fourtie yéeres whose wiues doe bring foorth children at the age of seuen yéeres There are people that haue long hairie tailes growing These things and others hath nature made moustruous for our examples Among the womē there are diuers childings some haue had sixe children some eight and some nine and sometime children of diuers kindes which are called Hermaphrodites which are both man and woman There hath bene that haue had in their life time thirtie Children and among the maruailes of the worlde a childe being new borne did enter againe into his mothers wōbe in the Citie of Saguntra And it is no fable nor tale to haue séene women and maydes transformed into men The females are sooner engendred then the Male and become soonest olde the Females doe moue in their mothers wombe most on the left side and the males on the right side And Plinie reciteth to haue séene a maide on the night of her marriage to be naturally transformed into a man and incontinent her beard to growe and shée to be married againe to a woman If that a woman bring foorth two children at one burthen lightly there is short life either to the mother or to one of her children and if they be both Males or Females then are they lightly of a short life Among the women there is no certaine time prefixed of their trauailings with childe for some bée deliuered in seuen moneths some in eight and most commonly in nyne moneths Also sometime at ten and eleuen moneths Before the seuenth moneth the childe hath no life the tenth day after shée hath conceiued Paine in the head a shadowe or mist before the eyes no taste nor relisse in meates and a vndigesting stomacke are signes of conception That woman that bringeth foorth a Male childe hath better colour and easier deliuerance Miserable is the condition of man For the Princes by this meanes haue their originall and are subiect to Fortune and hath nature as others We reade of a Romaine Prince that died in the morning in pulling on his hose an other died with the stinging or biting of a Grape an other was choaked with a haire in eating of Milke Scipio Affricanus was the first called Caesar for that Caesus fuit matris Vterus his mothers wombe was opened for him to passe out Of those that are cripple lame and conterfeite of nature commeth whole limmed and perfect children in their members and sometimes of perfect and wel proportioned people commeth lame and vnperfect children A woman doeth not beare children after fiftie yéeres there are many that ceasse at fourtie As touching men we reade truely of a Prince which at the age of foure score and sixe yéeres begate a childe When Cato was borne his father was foure score yéeres olde Vnto children their téeth come commonly at seuen monethes the seuenth yéere they renue for then their téeth fall and there commeth to them others and some are borne with téeth And if that a dead bodie be burned the téeth will neuer burne but remaine whole Vnto some their téeth faile them at middle age commonly a man hath thirtie two téeth and hée that hath more is estéemed to be the longer liuer Zoroastes did laugh that day hée was borne yea that with the very force of laughing he did reiecte the hand that was vpon his head for the placing and fashioning of his head and setling of his braines A man is as long from the foote to the head as the extending or spreading abroade of his armes counting from the great fingers Men doe way more then women the dead bodies way more then the liuing and those that are a sléepe way more then they that are awake Some liue without marow in their bones and therefore they neuer thirst and for this cause women drinke lesse then men and such doe neuer sweate It is recited of Crassus the Senatour that he did neuer laugh Socrates the great clarke was neuer séene mery nor ioyfull nor angry at one time more then at an other and therefore mens complexions are diuers In Rome hath bene seene a Princesse called Antonia Drusi neuer to spitte Pomponius neuer to belke The strength of men hath bene great and more in one than another It is read of one that with one hande did holde a Chariot that thrée horses could not make to goe for wards nor remoue Hercules did carrie his great Mule on his backe Fusius Saluius did beare two hundreth on his féete two hundreth in his hands and two hundreth on his shoulders so being loden or charged with sixe hundreth waight went vpon a ladder Plinie writeth to haue séene one named Athanatus to haue a iacke on his backe waying fiue hundreth waight going to aplay with shooes on his féete waying fifty pound waight a piece Milo set his foote in a place from which place there was no man able to make him goe backe or remoue If that he helde a staffe in his hand there was no man able to take it away or writhe it out of his fist For running there hath bene many light and nimble men that would runne a thousand a hundreth thréescore furlongs a day and more Also there are some that haue their sight very singuler We reade of a man called Strabo of the