found, at La Madelaine, engraved and carved pictures of
reindeer, an ibex, a mammoth, &c., all of them recognisable, and the
mammoth, a very good likeness. This was incised on a piece of mammoth
tusk.
The lake men, judging by the remains found near their dwellings,
occupied their houses during the Stone and Bronze periods. Herodotus
mentions these curious dwellings. “But those around Mount Pangæus and
near the Doberes, the Agrianæ, Odomanti, and those who inhabit Lake
Prasias[23] itself, were not at all subdued by Megabazus. Yet he
attempted to conquer those who live upon the lake, in dwellings
contrived after this manner: planks, fitted on lofty piles, are placed
in the middle of the lake, with a narrow entrance from the mainland by
a single bridge. These piles that support the planks, all the citizens
anciently placed there at the common charge; but, afterwards, they
established a law to the following effect; whenever a man marries, for
each wife he sinks three piles, bringing wood from a mountain called
Orbelus; but every man has several wives. They live in the following
manner; every man has a hut on the planks, in which he dwells, with a
trap door closely fitted in the planks, and leading down to the lake.
They tie the young children with a cord round the foot, fearing lest
they should fall into the lake beneath. To their horses and beasts of
burden they give fish for fodder; of which there is such an abundance,
that, when a man has opened his trap-door, he lets down an empty basket
by a cord into the lake, and, after waiting a short time, draws it up
full of fish.”[24]
Here, then, we have a valuable record of the lake dwellings, and similar
ones have been found in the lake of Zurich. In 1854, owing to the
dryness and cold of the preceding winter, the water fell a foot below
any previous record: and, in a small bay between Ober Meilen and
Dollikon, the inhabitants took advantage to reclaim the soil thus left,
and add it to their gardens, by building a wall as far out as they
could--and they raised the level of the land thus gained, by dredging
the mud out of the lake. In the course of dredging they found deer
horns, tiles and various implements, and, the attention of an antiquary
having been directed to this find, he concluded that it was the site of
an ancient lake village. The lakes of Geneva, Constance, and
Neufchatel, have also yielded much that throws light on the habits and
intelligence of these lake men. They wove, they made pottery, they grew
and parched corn--nay they ground it, and made biscuits, they ate
apples, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, hazel and beech nuts,
and peas. They evidently fed on cereals, fruit, fish, and the flesh of
wild animals, for bones of the following animals have been found. Brown
bear, badger, marten, pine marten, polecat, wolf, fox, wild cat, beaver,
elk, urus, bison, stag, roe-deer, wild boar, marsh boar--whilst their
domestic animals were the boar, horse, ox, goat, sheep, and dog. These,
it must be remembered, range over a wide period, including the stone and
bronze ages. They wore ornaments, too, for pins, and bracelets have been
found. Lake dwellings have been found in Scotland, England, Italy,
Germany and France--so that this practice seems to have obtained very
widely. In Ireland they made artificial islands in the lakes, called
Crannoges, on which they erected their dwellings. Pile dwellings now
exist, and are inhabited in many parts of the world.
We have other traces of prehistoric man in the shell mounds,
kjökkenmöddings, or kitchen middens, which still exist in Denmark, and
have been found in Scotland on the shores of the Moray Firth and Loch
Spynie; in Cornwall, and Devon, at St. Valéry at the mouth of the Somme,
in Australia, Tierra del Fuego, the Malay Peninsula, the Andaman
Islands, and North and South America, showing a very wide range. The
Danish kjökkenmöddings, when first thoroughly noticed, (of course, in
this century), were taken to be raised beaches--but when they were
examined, it was found that the shells were of four species of molluscs
or shell-fish,[25] that did not live together, and that they were
either full-grown, or nearly so. A stricter examination was made, and
the result was the finding of some flint implements, and bones marked by
knives, conclusively showing that man had had a hand in this collection
of shells--and the conclusion was come to that these were the sites of
villages of a prehistoric man, a hypothesis which was fully borne out by
the discovery, in some of them, of hearths bearing traces of having
borne fire. Thus, then, these refuse heaps were clearly the work of a
very ancient race, so poor, and backward, as to be obliged to live on
shell-fish--and these mounds were made by the shells which they threw
away.
We can find a very great analogy between them and the Tierra del
Fuegans, when Darwin visited them, while with the surveying ships
_Adventure_ and _Beagle_, a voyage which took from 1832 to 1836; and,
when we read the following extracts from Darwin’s account of the
expedition, we can fancy we have before us a vivid picture of the makers
of the kitchen middens. “The inhabitants, living chiefly upon
shell-fish, are obliged constantly to change their place of residence;
but they return at intervals to the same spots, as is evident from the
pile of old shells, which must often amount to some tons in weight.
These heaps can be distinguished at a long distance by the bright green
colour of certain plants which invariably grow on them.... The Fuegian
wigwam resembles, in size and dimensions, a haycock. It merely consists
of a few broken branches stuck in the ground, and very imperfectly
thatched on one side, with a few tufts of grass and rushes. The whole
cannot be so much as the work of an hour, and it is only used for a few
days.... At a subsequent period, the _Beagle_ anchored for a couple of
days under Wollaston Island, which is a short way to the northward.
While going on shore, we pulled alongside a canoe with six Fuegians.
These were the most abject and miserable creatures I anywhere beheld. On
the east coast, the natives, as we have seen, have guanaco cloaks, and,
on the west, they possess sealskins. Amongst the central tribes the men
generally possess an otter skin, or some small scrap about as large as a
pocket handkerchief, which is barely sufficient to cover their backs as
low down as their loins. It is laced across the breast by strings, and,
according as the wind blows, it is shifted from side to side. But these
Fuegians in the canoe were quite naked, and even one full-grown woman
was absolutely so. It was raining heavily, and the fresh water, together
with the spray, trickled down her body.... These poor wretches were
stunted in their growth, their hideous faces bedaubed with white paint,
their skins filthy and greasy, their hair entangled, their voices
discordant, their gestures violent and without dignity. Viewing such
men, one can hardly make oneself believe they are fellow-creatures and
inhabitants of the same world.... At night, five or six human beings,
naked, and scarcely protected from the wind and rain of this tempestuous
climate, sleep on the wet ground, coiled up like animals. Whenever it is
low water, they must rise to pick shell-fish from the rocks; and the
women, winter and summer, either dive and collect sea eggs, or sit
patiently in their canoes, and, with a baited hair line, jerk out small
fish. If a seal is killed, or the floating carcase of a putrid whale
discovered, it is a feast: such miserable food is assisted by a few
tasteless berries, and fungi. Nor are they exempt from famine, and, as a
consequence, cannibalism accompanied by parricide.”
This I believe to be as faithful a picture as can be drawn of the makers
of the shell mounds.
But in Denmark, although shells formed by far the major part of these
middens, yet they ate other fish, the herring, dorse, dab, and eel.
Birds also were not despised by them, bones of swallows, the sparrow,
stork, capercailzie, ducks, geese, wild swans, and even of the great auk
(now extinct) have been found. Then of beasts they ate the stag,
roe-deer, wild boar, urus, dog, fox, wolf, marten, otter, lynx, wild
cat, hedgehog, bear, and mouse; beside which they lived on the seal,
porpoise, and water rat.
Owing to the almost total absence of polished implements--and yet the
fact being that portions of one or two have been found--the makers of
these kjökkenmöddings, are classed as belonging to the later Palæolithic
period.
Of the Bronze and Iron Ages there is no necessity to write, men were
emerging from their primæval barbarity--and all the gentle arts, though
undeveloped, were nascent. Men who could smelt metals, and mould, and
forge them, cannot be considered as utter barbarians, such as were the
long-headed men, with their chipped flint implements and weapons.
WILD MEN.
Sometimes a specimen of humanity has got astray in infancy, and has been
dragged up somehow in the woods, like Caspar Hauser, and Peter the Wild
Boy, and fiction supplies other instances, such as Romulus and Remus,
Orson, &c. Some of them were credited with being hairy as are the
accompanying wild man and woman, as they are portrayed in John Sluper’s
book, where they are thus described:--
[Illustration]
“L’HOMME SAUVAGE.
“Combien que Dieu le createur seul sage,
A fait user les hommes de raison:
Icy voyez un vray homme sauvage,
Son corps vela est en toute saison.”
[Illustration]
“LA FEMME SAUVAGE.
“Femme sauvage a l’œil humain, non sainte,
Ainsi qu’elle est sur le naturel lieu,
Au naturel vous est icy depeinte,
Comme voyez qu’il appert a votre vue.”
When Cæsar came to Britain for the second time, he found the Britons,
although to a great extent civilised, having cavalry and charioteers (so
many of the latter, that Cassivelaunus left about 4000 to watch the
Romans), and knowing the art of fortification, yet in themselves, only
just emerging from utter barbarism--the colouring and shaving of
themselves showed that they had vanity, and were making, after their
fashion, the most of their personal charms. Cæsar (Book v. 14) writes:
“Of all these _tribes_, by far the most civilised are those who inhabit
Kent, which district is altogether maritime; nor do they differ much
from the Gallic customs. Most of those in the interior do not sow corn,
but live on flesh and milk, and are clad in skins. All the Britons, in
truth, dye themselves with woad, which produces a bluish colour, and on
this account they are of a more frightful aspect in battle. They have
flowing hair, and every part of the body shaved, except the head and the
upper lip. Ten, and _even_ twelve of them have wives in common between
them, and chiefly brothers with brothers, and fathers with sons; but, if
there is any offspring, they are considered to be the children of those
by whom each virgin was first espoused.”
HAIRY MEN.
If, as we may conjecture from the above, the ancient Briton was “a
rugged man, o’ergrown with hair,” his full-dress toilette must have
occupied some time. But extreme hairiness in human beings is by no means
singular, and very many cases are recorded in medical books. Many of us
may remember the Spanish dancer, Julia Pastrana, whose whole body was
hairy, and who had a fine beard. She had a child on whom the hair began
to grow, like its mother; and, but a few years back, there was a hairy
family exhibited in London--their faces being covered with hair, as is
the case of the _Puella pilosa_, or Hairy Girl--given by Aldrovandus in
his _Monstrorum Historia_.
[Illustration]
She was aged twelve years, and came from the Canary Isles, together with
her father (aged 40), her brother (20), and her sister (8), all as
hairy one as the other. They were brought over by Marius Casalius, and
first shown at Bologna, so that this is no doubt a faithful likeness, as
Aldrovandus lived and died in that city. He gives other examples, but
not so well authenticated as this.
There were two wonderful hairy people at Ava, in Burmah, who are
described by two most trustworthy eye-witnesses, John Crawford, in his
“Journal of an Embassy from the Governor-General of India to the Court
of Ava”--and in 1855, by Captain Henry Youle, in his “Narrative of the
Mission sent by the Governor-General of India to the Court of Ava.” They
were father and daughter, respectively named Shu-Maon, and Maphoon. The
father may strictly be said to have had neither eyelashes, eyebrows, nor
beard, because the whole of his face, including the interior and
exterior of his ears, were covered with long silky silvery grey hair.
His whole body, except his hands and feet, was covered with hair of the
same texture and colour as that now described, but generally less
abundant; it was most plentiful over the spine and shoulders, where it
was five inches long; over the breast, about four inches, and was most
scanty on the arms, legs, thighs, and abdomen.
Of the daughter, Captain Youle writes: “The whole of Maphoon’s face was
more or less covered with hair. On a part of the cheek, and between the
nose and mouth, this was confined to a short down, but over all the rest
of the face was a thick silky hair of a brown colour, paleing about the
nose and chin, four or five inches long. At the alæ of the nose, under
the eye, and on the cheek bone this was very fully developed; but it was
in, and on, the ear, that it was most extraordinary. Except the upper
tip, no part of the ear was visible. All the rest was filled and veiled
with a large mass of silky hair, growing apparently out of every part of
the external organ, and hanging a pendant lock to a length of eight or
ten inches. The hair over her forehead was brushed so as to blend with
the hair of the head, the latter being dressed (as usual with her
countrywomen) _à la Chinoise_; it was not so thick as to conceal her
forehead.
“The nose, densely covered with hair, as no animal’s is, that I know of,
and with long locks curving out, and pendant like the wisps of a fine
Skye-terrier’s coat, had a most strange appearance. The beard was pale
in colour, and about four inches in length, seemingly very soft and
silky.”
Maphoon, when Captain Youle saw her, had two children, one, the eldest,
perfectly normal, the other, who was very young, was evidently taking
after its mother.
The Aïnos, an aboriginal tribe in the north of Japan, who are looked
down upon by the Japanese as dogs, have always been reputed as being
covered with hair. Mr. W. Martin Wood read a paper before the
Ethnological Society of London[26] respecting them, and he said, “Esau
himself could not have been a more hairy man than are these Aïnos. The
hair forms an enormous bush, and it is thick and matted. Their beards
are very thick and long, and the greater part of their face is covered
with hair which is generally dark in colour; they have prominent
foreheads, and mild, dark eyes, which somewhat relieve the savage aspect
of their visage. Their hands and arms, and, indeed, the greater part of
their bodies, are covered with an abnormal profusion of hair.”
This, however, has been questioned, notably by Mr. Barnard Davis, whose
paper may be read in the 3rd vol. of the “Memoirs of the Anthropological
Society of London”--and he quotes from several travellers, to prove that
the hairyness of the Aïnos had been exaggerated. However, Miss Bird in
her “Unbeaten Tracks in Japan” may fairly be said to have put the
subject at rest, for she visited, and travelled in the Aïno country.
She, certainly, disproves the theory that, as a race, they were hairy,
although she confesses that some were--as, for instance (p. 232), “They
wore no clothing, but only one was hairy,” and, writing from Biratori,
Yezo (p. 255), she says, “The men are about the middle height,
broad-chested, broad-shouldered, thick set, very strongly built, the
arms and legs short, thick, and muscular, the hands and feet large. The
bodies, and especially the limbs of many, are covered with short,
bristly hair. I have seen two boys whose backs are covered with fur as
fine, and soft, as that of a cat.” Again (p. 283), “The profusion of
black hair, and a curious intensity about their eyes, coupled with the
hairy limbs and singularly vigorous _physique_, give them a formidably
savage appearance; but the smile, full of ‘sweetness and light,’ in
which both eyes and mouth bear part, and the low, musical voice, softer
and sweeter than anything I have previously heard, make me, at times,
forget that they are savages at all.”
THE OURAN OUTAN.
