Selected quad for the lemma: end_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
end_n	grow_v	small_a	stalk_n	1,348	5	11.6928	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A05102	The third volume of the French academie contayning a notable description of the whole world, and of all the principall parts and contents thereof: as namely, of angels both good and euill: of the celestiall spheres, their order and number: of the fixed stars and planets; their light, motion, and influence: of the fower elements, and all things in them, or of them consisting: and first of firie, airie, and watrie meteors or impressions of comets, thunders, lightnings, raines, snow, haile, rainebowes, windes, dewes, frosts, earthquakes, &c. ingendered aboue, in, and vnder the middle or cloudie region of the aire. And likewise of fowles, fishes, beasts, serpents, trees with their fruits and gum; shrubs, herbes, spices, drugs, minerals, precious stones, and other particulars most worthie of all men to be knowen and considered. Written in French by that famous and learned gentleman Peter de la Primaudaye Esquier, Lord of the same place, and of Barree: and Englished by R. Dolman.; Academie françoise. Part 3. English	La Primaudaye, Pierre de, b. ca. 1545.; Dolman, R. (Richard)	1601 (1601)	STC 15240; ESTC S108305	398,876	456

The powder therof dried doth consolidate greene wounds if they be washed before with wine wherein rosemarie hath beene sodden and then the powder be strowed on afterwards The flowers thereof confected in sugar are good for all things aforesaide particularly against cold passions of the hart against maladies of the breast and against the plague The decoction of rosemarie made in water and taken in drinke doth heale the iaundise So likewise doth the seede being drunke with pepper and white wine In the plague time it is good to perfume the house with this plant for the fume thereof driueth away ill aires Cammomill also groweth abundantly amongst corne Of Cammomill and in the fieldes bearing yellow flowers enuironed with whitish leaues and is of a strong sauour But to mollifie resolue rarifie and loosen this plant is of singular operation And in this respect no medicine is better for wearie folkes then a bath of cammomill The leaues beaten and put into white wine make a profitable drinke to heale quotidian and quartan agues the decoction thereof drunke healeth paines in the side and so doth the water distilled of the flowers which flowers being gathered without leaues beaten in a morter formed with oile into trochisks afterwardes dissolued againe in oyle if they bee therewith rubbed and chafed which are troubled with feuers from the crowne of the head to the foote and that they presently goe into bed to sweate they shall be holpen bicause of the abundant heate that goeth out of their bodie Cammomill is especially good to dissolue feuers that are without inflammation of any chiefe intraile principally those which proceede from cholericke humors and thicknes of the skin Being taken in drinke or the fume thereof receiued in at the fundament it is a great helpe to voide vrine and grauell Of the Lillie The lillie is likewise very woorthie of consideration It beareth long leaues euer greene smooth and iuicie it hath a stalke of two cubits high round straight euen thicke and strong all clad with leaues from the bottome to the top At the top of the stalke growe three or fower little branches out of which issue small long heads of the colour of the herbe which in time become faire lillies of exquisite whitenesse crossed on the outside and the ends turned outwards round about At the bottome of the flower growe certaine yellow stalks as it were dustie on the vpper side of the fashion of toongs out of the midst of which groweth one long one hauing a round head of the colour of the herbe There is no flower so high and it surpasseth in beautie all other whitenesse Now for the vertue of this plant The leaues thereof are good beeing applied against the biting of serpents beeing boiled they heale burnings and confected in vineger are good for wounds water distilled of the flowers are profitable for women that are deliuered of childe with great difficulty and voideth out the after-burden beeing mixed with saffron and Cinamon The oile drawne out of those flowers is good against all cold diseases of the sinewes as cramps and palsies and to mollifie all stiffenes in the ioynts and all hard-swollen kernelles Lillies long time steeped in oile beeing applied hot do ripen hot impostumes without paine and do breake them especially such as are in the ioints And the bodie of the roots hath the same propertie For beeing boiled and braied with oile of roses they ripen impostumes and beeing braied with hony they heale cut and lame sinewes clense the head of scabs and clarifie the visage and make it smooth The seede of Lillies also taken in drink serueth against the bitings of serpents And the water that is distilled