countrey of Sicilia that is toward the East to recken and count the ships that parted from Carthage for to enter into the South sea Cicero did recite that he did sée the Iliades of Homer in verse written being included in a Nut shell so small were the figures Marmecides made a Cart or Wagon so litle that a flye did couer it And he made a ship that a Bée might couer it with both her winges For a trueth there haue bene people that haue heard battailes and fighting fiftie Leagues of for they haue counted the time and houres of the assaultes The memorie hath bene very singuler to some Cyrus King of Persie had the memorie to know and call euery one of his armie by their names Methridates the king did talke one day to his people in two twentie languages without stutting or stammering Others léese their memorie by fantastes or otherwise haue forgotten their vnderstanding Messalla the Orator did forget by grieuous sicknesse his sciences yea his owne name in such sort that hée knewe not from whence he was Marueilous was the memorie of Iulius Cesar the which named to foure Scribes or writers at one time and in the meane time he read writ and heard and if he had no other affaires he would name to seuen He fought 52. battailes And Marcellus 40. Cesar in his battailes is reputed to haue slaine of his enemies 1192. thousand men Pompeus did spoile and take from the Pirates and sea robbers against whome he was sent by the Romaines 876 ships Moreouer Cesar had this constancie that the letters that Scipio did sende him for to betray Pompeus hee cast into the fire without reading them Cato was accused to the Senatours 42.
THE Secrets and wonders of the world A BOOKE RIGHT rare and straunge containing many excellent properties giuen to Man Beastes Foules Fishes and Serpents Trees Plants c. Abstracted out of that excellent naturall Historiographer Plinie Translated out of French into English At London ⧠Printed for Thomas Hacket and are to be solde at his shop in Lumberd streete vnder the Popes head 1585. To the vvorshipful and his very good friend Maister Richard Candler as one that wisheth the fauour of God long happy life encrease of worship with continuall health and felicitie SO it is worshipfull Syr I haue deuised with my selfe many times howe to gratifie you with some token of my good will towardes you but welth and abilitie lacking to accomplish my desired pretence yet nowe at the last I haue presumed knowing your wonted curtesies towardes all men to dedicate this Abstract of Plinies desiring you to take it with as good a will as I haue ment it till hereafter that some seriusser matter come to my hande and thus I bid you most hartely farewell in the Lord who keepe you and all yours prosper and preserue you in all your good and godly enterprises Amen Yours to vse T. H. To the Reader HEre hast thou gentle Reader set forth vnto thee this Booke named The Secrets and wonders of the Worlde abstracted out of the sixteene first Bookes of that excellent naturall Historiographer Plinie for the straungenesse and worthinesse thereof I referre thee to thine owne iudgement requesting thee to take this in good part shortly shal be by Gods grace set forth vnto thee three worthy and learned bookes the first is of the Cituation of the world writte by Pomponius Mela The second is a perfite Peregrination and true discouerie of Graecie Turkey Arabia and Siria with the maner of their Cities and their Antiquities The third is Iulius Sollinus Pollihistorie the which bookes thou shalt finde both to be pleasant and profitable And thus I bid thee farewel in Christ who keep vs. AmeÌ„ ⧠The Secretes and wonders of the World abstracted out of the principall of the naturall Historiographers PLINIE the naturall Historiographer was borne vnder the Emperour Tyberian and died vnder Titus the Emperour that destroyed Hierusalem after the death and passion of our Lord Iesus Christ in which time he did attribute his woorkes In the first booke which is briefe he maketh his preambles In the second he treateth of the worlde and of other matters He describeth that the worlde is alone and round naturally vnmoueable although that there are certaine places moueable and that may moue by the concauites of the earth being full of winde There are foure Elementes the Earth the Water and the Fyre aboue the Ayre néere to the first firmament Which is fire natural and therefore there néedeth no wood to continue the same Vnder the Earth are the Planetes which are called Strayers and yet they moue lesse then the others but it is of the mutation of their influences of the Firmament among the which is the Sunne rector and the guider of the other Planets principall gouernour of nature The other Starres are not attributed as some doe thinke as the greatest and clearest to the rich and the least to the poore and the obscure and darke starres to those that of nature are infected For we haue no such societie with the Starres that they shoulde die with vs and therefore they are equally