gristles in them a streight neck and a broad and strong brest his forelegs straight and short his hinder legs long and straight broad shoulders round ribs fleshy buttockes but not fat a long taile strong and full of sinnewes which Nemesian describeth elegantly in these verses Sit cruribus altis Costarum sub fine decenter prona carinam Renibus ampla satis validis diductaque coras Sit Rigidis multamque gerat sub pectore lato Quae sensim rursus sicca se colligat aluo Cuique nimis molles fluitent in cursibus aures Elige tunc cursu facitem facilem facilemque recursis Dum superant vires dum loeto flore iuuentus Of this kind that is alway the best to be chosen among the whelps which way gheth lightest for it will be soonest at the game and so hang vpon the greater beasts hindering their swiftnes Bellisarius vntill the stronger and heauier dogs come to helpe and therefore besides the markes or necessary good parts in a Grey-hound already spoken of it is requisite that he haue large sides a broad midriffe or filme about his hart that so he may take his breath in and out more easily a small belly for if it be great it will hinder his speedy course likewise his legs haue long thin and soft haires and these must the hunter leade on the left hand if he be a foot Pollux and on the right hand if he be on horsebacke The time of teaching a grey-hound The best time to try them and traine them to their game is at twelue months old howbeit some hunt them at ten months if they be males and at 8. monthes if they be females yet is it surest not to straine them or permit them to run any long course till they be 20. moneths old according to the old verse Libera tunc primum consuescant colla ligari Iam cum bis denos phoebe repauerit ortus Sed paruos vallis spatio septoue nouelli nec cursus virtute parem c. Keepe them also in the leame or slip while they are abroad vntill they see their course I meane the Hare or Deere Aristotle Xenophon losen not a yong Dog til the game haue ben on foot a good season least if he be greedy of the prey he straine his lim still they breake When the Hare is taken deuide some part thereof among your Dogges that so they may be prouoked to speed by the sweetnes of the flesh The time of engendring The Lacedemon grey-hound was the best breed they were first bred of a Fox and a dog and therefore they were called Alopecides these admit copulation in the eight moneth of their age and sometime in the sixt and so continuing bearing as long as they liue bearing their burthen the sixth part of a yeare that is about sixty daies one or two more or lesse and they better conceiue and are more apt to procreation while they are kept in labor Pliny Aristotle then when they lie idle without hunting these Lacedemon Dogs differ in one thing from all other Dogges whatsoeuer for wheras the male outliueth in vulgar dogges of all countries the female in these the female out-liueth the male yet the male performeth his labour with more alacrity although the female haue the sharper sence of smelling The noblest kind of dogs for the Hare keep home vnlesse they be led abroad and sildome barke they are the best which haue the longest neckes for which cause Albertus they vse this artificiall inuention to stretch their neckes they dig a deep hole in the earth wherein they set the Grey-hounds meat who being hungry thrusteth downe his head to take it but finding it to be past his reach stretcheth his neck aboue the measure of nature by custome wherof his necke is very much lengthned Other place the Grey-hound in a ditch An inuentioÌ„ to make a Grey-hound haue a long necke and his meat aboue him and so he teacheth vpward which is more probable It is the property of these Dogs to be angry with the lesser barking Curs and they will not run after euery trifling beast by secret instinct of nature discerning what kind of beast is worthy or vnworthy of their labor disdaining to meddle with a little or vile creature The diet of a good Grey-hound They are norished with the same that the smaller hunting dogs are and it is better to feede them with milk then whay There are of this kind called Veltri and in Italian Veltro which haue bene procreated by a Dog and Leopard and they are accounted the swiftest of all other The grey-hounds which are most in request among the Germans are called Windspill alluding to compare their swiftnes with the wind the same are also called Turkischwind and Hâ—tzhund and Falco a Falcon is a common name whereby they call these Dogges The French make most account of such as are bred in the mountaines of Dalmatia or in any other mountains especially of Turkey for such haue hard feet long eares and bristle tayles There are in England and Scotland two kind of hunting dogs and no where else in al the world the first kind they call in Scotland Ane Rache and this is a foot smelling creature both of wilde beasts Birds and Fishes also which he hid among the Rockes the female hereof in England is called a Brache The second kind is called in Scotland a Sluth-hound being a little greater then the hunting hound and in colour for the most part browne or sandy-spotted The sence of smelling is so quicke in these that they can follow the footesteps of theeus and pursue them with violence vntill they ouertake them and if the theef