of the flowers in a limbeck doth take wrinkles out of womens faces and doth beautifie them very much Of Baulme Baulme is a very odoriferous plant and smelleth much like a Citron the stalke and leaues thereof are somewhat rough and many stalkes issue out of the roote The property of it is to reioyce the heart to comfort cold and moist stomacks to helpe digestion to euacuate the stoppings of the conduits of the braine to heale feeblenes and faintnes of hart to fortifie it being weake especially if the weakenes bee such that it oftentimes breaketh ones sleepe in the night moreouer this hearb staieth the panting of the hart driueth away cares and sad imaginations which proceede either from the melancholie humor or from fleame combust It hath also a laxatiue vertue not so feeble but that it clenseth and purgeth the spirits and bloud of the hart and arteries from all melancholie vapors which it cannot do to the other parts of the bodie The leaues thereof taken in drinke or outwardly applied are good against stingings of the Tarantula of Scorpions and against the biting of dogs and it is good to bath such wounds with the decoction thereof Beeing mixed with salt they are profitable against the kings euill and mundifie vlcers and beeing applied do asswage the paine of gowts They are vsed in clysters against the flux Also the leaues taken in drinke with niter are very good for them that are stopped by eating toad stooles or mushrums and in loch for them that are troubled with shrinking vp of the bellie and breath with such difficulty that they cannot do it except they stand vpright Grasse Of Dogs-tooth or Dogs-tooth is one of the commonest herbs in the field yea euen in leane grounds The branches thereof ly a long vpon the earth and are full of knots out of which and out of the top it often sendeth new rootes The leaues are very small and pointed it is maruailous in propertie For the decoction thereof taken in drinke healeth wringing in the bellie and hard making of water and breaketh the stone and grauell in the bladder The root braied and applied searcheth wounds And the iuice of the decoction thereof may bee vsed to the same effect which the herb also doth beeing beaten and keepeth wounds from all inflammation if to the decoction thereof bee put a little wine or hony and the third part of so much Pepper Myrrh Franckincense and be made to boile afterwards againe in some copper vessell it is a singular remedy for the tooth-ach and the rheume which falleth into the eies Grasse also that hath seuen spaces betwixt the knots is very good for the headach beeing bound about it It likewise stauncheth bleeding at nose The seede thereof doth greatly prouoke vrine and bindeth the bellie and staieth vomiting It is speciall good against byting of Dragons There is found in some places of Germany a certaine kinde of grasse which is tilled with as great care as other corne or pulse because the people vseth the seede thereof in their meats which seede they call Mama and they seeth it in pottage with fat meate and finde it as good as Rice It is smaller then millet and very white But it must bee beaten in a morter to vnhuske it Of

vessell and then put into a presse there issueth a licour which being cold is congealed like to new waxe and smelleth passing sweete and is very excellent for olde griefes of the sinewes and ioints engendred through cold Now speake we of Ginger and other spices Of Ginger which for the most part growe in the same regions of Asia and especially in the Indies and Molucca-isles where Nutmegs abound In them there is great quantitie of Ginger which is a roote not of such a plant as may properly be called a tree but rather an herbe considering that it groweth not very high but beareth leaues like a cane or reede which doe wax greene twise or thrise a yeere This roote is very knottie and not aboue three or fower spans deepe in the ground and sometimes so big that it waigheth a pound They that dig vp these rootes do alwaies leaue a space between two knots in the pit and couer it againe with earth as being the seede of this plant to receiue the fruit thereof the next ensuing yeere that is the rootes which shall be newly sprouted In Calecut the greene Ginger is steeped and conserued in sugar or in a kinde of honie that is taken out of certaine cods or husks and is conuaied into Italie where it is much more esteemed then that of Venice For that which is there is made of dry roots artificially mollified Propertie of Ginger and which want much of their vertue and power Moreouer Ginger is very profitable For it helpeth digestion it looseneth the belly moderately it is good for the stomacke and profitable against all things that may dim or blinde the sight It heateth much not at first tasting like pepper For which cause we may not thinke it to consist of so subtile parts the heat would else presently declare it selfe and it would suddenly become hot in act Wherupon Ginger is knowne to be