Transition from hirsute humanity to the apes, is easy, and natural--and
we need only deal with the Simiinæ, which includes the Orang, the
Chimpanzee, and the Gorilla. These are the largest apes, and nearest
approach to man--but, although they may be tailless, yet there is that
short great toe which prevents any acceptation of their humanity. The
orang is exclusively an inhabitant of Borneo and Sumatra, and in those
two islands it may be found in the swampy forests near the coast. It
grows to a large size, for an ape, about four feet four inches high, but
is neither so large, nor so strong, as the Gorilla. Compared with man,
its arms seem to be as extravagantly long, as its legs are ridiculously
short. When wild, it feeds entirely on vegetable diet, and makes a kind
of house, or nest, in trees, interweaving the branches, so as to obtain
shelter. They do not stand confinement well, being languid and
miserable--but, in their native wildness, they can, if necessity arises,
fight well in their own defence. A. R. Wallace, in his “Malay
Archipelago; the Land of the Orang Utan and the Bird of Paradise,” tells
the following story of its combativeness.
“A few miles down the river there is a Dyak house, and the inhabitants
saw a large orang feeding on the young shoots of a palm by the river
side. On being alarmed, he retreated towards the jungle, which was close
by, and a number of the men, armed with spears and choppers, ran out to
intercept him. The man who was in front, tried to run his spear through
the animal’s body, but the orang seized it in his hands, and in an
instant got hold of the man’s arm, which he seized in his mouth, making
his teeth meet in the flesh above the elbow, which he tore and lacerated
in a dreadful manner. Had not the others been close behind, the man
would have been seriously injured, if not killed, as he was quite
powerless; but they soon destroyed the creature with their spears and
choppers. The man remained ill for a long time, and never fully
recovered the use of his arm.”
It is called the Simia Satyrus; probably on its presumed lustfulness,
certainly not on account of its resemblance to the satyr of antiquity.
Gesner gives us his idea of the orang, presenting us with the
accompanying figure of the Cercopithecus, and quotes Cardanus as saying
that the Cercopithecus or Wild-man, is singularly made, having the
height and form of a man, with legs like man’s--and is covered all over
with hair. No animal can withstand it, with the exception of man, to
whom, when in its own regions, it is not inferior. It loves boys and
women.
[Illustration]
Pliny speaks of the Satyr Ape thus: “Among the mountainous districts of
the eastern parts of India, in what is called the country of the
Catharcludi, we find the Satyr, an animal of extraordinary swiftness.
They go sometimes on four feet, and sometimes walk erect; they have,
also, the features of a human being. On account of their swiftness,
these creatures are never to be caught, except when they are aged, or
sickly,” and, in another place, he says, “The Sphyngium and the Satyr
stow away food in the pouches of their cheeks, after which they will
take out piece by piece in their hands, and eat it.”
Topsell has mixed up the Simia Satyrus with the classical satyr, having
legs and horns like goats; but he evidently alludes to the former in
this passage. “The _Satyres_ are in the Islands _Satiridæ_, which are
three in number, right over against India on the farther side of the
_Ganges_; of which _Euphemus Car_ rehearseth this history: that when he
sailed unto _Italy_, by the rage of winde and evill weather, they were
driven to a coast unnavigable, where were many desart Islandes,
inhabited of wild men, and the marriners refused to land upon some
Islands, having heretofore had triall of the inhumaine and uncivill
behaviour of the inhabitants, so that they brought us to the _Satyrian
Islands_, where we saw the inhabitants red, and had tayles joyned to
their backs, not much lesse than horsses. These, being perceived by the
marriners to run to the shippes, and lay hold on the women that were in
them, the shipmen, for feare, took one of the Barbarian women, and set
her on the land among them, whom in most odious and filthy manner, they
abused, whereby they found them to be very bruit beasts.”
[Illustration]
He gives us his idea of the Simia Satyrus, which must have been an
accomplished animal, for not only could it, apparently, play upon the
pipe, but it had a handy pouch for the reception of the fruit (in lieu
of coppers) which it doubtless would receive as guerdon for its
performance.
SATYRS.
He also mentions and delineates a curious Ape which closely resembles
the classical Satyr: “Under the _Equinoctiall_, toward the East and
South, there is a kind of Ape called _Ægopithecus_, an Ape like a Goate.
For there are Apes like Beares, called _Arctopitheci_, and some like
Lyons, called _Leontopitheci_, and some like Dogs, called _Cynocephali_,
as is before expressed; and many other which have a mixt resemblance of
other creatures in their members.
[Illustration]
“Amongst the rest there is a beast called PAN; who in his head, face,
horns, legs, and from the loynes downward resembleth a Goat, but in his
belly, breast, and armes, an Ape: such a one was sent by the King of
_Indians_ to Constantine, which, being shut up in a cave or close place,
by reason of the wildnesse thereof, lived there but a season, and when
it was dead and bowelled, they pouldred it with spices, and carried it
to be seene at Constantinople: the which beast having beene seene of the
ancient Græcians, were so amazed at the strangenesse thereof, that they
received it for a God, as they did a Satyre, and other strange beasts.”
I have said that Topsell has mixed the Ape and the Satyr,
inextricably--but as his version has the charm of description and
anecdote, I give it with little curtailment.
“As the _Cynocephali_, or _Baboun_ Apes have given occasion to some to
imagine (though falsly) there were such men, so the _Satyre_, a most
rare and seldom seene beast, hath occasioned other to thinke it was a
Devil; and the Poets with their Apes, the Painters, Limners, and
Carvers, to encrease that superstition, have therefore described him
with hornes on his head, and feet like Goates, whereas Satires have
neither of both. And it may be that Devils have at some time appeared to
men in this likenes, as they have done in the likeness of the
_Onocentaure_ and wild Asse, and other shapes; it being also probable
that Devils take not any dænomination or shape from Satyres, but rather
the Apes themselves, from Devils whom they resemble, for there are many
things common to the Satyre Apes, and devilish Satyres, as their human
shape, their abode in solitary places, their rough hayre, and lust to
women, wherewith all other Apes are naturally infected; but especially
Satyres....
“Peradventure the name of Satyre is more fitly derived from the Hebrew,
_Sair, Esa._ 34, whereof the plural is _Seirim, Esa._ 13, which is
interpreted monsters of the Desart, or rough hairy Fawnes; and when
Iisim is put to _Seir_, it signifieth Goats.
“The _Chaldæans_, for _Seirim_, render _Schedin_; that is, evill
devills; and the _Arabians_, _lesejathin_, that is _Satanas_: the
_Persyans_, _Devan_, the _Illyrians_, _Devadai_, and _Dewas_: the
_Germans_, _Teufel_. They which passed through the world, and exercised
dauncing and other sports for _Dionisius_, were called Satyres, and
sometimes _Tytiri_, because of their wanton songes; sometimes _Sileni_
(although the difference is, that the smaller and younger beasts are
called _Satiri_, the elder, and greater, _Sileni_;) Also _Bacchæ_ and
_Nymphæ_, wherefore _Bacchus_ is pictured riding in a chariot of vine
branches, _Silenus_ ridinge beside him on an Asse, and the _Bacchæ_ or
_Satyres_ shaking togetheer their staulkie Javelines and Paulmers.[27]
By reason of their leaping they are called _Scirti_, and the anticke or
satyrical dauncing, _Sicinnis_, and they also sometimes _Sicinnistæ_;
sometimes _Ægipanæ_; wherefore _Pliny_ reporteth, that among the
westerne _Ethiopians_, there are certain little hilles full of the
_Satirique Ægipanæ_, and that, in the night-time they use great fires,
piping and dansing, with a wonderful noise of Tymbrels and Cymbals; and
so also in _Atlas_ amongest the Moores, whereof there was no footing,
remnant, or appearance, to be found in the daytime.
“... There are also _Satires_ in the Eastern mountaines of _India_, in
the country of the _Cartaduli_, and in the province of the _Comari_ and
_Corudæ_, but the _Cebi_ spoken of before, bred in _Ethiopia_, are not
_Satyres_ (though faced like them:) nor the _Prasyan_ Apes, which
resemble _Satyres_ in short beards. There are many kindes of these
_Satyres_ better distinguished by names than any properties naturall
known unto us. Such are the _Ægipanæ_, before declared, _Nymphes_ of the
Poets, _Fawnes_, _Pan_ and _Sileni_, which, in time of the Gentiles were
worshipped for Gods; and it was one part of their religion to set up the
picture of a Satyre at their dores and gates, for a remedy against the
bewitching of envious persons.
“... Satyres have no humaine conditions in them, nor any other
resemblance of men besides their outward shape; though _Solinus_ speakes
of them like as of men. They carry their meate under their chin as in a
store house, and from thence being hungry, they take it forth to eat,
making it ordinary with them every day, which is but annuall in the
_Formicæ_ lions; being of very unquiet motions above other Apes. They
are hardly taken, except sicke, great with yong, old or asleepe; for
_Sylla_ had a _Satyre_ brought him, which was taken asleepe neare
_Apollonia_, in the holy place _Nymphæum_, of whom he (by divers
interpreters) demanded many questions, but received no answer, save only
a voice very much like the neighing of a horse, wherof he being afraid,
sent him away alive.
“_Philostratus_ telleth another history, how that _Apollonius_ and his
colleagues, supping in a village of _Ethiopia_, beyond the fall of
_Nilus_, they heard a sudden outcry of women calling to one another;
some saying, _Take him_, others, _Follow him_; likewise provoking their
husbands to helpe them: the men presently tooke clubs, stones, or what
came first to hand, complaining of an injury done unto their wives. Now
some ten moneths before, there had appeared a fearfull shew of a Satyre,
raging upon their women, and had slain two of them, with whom he was in
love: the companions of _Apollonius_ quaked at the hearing hereof, and
_Nilus_, one of them, swore (by _Jove_) that they being naked and
unarmed, could not be able to resist him in his outragious lust, but
that he would accomplish his wantonnes as before: yet, said
_Apollonius_, there is a remedy to quaile these wanton-leaping beasts,
which men say _Midas_ used (for _Midas_ was of kindred to _Satyres_, as
appeared by his eares). This _Midas_ heard his mother say, that
_Satyres_ loved to be drunke with wine, and then sleep soundly, and
after that, be so moderate, mild and gentle, that a man might thinke
they had lost their first nature.
“Whereupon he put wine into a fountain neere the highway, whereof, when
the _Satyre_ had tasted, he waxed meeke suddenly, and was overcome. Now
that we thinke not this a fable (saith _Apollonius_) let us go to the
Governor of the Towne, and inquire of him whether there be any wine to
be had that we may offer it to the _Satyre_, wherunto all consented, and
they filled foure great _Egyptian_ earthen vessels with wine, and put it
in the fountain where their cattel were watred: this done, _Apollonius_
called the _Satyre_, secretly thretning him, and the _Satire_, inraged
with the savour of the wine came; after he had drunke thereof, Now, said
_Apollonius_, let us sacrifice to the _Satyre_, for he sleepeth, and so
led the inhabitants to the dens of the _Nymphs_, distant a furlong from
the towne, and shewed them the _Satyre_ saying; Neither beat, cursse, or
provoke him henceforth, and he shall never harme you.
“It is certaine, that the devills do many waies delude men in the
likeness of _Satyres_; for, when the drunken feasts of _Bacchus_ were
yearely celebrated in _Parnassus_, there were many sightes of _Satyres_,
and voyces, and sounding of cymbals heard: yet it is likely that there
are men also like Satyres, inhabiting in some desart places; for _S.
Ierom_, in the life of _Paul the Eremite_, reporteth that there appeared
to _S. Anthony_, an _Hippocentaure_ such as the Poets describe, and
presently he saw, in a rocky valley adjoining, a little man having
croked nostrils, hornes growing out of his forhed, and the neather part
of his body had Goat’s feet; the holy man, not dismayed, taking the
shield of faith, and the breastplate of righteousnesse, like a good
souldior of Christ, pressed toward him, which brought him some fruites
of palmes as pledges of his peace, upon which he fed in the journey;
which Saint _Anthony_ perceiving, he asked him who he was, and received
this answere; I am a mortall creature, one of the inhabitants of this
Desart, whom the Gentiles (deceived with error) doe worship, and call
_Fauni_, _Satyres_, and _Incubi_: I am come in ambassage from our
flocke, intreating that thou would’st pray for us unto the common GOD,
who came to save the world; the which words were no sooner ended, but he
ran away as fast as any foule could fly. And least this should seeme
false, under _Constantine_ at _Alexandria_ there was such a man to be
seene alive, and was a publick spectacle to all the World; the carcasse
thereof, after his death, was kept from corruption by heat, through
salt, and was carried to _Antiocha_ that the Emperor himself might see
it.
[Illustration]
“_Satyres_ are very sildom seene, and taken with great difficulty, as is
before saide: for there were two of these founde in the woods of
_Saxony_ towards _Dacia_, in a desart, the female was killed by the
darts of the hunters, and the biting of Dogs, but the male was taken
alive, being in the upper parts like a man, and in the neather partes
like a Goat, but all hairy throughout: he was brought to be tame, and
learned to go upright, and also to speake some wordes, but with a voice
like a Goat, and without all reason.
[Illustration]
“The famous learned man _George Fabricius_, shewed me this shape of a
monstrous beast that is fit to be joyned to the story of _Satyres_.
There was, (saide he,) in the territory of the Bishop of _Salceburgh_,
in a forrest called _Fannesbergh_, a certaine foure-footed beast, of a
yellowish carnation colour, but so wilde that he would never be drawne
to looke upon any man, hiding himselfe in the darkest places, and beeing
watched diligently, would not be provoked to come forth so much as to
eate his meate--so that in a very short time it was famished. The hinder
legs were much unlike the former, and also much longer. It was taken
about the year of the Lord, one thousand five hundred, thirty, whose
image being here so lively described, may save us further labour in
discoursing of his maine and different parts and proportion.”
THE SPHYNX.
“The SPHYNGA or _Sphinx_, is of the kind of Apes, but his breast up
to his necke, pilde and smooth without hayre: the face is very round,
yet sharp and piked, having the breasts of women, and their favor, or
visage, much like them: In that part of the body which is bare with out
haire, there is a certaine red thing rising in a round circle, like
millet seed, which giveth great grace & comeliness to their coulour,
which in the middle part is humaine: Their voice is very like a man’s,
but not articulate, sounding as if one did speake hastily, with
indignation or sorrow. Their haire browne, or swarthy coulour. They
are bred in _India_, and _Ethiopia_. In the promontory of the farthest
_Arabia_ neere _Dira_, are _Sphinges_, and certaine _Lyons_, called
_Formicæ_, so, likewise, they are to be found amongest the _Trogloditæ_.
[Illustration]
“As the _Babouns_ and _Cynocephali_ are more wilde than other Apes, so
the _Satyres_ and _Sphynges_ are more meeke and gentle, for they are not
so wilde that they will not bee tamed, nor yet so tame, but they will
revenge their own harmes; as appeared by that which was slayne in a
publike spectacle among the _Thebanes_. They carrye their meat in the
store houses of their own chaps or cheeks, taking it forth when they are
hungry, and so eat it.