deuided seruing to eche one The Moone hath her Planet comming before her as the Sunne hath the day Starre she doeth encrease and diminish and sometimes is at the full aâ—d sometimes shée hath hornes euen as the Sunne doeth giue and take away her clearenesse The earth is betwéene them both the Moone is in the first heauen the Sunne in the fourth and when the one is highe the other is lowe and the other Starres are more higher in the Skie and therefore they séeme lesse then the Moone The obscuritie and darckenesse of the Moone coÌ„meth by the humours of the earth that is drawen or sucked vp from the earth By the Geometrie of this worlde the Stade which is fourtie roddes doeth containe 125. paces the whiche are 525. foote Sometimes there hath bene séene in the appearance thrée Sunnes and thrée Moones In the Aire it raineth sometimes naturally Stones suckt vp by the vapours of the earth sometimes Frogges and some time blood in diuers figures The Heliotropium in his floure doeth turne euery day and followe the Sunne The Ant doeth neuer beginne to hourde vp but in the full Moone The nature of the windes are diuers according to the diuersitie of Countreies and they procéed of the earth and of the vapours of the same which causeth sometimes in many places Earthquakes The Thunders and Lightnings doe neuer fall in the winter for the coldnesse of the ayre doth kéepe them in and choakes them and therefore they fall in the Sommer and many times they marre the Wine without touching the vessell There was a woman at Rome whose childe was slaine within her wombe by thunder and lightning and the woman had no hurt at all Thrée things there are that neuer féele any harme by thunders and lightnings the Laurel trée on the Earth the Eagle in the Skie and the Seacalse in the Sea for they neuer fall vpon their skinnes therefore best assured are they that are so clad Naturally there are signes and tokens in the earth the Sea and the Aire and therefore it hath rained sometimes Blood Stones Wooll yea great stones accumulated in the ayre by the coldnesse thereof The Rainebowe is not séene in a close and rainy day but the Sunne beames entring into the concauites of the Earth doe reflexe the Sunne and make varietie of colours by the mixture of the cloudes in the aire and is séene most commonly in the Sommer Also there are neuer lightly séene aboue two Rainbowes The earth is the mother of all liuing creatures In the aire is séene many times darkenesse clowdes the Hailes are deriued of the waters but the earth is lowly seruing to all creatures she bringeth forth Corne Wine Fruites and all kinde of things pertaining to man Shée bringeth foorth Iron Lead Golde Siluer precious Stones and Herbes seruing vnto mans health yea if that a Serpent chaunce to bite any person the earth will not receiue that Serpent when it is dead The earth is compassed round about with waters the which is more knowen by experience then by arguments and some part thereof is not inhabited towards the North because of the great colde An other part is not inhabited because of the extreame heate towards the South The middle of the earth is the Centry to the which most waightiest things doe take holde In some places there is no shadowe of the Sunne specially in Alexandria the great where as there is a déepe well without shadowe Anaxemenes Milesius was the first founders of Dials There are many signes of
aunciently called Libia doeth containe the Moores and the pillers of Hercules among the sloods there is Onylus that doeth ingender Cocodrils There are goodly Forrests with vnknowen trées some of the which trees beare small threades of the which is made clothing of Cotton Cyrenes and Syrtes make their houses of salt stones cut out of the mountaines there is the mountaine of Giry the which doeth ingender and bring foorth many precious stones In Libie which is at the ende of the Ethiopes there are people differing from the common order of others they haue among them no names and they curse the Sunne for his great heate by the which they are all blacke sauing their téeth and a little the palme of their handes and they neuer dreame The others called Troglodites haue Caues and holes in the grounde and haue no other houses Others called Gramantes they make no marriages but all women are common Gamphasantes they goe all naked Blemmy is a people so called they haue no heads but haue their mouth and their eyes in their breasts And others there are that go more by training of their handes then with their féete There are gathered the spices and there is nothing that they are afrayde of but of great dogs that will barke at them and bite them Africke beginneth beyonde the Realme of Spayne and Grenado and is deuided in the Sea of Europa as betwéene Douer and Calis there beginneth the Kingdoms of Feoz of Tunis of Barbaria of Carthage of others of the Ethiopians Europia beginneth from the Sea Meditarene so called because it is a flood in the middest of the world Vpon this Sea that deuideth Asia