composed of a grosse and indigested substance not drie and earthie but moist and watrie which is the cause that it doth easily corrupt and rot to wit by reason of the superfluous moisture thereof For such things as are very drie or moistned by a digested naturall and moderate humiditie are not subiect to corruption and rottennesse Thence also it proceedeth that the heate which commeth of Ginger doth endure longer then that of pepper For as drie stubble is soone on fire and soone burnt out euen so is the heate that proceedeth from simples and drie drugs But that which issueth from moist ones as out of greene wood doth inflame slowlier and endure longer Of Pepper and the diuers kinds thereof Pepper doth grow abundantly in the Indies especially in the two isles called the greater lesser Iaua It doth grow vpō little trees the leaues whereof resemble much the leaues of a Citron-tree the fruit whereof is no greater then a ball And according to the diuers places where Pepper groweth it is different in kinde yea in one place there are diuers sorts and chiefly round long Pepper Now in some isles as alongst the riuer Ganabara when the inhabitants plant Pepper they burie the roote thereof neere to some other fruit trees and oftentimes neere to yoong palmes or date trees vpon the top whereof the twigs or syons doe at length growe Which the rods and small branches puld from pepper trees doe likewise being planted with the same trees which they imbrace running to the very top of them where the pepper hangs in clusters like the grapes of a wilde vine but closer and thicker And when it is ripe they gather it and lay it in the sunne to drie vpon lattises made of palme trees till such time as it become blacke and wrinkled which is commonly done in three daies And this pepper is round But the trees that beare long pepper do differ from the rest especially in leaues and fruit For the leaues are sharper at the end and the pepper hangeth vpon the tree like clusters of nuts made and heaped with many little graines There is yet another kinde of pepper called Ethiopian pepper or pepper of the Negros which groweth in cods like beanes or pease and the graines thereof are a little lesse then those of blacke pepper Moreouer all pepper is hot in the fourth degree and therefore it burneth and blistereth the bodie so that the vse thereof cannot but be dangerous though it haue many secret properties against the quiuerings and shakings that accompanie feuers which vsually come to one and against the cough and all maladies of the breast There is also a kinde of watrie pepper which groweth neere to slowe waters that runne but softly The stalke thereof is knottie massiue hauing many pits out of which the branches doe growe The leaues of it are like to mints sauing that they be greater softer and whiter The seede is sharpe and strong and groweth vpon little twigs neere to the leaues in manner of grapes It is so named of the places where it groweth and the likenes of taste which it hath with common pepper But we haue spoken ynough concerning spices Let vs now consider of other most rare and singular trees the woonder whereof declareth the author of nature to be exceeding admirable as we may note ARAM by your discourse Of the Date-tree of the Baratha or tree of India of the Gehuph and of Brasill Chap. 71. ARAM. THose Portugals Spanyards and some Frenchmen that in our time haue nauigated through the Atlanticke sea towards the south and from thence towards the cast vnto Calicut Taprobana and other isles of the Indian sea and regions vnknowne to ancient Cosmographers doe make credible report vnto vs of so many diuers singularities which they haue beheld that we should be too vngratefull towards them if so often as we behold any of them in their writings we should not attribute praise vnto them for their laudable curiositie which hath vrged them to such discoueries considering that they are like so many mirrors to represent vnto vs that great Architect of nature who amongst the very Barbarians hath engrauen images of himselfe in euery work of his omnipotencie Now among such trees as they haue written of and which as mee seemeth are worthie of greatest admiration although they bee not altogither so rare as many others the Date-trees require place which are very common in Arabia Egypt and almost in all parts of Africa and in Iudaea as likewise in many Isles of Greece and regions of Europe where they beare no fruit Of the Date-tree which is not so throughout all Africa for the Palmes or Date-trees beare in many places a sweete pleasant and very delicate fruit to eat and this tree is very high and hath the stock thereof very hard bearing no branches but round about the top with the ends of them hanging downe to the ground-wards It buddeth forth many blossomes hanging at certaine fine small stalkes clustred togither in figure like to clusters of saffron but much lesse