[Illustration]
“The name of this _Sphynx_ is taken from ‘binding,’ as appeareth by the
Greek notation, or else of delicacie and dainty nice loosnesse,
(wherefore there were certain common strumpets called _Sphinctæ_, and
the _Megarian Sphingas_ was a very popular phrase for notorious
harlots), hath given occasion to the poets to faigne a certaine monster
called _Sphynx_, which they say was thus derived. _Hydra_ brought
foorth the _Chimæra_, _Chimæra_ by _Orthus_, the _Sphynx_, and the
_Nemæan_ Lyon: now, this _Orthus_ was one of _Geryon’s_ dogges. This
_Sphynx_ they make a treble formed monster, a Mayden’s face, a Lyon’s
legs, and the wings of a fowle; or, as _Ansonius_ and _Varinus_ say, the
face and head of a mayde, the body of a dogge, the winges of a byrd, the
voice of a man, the clawes of a Lyon, and the tayle of a dragon: and
that she kept continually in the _Sphincian_ mountaine; propounding to
all travailers that came that way an _Ænigma_, or Riddle, which was
this: _What was the creature that first of all goeth on foure legges;
afterwards on two, and, lastly, on three_: and all of them that could
not dissolve that Riddle, she presently slew, by taking them, and
throwing them downe headlong, from the top of a Rocke. At last _Œdipus_
came that way, and declared the secret, that it _was a man, who in his
infancy creepeth on all foure_, afterward, _in youth, goeth upon two
legs_, and last of all, _in olde age taketh unto him a staffe which
maketh him to goe, as it were, on three legs_; which the monster
hearing, she presently threwe down herselfe from the former rocke, and
so she ended. Whereupon Œdipus is taken for a subtill and wise opener of
mysteries.
“But the truth is, that when _Cadmus_ had married an _Amazonian_ woman,
called _Sphynx_, and, with her, came to _Thebes_, and there slew _Draco_
their king, and possessed his kingdom, afterwards there was a sister
unto _Draco_ called _Harmona_, whom _Cadmus_ married, _Sphynx_ being yet
alive. She, in revenge, (being assisted by many followers,) departed
with great store of wealth into the mountaine _Sphincius_, taking with
her a great Dogge, which _Cadmus_ held in great account, and there made
daily incursions or spoiles upon his people. Now, _ænigma_, in the
_Theban_ language, signifieth an inrode, or warlike incursion, wherfore
the people complained in this sort. _This GRECIAN SPHINX robbeth us, in
setting up with an ÆNIGMA, but no man knoweth after what manner she
maketh this ÆNIGMA._
“_Cadmus_ hereupon made proclamation, that he would give a very
bountifull reward unto him that would kill _Sphinx_, upon which occasion
the Corinthian _Œdipus_ came unto her, being mounted on a swift courser,
and accompanied with some _Thebans_ in the night season, slue her. Other
say that _Œdipus_ by counterfaiting friendshippe, slue her, making shew
to be of her faction; and _Pausanius_ saith, that the former Riddle, was
not a Riddle, but an Oracle of _Apollo_, which _Cadmus_ had received,
whereby his posterity should be inheritors of the _Theban_ kingdome; and
whereas _Œdipus_, being the son of _Laius_, a former king of that
countrey, was taught the Oracle in his sleepe, he recouvered the
kingdome usurped by _Sphinx_ his sister, and, afterwards, unknown,
married his mother Jocasta.
“But the true morall of this poetical fiction is by that learned
_Alciatus_, in one of his emblems, deciphered; that her monstrous treble
formed shape signified her lustfull pleasure under a Virgin’s face, her
cruell pride, under the Lyon’s clawes, her winde-driven leuitye, under
the Eagles, or birdes feathers, and I will conclude with the wordes of
_Suidas_ concerning such monsters, that the _Tritons_, _Sphinges_, and
_Centaures_, are the images of those things, which are not to be founde
within the compasse of the whole world.”
APES.
Sluper, who could soar to the height of delineating a Cyclops, is equal
to the occasion when he has to deal with Apes, and here he gives us an
Ape which, unfortunately, does not seem to have survived to modern
times--namely, one which wove for itself coarse cloth, probably of
rushes; had a cloak of skin, and walked upright, with the aid of a
walking-stick, and was so genteel, that, having no boots, he seems to
have blacked his feet. And thus he sings of it:
“Pres le Peru par effect le voit on,
Dieu a donné au Singe telle forme.
Vestu dejonc, s’appuyant d’un baston,
Estãt debout, chose aux hõmes cõforme.”
[Illustration]
Before quitting the subject of Apes, I cannot refrain from noticing
another of this genus mentioned by Topsell, and that is the
Arctopithecus or Bear Ape:--“There is in America a very deformed beast,
which the inhabitants call _Haut_ or _Hauti_, and the Frenchmen
_Guenon_, as big as a great Affrican Monkey. His belly hangeth very low,
his head and face like unto a childes, and being taken, it will sigh
like a young childe. His skin is of an ashe-colour, and hairie like a
Beare: he hath but three clawes on a foote, as longe as foure fingers,
and like the thornes of Privet, whereby he climbeth up into the highest
trees, and for the most part liveth of the leaves of a certain tree,
beeing of an exceeding heighth, which the _Americans_ call _Amahut_, and
thereof this beast is called _Haut_. Their tayle is about three fingers
long, having very little haire thereon; it hath beene often tried, that
though it suffer any famine, it will not eate the fleshe of a living
man, and one of them was given me by a French-man, which I kept alive
sixe and twenty daies, and at the last it was killed by Dogges, and in
that time when I had set it abroad in the open ayre, I observed that,
_although it often rained, yet was that beast never wet_.[28] When it is
tame, it is very loving to a man, and desirous to climbe uppe to his
shoulders, which those naked _Amerycans_ cannot endure, by reason of the
sharpnesse of his Clawes.”
ANIMAL LORE.
We are indebted to Pliny for much strange animal lore--which, however,
will scarcely bear the fierce light of modern investigation. Thus, he
tells us of places in which certain animals are not to be found, and
narrates some very curious zoological anecdotes thereon. “It is a
remarkable fact, that nature has not only assigned different countries
to different animals, but that even in the same country it has denied
certain species to certain localities. In Italy, the dormouse is found
in one part only, the Messian forest. In Lycia, the gazelle never passes
beyond the mountains which border upon Syria; nor does the wild ass in
that vicinity pass over those which divide Cappadocia from Cilicia. On
the banks of the Hellespont, the stags never pass into a strange
territory, and, about Arginussa, they never go beyond Mount Elaphus;
those upon the mountains, too, have cloven ears. In the island of
Poroselene, the weasels will not so much as cross a certain road. In
Bœotia, the moles, which were introduced at Lebadea, fly from the very
soil of that country, while in the neighbourhood, at Orchomenus, the
very same animals tear up all the fields. We have seen coverlets for
beds made of the skin of these creatures, so that our sense of religion
does not prevent us from employing these ominous animals for the
purposes of luxury.
“When hares have been brought to Ithaca, they die as soon as ever they
touch the shore, and the same is the case with rabbits, on the shores of
the island of Ebusus; while they abound in the vicinity, Spain namely,
and the Balearic isles. In Cyrene, the frogs were formerly dumb, and
this species still exists, although croaking ones were carried over
there from the Continent. At the present day, even, the frogs of the
island of Seriphos are dumb; but when they are carried to other places,
they croak; the same thing is also said to have taken place at
Sicandrus, a lake of Thessaly. In Italy, the bite of a shrew-mouse is
venomous; an animal which is not to be found in any region beyond the
Apennines. In whatever country it exists, it always dies immediately if
it goes across the rut made by a wheel. Upon Olympus, a mountain of
Macedonia, there are no wolves, nor yet in the isle of Crete. In this
island there are neither foxes nor bears, nor, indeed, any kind of
baneful animal, with the exception of the phalangium, a species of
spider. It is a thing still more remarkable, that in this island there
are no stags, except in the district of Cydon; the same is the case with
the wild boar, the woodcock, and the hedgehog.”
He further tells us of animals which will injure strangers only, as also
animals which injure the natives only.
“There are certain animals which are harmless to the natives of the
country, but destroy strangers; such as the little serpents at
Tirynthus, which are said to spring out of the earth. In Syria, also,
and especially on the banks of the Euphrates, the serpents never attack
the Syrians when they are asleep, and even if they happen to bite a
native who treads upon them, their venom is not felt; but to persons of
any other country they are extremely hostile, and fiercely attack them,
causing a death attended with great torture. On this account the Syrians
never kill them. On the contrary, on Latmos, a mountain of Caria, as
Aristotle tells us, strangers are not injured by the scorpions, while
the natives are killed by them.”
He also throws some curious light, unknown to modern zoologists, on the
antipathies of animals one to another. He says:--“There will be no
difficulty in perceiving that animals are possessed of other instincts
besides those previously mentioned. In fact, there are certain
antipathies, and sympathies among them, which give rise to various
affections, besides those which we have mentioned in relation to each
species, in its appropriate place. The Swan and the Eagle are always at
variance, and the Raven and the Chloreus seek each other’s eggs by
night. In a similar manner, also, the Raven and the Kite are perpetually
at war with one another, the one carrying off the other’s food. So,
too, there are antipathies between the Crow and the Owl, the Eagle and
the Trochilus; between the last two, if we are to believe the story,
because the latter has received the title of ‘the king of birds;’ the
same, again, with the Owlet and all the smaller birds.
“Again, in relation to the terrestrial animals, the Weasel is at enmity
with the Crow, the Turtle-dove with the Pyrallis, the Ichneumon with the
Wasp, and the Phalangium with other Spiders. Among aquatic animals,
there is enmity between the Duck and the Seamew, the Falcon known as the
‘Harpe,’ and the Hawk called the ‘Triorchis.’ In a similar manner, too,
the Shrew-mouse and the Heron are ever on the watch for each other’s
young; and the Ægithus, so small a bird as it is, has an antipathy for
the Ass; for the latter, when scratching itself, rubs its body against
the brambles, and so crushes the bird’s nest; a thing of which it stands
in such dread, that, if it only hears the voice of the Ass when it
brays, it will throw its eggs out of the nest, and the young ones,
themselves, will, sometimes, fall to the ground in their fright; hence
it is that it will fly at the Ass, and peck at its sores with its beak.
“The Fox, too, is at war with the Nisus, and Serpents with Weasels and
Swine. Æsalon is the name given to a small bird that breaks the eggs of
the Raven, and the young of which are anxiously sought by the Fox;
while, in its turn, it will peck at the young of the Fox, and even the
parent itself. As soon as the Ravens espy this, they come to its
assistance, as though against a common enemy. The Acanthis, too, lives
among the brambles; hence it is that it also has an antipathy to the
Ass, because it devours the bramble blossoms. The Ægithus and the
Anthus, too, are at such mortal enmity with each other, that it is the
common belief that their blood will not mingle; and it is for this
reason that they have the bad repute of being employed in many magical
incantations. The Thos and the Lion are at war with each other; and,
indeed, the smallest objects and the greatest, just as much.
Caterpillars will avoid a tree that is infested with Ants. The Spider,
poised in its web, will throw itself on the head of a Serpent, as it
lies stretched beneath the shade of the tree where it has built, and,
with its bite, pierce its brain; such is the shock, that the creature
will hiss from time to time, and then, seized with vertigo, coil round
and round, while it finds itself unable to take to flight, or so much as
to break the web of the spider, as it hangs suspended above; this scene
only ends with its death.”
THE MANTICORA.
Of curious animals, other than Apes, depicted as having some approach to
the human countenance, perhaps the most curious is the Manticora. It is
not a _parvenu_; it is of ancient date, for Aristotle mentions it.
Speaking of the dentition of animals, he says:--“None of these genera
have a double row of teeth. But, if we may believe Ctesias, there are
some which have this peculiarity, for he mentions an Indian animal
called Martichora, which had three rows of teeth in each jaw; it is as
large and rough as a lion, and has similar feet, but its ears and face
are like those of a man; its eye is grey, and its body red; it has a
tail like a land Scorpion, in which there is a sting; it darts forth the
spines with which it is covered, instead of hair, and it utters a noise
resembling the united sound of a pipe and a trumpet; it is not less
swift of foot than a stag, and is wild, and devours men.”
Pliny also quotes Ctesias, but he slightly diverges, for he says it has
azure eyes, and is of the colour of blood; he also affirms it can
imitate the human speech. _Par parenthèse_ he mentions, in conjunction
with the Manticora, another animal similarly gifted:--“By the union of
the hyæna with the Æthiopian lioness, the Corocotta is produced, which
has the same faculty of imitating the voices of men and cattle. Its gaze
is always fixed and immoveable; it has no gums in either of its jaws,
and the teeth are one continuous piece of bone; they are enclosed in a
sort of box, as it were, that they may not be blunted by rubbing against
each other.”
_Mais, revenons à nos moutons_, or rather Mantichora. Topsell, in making
mention of this beast, recapitulates all that Ctesias has said on the
subject, and adds:--“And I take it to be the same Beast which _Avicen_
calleth _Marion_, and _Maricomorion_, with her taile she woundeth her
Hunters, whether they come before her or behinde her, and, presently,
when the quils are cast forth, new ones grow up in their roome,
wherewithal she overcometh all the hunters; and, although India be full
of divers ravening beastes, yet none of them are stiled with a title of
_Andropophagi_, that is to say, Men-eaters; except onely this
_Mantichora_. When the Indians take a Whelp of this beast, they fall to
and bruise the buttockes and taile thereof, so that it may never be fit
to bring (_forth_) sharp quils, afterwards it is tamed without peril.
This, also, is the same beast which is called _Leucrocuta_, about the
bignesse of a wilde Asse, being in legs and hoofes like a Hart, having
his mouth reaching on both sides to his eares, and the head and face
of a female like unto a Badgers. It is also called _Martiora_, which in
the Parsian tongue, signifieth a devourer of men.”
[Illustration]
Du Bartas, in “His First Week, or the Birth of the World,” mentions our
friend as being created:--
“Then th’ _Vnicorn_, th’ _Hyæna_ tearing tombs,
Swift _Mantichor’_, and _Nubian Cephus_ comes;
Of which last three, each hath, (as heer they stand)
Man’s voice, Man’s visage, Man like foot and hand.”
It is mentioned by other writers--but I have a theory of my own about
it, and that is, that it is only an idealised laughing hyæna.
THE LAMIA.
The Lamiæ are mythological--and were monsters of Africa, with the face
and breast of a woman, the rest of the body like that of a serpent; they
allured strangers, that they might devour them; and though not endowed
with the faculty of speech, their hissings were pleasing. Some believed
them to be evil spirits, who, in the form of beautiful women, enticed
young children, and devoured them; according to some, the fable of the
Lamiæ is derived from the amours of Jupiter with a beautiful woman,
Lamia, whom Juno rendered deformed, and whose children she destroyed;
Lamia became insane, and so desperate, that she ate up all the children
which came in her way.