and Europa the King Xerses caused to be made a bridge of shippes such a number hee had for the warre Europa conteineth Rome the auncient Citie the plentifull Italy Venice descended of the Troyans Grece Thessalia Acaia Macedonia and Thessalie where as is a flood called Peneus nauigable in the middest for into the saide flood entreth the Riuer of Orcon but his water swimmeth aboue the other without mingling together as doeth Oyle Italy hath the noble Riuer of Poste beating vaines of golde In the Iles of Pont there are people that liue with the egges of wilde foule others that haue féete like horses whose eares are so great and so long that therewith they couer their whole bodies Europe doeth containe Germanie which is hie and base Almaine Burgony Sauoy Brittaine Gaule that is deuided into thrée partes From the Riuer Lescault to the Riuer of Sayne is called Gaule the faire from Sayne to Gyrrond is Gaule the anciēt and conteineth Lionois and from Girronde to the hilles of Pirennes that deuideth Spaine and Fraunce is Aquittaine Spaine also is of Europia where as is Cathelognia Araragon Castilian Portingall Syuell Andelosia Leon Galicia and the kingdome of Granado euen to the Sea The seuenth Booke treateth of man THe world hath brought foorth many things of the which man is almost the least Hée hath clothed the Beastes Birdes Fishes and Trées with skinnes feathers scales barke and otherwise But man cōmeth foorth all naked ready to wéepe and lightly before fourtie dayes he doeth not laugh he that ought to raigne ouer the beastes on the earth is at the beginning weaker then any he knoweth nothing without hée be taught neither to speake nor to goe and naturally doeth nothing but wéepe Naturally the beastes séeke their liuing flie from their enemy swimme with many other things giuen them of nature The Lyons doe not warre betwéene themselues the Serpents doe not bite one another but men studie howe to destroy one another by warres and dissentions Men neuer lightly in all points resemble one like another in their faces the which commeth by the diuersitie of the cogitations of their parentes the which maketh their similitudes so farre vnlike and therefore the brute beastes that haue no such varieties in their thoughtes engender none but their like Men there are called Arimaspi that haue but one eye in their forehead which incessantly warre against the Grissons about mettals and they finde in the ground golde and other mettalls Those that are toward the end of the West drinke in dead mens sculles In Albania some haue their eyes yellowe that cōmeth to them in their youth they sée better by night then by day In Affrica in some places there are a great multitude of Serpentes whose properties they vse for the triall of their wyues chiefly after this sort If the husbandes will haue probation of the honestie of their wiues they will present their children before the Serpentes which will stye awaye if that the children bée egitimate but if that the Serpents remaine and feare not then are they bastardes When they are bitten with Serpents they put their spittle vpon the place for to heale it specially their fasting spittle for the Serpēt feareth mans spittle as hote water In India there are hye men and also marueilous hye beastes as for a witnesse there are Dogges as great as Asses trées as hye as an Archer can scarce shoote to the top and vnder the shadowe of one Figge trée may a hundreth horses stande because of the fertilitie of the lande the temperance of the ayre and the aboundance of waters there are men fiue cubites in height the which neuer vse to spit nor are troubled with the paine of head eyes or téeth and are seldome sicke Others there are in the Mountaines with heads like Dogs In a part of India the women neuer beare children but once whose children waxe straight way olde And others called Sciopedae that haue their féete so broade that when they are layde they couer them therewith from the heate of the Sunne and they be very swift in running Some toward the East haue no heads but haue eyes in their shoulders and others called Epithamai Pigmei that are of one yarde hye In the farther part of India towards the East neare to the Riuer of Gangis there is a people clad with leaues that liue by smelling they neuer eate nor drinke in their iourneies they beare floures and rootes to smell at and they are easely killed by filthy smelles and sauours There are little men called Pigmei among which the highest passe not the height of two cubites hauing a wholsome aire and pleasant countrey where they dwell the which men are molested with Cranes as writeth Homer therefore it is no maruell though often times they are caried away with those Cranes In the spring time the Pigmei assemble together mounted vpon Shéepe and Goates armed with dartes and arrowes for to descende downe to the sea and for the space of thrée monethes consume and breake the Cranes Egges and kil the yong ones otherwise they would so multiplie that those little men should neuer rest in quiet Some there are in the valleys called Pandore that liue two hundreth yéeres in their youth hauing white haire in age their haires become blacke There is a people that liueth but