the liuer in the bodies of liuing creatures which is as the fountaine of blood needefull for all the bodie to giue life thereto and then hath made vaines like riuers to disperse and distribute this blood to euerie member disposing them in such sort as there is not any part but doth by meanes of these vaines receiue as much blood as is needefull for the nourishment and preseruation of the life thereof so likewise he hath ordayned heere below in earth the sea and springs of waters which he afterwards disposeth into euerie place by meanes of fountaines floods and riuers who are as the vaines through which the water that is as the blood of the earth is conueyed and communicated that it may be moistned to nourish all manner of fruits which God hath commaunded it to beare for the nouriture both of men and beasts Wherefore as in one bodie there are many veines some greater larger and longer and some lesser narrower and shorter which neuerthelesse do all answere to one selfe same source and fountaine and then doe diuide themselues into sundrie branches so the earth hath her floods riuers and streames some great others small which haue all their common springs and doe oftentimes ioine themselues together or diuide themselues into diuers branches and armes in such sort as the earth is moistened by them so much as is needfull in euerie part thereof Moreouer as it is watred to nourish the fruits so men and other liuing creatures do thereby receiue their beuerage necessarie for the preseruation of their life Of pleasure mixed with profit in the works of God But amongst all these things we are to consider that God the most-good hath not onely prouided by meanes of them for the necessities of his creatures but euen for their honest pleasures so that it hath pleased him to conioyne an excellent beawtie with profit and vtilitie For how goodly a thing is it to behold the fruitfull islands in midst of the sea the cleere and sweete bubling springs and gentle riuers and floods issuing out of rockes and caues of the earth which tumble downe the mountaines flow through the vallies and glide along the plaines through forrests fields and medowes being decked with many sundrie kinds of branched trees that are planted aside from inhabitants in middest of which infinite little birdes flie vp and downe tuning their voices to sing in sweete melodie and naturall musick What vnspeakable pleasure befalleth to all creatures especially to man to liue amongst such abounding beawties And who will not also admire the great varietie which is in the disposition and distinction that wee behold in the earth by the mountaines rocks valleies plaines fields vineyards medowes woods and forrests especially if we consider the fruits and profits which redound to men thereby besides the gallant diuersitie of infinite delectable pastures beawtified in all sorts For there is not one foote of earth which may not be said to serue to some good vse no not in most desert places Some places are fit for fields and champion grounds others for pastures some for vineyards other for fruitfull orchards and others for high and well growne trees fit for building timber or for fire-wood to the ende that men may helpe themselues therewith in all their needfull vses for firing Some places also are particularly commodious for cattell to graze in by which great gaine and pleasure is receiued And for deserts mountaines and forrests they are the proper retyring places for wilde beasts by which likewise men do not only receiue profit but verie great delectation also and healthfull exercise in hunting of them and which is more such places are verie commodious for houshold cattell which do there feed in euerie place to maruellous profit But let vs note that all these properties and profits should not be found in the earth if it were not conioyned with the water by the course thereof thorough euerie part of it Which water likewise doth cause many and vnspeakable profits that redound to men by fish which remaine not onely in the sea but also in lakes ponds and riuers being of so sundrie kindes and natures that it is not possible to number them In which if the prouidence of God be most admirable Commodities that the waters do bring in fishes and what is to bee admired therein it is especially to be obserued in the sea For how many sorts of fishes are there great little and of meane quantitie and how manie sundrie formes and what diuersitie of Nature I beleeue verily that whosoeuer should vndertake to number them by euerie kinde and particularly should be almost as much troubled as if he would purpose to emptie the Ocean But though there be not any little creature in the sea wherein God doth not declare himselfe and shew himselfe great and admirable yet doth he chiefly manifest himselfe so to be in two things The first is in the hugenes and power of the great fishes which he hath created as whales and such like which seeme to be rather sea-monsters then fishes there being no beast in all the earth so great and strong for