Topsell, before entering upon the natural history of the Lamia, as an
animal, tells the following story of it as a mythological being:--“It is
reported of _Menippus_ the Lycian, that he fell in love with a strange
woman, who at that time seemed both beautifull, tender, and rich, but,
in truth, there was no such thing, and all was but a fantastical
ostentation; she was said to insinuate her selfe, into his familiaritie
after this manner: as he went upon a day alone from _Corinth_ to
_Senchræa_, hee met with a certaine phantasme, or spectre like a
beautifull woman, who tooke him by the hand, and told him she was a
_Phœnician_ woman, and of long time had loved him dearely, having sought
many occasions to manifest the same, but could never finde opportunitie
untill that day, wherefore she entreated him to take knowledge of her
house, which was in the Suburbes of _Corinth_, therewithall pointing
unto it with her finger, and so desired his presence. The young man
seeing himselfe thus wooed by a beautiful woman, was easily overcome by
her allurements, and did oftimes frequent her company.
“There was a certaine wise man, and a Philosopher, which espied the
same, and spake unto _Menippus_ in this manner, ‘O formose, et a
formorsis, expetitie mulieribus, ophin thalpies, cai se ophis,’ that is
to say, ‘O fair _Menippus_, beloved of beautiful women, art thou a
serpent, and dost nourish a serpent?’ by which words he gave him his
first admonition, or incling of a mischiefe; but not prevayling,
_Menippus_ proposed to marry with this spectre, her house to the outward
shew, being richly furnished with all manner of houshold goods; then
said the wise man againe unto _Menippus_, ‘This gold, silver, and
ornaments of house, are like to _Tantalus_ Apples, who are said by
_Homer_ to make a faire shew, but to containe in them no substance at
all; even so, whatsoever you conceave of this riches, there is no matter
or substance in the things which you see, for they are onely inchaunted
images, and shadowes, which that you may beleeve, this your neate bride
is one of the _Empusæ_, called _Lamia_, or _Mormolicæ_, wonderfull
desirous of commerce with men, and loving their flesh above measure; but
those whom they doe entice, afterwards they devoure without love or
pittie, feeding upon their flesh.’ At which words the wise man caused
the gold and silver plate, and household stuffe, cookes, and servants to
vanish all away. Then did the spectre like unto one that wept, entreate
the wise man that he would not torment her, nor yet cause her to
confesse what manner of person she was; but he on the other side being
inexorable, compelled her to declare the whole truth, which was, that
she was a Phairy, and that she purposed to use the companie of
_Menippus_, and feede him fat with all manner of pleasures, to the
extent that, afterward, she might eate up and devour his body, for all
their kinde love was only to feed upon beautiful yong men....
“To leave therefore these fables, and come to the true description of
the _Lamia_, we have in hand. In the foure and thirty chapter of Esay,
we do find this called a beast _Lilith_ in the Hæbrew, and translated by
the auncients _Lamia_, which is threatened to possesse _Babell_.
Likewise in the fourth chapter of the Lamentations, where it is said in
our English translation, that the Dragons lay forth their brests, in
Hæbrew they are called _Ehannum_, which, by the confession of the best
interpreters, cannot signifie Dragons, but rather Sea calves, being a
generall word for strange wilde beasts. How be it the matter being wel
examined, it shall appeare that it must needes be this Lamia, because of
her great breastes, which are not competible either to the Dragon, or
Sea calves; so then, we wil take it for graunted, by the testimony of
holy Scripture, that there is such a beast as this _Cristostinius_.
_Dion_ also writeth that there are such beasts in some parts of _Libia_,
having a Woman’s face, and very beautifull, also very large and comely
shapes on their breasts, such as cannot be counterfeited by the art of
any painter, having a very excellent colour in their fore parts, without
wings, and no other voice but hissing like Dragons: they are the
swiftest of foote of all earthly beasts, so as none can escape them by
running, for, by their celerity, they compasse their prey of beastes,
and by their fraud they overthrow men. For when they see a man, they lay
open their breastes, and by the beauty thereof, entice them to come
neare to conference, and so, having them within their compasse, they
devoure and kill them.
[Illustration]
“Unto the same things subscribe _Cælius_ and _Giraldus_, adding also,
that there is a certaine crooked place in _Libia_ neare the Sea-shore,
full of sand like to a sandy Sea, and all the neighbor places thereunto
are deserts. If it fortune at any time, that through shipwrack, men come
there on shore, these beasts watch uppon them, devouring them all, which
either endevour to travell on the land, or else to returne backe againe
to Sea, adding also, that when they see a man they stand stone still,
and stir not til he come unto them, looking down upon their breasts or
to the ground, whereupon some have thought, that seeing them, at their
first sight have such a desire to come neare them, that they are drawne
into their compasse, by a certaine naturall magicall witchcraft.... The
hinderparts of the beast are like unto a Goate, his fore legs like a
Beares, his upper parts to a woman, the body scaled all over like a
Dragon, as some have affirmed by the observation of their bodies, when
_Probus_, the Emperor, brought them forth unto publike spectacle; also
it is reported of them, that they devoure their own young ones, and
therefore they derive their name _Lamia_, of _Lamiando_; and thus much
for this beast.”
THE CENTAUR.
This extraordinary combination of man and animal is very ancient--and
the first I can find is Assyrian. Mr. W. St. Chad Boscawen, in one of
his British Museum Lectures (afterwards published under the title of
_From under the Dust of Ages_), speaking of the seasons and the zodiacal
signs, in his lecture on _The Legend of Gizdhubar_, says:--“Gizdhubar
has a dream that the stars of heaven are falling upon him, and, like
Nebuchadnezzar, he can find no one to explain the hidden meaning to
him. He is, however, told by his huntsman, Zaidu, of a very wise
creature who dwells in the marshes, three days’ journey from Erech....
The strange being, whom this companion of the hero is despatched to
bring to the Court, is one of the most interesting in the Epic. He is
called Hea-bani--‘he whom Hea has made.’ This mysterious creature is
represented on the gems, as half a man, and half a bull. He has the
body, face, and arms of a man, and the horns, legs, hoofs, and tail of a
bull. Though in form rather resembling the satyrs, and in fondness for,
and in association with the cattle, the rustic deity Pan, yet in his
companionship with Gizdhubar, and his strange death, he approaches
nearer the Centaur Chiron, who was the companion of Heracles.
“By his name he was the son of Hea, whom Berosus identifies as Cronos,
as Chiron was the son of Cronos. Like Chiron, he was celebrated for his
wisdom, and acted as the counsellor of the hero, interpreting his
dreams, and enabling him to overcome the enemies who attacked him.
Chiron met his death at the hand of Heracles, one of whose poisoned
arrows struck him, and, though immortal, he would not live any longer,
and gave his immortality to Prometheus.... Zeus made Chiron among the
stars a Sagittarius. Here again we have a striking echo of the Chaldæan
legend, in the Erech story. According to the arrangement of tablets, the
death of Hea-bani takes place under the sign of Sagittarius, and is the
result of some fatal accident during the combat between Gizdhubar and
Khumbaba. Like the Centaurs, before his call to the Court of Gizdhubar,
Hea-bani led a wild and savage life. It is said on the tablets ‘that he
consorted with the wild beasts. With the gazelles he took his food by
night, and consorted with the cattle by day, and rejoiced his heart
with the creeping things of the waters.’
“Hea-Bani was true and loyal to Gizdhubar, and when Istar (the Assyrian
Venus), foiled in her love for Gizdhubar, flew to heaven to see her
father Anu (the Chaldæan Zeus), and to seek redress for the slight put
upon her, the latter created a winged bull, called ‘The Bull of Heaven,’
which was sent to earth. Hea-Bani, however, helps his lord, the bull is
slain, and the two companions enter Erech in triumph. Hea-Bani met with
his death when Gizdhubar fought Khumbaba, and ‘Gizdhubar for Hea-Bani
his friend wept bitterly and lay on the ground.’”
[Illustration]
Thus, centuries before the Romans had emerged from barbarism, we have
the prototype of the classical Centaur, the man-horse. The fabled
Centaurs were a people of Thessaly--half-men, half-horses--and their
existence is very cloudy. Still, they were often depicted, and the two
examples of a male and female Centaur, from a fresco at Pompeii, are
charmingly drawn. It will be seen that both are attended by Bacchantes
bearing thyrses--a delicate allusion to their love of wine; for it was
owing to this weakness that their famous battle with the Lapithæ took
place. The Centaurs were invited to the marriage of Hippodamia with
Pirithous, and, after the manner of cow-boys “up town,” they got
intoxicated, were very rude, and even offered violence to the women
present. That, the good knights, Sir Hercules and Sir Theseus, could not
stand, and with the Lapithæ, gave the Centaurs a thrashing, and made
them retire to Arcadia. They had a second fight over the matter of wine,
for the Centaur Pholus gave Hercules to drink of wine meant for him, but
in the keeping of the Centaurs, and these ill-conditioned animals
resented it, and attacked Hercules with fury. They were fearfully
punished, and but few survived.
[Illustration]
Pliny pooh-poohs the mythical origin of the Centaurs, and says they were
Thessalians, who dwelt along Mount Pelion, and were the first to fight
on horseback. Aldrovandus writes that, according to Licosthenes, there
were formerly found, in the regions of the Great Tamberlane, Centaurs of
such a form as its upper part was that of a man, with two arms
resembling those of a toad, and he gives a drawing from that author,
so that the reader might diligently meditate whether such an animal was
possible in a natural state of things; but the artist seems to have
forgotten the fore-legs.
[Illustration]
“The Onocentaur is a monstrous beast;
Supposed halfe a man, and halfe an Asse,
That never shuts his eyes in quiet rest,
Till he his foes deare life hath round encompast.
Such were the Centaures in their tyrannie,
That liv’d by Humane flesh and villanie.”
--CHESTER.
THE GORGON.
In the title-page of one edition of “The Historie of Foure-footed
Beastes” (1607) Topsell gives this picture of the Gorgon; and he says,
respecting this curious animal, the following:--“Among the manifold and
divers sorts of Beasts which are bred in Affricke, it is thought that
the _Gorgon_ is brought foorth in that countrey. It is a feareful and
terrible beast to behold: it hath high and thicke eie-lids, eies not
very great, but much like an Oxes or Bugils, but all fiery bloudy, which
neyther looke directly forwarde, nor yet upwards, but continuallye downe
to the earth, and therefore are called in Greeke _Catobleponta_. From
the crowne of their head downe to their nose, they have a long hanging
mane, which makes them to look fearefully. It eateth deadly and
poysonfull hearbs, and if at any time he see a Bull, or other creature
whereof he is afraid, he presently causeth his mane to stand upright,
and, being so lifted up, opening his lips, and gaping wide, sendeth
forth of his throat a certaine sharpe and horrible breath, which
infecteth, and poysoneth the air above his head, so that all living
creatures which draw the breath of that aire are greevously afflicted
thereby, loosing both voyce and sight, they fall into leathall and
deadly convulsions. It is bred in _Hesperia_ and _Lybia_.
[Illustration]
“The Poets have a fiction that the _Gorgones_ were the Daughters of
_Medusa_ and _Phorcynis_, and are called _Steingo_, and by _Hesiodus_,
_Stheno_, and _Eyryale_ inhabiting the _Gorgadion_ Ilands in the
_Æthiopick Ocean_, over against the gardens of _Hesperia_. _Medusa_ is
said to have the haires of his head to be living Serpentes, against whom
_Perseus_ fought, and cut off his hed, for which cause he was placed in
heaven on the North side of the _Zodiacke_ above the Waggon, and on the
left hand holding the _Gorgons_ head. The truth is that there were
certaine _Amazonian_ women in _Affricke_ divers from the _Scythians_,
against whom _Perseus_ made warre, and the captaine of those women was
called _Medusa_, whom _Perseus_ overthrew, and cut off her head, and
from thence came the Poet’s fiction describing Snakes growing out of it
as is aforesaid. These _Gorgons_ are bred in that countrey, and have
such haire about their heads, as not onely exceedeth all other beastes,
but also poysoneth, when he standeth upright. Pliny calleth this beast
_Catablepon_,[29] because it continually looketh downwards, and saith
all the parts of it are but smal excepting the head, which is very
heavy, and exceedeth the proportion of his body, which is never lifted
up, but all living creatures die that see his eies.
“By which there ariseth a question whether the poison which he sendeth
foorth, proceede from his breath, or from his eyes. Whereupon it is more
probable, that like the Cockatrice, he killeth by seeing, than by the
breath of his mouth, which is not competible to any other beasts in the
world. Besides, when the Souldiers of _Marius_ followed _Iugurtha_,
they saw one of these _Gorgons_, and, supposing it was some sheepe,
bending the head continually to the earth, and moving slowly, they set
upon him with their swords, whereat the Beast, disdaining, suddenly
discovered his eies, setting his haire upright, at the sight whereof the
Souldiers fel downe dead.
“_Marius_, hearing thereof, sent other souldiers to kill the beaste, but
they likewise died, as the former. At last the inhabitantes of the
countrey, tolde the Captaine the poyson of this beast’s nature, and that
if he were not killed upon a Sodayne, with onely the sight of his eies
he sent death into his hunters: then did the Captaine lay an ambush of
souldiers for him, who slew him sodainely with their speares, and
brought him to the Emperour, whereupon _Marius_ sent his skinne to Rome,
which was hung up in the Temple of _Hercules_, wherein the people were
feasted after the triumphes; by which it is apparent that they kill with
their eies, and not with their breath....
“But to omit these fables, it is certaine that sharp poisoned sightes
are called _Gorgon Blepen_, and therefore we will followe the Authoritie
of _Pliny_ and _Athenæus_. It is a beast set all over with scales like a
Dragon, having no haire except on his head, great teeth like Swine,
having wings to flie, and hands to handle, in stature betwixt a Bull and
a Calfe.
“There be Ilandes called _Gorgonies_, wherein these monster-_Gorgons_
were bredde, and unto the daies of _Pliny_, the people of that countrey
retained some part of their prodigious nature. It is reported by
_Xenophon_, that _Hanno_, King of _Carthage_, ranged with his armie in
that region, and founde there, certaine women of incredible swiftenesse
and perniscitie of foote. Whereof he tooke two onely of all that
appeared in sight, which had such roughe and sharp bodies, as never
before were seene. Wherefore, when they were dead, he hung up their
skinnes in the Temple of _Juno_, for a monument of their straunge
natures, which remained there untill the destruction of _Carthage_. By
the consideration of this beast, there appeareth one manifest argument
of the Creator’s devine wisdome and providence, who hath turned the eies
of this beaste downeward to the earth, as it were thereby burying his
poyson from the hurt of man; and shaddowing them with rough, long and
strong haire, that their poysoned beames should not reflect upwards,
untill the beast were provoked by feare or danger, the heavines of his
head being like a clogge to restraine the liberty of his poysonfull
nature, but what other partes, vertues or vices, are contained in the
compasse of this monster, God onely knoweth, who, peradventure, hath
permitted it to live uppon the face of the earth, for no other cause but
to be a punishment and scourge unto mankind; and an evident example of
his owne wrathfull power to everlasting destruction. And this much may
serve for a description of this beast, untill by God’s providence, more
can be known thereof.”