times and alwaies absolued Sicinus dictator of Rome sustained sixe score battayles he had fiue and fourtie woundes before and not one behinde Sergius was a worthie warrier he deliuered Cremona from the siege kept Placentia tooke in Fraunce twelue Castels and Townes He had his right hand cut off and he made one of Iron with the which he fought foure battailes Pitifull things are found worthy of memorie thorowe all partes among the which it commeth to my remembrance of a woman taken in Rome for to dye for offence and being put into straight Prison there to be famished her daughter had licence of the Iailer to goe sée her euery day but she was searched for feare least shée should bring her mother foode In the ende it was founde that euery day shée did giue her mother sucke with her breastes and for to satissie her she came daily The Senators hauing intelligence thereof did pardon the mother for the vertue that was in the daughter did appoint them a liuing during their liues Marueilous are the operations of humaine creatures among others onely of paintings that doe resemble the liuing so neere that there resteth nothing but the speach The king Attallus bought a table or picture of a Painter which cost a hundreth Markes Caesar bought two for eight hundreth Markes Mans age hath bene reputed great among the ancients which doe name Princes and Kings to haue liued eight hundreth yéeres and a thousand yéeres but it is by the varietie of yéeres for so me make the Sommer a yéere and the Winter another yéere and others make thrée moneths a yéere as the Arcadians and you must not stay nor iudge things by the constellation of the firmament For in one present houre many are borne as well seruants as maisters Kings and Magistrates whose Fortunes are all diuers and contrarie Many examples we haue of sicknesses Publius Cornelius Rufus in dreaming to haue lost his sight became blinde and lost his sight Some there are that liue but till middle age and others that die in their youth and nature doeth giue a man nothing better then short life To liue long the senses vnderstanding become blunt the whole members féele dolour the sight the hearing and the going faile the téeth also and the instrumēts of meats therefore age is but paine and there is a time prefixed to liue We reade no better example then of Zenophilus the Musitian that liued a hundreth and fiue yéeres without sicknesse The signes of death are to laugh in the furor and griefe of the maladie or sicknesse to be busie in folding or doubling the clothes of his bedde with his handes to voyde from one in sléeping behinde a fearefull looke with other things and therefore séeing that by experience we sée innumerable signes of death therefore there is no certaintie Sicknesses are diuers both to olde and yong Sirius died by the multitude of Serpentes procéeding from his body Some haue had an Ague all their life time Mecaenas was seuen yéeres in the ende of his dayes without sléepe Antipater liued long without sickenesse sauing that euery yéere on that day that he was borne he had the ague We reade of one that liued 157. yéeres that slept in his age 57. yéeres and wakened as though he had slept but one houre Others that haue returned a foote from their graue when they were borne to be buried Pompeus caused a mans head to bée smitten off which when it was layde againe to the body did speake an houre both to the maister of the house and to many others of the house Death bringeth repentance Some die for ioy men in the hearing of ioyfull newes of victories and women to sée their children The father of Iulius Caesar died in putting on his hose and felte before no harme Some in drinking some in writing and others in diuers maners as we daily sée by experience Aunciently the vse was among the Romaines to bury the dead but for the often battailes of the Romaines that had all the worlde in their subiection they vse to burne the dead Among men Liber Pater found first the meanes to sell and buy also Diademes for kings and for triumphes The Lady Ceres founde the meanes to sowe corne and to grinde it and therefore she was called a Goddesse For before they vsed Acornes The Assirians founde first the meane to write letters but the inuention hath bene since the beginning of the world Two brethren in Athens founde first the meanes to make houses and bricks Gellius Doxius inuented lathing and loming of walles for before they had Caues and holes in the grounde and they tooke example of the Swalowes which do make their neastes Cynira sonne to Agriope foūd out mettal of copper brasse of lead he made first many hāmers therewith Danaus was the first in Grecia that made welles digged for water Thrason made the first walles towers The Lidians found the means to dresse woolls Arachneus found the meanes to make