there are some that seeme a farre off to be islands or mountaines rather then fishes And the other most wonderfull thing is that the Creator hath set such a correspondencie in many points betwixt the fishes and beasts of the earth that it seemeth he would represent a great part of the one by the other So we see also that many names of earthly beasts are giuen to many fishes because of the similitude and likenes which they haue together in figure and in nature yea it seemeth that God would represent in the fishes of the sea almost all the other creatures which are in the rest of the world For there are some which be called Stars because they are like that shape according to which men commonly paint the starres Moreouer how many are there which beare the shape of earthly creatures yea of many instruments made by men Of the fish called the cock For amongst others there is a fish called the Cocke which is also named by fishers in some countries the Ioyner because it hath almost as much diuersitie of bones and gristles as a Ioyner hath of tooles the forme of which they also represent But if we speake of the sundrie fashions of fishes and of their colours scales heads skins fins and of their vnderstanding industrie and chase and of their shels and abiding places and of their natures and infinite properties who should not haue iust cause to woonder Moreouer haue not men forged many fashions of weapons the forme of which they haue taken from diuers fishes What shall we also say of the finnes and little wings which God hath giuen them to direct them and to hold them vp in the sea and in other waters like birds in the aire and as ships are rowed and guided by oares and the rudder Seemeth it not that God hath created them

by little and little and is of colour somewhat greene and is cleere and sweete though somewhat vnpleasant in taste through bitternes Whereby it appeereth that the myrrh which heere we haue is not right for all these markes are not found therein but it is blacke and as if it were scorched mouldie and mossie on the outside Which wee neede not thinke strange considering that euen in Alexandria where our men do commonly buie myrrh there is scarce any to be gotten which is not sophisticate For the Arabian Mahumetans who bring it thither and sell it doe therein vse a thousand deceits mocking at such Christians as traffike with them and at their curiositie There is great difference then betwixt natural myrrh which distilleth out of the tree and artificiall being sophisticated with gum and mixed with other things Propertie of mirrh such as is ordinarie in our Apothecaries shops Now the right myrrh is of hot and drie qualitie in the second degree and being drunke it is verie profitable for those that haue the quartaine ague It is vsed in Antidotes against poisons against hurts by venemous beasts and against the plague And being applied to wounds in the head it will heale them Let vs now speake of the tree that beareth cloues Of the Cloue-tree which groweth in the southeast countries in certaine isles of the Indian sea The stocke thereof is like to that of a boxe tree and so is the wood It flourisheth almost like to a laurell-tree and the fruit groweth in this manner At the ende of euerie little branch there doth first appeere a budde which produceth a flower or blossome of purple colour afterwards by little little the fruit is formed and commeth to that passe as we behold it being red when it groweth out of the bloome but by heat of the Sunne it waxeth blacke afterwards in such sort as it is brought hither The inhabitants of the countrey especially of the Isles of Molucca doe plant and set cloue-trees almost in the same manner as we in Europe do our vines And that they may preserue this fruit and spice a long time they make pits in the earth wherein they put the cloues till such time as merchants come to carry them away This tree is full of branches and beareth many blossomes white at first afterwards greene and at last red The people there shake and beat the vppermost boughes of the tree hauing first made cleane the place vnderneath for no herbe groweth neere about it because it draweth all the moisture of the earth to it selfe And the cloues so shaken downe are put to dry two or three daies and are then shut vp till they be sold That cloue which sticketh still fast to the tree doth waxe great yet differeth not from the rest except in oldnes though some haue held opinion that the greatest are of the male kinde This tree springeth of it selfe out of one onely corne of a cloue which hath fallen on the ground and it indureth an hundred yeeres as the inhabitants report The vertue of cloues is verie great For they are good for the liuer Of the property of Cloues the stomacke and the heart They helpe digestion and binde the fluxe of the belly They cleere the sight consume and take away the webbe and cloudes in the eies They heat and drie to the third degree they strengthen and open both