THE UNICORN.
What a curious belief was that of the Unicorn! Yet what mythical animal
is more familiar to Englishmen? In its present form it was not known to
the ancients, not even to Pliny, whose idea of the Monoceros or Unicorn
is peculiar. He describes this animal as having “the head of a stag, the
feet of an elephant, the tail of the boar, while the rest of the body
is like that of the horse: it makes a deep lowing noise, and has a
single black horn, which projects from the middle of its forehead, two
cubits in length. This animal, it is said, cannot be taken alive.”
Until James VI. of Scotland ascended the English throne as James I., the
Unicorn, as it is now heraldically portrayed (which was a supporter to
the arms of James IV.) was almost unknown--vide _Tempest_, iii. 3. 20:--
“_Alonzo._ Give us kind keepers, heavens: what were these?
_Sebastian._ A living drollery. Now I will believe that there are
unicorns.”
Spenser, who died before the accession of James I., and therefore did
not write about the supporters of the Royal Arms, alludes (in his
_Faerie Queene_) to the antagonism between the Lion and the Unicorne.
“Likë as the lyon, whose imperial poure
A proud rebellious unicorn defyes,
T’avoide the rash assault, and wrathful stoure
Of his fiers foe, him to a tree applyes,
And when him rouning in full course he spyes,
He slips aside: the whiles that furious beast,
His precious horne, sought of his enimyes,
Strikes in the stroke, ne thence can be released,
But to the victor yields a bounteous feast.”
Pliny makes no mention of the Unicorn as we have it heraldically
represented, but speaks of the Indian Ass, which, he says, is only a
one-horned animal. Other old naturalists, with the exception of Ælian,
do not mention it as our Unicorn--and his description of it hardly
coincides. He says that the Brahmins tell of the wonderful beasts in the
inaccessible regions of the interior of India, among them being the
Unicorn, “which they call _Cartazonon_, and say that it reaches the
size of a horse of mature age, possesses a mane and reddish-yellow hair,
and that it excels in swiftness through the excellence of its feet and
of its whole body. Like the elephant it has inarticulate feet, and it
has a boar’s tail; one black horn projects between the eyebrows, not
awkwardly, but with a certain natural twist, and terminating in a sharp
point.”
[Illustration]
Guillim, who wrote on heraldry in 1610, gives, in his Illustrations,
indifferently the tail of this animal, as horse or ass; and, as might be
expected from one of his craft, magnifies the Unicorn exceedingly:--“The
Unicorn hath his Name of his one Horn on his Forehead. There is another
Beast of a huge Strength and Greatness, which hath but one Horn, but
that is growing on his Snout, whence he is called _Rinoceros_, and both
are named _Monoceros_, or _One horned_. It hath been much questioned
among Naturalists, which it is that is properly called the Unicorn: And
some hath made Doubt whether there be any such Beast as this, or no.
But the great esteem of his Horn (in many places to be seen) may take
away that needless scruple....
“Touching the invincible Nature of this Beast, _Job_ saith, ‘_Wilt thou
trust him because his Strength is great, and cast thy Labour unto him?
Wilt thou believe him, that he will bring home thy seed, and gather it
into thy Barn?_’ And his Vertue is no less famous than his Strength, in
that his Horn is supposed to be the most powerful Antidote against
Poison: Insomuch as the general Conceit is, that the wild Beasts of the
Wilderness use not to drink of the Pools, for fear of the venemous
Serpents there breeding, before the Unicorn hath stirred it with his
Horn. Howsoever it be, this Charge may very well be a Representation
both of Strength or Courage, and also of vertuous Dispositions and
Ability to do Good; for to have Strength of Body, without the Gifts and
good Qualities of the Mind, is but the Property of an Ox, but where both
concur, that may truly be called Manliness. And that these two should
consort together, the Ancients did signify, when they made this one
Word, _Virtus_, to imply both the Strength of Body, and Vertue of the
Mind....
“It seemeth, by a Question moved by _Farnesius_, That the Unicorn is
never taken alive; and the Reason being demanded, it is answered ‘That
the greatness of his Mind is such, that he chuseth rather to die than to
be taken alive: Wherein (saith he) the Unicorn and the valiant-minded
Souldier are alike, which both contemn Death, and rather than they will
be compelled to undergo any base Servitude or Bondage, they will lose
their Lives.’...
“The Unicorn is an untameable Beast by Nature, as may be gathered from
the Words of _Job, chap. 39_, ‘_Will the Unicorn serve thee, or will he
tarry by thy Crib? Can’st thou bind the Unicorn with his Band to labour
in the Furrow, or will he plough the Valleys after thee?’_”
Topsell dilates at great length on the Unicorn. He agrees with Spenser
and Guillim, and says:--“These Beasts are very swift, and their legges
have no Articles (_joints_). They keep for the most part in the desarts,
and live solitary in the tops of the Mountaines. There was nothing more
horrible than the voice or braying of it, for the voice is strain’d
above measure. It fighteth both with the mouth and with the heeles, with
the mouth biting like a Lyon, and with the heeles kicking like a
Horse.... He feereth not Iron nor any yron Instrument (as _Isodorus_
writeth) and that which is most strange of all other, it fighteth with
his owne kind, yea even with the females unto death, except when it
burneth in lust for procreation: but unto straunger Beasts, with whome
he hath no affinity in nature, he is more sotiable and familiar,
delighting in their company when they come willing unto him, never
rising against them; but, proud of their dependence and retinue, keepeth
with them all quarters of league and truce; but with his female, when
once his flesh is tickled with lust, he groweth tame, gregall, and
loving, and so continueth till she is filled and great with young, and
then returneth to his former hostility.”
There was a curious legend of the Unicorn, that it would, by its keen
scent, find out a maiden, and run to her, laying its head in her lap.
This is often used as an emblem of the Virgin Mary, to denote her
purity. The following is from the Bestiary of Philip de Thaun, and, as
its old French is easily read, I have not translated it:--
“Monoceros est Beste, un corne ad en la teste,
Purceo ad si a nun, de buc ad façun;
Par Pucele est prise; or vez en quel guize.
Quant hom le volt cacer et prendre et enginner,
Si vent hom al forest ù sis riparis est;
Là met une Pucele hors de sein sa mamele,
Et par odurement Monosceros la sent;
Dunc vent à la Pucele, et si baiset la mamele,
En sein devant se dort, issi veut à sa mort;
Li hom suivent atant ki l’ocit en dormant
U trestont vif le prent, si fais puis sun talent.
Grant chose signifie.”...
Topsell, of course, tells the story:--“It is sayd that Unicorns above
all other creatures, doe reverence Virgines and young Maides, and that
many times at the sight of them they grow tame, and come and sleepe
beside them, for there is in their nature a certaine savor, wherewithall
the Unicornes are allured and delighted; for which occasion the _Indian_
and _Ethiopian_ hunters use this stratagem to take the beast. They take
a goodly, strong, and beautifull young man, whom they dresse in the
Apparell of a woman, besetting him with divers odoriferous flowers and
spices.
“The man so adorned they set in the Mountaines or Woods, where the
Unicorne hunteth, so as the wind may carrie the savor to the beast, and
in the meane season the other hunters hide themselves: the Unicorne
deceaved with the outward shape of a woman, and sweete smells, cometh to
the young man without feare, and so suffereth his head to bee covered
and wrapped within his large sleeves, never stirring, but lying still
and asleepe, as in his most acceptable repose. Then, when the hunters,
by the signe of the young man, perceave him fast and secure, they come
uppon him, and, by force, cut off his horne, and send him away alive:
but, concerning this opinion wee have no elder authoritie than
_Tzetzes_, who did not live above five hundred yeares agoe, and
therefore I leave the reader to the freedome of his owne judgment, to
believe or refuse this relation; neither is it fit that I should omit
it, seeing that all writers, since the time of _Tzetzes_, doe most
constantly beleeve it.
“It is sayd by _Ælianus_ and _Albertus_, that, except they bee taken
before they bee two yeares old they will never bee tamed; and that the
Thrasians doe yeerely take some of their Colts, and bring them to their
King, which he keepeth for combat, and to fight with one another; for
when they are old, they differ nothing at all from the most barbarous,
bloodie, and ravenous beasts. Their flesh is not good for meate, but is
bitter and unnourishable.”
It is hardly worth while to go into all the authorities treating of the
Unicorn; suffice it to say, that it was an universal belief that there
were such animals in existence, for were not their horns in proof
thereof? and were they not royal presents fit for the mightiest of
potentates to send as loving pledges one to another? for it was one of
the most potent of medicines, and a sure antidote to poison. And they
were very valuable, too, for Paul Hentzner--who wrote in the time of
Queen Elizabeth--says that, at Windsor Castle, he was shown, among other
things, the horn of an Unicorn of above eight spans and a half in
length, _i.e._, about 6½ feet, valued at £10,000. Considering that money
was worth then about three times what it is now, an Unicorn’s horn was a
right royal gift.
Topsell, from whom I have quoted so much, is especially voluminous and
erudite on Unicorns; indeed, in no other old or new author whom I have
consulted are there so many facts (?) respecting this fabled beast to be
found. Here is his history of those horns then to be found in Europe:--
“There are two of these at _Venice_ in the Treasurie of S. _Marke’s_
Church, as _Brasavolus_ writeth, one at _Argentoratum_, which is
wreathed about with divers sphires.[30] There are also two in the
Treasurie of the King of _Polonia_, all of them as long as a man in his
stature. In the yeare 1520, there was found the horne of a _Unicorne_ in
the river _Arrula_, neare _Bruga_ in Helvetia, the upper face or out
side whereof was a darke yellow; it was two cubites (_3 feet_) in
length, but had upon it no plights[31] or wreathing versuus. It was very
odoriferous (especially when any part of it was set on fire), so that it
smelt like muske: as soone as it was found, it was carried to a Nunnery
called _Campus regius_, but, afterwards by the Governor of _Helvetia_,
it was recovered back againe, because it was found within his
teritorie....
“Another certaine friend of mine, being a man worthy to be beleeved,
declared unto me that he saw at _Paris_, with the Chancellor, being Lord
of _Pratus_, a peece of a Unicorn’s horn, to the quantity of a cubit,
wreathed in tops or spires, about the thicknesse of an indifferent
staffe (the compasse therof extending to the quantity of six fingers)
being within, and without, of a muddy colour, with a solide substance,
the fragments whereof would boile in the Wine although they were never
burned, having very little or no smell at all therein.
“When _Joannes Ferrerius_ of _Piemont_ had read these thinges, he wrote
unto me, that, in the Temple of _Dennis_, neare unto _Paris_, that there
was a Unicorne’s horne six foot long, ... but that in bignesse, it
exceeded the horne at the Citty of _Argentorate_, being also holow
almost a foot from that part which sticketh unto the forehead of the
Beast, this he saw himselfe in the Temple of S. _Dennis_, and handled
the horne with his handes as long as he would. I heare that in the
former yeare (which was from the yeare of our Lord), 1553, when
_Vercella_ was overthrown by the French, there was broght from that
treasure unto the King of France, a very great Unicorn’s horne, the
price wherof was valued at fourscore thousand Duckets.[32]
“_Paulus Poæius_ describeth an Unicorne in this manner; That he is a
beast, in shape much like a young Horse, of a dusty colour, with a maned
necke, a hayry beard, and a forehead armed with a Horne of the quantity
of two Cubits, being seperated with pale tops or spires, which is
reported by the smoothnes and yvorie whitenesse thereof, to have the
wonderfull power of dissolving and speedy expelling of all venome or
poison whatsoever.
“For his horne being put into the water, driveth away the poison, that
he may drinke without harme, if any venemous beast shall drinke therein
before him. This cannot be taken from the Beast, being alive, for as
much as he cannot possible be taken by any deceit: yet it is usually
seene that the horne is found in the desarts, as it happeneth in Harts,
who cast off their olde horne thorough the inconveniences of old age,
which they leave unto the Hunters, Nature renewing an other unto them.
“The horne of this beast being put upon the Table of Kinges, and set
amongest their junkets and bankets, doeth bewray the venome, if there be
any suche therein, by a certaine sweat which commeth over it. Concerning
these hornes, there were two seene, which were two cubits in length, of
the thicknesse of a man’s Arme, the first at _Venice_, which the Senate
afterwards sent for a gift unto _Solyman_ the Turkish Emperor: the other
being almost of the same quantity, and placed in a Sylver piller, with a
shorte or cutted[33] point, which _Clement_ the Pope or Bishop of
_Rome_, being come unto _Marssels_ brought unto _Francis_ the King, for
an excellent gift.”... They adulterated the real article, for sale.
“_Petrus Bellonius_ writeth, that he knewe the tooth of some certaine
Beast, in time past, sold for the horne of a Unicorne (what beast may be
signified by this speech I know not, neither any of the French men which
do live amongst us) and so smal a peece of the same, being adulterated,
sold ‘sometimes for 300 Duckets.’ But, if the horne shall be true and
not counterfait, it doth, notwithstanding, seeme to be of that creature
which the Auncientes called by the name of an Unicorne, especially
_Ælianus_, who only ascribeth to the same this wonderfull force against
poyson and most grievous diseases, for he maketh not this horne white as
ours doth seeme, but outwardly red, inwardly white, and in the Middest
or secretest part only blacke.”
Having dilated so long upon the Unicorn, it would be a pity not to give
some idea of the curative properties of its horn--always supposing that
it could be obtained genuine, for there were horrid suspicions abroad
that it might be “the horne of some other beast brent in the fire, some
certaine sweet odors being thereunto added, and also imbrued in some
delicious and aromaticall perfume. Peradventure also, Bay by this means,
first burned, and afterwards quenched, or put out with certaine sweet
smelling liquors.” To be of the proper efficacy it should be taken new,
but its power was best shown in testing poisons, when it sweated, as did
also a stone called “the Serpent’s tongue.” And the proper way to try
whether it was genuine or not, was to give Red Arsenic or Orpiment to
two pigeons, and then to let them drink of two samples; if genuine, no
harm would result--if adulterated, or false, the pigeons would die.
It was also considered a cure for Epilepsy, the Pestilent Fever or
Plague, Hydrophobia, Worms in the intestines, Drunkenness, &c.,
&c.,--and it also made the teeth clean and white;--in fact, it had so
many virtues that “no home should be without it.”