Linnen Cāuas The Egyptians the art of medicine Lydius to mingle tēper mettals together Erichtonus found siluer Cadmeus gold in the moūtaine of Pangy The Ciclopiās were the first workers of small Iron worke Corebus the Athenian made earthē pots Theodore the Samyan made the first keyes Palamides the measures waights Phrigies the charrets wagons Penius the first trader for Marchandise Aristeus to make oyle and hony Briges of Athens did first yoke Oxen to Cart and Plough The Lacedemonians founde Harnesse and habilimēts for warre Laūces Spears swords Bucklers c. Cares the Bowe Arrowes The Phenitians the crosse bowes Belerophons first moūted vpō horses Palamides in the warre betwéene the Grekes the Troyans found the order of Stādarts signes penuōs streamers to giue warning to kéepe watch Iason did first sayle on the Sea in long Ships or Galleys Before the time there were made little ones of wood hydes since that time some haue added to thē masts sayles cabels tackelings many other things that we sée by the experience to be necessarie The first Dials were made at Rome w e water according to the course of the Sunne since they are reduced to houses Churches as it is séen at this present which was very agreable to the Romaines Finally among al the knowledge the man hath Plinie thinketh this to be the chiefest point for man to know him selfe of what estate soeuer he be The eight booke treateth of beastes that are on the Earth IN the Earth there is no beast greater then the Elephant they haue knowledge to vnderstande their Countrey speache they haue obedience and vnderstande their dueties and charges they neuer passe the Sea tyll that their master or gouernour doth promise to bring them home againe they knéele down for to be loden carrie the Ladies litters in feare prudence equitie their téeth are of Iuorie w e their other bones there are made goodly woorks they are full of
clemencie if they chaunce to finde a man strayed out of his way they knowe it and will leade him through the Forrest into his way but if they finde a cōpany of men séeking to chase thē then naturally they know their enemies as other beasts do The Females neuer haue but one yong in their liues they liue 200. 300. yéers they loue the shallow cleare waters for because of their greatnesse they can not swim they eate stones earth they feare cold they will cast to the ground with their fronts or foreheads trées for to eate the fruit Among the beasts they hate Mire Rats and they will not féede where as they haue runne tasted They increase in the borders of Affrica the greatest in India where as there are Dragons so puissant that they sight to the Elephāts They are tanied by famine when they are tamed they cary Castels on their backs in stead of saddles wherin there may stād six or eight mē toward the East thei make in thē the most part of their battails although that they being wounded or hurt do retire There were Elephāts at Rome but they were slaine with shot for the Romains would not nourish thē nor giue them to Princes The Ethiopians make thē their venison they kill thē with shooting casting darts which they cast on thē standing in trées where the Elephants vse to passe or els they take thē in holes or caues in the earth couered aboue they neuer lie down but sléepe leaning against great trées they that knowe their repaire wil sawe the trée so far that when they come to rest thē against the trée it breaketh they fal downe then they kil thē for being once down they cā neuer rise again The blood of Elephāts is very cold therefore the Dragōs Serpents in the countrey do assemble vnder their eares on their bodies sucke from them so much blood that they therewith die Dragons there are in Ethiopia of ten fadoms long and in India there haue bene founde Serpentes of a hundreth foote long and some will flye in the ayre to catch birdes in flying In Affrica there are a great number of wilde horses and in Asia great Asses like vnto Mares but for their long eares So writeth Aristotle the wise which was appointed by Alexander the great to describe the diuersitie and nature of beastes The Lyon is ful of noblenesse clemencie the Lionesse for the first time bringeth forth fiue the next yéere after foure then thrée and when she bringeth but one then shée ceasseth The yong ones are two moneths without mouing and sixe moneths before they can goe they doe sooner assaile men then women and neuer yong children vnlesse it be for great famine In their age they loue and followe men when that they can no more séeke their pray and they liue till their téeth fall out By their clemencie they demaunde nothing of those that prostrate them selues before them and their yre is mitigate by prayers as we haue séene by the experience of women that name them selues strangers and poore vagabondes but they are fierce to those that striue against them their taile doeth demonstrate their amitie and furor as doeth the eares of horses When they are chased they neuer hide them they knowe and pursue among