together and are verie piercing Being beaten to powder and drunke with wine or the iuice of Quinces they stay vomitings cause lost appetite to returne fortifie the stomacke and the head They heat verie well a cold liuer And for this cause they are ministred verie profitably to such as haue the dropsie especially to those who haue water spread throughout all their bodie The smell of them fetcheth those againe that haue swouned and being chawed they sweeten the breath They are good for such as are troubled with the falling sicknes with the palsie and with the lethargie Being eaten or taken in perfume they preserue from the plague and are verie commodious for such as are subiect to catarrhes and for such as are stuffed in the nose if they receiue the smoke thereof into their nosthrils In briefe their vse is infinitely diuers profitable both in phisicke and in our ordinarie diet whereby we restore nature And sith we are in this talke let it be your part AMANA to entreat of other trees bearing spices Of trees and plants that beare Nutmegs Ginger and Pepper Chap. 70. AMANA AMongst fiue kinds of nuts which the earth produceth to wit the common Nut the Nut of India Nux Metella Nux vomica and the Nutmeg this is the most singular and of rarest vertue which hath taken name from muske by reason of the sweete and pleasant sent thereof Now they who haue trauelled into India make great report Of the Nutmegge tree that the trees which beare Nutmegs do abundantly grow in an Isle named Banda and in many other Isles of the Moluccaes and that it is as great and as long branched as a walnut-tree with vs and that there is but small difference in the growing of nutmegs and of common nuts Moreouer this fruit is at first couered with two barks whereof the outtermost is hairie or mossie vnder which is a thinne bloome which like a net or fillet doth embrace and couer the nut is like a skaule or coife called Mace whereof there is great account made and it is reckoned amongst the most pretious and rarest spices which we plainly see in those nutmegs that are brought whole from the Indies being preserued in sugar or in iuice of carrouges The other bark which couereth the nutmeg is like the shell of an hasell nut out of which they take it to bring vnto vs which is verie easie to doe by reason that the time of ripening being come this hard shell openeth and sheweth an inward rinde that enuironeth the nut about which we call as aforesaid Mace which at that time appeereth as red as skarlet but when the nut is drie it turnes yellowish is thrise as deere as the nuts themselues That which is more to be admired in this tree is that it beareth the fruit therof being so excellent naturally without any industrie or husbandrie of man Moreouer the best nuts are the newest not rotten the heauiest fullest most oylie abounding in moisture so that if one thrust a needle thereinto there doth presently some iuice issue They are hot and drie in the second degree and restrictiue They make sweet breath being chewed Property of the Nutmegge and take away all stinking smell thereof They cleere the sight strengthen the stomacke and liuer abate the swelling of the spleene prouoke vrine stay the fluxe of the bellie driue away ventositie and are maruellous good against cold diseases in the wombe In summe they haue the same vertues that Cloues haue And when they are greene or new being bruised and well heated in a

c. 21. Plinie describeth the Vnicorne to haue a bodie altogether like an horse an head like an hart feete of an Elephant and the taile of a bore bearing an horne in the midst of his front of two cubits in length and he saith that these beasts are nourished in the lande of the Orsians in India Lewes de Barthema in his nauigations into Arabia affirmeth that he did at Meca see two Vnicornes and saith that the bodie and colour of this beast is like an horse of a darke gray hauing feet clouen before and hoofed like a goat And that these two beasts had been giuen to the Soldan of Meca for a verie rich and precious present by a king of Aethiopia to the ende to haue peace with him Lib. 1. de obseruat c. 14. Belon hath obserued out of the testimonies of diuers authors that there are two sorts of beasts who beare one horne onely one of which is the Asse of India which hath not clouen feete and the other is the Orix being a kinde of goate that hath clouen feete And he maketh mention of manie Vnicornes hornes esteemed to be of verie great price especially of two which are in the treasurie of Saint Marks at Venice each of them being of a cubit and halfe long the greatest ende whereof exceedeth not aboue three inches ouer He speaketh also of that which our king hath which is at Saint Denis being seuen foote long and waigheth thirteene pounds and fower ounces in fashiō like a taper being broad at the lower end about a plame and three fingers and so groweth lesse and lesse towards the ende and hath a pit in the great ende aboue a foot deepe