And all this about a Narwhal’s horn!
THE RHINOCEROS.
The true Unicorn is, of course, the Rhinoceros, and this picture of it
is as early an one as I can find, being taken from Aldrovandus de Quad,
A.D. 1521. Gesner and Topsell both reproduce it, at later dates, but
_reversed_. The latter says that Gesner drew it from the life at
Lisbon--but having Aldrovandus and the others before me, I am bound to
give the palm to the former, and confess the others to be piracies. It
is certain, however, that whoever drew this picture of a Rhinoceros must
have seen one, either living or stuffed, for it is not too bizarre.
[Illustration]
Topsell approaches this animal with an awe and reverence, such as he
never shows towards any other beast; indeed, he gets quite solemn over
it, and he thus commences his _Apologia_:--“But for my part, which write
the English story, I acknowledge that no man must looke for that at my
hands, which I have not received from some other: for I would bee
unwilling to write anything untrue, or uncertaine out of mine owne
invention; and truth on every part is so deare unto mee, that I will not
lie to bring any man in love and admiration with God and his works, for
God needeth not the lies of men: To conclude, therefore, this Præface,
as the beast is strange, and never seene in our countrey, so my eyesight
cannot adde anything to the description; therefore harken unto that
which I have observed out of other writers.”
They were very rare beasts, among the early Roman Emperors, but in the
later Empire they were introduced into the Circus, but many centuries
rolled on before we, in England, were favoured with a sight of this
great animal. Topsell had not seen one, and he wrote in 1607, so we
accept his _Apologia_ with all his errors:--“_Oppianus_ saith that there
was never yet any distinction of sexes in these _Rhinocerotes_; for all
that ever have been found were males, and not females, but from hence
let no body gather that there are no females, for it were impossible
that the breede should continue without females.
“When they are to fight they whet their horne upon a stone, and there
is not only a discord between these beasts and Elephants for their food,
but a natural description and enmity: for it is confidently affirmed,
that when the Rhinoceros which was at _Lisborne_, was brought into the
presence of an Elephant, the Elephant ran away from him. How and what
place he overcometh the Elephant, we have shewed already in his story,
namely, how he fastneth his horne in the soft part of the Elephantes
belly. He is taken by the same meanes that the _Unicorne_ is taken, for
it is said by _Albertus_, _Isodorus_, and _Alumnus_, that above all
other creatures they love Virgins, and that unto them they will come be
they never so wilde, and fall a sleepe before them, so being asleepe
they are easily taken, and carried away. All the later Physitians do
attribute the vertue of the _Unicorn’s_ horne to the _Rhinocereos_
horn.”
Ser Marco Polo, speaking of Sumatra, or, as he called it, Java the Less,
says in that island there are numerous unicorns. “They have hair like
that of a buffalo, feet like those of an elephant, and a horn in the
middle of the forehead, which is black and very thick. They do no
mischief, however, with the horn, but with the tongue alone; for this is
covered all over with long and strong prickles, (and when savage with
any one they crush him under their knees, and then rasp him with their
tongue). The head resembles that of a wild boar, and they carry it ever
bent towards the ground. They delight much to abide in mire and mud.
’Tis a passing ugly beast to look upon, and is not in the least like
that which our stories tell us of as being caught in the lap of a
virgin; in fact, ’tis altogether different from what we fancied.”
THE GULO.
[Illustration]
Olaus Magnus thus describes the Gulo or Gulon:--“Amongst all creatures
that are thought to be insatiable in the Northern parts of _Sweden_, the
_Gulo_ hath his name to be the principall; and in the vulgar tongue they
call him _Jerff_, but in the _German_ language _Vielfras_; in the
Sclavonish speech _Rossamaka_, from his much eating, and the Latin name
is _Gulo_, for he is so called from his gluttony. He is as great as a
great Dog, and his ears and face are like a Cat’s: his feet and nails
are very sharp; his body is hairy, with long brown hair, his tail is
like the Foxes, but somewhat shorter, but his hair is thicker, and of
this they make brave Winter Caps. Wherefore this Creature is the most
voracious; for, when he finds a carcasse, he devours so much, that his
body, by over-much meat, is stretched like a Drum, and finding a
streight (_narrow_) passage between Trees, he presseth between them,
that he may discharge his body by violence; and being thus emptied, he
returns to the carcasse, and fills himself top full; and then he
presseth again through the same narrow passage, and goes back to the
carkasse, till he hath devoured it all; and then he hunts eagerly for
another. It is supposed he was created by nature to make men blush, who
eat and drink till they spew, and then feed again, eating day and night,
as _Mechovita_ thinks in his _Sarmatia_. The flesh of this Creature is
altogether uselesse for man’s food; but his skin is very commodious and
pretious. For it is of a white brown black colour, like a damask cloth
wrought with many figures; and it shews the more beautiful, as by the
Industry of the Artist it is joyn’d with other garments in the likenesse
or colour. Princes and great men use this habit in Winter, made like
Coats; because it quickly breeds heat, and holds it long; and that not
onely in _Swethland_, and _Gothland_, but in _Germany_, where the rarity
of these skins makes them to be more esteemed, when it is prised in
ships among other Merchandise.
“The Inhabitants are not content to let these skins be transported into
other Countries, because, in Winter, they use to entertain their more
noble guests in these skins; which is a sufficient argument that they
think nothing more comely and glorious, than to magnifie at all times,
and in all orders their good guests, and that in the most vehement cold,
when amongst other good turns they cover their beds with these skins.
“And I do not think fit to overpasse, that when men sleep under these
skins, they have dreams that agree with the nature of that Creature, and
have an insatiable stomach, and lay snares for other Creatures, and
prevent them themselves. It may be that it is as they that eat hot
Spices, Ginger or Pepper seem to be inflamed; and they that eat Sugar
seem to be choked in water. There seems to be another secret of Nature
in it, that those who are clothed in those Skins, seem never to be
satisfied.
“The guts of this Creatures are made into strings for Musicians, and
give a harsh sound, which the Natives take pleasure in; but these,
tempered with sweet sounding strings, will make very good Musick. Their
hoofs made like Circles, and set upon heads subject to the Vertigo, and
ringing ears, soon cure them. The Hunters drink the blood of this beast
mingled with hot water; also seasoned with the best Honey, it is drunk
at Marriages. The fat, or tallow of it, smeered on putrid Ulcers for an
ointment is a sudden cure. Charmers use the teeth of it. The hoofs,
newly taken off, will drive away Cats and Dogs, if they do but see it,
as birds fly away, if they spy but the Vultur or the Bustard.
“By the Hunter’s various Art, this Creature is taken onely in regard of
his pretious skin; and the way is this;--They carry into the wood a
fresh Carkasse; where these beasts are wont to be most commonly;
especially in the deep snows (for in Summer their skins are nothing
worth) when he smels this he falls upon it, and eats till he is forced
to crush his belly close between narrow trees, which is not without
pain; the Hunter, in the mean time, shoots, and kills him with an arrow.
“There is another way to catch this Beast, for they set Trees, bound
asunder with small cords, and these fly up when they eat the Carkasse,
and strangle them; or else he is taken, falling into pits dug upon one
side, if the Carkasse be cast in, and he is compelled by hunger to feed
upon it. And there is hardly any other way to catch him with dogs, since
his claws are so sharp, that dogs dare not encounter with him, that
fear not to set upon the most fierce Wolves.”
Of this animal Topsell says:--“This beast was not known by the ancients,
but hath bin since discovered in the Northern parts of the world, and
because of the great voracity thereof, it is called _Gulo_, that is, a
devourer; in imitation of the Germans, who call such devouring Creatures
_Vilsruff_, and the Swedians _Cerff_, and in _Lituania_ and _Muscovia_
it is called _Rossomokal_. It is thought to be engendered by a _Hyæna_
and a _Lionesse_, for in quality it resembleth a _Hyæna_, and it is the
same which is called _Crocuta_: it is a devouring and unprofitable
creature having sharper teeth than other creatures. Some thinke it is
derived from a wolf and a dog, for it is about the bignesse of a dog. It
hath the face of a Cat, the body and taile of a Foxe; being black of
colour; his feet and nailes be most sharp, his skin rusty, the haire
very sharp, and it feedeth upon dead carkases.”
He then describes its manner of feeding, evidently almost literally
copying Olaus Magnus, and thus continues:--“There are of these beastes
two kindes, distinguished by coulour, one blacke, and the other like a
Wolfe: they seldom kill a man or any live beastes, but feede upon
carrion and dead carkasses, as is before saide, yet, sometimes, when
they are hungry, they prey upon beastes, as horses and such like, and
then they subtlely ascend up into a tree, and when they see a beast
under the same, they leape downe upon him and destroy him. A Beare is
afraide to meete them, and unable to match them, by reason of their
sharpe teeth.
“This beast is tamed, and nourished, in the courts of Princes, for no
other cause than for an example of incredible voracitie. When he hath
filled his belly, if he can find no trees growing so neare another, as
by sliding betwixte them, hee may expell his excrements, then taketh he
an Alder-tree, and with his forefeete rendeth the same asunder, and
passeth through the middest of it, for the cause aforesaid. When they
are wilde, men kill them with bowes and guns, for no other cause than
for their skins, which are pretious and profitable, for they are white
spotted, changeably interlined like divers flowers, for which cause the
greatest princes, and richest nobles use them in garments in the Winter
time; such are the Kings of _Polonia_, _Swede-land_, _Goat-land_, and
the princes of _Germany_. Neither is there any skinne which will sooner
take a colour, or more constantly retaine it. The outward appearance of
the saide skinne is like to a damaskt garment, and besides this outward
parte there is no other memorable thing woorthy observation in this
ravenous beast, and therefore, in _Germany_, it is called a foure-footed
Vulture.”
As a matter of fact, the Glutton or Wolverine, which is not unlike a
small bear, can consume (while in confinement) thirteen pounds of meat
in a day. In its wild state, if the animal it has killed is too large
for present consumption, it carries away the surplus, and stores it up
in a secure hiding-place, for future eating.
THE BEAR.
As Pliny not only uses all Aristotle’s matter anent Bears, but puts it
in a consecutive, and more readable form, it is better to transcribe his
version than that of the older author.
“Bears couple in the beginning of winter. The female then retires by
herself to a separate den, and then brings forth, on the thirtieth day,
mostly five young ones. When first born, they are shapeless masses of
white flesh, a little larger than mice; their claws alone being
prominent. The mother then licks them into proper shape.[34] The male
remains in his retreat for forty days, the female four months. If they
happen to have no den, they construct a retreat with branches and
shrubs, which is made impenetrable to the rain, and is lined with soft
leaves. During the first fourteen days they are overcome by so deep a
sleep, that they cannot be aroused by wounds even. They become
wonderfully fat, too, while in this lethargic state. This fat is much
used in medicine, and it is very useful in preventing the hair from
falling off.[35] At the end of these fourteen days they sit up, and find
nourishment by sucking their fore paws. They warm their cubs, when cold,
by pressing them to the breast, not unlike the way in which birds brood
over their eggs. It is a very astonishing thing, but Theophrastus
believes it, that if we preserve the flesh of the bear, the animal being
killed in its dormant state, it will increase in bulk, even though it
may have been cooked. During this period no signs of food are to be
found in the stomach of the animal, and only a very slight quantity of
liquid; there are a few drops of blood only, near the heart, but none
whatever in any other part of the body. They leave their retreat in the
spring, the males being remarkably fat; of this circumstance, however,
we cannot give any satisfactory explanation, for the sleep, during which
they increase so much in bulk, lasts, as we have already stated, only
fourteen days. When they come out, they eat a certain plant, which is
known as _Aros_, in order to relax the bowels, which would otherwise
become in a state of constipation; and they sharpen the edges of their
teeth against the young shoots of the trees.
“Their eyesight is dull, for which reason in especial, they seek the
combs of bees, in order that from the bees stinging them in the throat,
and drawing blood, the oppression in the head may be relieved. The head
of the bear is extremely weak, whereas, in the lion, it is remarkable
for its strength: on which account it is, that when the bear, impelled
by any alarm, is about to precipitate itself from a rock, it covers its
head with its paws. In the arena of the Circus they are often to be seen
killed by a blow on the head with the fist. The people of Spain have a
belief, that there is some kind of magical poison in the brain of the
bear, and therefore burn the heads of those that have keen killed in
their public games; for it is averred, that the brain, when mixed with
drink, produces, in man, the rage of the bear.
“These animals walk on two feet, and climb trees backwards. They can
overcome the bull, by suspending themselves, by all four legs, from his
muzzle and horns, thus wearing out its powers by their weight. In no
other animal is stupidity found more adroit in devising mischief.”
Olaus Magnus, in writing about bears, gives precedence to the white, or
Arctic bear, and gives an insight into the religious life of the old
Norsemen, who, when converted, thought their most precious things none
too good for the “Church.” If we consider the risk run in obtaining a
white bear’s skin, and the privations and cold endured in getting it, we
may look upon it as a Norse treasure. “Silver and Gold have I none; but
such as I have, give I unto thee.” He gives a short, but truthful
account of their habits, and winds up his all too brief narration
thus:--“These white Bear Skins are wont to be offered by the Hunters,
for the high Altars of Cathedrals, or Parochial Churches, that the
Priest celebrating Mass standing, may not take cold of his feet, when
the Weather is extream cold. In the Church at _Nidrosum_, which is the
Metropolis of the Kingdom of _Norway_, every year such white Skins are
found, that are faithfully offered by the Hunters Devotion, whensoever
they take them, and Wolves-Skins to buy Wax-Lights, and to burn them in
honour of the Saints.”
Olaus Magnus is very veracious in his dealings with White Bears, but he
morally retrogrades when he touches upon the Black and Brown Bears. The
illustrations of this portion of Olaus Magnus are exceedingly graphic.
In treating of the cunning used in killing bears, he says:--“In killing
black and cruel Bears in the Northern Kingdoms, they use this way,
namely, that when, in Autumn the Bear feeds on certain red ripe Fruit
(_Query Cranberries_) on trees that grow in Clusters like Grapes, either
going up into the Trees, or standing on the ground, and pulling down the
Trees, the cunning Hunter, with broad Arrows from a Crosse-bow shoots
at him, and these pierce deep; and he is so suddenly moved with this
fright, and wound received, that he presently voids backward all the
Fruit he ate, as Hailstones; and presently runs upon an Image of a man
made of wood, that is set purposely before him, and rends and tears
that, till another Arrow hit him, that gives him his death’s wound, shot
by the Hunter that hides himself behind some Stone or Tree. For when he
hath a wound, he runs furiously, at the sight of his blood, against all
things in his way, and especially the Shee-Bear, when she suckleth her
Whelps.