others those that hurt them The female if that her yong ones are taken closeth her eyes against those that chase them to the end that she feare not their weapons Hanus was the first that daunted or tamed their fiercenesse and they are taken in holes that are made of purpose in the grounde In Syria they are all blacke The Panthers are also full of clemencie Wée reade that if the Female méete a man strayed or lost in the woodes that fléeth for feare of her shée will compasse him mouing with her taile shewing vnto him a signe of amitie loue and after that hee is assured she will leade him into a caue or hole where as are fallen her yong ones by misfortune which the man pulleth out and then she tumbletly and playeth before him to giue him thankes The Tygres are very light and nimble therefore those that steale their yong ones as soone as the female findeth them lost she smelleth their way and runneth after them and when she is spied of those that haue their yong ones they let one of them fall the which shée taketh vp and carieth it to her repayre and in the meane time they escape with the rest and bring them to their shippes Camels they are driuen to pasture toward the East as we doe shéepe Wilde Dogs haue handes and féete almost like men In the North part there are marueilous swift beastes which haue the vpper lippe so long that when they will féede they goe backwarde The Wolfe before he be séene will easely drawe from a man his breath they couple not with the females but xij dayes in the yéere There are wilde Wolues which in eating of their pray if they turne once about forget their pray and goe againe to séeke another Among the Serpents the Bassalicke doeth infect and kil people with his looke There are innumerable kindes of others whereof some haue double heads at both endes for to cast venime For the biting of an Aspis there is no remedy but to cutte that that he hath touched The Cocodrils are ingēdred in Nylle a Riuer of Egypt which haue foure féete the skinne very hard and they haue no mouing but the vpper lippe and they make as many egges as Géese and they haue sharpe clawes for their defence in the day they remaine on the earth and the night in the waters whē they open their throte in sléeping there are little birdes called Trochilos that will picke and clense their téeth in the which they take great delight The Stork doeth shew the maner how to take glisters for by her nature she filleth her necke with water and behind with her beacke maketh infusion into her belly for to clense her And many other beastes naturally knowe the herbes that for them are most proper The Swallow knoweth howe to finde an herbe called Chelidonia which serueth for her yong ones when their eyes are endamaged Of little beastes we finde Cities destroyed and people driuen away In Spayne with Conies In Thessaly with Moles In Fraunce with Frogs In Affricke with Locustes In the I le of Ciclados with Rats In Italy with Serpentes In Ethiopia with Scorpions Hyena is said to be a beast of double nature Male and Female they will hearken at the Cottes of shepheards learne the proper name that a man is called by and calling him when the man is come forth they will straightway kill him and they will call Dogges They are founde in Affrica which is the cause of so many wilde Asses that they ingender the Males doe correcte the yong ones by biting they will cut the trées along the Riuers as with
and in stéede of blood haue humor The Dolphin is the most swiftest fish in the Sea and most hardest to be taken euery one foloweth his like they haue yong in ten monethes in Sommer and nourish them as doe the Whales the olde ones carry the yong ones and there is alwayes a great Dolphin that followeth the little one they haue the tongue mouing like a Hog Aboue the nature of other fishes they loue yong childrē and the sounde of Instruments they liue three hundreth yéeres and they haue their greatnesse at tenne yéeres they reioyce when one calleth them Symon and they loue humaine voyce Many examples are both séene and reade of little children that they haue caried by Sea on their backes and brought backe againe without doing them any harme Shell fishes are so great in some places that with their shelles they couer their houses The beastes of the Sea haue diuers clothings some are couered with leather and with haire as the Sea calfe some onely with leather as the Dolphins others with great thicke and harde shelles other softer shelles as Oysters Cockles and Muscles that haue no heads others with sharpe prickles as the Ecchinus called the Sea Porcupen others with scales as Carpes and many other fish others with rough skinnes with the which they shaue fine wood and Iuory some with soft skinnes and others that haue none The Sea calfe which is clothed with skinne and haire they ioyne Male and Female together as Dogges and they neuer haue but two at a burthen they nourish their yong ones with their pappes or tettes and are deliuered on the lande and within twelue