which is the place wherein the bone is fastned that holds it firme to the head of the beast that beareth it But this author doth mocke at the folly of those who many times doe buie pieces of bone which are cut of the teeth of the Rohart of the hornes and ribs of many other beasts for true Vnicornes horne paying sometimes for one of these little pieces three hundred ducats so much is Vnicornes horne esteemed being most excellent for many vses in phisicke Theuet also flouteth at these abuses Lib. 5. de co●mog and at many fables inuented vpon this matter alleaging that he had seene an horne taken from a beast of a cleane contrarie shape to that which the Vnicorne is described to be of whereto the same vertue was neuerthelesse attributed And that the countrey of the Sauages breedeth a beast called Pyrassouppi as big as the foale of a Mule hauing almost such an head as rough as a Beare and clouen footed like an Hart which beareth two long straight hornes that do come neere to Vnicornes horne and wherewith the Sauages cure themselues when they be bitten and wounded by venemous beasts and fishes But now chaunge we our talke and ACHITOB let vs heare you speake againe concerning some of the most rare and worthie beasts of the Earth Of the Hiena or Ciuet-cat of the Muske-cat of the Beuer and of the Otter Chap. 88. ACHITOB IF in all our discourses we haue any woorthy matter wherein to admire the workes of God in the nature which he hath ordained vnto them wee shall finde no lesse in the consideration of these whereof I purpose now to speake the odour of whom is very sweete And amongst the rest the Ciuet cat called by ancients the Hiena is woorthie of great maruell For from her commeth an excrement so odoriferous that assoone as it is smelt doth pierce through all the senses and spirits and serueth to compose verie excellent perfumes Of the Hiena This beast is fashioned like a Bedouant but of bigger bodie hauing blacke haires about her necke along the ridge of her backe which she setteth vpright being angrie She is mouthed like a cat and hath fierie and redde eies with two blacke spots vnder them and round eares like vnto those of a Badger Besides she hath white haire full of blacke spots vpon her bodie with a long taile blacke aboue but hauing some white spots vnderneath The ancients haue spoken of this beast as of a wilde cat Lib. 9. and Iohn Leo in his description of Africke doth name her so saying that she is common in the woods of Aethiopia where the people do catch her with her yoong whom they nourish in cages with milke and porridge made of branne and flesh and that they receiue ciuet from her twise or thrise a day which is the sweate of this beast for they beate her with a little sticke making her leape vp and downe about the cage till such time as she doth sweate which they take off from vnder her thighes ● Lib. obseru ● 20. and taile and that is it which is called ciuet Belon reporteth to haue seene one in Alexandria so tame that playing with men she would bite their noses eares and lips without doing them any harme and that she was alwaies nourished with womens milke Mathiolus likewise saith that he hath seene manie Ciuet cats at Venice which had bin brought out of Syria and attributeth certaine properties to their excrements for which cause they haue beene more sought after now then in the daies of our fathers so that they are nourished at this day euen in France Lib. 1. de Dici c. 20. De. subt lib. 10. Cardanus also maketh mention of a beast called Zibetum which is found in Spaine that is like to a cat and carieth a bladder in her members the seede whereof is receiued into a spoone being of so excellent an odour that three drops thereof surmounteth the waight of three pounds of anie odoriferous tree But the Musk-cat doth yet surpasse all other odour Of the Musk-catte and meriteth all maruell in the nature thereof For it is a beast like vnto a goate in forme and haire but that she is of a more blewish colour and hath but one horne and is bigger of bodie There are many in Africa but chiefly in Tumbasco and Sini When this beast is in rutte with the heate and rage that he then endureth his nauell swelleth and filleth it selfe with a certaine bloud in manner of an impostume which at length through much wallowing and rubbing against trees he maketh to breake out of which runneth this bloud being halfe corrupted which in tract of time becommeth very odoriferous And the people of the country do gather it amongst stones or vpon the stocks of trees as the best muske that is bicause it is full ripe after that it hath rested some certaine time out of the bodie of the beast which engendreth it and that it hath beene perfectly concocted by the sunne which the other muske cannot be that is taken out of the liuing beast after that it is catched in chase And therefore this most precious muske is shut vp and reserued in boxes and in the bladders of such of these beasts as haue at any time beene taken