[Illustration]
“The Bears watch diligently for the passing of Deer; and chiefly, the
Shee-Bear when she hath brought forth her Whelps; who not so much for
Hunger, as for fearing of losing her Whelps, is wont to fall cruelly
upon all she meets. For, she being provoked by any violence, far exceeds
the force of the He-Bear, and Craft, that she may revenge the loss of
her Young. For she lyes hid amongst the thick boughs of Trees, and
young Shoots; and if a Deer, trusting to the glory of his horns, or
quick smell, or swift running, come too neare that place unawares, she
suddenly falls out upon him to kill him; and if he first defend himself
with his horns, yet he is so tired with the knots and weight of them,
being driven by the rage of the Bear, that he is beaten to the ground,
that losing force and life, he falls down a prey to be devoured. Then
she will set upon the Bull with his horns, using the same subtilty, and
casts herself upon his back; and when the Bull strives with his horns to
cast off the Bear, and to defend himself, she fasteneth on his horns and
shoulders with her paws, till, weary of the weight he falls down dead.
Then laying the Bull on his back like a Wallet, she goes on two feet
into the secret places of the Woods to feed upon him. But when, in
Winter she is hunted, she is betrayed by Dogs, or by the prints of her
feet in the Snow, and can hardly escape from the Hunters that run about
her from all sides.”
[Illustration]
Magnus then retails the usual fables about bears licking their young
into shape, their building houses, &c., &c., after which he discourses
about the bear and hedgehog, a story which has nothing to do with the
picture. It is described as “the Battail between the Hedge-Hog, and the
Bear.”
[Illustration]
“Though the _Urchin_ have sharp pointed prickles, whereby he gathereth
Apples to feed on, and these he hides in hollow Trees, molesting the
_Bear_ in his Den: yet is he oppressed by the cunning and weight of the
_Bear_: namely when the Urchin roles himself up round as a ball, that
there is nothing but his prickles to come at: yet with this means he
cannot prevail against the _Bear_, which opens him, to revenge the wrong
he did her in violating her Lodging. Nor can the _Bear_ eat the
_Hedge-Hog_, it is such miserable poor and prickly meat. Wherefore
returning again into his Cave, he sleeps, and grows fat, living by
sucking his paw.
“The _Bears_ also fight against the _Bores_, but seldome get the
victory, because they can better defend themselves with their Tusks,
than the _Bull_ or the _Deer_ can by their Horns, or running swiftly.
The strong _Horses_ keep off the _Bears_ with their biting and kicking,
from the _Mares_ that are great with _Foals_. Young _Colts_ save
themselves by running, but they will always hold this fear, and so
become unprofitable for the Wars. Wherefore they use this stratagem:
some Souldier puts on a Bear’s skin, and meets them, by reason that they
are horses that the Bears have hunted.”
[Illustration]
The Northern Bears seem to have been wonderful creatures, for they used
to go mad after eating Mandragora, and then they were in the habit of
making a meal off ants, by way of recovering their sanity. They were
then, as now, noted for their love of honey, and this illustration
depicts them as coming out of, and going into the ground after bees and
honey; nay, it would seem as if they even invaded the barrels put up in
the trees to serve as hives. But man was more cunning than they, and a
good bear-skin in those cold regions, had a value far exceeding honey.
“Since that in the Northern Countries, especially _Podolia_, _Russia_,
and places adjacent, because of the great multitude of Bees, the Hives
at home will not contain them, the Inhabitants willingly let them fly
unto hollow Trees, made so by Nature, or by Art, that they may increase
there. Wherefore mortal stratagems are thus prepared for Bears, that use
to steal honey (for they having a most weak head, as a Lion hath the
strongest, for sometimes they will be killed with a blow under their
ear); namely a Woodden Club set round with Iron points is hung over the
hole the Bees come forth of, from some high bough, or otherwise; and
this, being cast upon the head of the greedy Bear that is going to steal
the honey, kills him striving against it; so he loseth his life, flesh,
and skin to the Master, for a little honey. Their flesh is salted up
like Hog’s flesh, Stag’s flesh, Elk’s, or Ranged deer’s flesh, to eat in
Camps, and the Tallow of them is good to cure any wounds.”
[Illustration]
Every one of my readers, who is not a Scotsman, will appreciate the
delicate musical taste of the bear, in the matter of bagpipes--Bruin
cannot stand the skirling, and, in the illustration, seems to be
remonstrating with the piper.
“It is well enough known that Bears, Dolphins, Stags, Sheep, Calves and
Lambs, are much delighted with Musick: and, again, they are to be driven
from their Heards by some harsh sounding Pipes, or Horns, that when they
hear the sound they will be gone into the Woods, a great way off. Now
the Shepheards of the Cattel know this well enough: they will play upon
their two horned Pipes continually, which sometimes are taken away by
Bears, until such time as the Bear is forced by Hunger to go away to get
his food. Wherefore they take a Goat’s Horn, and sometimes a Cow’s Horn,
and make such a horrid noise, that they scare the wild beasts, and so
return safe to their dispersed flocks. This two horned Pipe, which in
their tongue they call _Seec-Pipe_, they carry to the fields with them,
for they have learned by use, that their Flocks and Heards will feed the
better and closer together.
[Illustration]
“The _Russians_ and _Lithuanians_ are more near to the Swedes and Goths
on the Eastern parts: and these hold it a singular delight, to have
always the most cruel Beasts bred up tame with them, and made obedient
to their commands in all things. Wherefore to do this the Sooner, they
keep them in Caves, or tyed with Chains, chiefly Bears newly taken in
the Woods, and half starve them; and they appoint one or two Masters,
cloathed one like the other, to carry Victuals to them, that they may be
accustomed to play with them, and handle them when they are loose. Also
they play on Pipes sweetly, and with this they are much taken: and thus
they use them to sport and dance, and then, when the Pipes sound
differently, they are taught to lift up their legs, as by a more sharp
sign, to end the Dance with, that they may go on their hinder feet, with
a Cap in their fore feet, held out to the Women and Maids, and others
that saw them dance, and ask a reward for their dancing; and, if it is
not given freely, they will murmure, as they are directed by their
Master, and will nod their heads, as desiring them to give more money:
So the Master of these Bears, that cannot speak the language of other
countries, will get a good gain by his dumb Beast. Nor doth this seem to
be done onely because that these should live by this small gain; for the
Bearherds that lead these Bears, are, at least, ten or twelve lusty men;
and in their company, sometimes, there go Noblemen’s sons, that they may
learn the manners, fashions, and distances of places, the Military Arts,
and Concord of Princes, by these merry Pastimes. But since they were
found, in _Germany_, to spoil Travellers, and to cast them to their
Bears to eat, most strict Laws are made against them, that they may
never come there again.
“There is another Sport, when Bears taken, are put into a Ship, and shew
merry pastimes in going up and down the Ropes, and sometimes are
profitable for some unexpected accident. For Histories of the
Provincials mention, that it hapned, that one was thus freed from a
Pirate that was like to set upon him; for the Pirate coming on, was
frighted at it, when he saw afar off, men, as he supposed, going up and
down the Ropes, from the Top Mast, as the manner is to defend the Ship.
Whereas they were but young Bears, playing on the Ropes. But the most
pleasant sight of all is, that when the Bears look out of the Ship into
the Waters, a great number of Sea Calves will come and gaze upon them,
that you would think an innumerable Company of Hogs swam about the Ship,
and they are caught by the Sea men with long Spears, with Hooks, and a
Cord tyed to them; and so are also the other Beasts, that come to help
the Sea Calves, taken, and crying like to Hogs. Also the Bears are let
down to swim, that they may catch these wandering Sea-Calves, or else,
when it thunders, and the weather is tempestuous, they be taken above
Water.
[Illustration]
“But that tame Bears may not onely be kept unprofitably to feed, and
make sport, they are set to the Wheels in the Courts of great men, that
they may draw up Water out of deep Wells; and that in huge Vessels made
for this purpose, and they do not help alone this Way, but they are set
to draw great Waggons, for they are very strong in their Legs, Claws,
and Loins; nor is it unfit to make them go upright, and carry burdens of
Wood, and such like, to the place appointed, or they stand at great
men’s doors, to keep out other hurtful Creatures. When they are young,
they will play wonderfully with Boys, and do them no hurt.”
Topsell goes through the usual stories of bears licking their cubs into
shape, and subsisting by sucking their claws--but he also affords us
much information about bears, which we do not find in modern Natural
Histories:--“At what time they come abroad, being in the beginning of
May, which is the third moneth from the Spring. The old ones being
almost dazled with long darknes, comming into light againe, seeme to
stagger and reele too and fro, and then for the straightnesse of their
guts, by reason of their long fasting, doe eat the herbe _Arum_, called
in English _Wake-Robbin_, or _Calves-foot_, being of very sharpe and
tart taste, which enlargeth their guts, and so, being recovered, they
remaine all the time their young are with them, more fierce, and cruell
than at other times. And concerning the same _Arum_, called also
_Dracunculus_, and _Oryx_, there is a pleasant vulgar tale, whereby some
have conceived that Beares eat this herbe before their lying secret, and
by vertue thereof (without meat, or sence of cold) they passe away the
whole winter in sleepe.
“There was a certaine cow-heard, in the Mountains of _Helvetia_, which,
comming downe a hill, with a great caldron on his backe, he saw a beare
eating a root which he had pulled up with his feet; the cowheard stood
still till the beare was gone, and afterward came to the place where the
beast had eaten the same, and, finding more of the same roote, did
likewise eat it; he had no sooner tasted thereof, but he had such a
desire to sleepe, that hee could not containe himselfe, but he must
needs lie down in the way, and there fell a sleep, having covered his
heade with the caldron, to keep himself from the vehemency of the colde,
and there slept all the Winter time without harme, and never rose againe
till the spring time; which fable if a man will beleeve, then,
doubtlesse, this hearbe may cause the Beares to be sleepers, not for
fourteene dayes, but for fourscore dayes together.
“The ordinary food of Beares is fish; for the Water beare, and others
will eate fruites, Apples, Grapes, Leaves, and Pease, and will breake
into bee hives sucking out the honey; likewise Bees, Snayles and Emmets,
and flesh, if it bee leane, or ready to putrifie; but, if a Beare doe
chance to kill a swine, or a Bull, or Sheepe, he eateth them presentlie,
whereas other beasts eate not hearbes, if they eate flesh: likewise they
drinke water, but not like other beastes, neither sucking it, or lapping
it, but as it were, even bitinge at it.
“They are exceeding full of fat or Larde-greace, which some use
superstitiouslie beaten with oile, wherewith they anoint their
grape-sickles when they go to vintage, perswading themselves that if no
bodie knows thereof, their tender vine braunches shall never be consumed
by catterpillers.
“Others attribute this to the vertue of Beare’s blood, and
_Theophrastus_ affirmeth, that if beare’s grease be kept in a vessell,
at such time as the beares lie secret, it will either fill it up, or
cause it to runne over. The flesh of beares is unfit for meate, yet some
use to eate it, after it hath been twice sodden; other eat it baked in
pasties, but the truth is, it is better for medicine than food.
_Theophrastus_ likewise affirmeth, that at the time when beares lie
secret, their dead flesh encreaseth, which is kept in houses, but
beare’s fore feet are held for a verie delicate and well tasted foode,
full of sweetnes, and much used by the German Princes.
“And because of the fiercenesse of this beast, they are seldome taken
alive, except they be very young, so that some are killed in the
Mountaines by Poyson, the Country being so steepe and rocky that hunters
cannot followe them; some taken in ditches of the earth and other
ginnes. _Oppianus_ relateth that neare _Tygris_ and _Armenia_, the
inhabitauntes use this Stratigem to take Beares.
“The people go often to the Wooddes to find the Denne of the Beare,
following a leam hound, whose nature is, so soone as he windeth the
beast, to barke, whereby his leader discovereth the prey, and so draweth
off the hounde with the leame; then come the people in great multitude,
and compasse him about with long nets, placing certaine men at each end:
then tie they a long rope to one side of the net, as high from the
ground, as the small of a Man’s belly; whereunto are fastned divers
plumes and feathers of vultures, swannes, and other resplendant coloured
birdes, which, with the wind make a noise or hissing, turning over and
glistering; on the other side of the net they build foure little hovels
of greene boughes, wherein they lay foure men covered all over with
greene leaves; then, all being prepared, they sound their Trumpets, and
wind their horns; at the noise whereof the beare ariseth, and in his
fearefull rage runneth too and fro as if he sawe fire: the young men,
armed, make unto him, the beare, looking round about, taketh the
plainest way toward the rope hung full of feathers, which, being
stirred, and haled by those that holde it, maketh the beare much affraid
with the ratling and hissing thereof, and so flying from that side halfe
mad, runneth into the nets, where the keepers entrap him so cunningly,
that he seldome escapeth.
“When a Beare is set upon by an armed man, he standeth upright, and
taketh the man betwixt his forefeet, but he, being covered all over with
yron plates can receive no harm, and then may easily, with a sharpe
knife or dagger pierce thorough the heart of the beast.
“If a shee beare having young ones be hunted, shee driveth her Whelpes
before her, untill they be wearied, and then, if she be not prevented,
she climbeth uppon a tree, carrying one of her young in her mouth, and
the other on her backe. A Beare will not willingly fight with a man,
but, being hurt by a man, he gnasheth his teeth, and licketh his
forefeete, and it is reported by an Ambassador of _Poland_, that when
the _Sarmatians_ finde a beare, they inclose the whole Wood by a
multitude of people standing not above a cubit one from another; then
cut they downe the outmost trees, so that they raise a Wall of wood to
hemme in the Beares; this being effected, they raise the Beare, having
certaine forkes in their hands, made for that purpose, and, when the
Beare approacheth, they, (with those forkes) fall upon him, one keeping
his head, another one leg, other his body, and so, with force, muzzle
him and tie his legges, leading him away. The Rhætians use this policy
to take Wolves and Beares; they raise up great posts, and crosse them
with a long beame laded with heavy weightes, unto the which beame they
fasten a corde with meat therein, whereunto the beast comming, and
biting at the meat, pulleth downe the beame upon her owne pate.
“The inhabitants of _Helvetia_ hunt them with mastiffe Dogges, because
they should not kill their cattell left at large in the fielde in the
day time; They likewise shoote them with gunnes, giving a good summe of
money to them that can bring them a slaine beare. The _Sarmatians_ use
to take Beares by this sleight; under those trees wherein bees breed,
they plant a great many of sharpe pointed stakes, putting one hard into
the hole wherein the bees go in and out, whereunto the Beare climbing,
and comming to pull it forth, to the end that she may come to the hony,
and being angry that the stake sticketh so fast in the hole, with
violence plucketh it foorth with both her fore feet, whereby she looseth
her holde, and falleth downe upon the picked stakes, whereupon she
dieth, if they that watch for her come not to take her off. There was
reported by _Demetrius_, Ambassador at _Rome_, from the King of _Musco_,
that a neighbor of his, going to seek hony, fell into a hollow tree, up
to the brest in hony, where he lay two days, being not heard by any man
to complain; at length came a great Beare to this hony, and, putting his
head into the tree, the poore man tooke hold thereof, whereat, the
Beare, suddenly affrighted, drew the man out of that deadly danger, and
so ranne away for feare of a worse creature.