dayes after they bring thē to the Sea The Sea calfe is more grieued and more constrained to sléepe then any other beast and therfore their skinne put on a mans head doeth prouoke him to sléepe Great is the diuersitie of beastes in some there is neither bone nor thorne and of many kindes there is no male Among the fishes the Females are greater then the Males there are some that haue their scales tending towards their heads cleane cōtrarie to the nature of others Some there are that goe alwayes to sléepe vpon the drie lande The Whale maketh her yong ones aliue without egs Eeles liue commōly eight yéere they will liue six daies without water specially when the winde is at West and lesse with other windes In Winter they couet déepe and cleare waters and swimme in the bottome they féede in the night and they of all other fishes slote not aboue water when that they are dead In the Lake of Verone they are taken by thousandes Some kinde of fishes rendreth their yong ones aliue others that flye by the Sea as the Sea swallowe Some make egges and couer or sit on them as doe the foules in the ayre so doeth the Sea kite a foule called Lucerna of the propertie of his name séeketh the maine Seas whose tongue shineth or glistereth as may well be séene in a faire and calme night The Dragon of the Sea as soone as she is taken and brought to land she maketh incōtinently an entery or hole in the sande that shée might be lost Some fishes haue no blood and haue their heads in their bellies betwéene their féete with their feete they cast meate into their mouths The Sea Locusts hide them selues for the space of fiue monethes and swimme in the spring time they battaile betwéene themselues with their hornes If they be put aliue into hote water for to séeth they will be tender The Sea Creuices liue in Rockes and stony places there are very great ones In Sommer and in the Spring they fatten and in the full Moone and they augment diminish with the Moone they are of a long life they haue all eight féete The Females haue the first foote folded or double and the Males single and they créepe as much backward as forward Cockles haue two little hornes wherewith they féele the way for they haue no eyes The fishes ioyne Male and Female ioyning their bellies then the female rūneth or swimmeth away touching with her mussell the belly of the Male and the Males eate the Females Egges for if all the Egges should profite the Sea Riuers and Pondes would be filled with fish there would be such an innumerable multitude The Sea Mouse maketh her Egges on the lande and couereth them with earth and thirtie dayes after doeth vncouer them and bringeth her yong ones into the Sea Some fish liue thrée score yéere as by the experience of markes put on them Some fishes there are that liue on the lande when that in Sommer the Riuers and poudes are dried vp and some will goe feede in the corne and on the lande tarying for the water and such is the nature of some to liue on the earth with wormes There are certaine fishes with sharpe prickles on their backes that will cut the line of fishers Nettes Other fishes that are called Sea starres doe burne other fishes by their great heate In the Sea there is warre among the fishes as among the foule in the aire for one féedeth not with another The tenth Booke treateth of the Foules of the Ayre IN Affrica and Ethiopia there are birdes that are called Struthiocameli as hie as a man on horsebacke which doe not forsake the earth but runne faster then horses The Phenix liueth in Arabia I say not that hée is alone but neuer man sawe him eate he liueth sixe hundreth yéeres and in his age maketh a Nest of the braunches of spice trées wherein he dieth and of his bones commeth a worme the which afterwarde natarally becommeth a Phenix He is as great as an Eagle the feathers about his necke are of the colour of golde the taile yellowe and the surplus like to Azure Eagles there are of sixe kindes some liue with their pray on the earth other in the water that fishe with one foote they haue the knowledge to take Whelkes and other shelled fish vp into the ayre then let them fall to breake their shelles for to haue the fish they cause their yong ones to looke vp into the Sunne beames and cast those out of the Neast that will not beholde the Sunne as bastards they die in their age because that their vpper bill doth growe so long that they can not eate they fight against Déere and against the Dragons and in flying they cast dust that they take vp on the lande in the eyes of Crowes other beastes for to blinde them The Cuckoe resembleth to the colour of the wood Doue they are killed of others of their kinde they change their voyce and come in the spring time and doe alwayes bring vp their yong ones in other birdes nestes specially in the nestes of stock Doues she neuer lightly maketh aboue one egge and very seldome two because she knoweth that shée is hated of all other birdes They thinke them selues very fayre and dispraise others and there is no