“But, if there be no tree wherein Bees doe breed neere to the place
where the Beare abideth, then they use to annoint some hollow place of a
tree with hony, whereinto Bees will enter and make hony combes, and when
the Beare findeth them, she is killed as aforesaide. In _Norway_ they
use to saw the tree almost asunder, so that when the beast climbeth it,
she falleth downe upon piked stakes laid underneath to kill her; and
some make a hollow place in a tree, wherein they put a great pot of
water, having annointed it with hony, at the bottome wherof are fastened
certaine hookes bending downeward, leaving an easie passage for the
beare to thrust in her head to get the honie, but impossible to pull it
foorth againe alone, because the hookes take holde on her skinne; this
pot they binde fast to a tree, whereby the Beare is taken alive and
blinde folded, and though her strength breake the corde or chaine
wherewith the pot is fastened, yet can shee not escape or hurt any bodie
in the taking, by reason her head is fastened in the pot.
“To conclude, other make ditches or pits under Apple trees, laying upon
their mouth rotten stickes, which they cover with earth, and strawe
uppon it herbes, and when the beare commeth to the Apple tree, she
falleth into the pit and is taken.
“The herbe _Wolfebaine_ or _Liberdine_ is poison to Foxes, Wolves, Dogs,
and Beares, and to all beasts that are littered blind, as the _Alpine
Rhætians_ affirme. There is one kinde of this called _Cyclamine_, which
the _Valdensians_ call _Tora_, and with the juice thereof they poison
their darts, whereof I have credibly received this story; That a certain
_Valdensian_, seeing a wilde beare, having a dart poysond heerewith, did
cast it at the beare, being farre from him, and lightly wounded her, it
being no sooner done, but the beare ran to and fro in a wonderful
perplexitie through the woods, unto a verie sharpe cliffe of a rocke,
where the man saw her draw her last breath, as soon as the poison
entered to her hart, as he afterward found by opening of her bodie. The
like is reported of henbane, another herb. But there is a certaine
blacke fish in _Armenia_ full of poison, with the pouder whereof they
poison figs, and cast them in those places where wilde beastes are most
plentifull, which they eat, and so are killed.
“Concerning the industrie or naturall disposition of a beare, it is
certaine that they are very hardlie tamed, and not to be trusted though
they seeme never so tame; for which cause there is a storie of _Diana_
in _Lysias_, that there was a certaine beare made so tame, that it went
uppe and downe among men, and woulde feede with them, taking meat at
their handes, giving no occasion to feare or mistrust her cruelty; on a
daye, a young mayde playing with the Beare, lasciviously did so provoke
it, that he tore her in pieces; the Virgin’s brethren seeing the
murther, with their Dartes slew the Beare, whereupon followed a great
pestilence through all that region: and when they consulted with the
Oracle, the paynim God gave answeare, that the plague could not cease
untill they dedicated some virginnes unto _Diana_ for the Beare’s sake
that was slaine; which, some interpreting that they should sacrifice
them, _Embarus_, upon condition the priesthoode might remaine in his
family, slewe his onely daughter to end the pestilence, and for this
cause the virgins were after dedicated to _Diana_ before their marriage,
when they were betwixt ten and fifteene yeare olde, which was performed
in the moneth of _January_, otherwise they could not be married: yet
beares are tamed for labours, and especially for sports among the
_Roxalani_ and _Libians_, being taught to draw water with wheeles out of
the deepest wels; likewise stones upon sleds, to the building of wals.
“A prince of _Lituania_ nourished a Beare very tenderly, feeding her
from his table with his owne hand, for he had used her to be familiar in
his court, and to come into his owne chamber, when he listed, so that
she would goe abroad into the fields and woods, returning home againe of
her owne accord, and with her hand or foote rub the Kinge’s chamber
doore to have it opened, when she was hungry, it being locked. It
happened that certaine young Noble men conspired the death of this
Prince, and came to his chamber doore, rubbing it after the custome of
the beare, the King not doubting any evill, and supposing it had bene
his beare, opened the doore, and they presently slewe him....
“There are many naturall operations in Beares. _Pliny_ reporteth, that,
if a woman bee in sore travaile of child-birth, let a stone, or arrow,
which hath killed a man, a beare, or a bore, be throwne over the house
wherein the Woman is, and she shall be eased of her paine. There is a
small worme called _Volvox_, which eateth the vine branches when they
are young, but if the vine-sickles be annointed with Beare’s blood, that
worme will never hurt them. If the blood or greace of a Beare be set
under a bed, it will draw unto it all the fleas, and so kill them by
cleaving thereunto. But the vertues medicinall are very many; and first
of all, the blood cureth all manner of bunches and apostems in the
flesh, and bringeth haire upon the eyelids if the bare place be
annointed therewith.
“The fat of a Lyon is most hot and dry, and next to a Lyon’s a
Leopard’s; next to a Leopard’s a Beare’s; and next to a Beare’s, a
Bul’s. The later Physitians use it to cure convulsed and distracted
parts, spots, and tumors in the body. It also helpeth the paine of the
loins, if the sicke part be annointed therewith, and all ulcers in the
legges or shinnes, when a plaister is made thereof with bole armoricke.
Also the ulcers of the feet, mingled with allome. It is soveraigne
against the falling of the haire, compounded with wilde roses. The
Spaniards burne the braines of beares, when they die in any publicke
sports, holding them venemous; because, being drunke, they drive a man
to be as mad as a beare; and the like is reported of the heart of a
Lyon, and the braine of a Cat. The right eie of a beare dried to pouder,
and hung about children’s neckes in a little bag, driveth away the
terrour of dreames, and both the eyes whole, bound to a man’s left arme,
easeth a quartan ague.
“The liver of a sow, a lamb, and a bear put togither, and trod to pouder
under one’s shoos, easeth and defendeth cripples from inflamation: the
gall being preserved and warmed in water, delivereth the bodie from
Colde, when all other medicine faileth. Some give it, mixt with Water,
to them that are bitten with a mad Dogge, holding it for a singular
remedie, if the party can fast three daies before. It is also given
against the palsie, the king’s evill, the falling sickenesse, an old
cough, the inflamation of the eies, the running of the eares, delevery
in child birth, the Hæmorrhods, the weaknes of the backe, and the
palsie: and that women may go their full time, they make ammulets of
Bear’s nails, and cause them to weare them all the time they are with
Child.”
THE FOX.
By Englishmen, the Fox has been raised to the height of at least a
demigod--and his cult is a serious matter attended with great minutiæ of
ritual. Englishmen and Foxes cannot live together, but they live for one
another, the man to hunt the fox, the fox to be hunted. If there be a
fox anywhere, even in the Campagna at Rome, and there are sufficient
Englishmen to get up a scratch pack of hounds, there must “bold Reynard”
be tortured with fear and exertion, only, in all probability, to die a
cruel death in the end. In the Peninsular War, a pack of foxhounds
accompanied the army; in India, failing foxes, they take the nearest
substitute, the jackal; and in Australia, _faute de mieux_, they hunt
the Dingo, or native dog. No properly constituted Englishman could ever
compass the death of a poor fox, otherwise than by hunting. The
Vulpecide--in any other manner--is, in an English county, a social
leper--he is a thing _anathema_. Running away with a neighbour’s wife
may be condoned by county society, at least, among the men, but with
them the man that shoots foxes is a very pariah, and it were good for
that man had he never been born.
Every other nation, even from historic antiquity, has reckoned the Fox
as among the ordinary _feræ naturæ_, to be killed, when met with, for
the sake only of his skin, for his flesh is not toothsome: and when he
arrives at the dignity of a silver or a black fox, his fur enwraps royal
personages, as being of extreme value.
The Fox is noted everywhere for its “_craftiness_,” and was so famed
long before the epic of Reineke Fuchs was evolved, and, indeed, this may
be said to be its principal attribute. Many are the stories told by
country firesides of his stratagems, both in plundering and in his
endeavours to escape from his enemies. Indeed, no country ought to be
able to compare in Fox lore with our own. Its sagacity, cunning, or call
it what you like, dates far back. Pliny tells us that “in Thrace, when
all parts are covered with ice, the foxes are consulted, an animal,
which, in other respects, is baneful from its Craftiness. It has been
observed, that this animal applies its ear to the ice, for the purpose
of testing its thickness; hence it is, that the inhabitants will never
cross frozen rivers and lakes, until the foxes have passed over them and
returned.”
The Fox is most abundant in the northern parts of Europe, and therefore
we hear more about him from the pages of Olaus Magnus, Gessner, and
Topsell.
[Illustration]
The former says:--“When the fox is pressed with hunger, Cold and Snow,
and he comes near men’s houses, he will bark like a dog, that house
creatures may come nearer to him with more confidence. Also, he will
faign himself dead, and lie on his back, drawing in his breath, and
lolling out his tongue. The birds coming down, unawares, to feed on the
carkasse, are snapt up by him, with open mouth. Moreover, when he is
hungry, and finds nothing to eat, he rolls himself in red earth, that he
may appear bloody; and, casting himself on the earth, he holds his
breath, and when the birds see that he breaths not, and that his tongue
hangs forth of his mouth, they think he is dead; but so soon as they
descend, he draws them to him and devours them.
“Again, when he sees that he cannot conquer the Urchin, for his
prickles, he lays him on his back, and so rends the soft part of his
body. Sometimes fearing the multitude of wasps, he counterfeits and
hides himself, his tail hanging out: and when he sees that they are all
busie, and entangled in his thick tail, he comes forth, and rubs them
against a stone or Tree, and kills them and eats them. The same trick,
almost, he useth, when he lyes in wait for crabs and small fish, running
about the bank, and he lets down his tail into the water, they admire at
it, and run to it, and are taken in his fur, and pull’d out. Moreover,
when he hath fleas, he makes a little bundle of soft hay wrapt in hair,
and holds it in his mouth; then he goes by degrees into the water,
beginning with his tail, that the fleas fearing the water, will run up
all his body till they come at his head: then he dips in his head, that
they may leap into the hay; when this is done, he leaves the hay in the
water, and swims forth.
“But when he is hungry, he will counterfeit to play with the Hare, which
he presently catcheth and devoureth, unlesse the Hare escape by flight,
as he often doth. Sometimes he also escapes from the dogs by barking,
faigning himself to be a dog, but more surely when he hangs by a bough,
and makes the dogs hunt in vain to find his footing. He is also wont to
deceive the Hunter and his dogs, when he runs among a herd of Goats, and
goes for one of them, leaping upon the Goat’s back, that he may sooner
escape by the running of the Goat, by reason of the hatefull Rider on
his back. The other Goats follow, which the Hunter fearing to molest,
calls off his Dogs that many be not killed.
“If he be taken in a string, he will sometime bite off his own foot, and
so get away. But, if there be no way open he will faign himself dead,
that being taken out of the snare, he may run away. Moreover, when a dog
runs after him, and overtakes him, and would bite him, he draws his
bristly tail through the dog’s mouth, and so he deludes the dog till he
can get into the lurking places of the Woods. I saw also in the Rocks of
_Norway_ a Fox with a huge tail, who brought many Crabs out of the
water, and then he ate them. And that is no rare sight, when as no fish
like Crabs will stick to a bristly thing let down into the water, and to
dry fish, laid on the rocks to dry. They that are troubled with the
Gowt, are cured by laying the warm skin of this beast about the part,
and binding it on. The fat, also, of the same creature, laid smeered
upon the ears or lims of a gowty person, heals him; his fat is good for
all torments of the guts, and for all pains, his brain often given to a
child will preserve it ever from the Falling-sicknesse. These and
such-like simple medicaments the North Country people observe.”
A portion of the above receives a curious corroboration from Mr. P.
Robinson in his book, _The Poets’ Beasts_. Speaking of the Lynx, he
says:--“But it is not, as is supposed, ‘untamable.’ The Gækwar of Baroda
has a regular pack of trained lynxes, for stalking and hunting pea-fowl,
and other kinds of birds. I have, myself, seen a tame lynx that had been
taught to catch crows--no simple feat--and its strategy was as diverting
as its agility amazing. It would lie down with the end of a string in
its mouth, the other end being fast to a stake, and pretend to be
asleep, dead asleep, drunk, chloroformed, anything you like that means
profound and gross slumber. A foot or so off would be lying a piece of
meat, or a bone.
“The crows would very soon discover the bone, and collecting round in a
circle, would discuss the probabilities of the lynx only shamming, and
the chances of stealing his dinner. The animal would take no notice
whatever, but lie there looking so limp and dead, that at last one crow
would make so bold as to come forward. The others let it do so alone,
knowing that afterwards there would be a free fight for the plunder, and
the thief, probably, not enjoy it, after all. So the delegate would
advance with all the caution of a crow--and nothing exceeds it--until
within seizing distance. There it would stop, flirt its wings nervously,
stoop, take a last long look at the lynx to make sure that it really
_was_ asleep, and then dart like lightning at the bone. But, if the crow
was as quick as lightning, the lynx was as swift as thought, and lo! the
next instant there was the beast sitting up with the bird in its
mouth!...
“Next time it had to practise a completely different manœuvre. The same
crows are not to be ‘humbugged’ a second time by a repetition of the
being-dead trick. So the lynx, when a sufficient number of the birds had
assembled, would take the string in its mouth, and run round and round
the stake, at the extreme limit of its tether, as if it were tied. The
crows, after their impudent fashion, would close in. They thought they
knew the exact circumference of the animal’s circle, and getting as
close to the dangerous line as possible, without actually transgressing
it, would mock and abuse the supposed betethered brute. But all of a
sudden, the circling lynx would fly out at a tangent, right into the
thick of his black tormentors, and, as a rule, bag a brace, right and
left.”
Topsell gives some curious particulars of the Fox, and, speaking of
their earths, he says:--“These dens have many caves in them, and
passages in and out, that when the Terrars shall set upon him in the
earth, he may go forth some other way, and forasmuch as the Wolfe is an
enemy to the Foxe, he layeth in the mouth of his den, an Herbe (called
Sea-onyon) which is so contrary to the nature of a Wolfe, and he so
greatly terrified therewith, that hee will never come neere the place
where it groweth, or lyeth; the same is affirmed of the Turtle to save
her young ones, but I have not read that Wolves will prey upon Turtles,
and therefore we reject that as a fable.... If a Fox
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