take the water they cast in themselues also and swim to the other side where they find out againe afresh their former labor vntill they find the thing they seeke for for this is common in the borders of England and Scotland where the people were wont to liue much vpon theft and if the dog brought his leader vnto any house where they may not be suffred to come in they take it for granted that there is both the stollen goods and the theef also hidden THE HVNTING HOVND OF Scotland called Rache and in English a HOVND THE SLVTH-HOVND OF Scotland called in Germany a Schlatthund THE ENGLISH BLOVD-HOVNDE WE are to discourse of lesser hunting Dogs in particular as we finde them remembred in any Histories and descriptions Poets or other Authors according to the seuerall Countries of their breede and education and first for the Brittish Dogges their nature and qualities heereafter you shall haue in a seuerall discourse by it selfe The blood-hounde differeth nothing in quality from the Scottish Sluth hound sauing they are greater in quantity and not alway one and the same colour for among them they are sometime red sanded blacke white spotted and of such colour as are other hounds but most commonly browne or red
rust or vennome of some bit or snaffell vndiscretly lookt vnto the cure is thus Wash the sore place with strong vineger made thick with the powder of Allum two or three daies together euery time vntil it bleede which will kill the poyson and vigor of the exulcerated matter then make this water take of running water a quart of Allum foure ounces of Hony foure or fiue spoonefuls of Wood-bineleaues of Sage-leaues and of Collombine-leaues of each halfe a handful boile al these together til one halfe be consumed then take it off and euery day with the water warmed wash the sore vntil it be whole Of the heat in the mouth and lips SOmetime the heat that commeth out of the stomach breedeth no Canker but maketh the mouth hot and causeth the horse to forsake his meat The cure wherof Blundevile as Martin saith is in this sort First turne vp his vpperlip and iagge it lightly with a launcet so as it may bleede and then wash both that and al his mouth and tongue with Vineger and salt Of the tongue being hurt with the bit or otherwise IF the tongue be cut or hurt any manner of way Martin saith it is good first to wash it with Allum water and then to take the leaues of black Bramble and to chop them togither small with a little lard that done to binde it vp in a little clout making it round like a ball then hauing dipt the round end in hony rub the tongue therewith continuing so to do once a day vntil it be whole Of the Barbles or Paps vnderneath the tongue THese be two little paps called of the Italians Barbole growing naturally as I thinke in euery Horsses mouth vnderneath the tongue in the neather iawes which if they shoot of any length Russius saith that they wil hinder the Horsses feeding and therefore he and Martin also would haue them to be clipt away with a paire of sheeres and that don the Horsses mouth to be washed with vineger and salt Of the paine in the teeth and gums of the Wolfes teeth and Iaw-teeth A Horse may haue paine in his teeth partly by discent of humors from his head down into his teeth and gums which is to be perceiued by the ranknesse and swelling of the gums and partly hauing two extraordinary teeth called the wolfes teeth which be two little teeth growing in the vpper iawes next vnto the great grinding teeth which are so paineful to the Horse as he cannot endure to chaw his meat but is forced either to let it fal out of his mouth or else to keepe it stil halfe chawed whereby the Horse prospereth not but waxerh leane and poore and he wil do the like also when his vpper Iaw-teeth be so far growne as they ouerhang the neather Iaw-teeth and therewith be so sharp as in mouing his iawes they cut and race the insides of his cheeks euen as they were raced with a knife And first as touching the cure of the paine in the teeth that commeth by meanes of some distillation Vegetius saith it is good to rub al the outside of his gums with fine chalke and strong vineger mingled together or else after that you haue washed the gums with vineger to strew on them of Pomegranate piles But methinkes that besides this it were not amisse to stop the temple vains with the plaister before mentioned in the chapter of weeping and waterish eies The cure of the Wolfes teeth and of the iaw-teeth according to Martin is in this sort First cause the horsse head to be tyed vp to some rafter or post and his mouth to be opened with a cord so wide as you may easily see euery part thereof Then take a round strong iron toole half a yard long and made at the one end in al points like vnto the Carpenters gouge wherewith he maketh his holes to be bored with a wimble or augor with your left hand set the edge of your toole at the foot of the wolfs teeth on the outside of the iaw turning the hollow side of the toole downward holding your hand steadily so as the toole may not slip from the foresaid tooth then hauing a mallet in your right hand strike vpon the head of the toole one pretty blow and therwith you shal loosen the tooth and cause it to bend inward then staying the midst of your toole vpon the horses neather iaw wrinch the tooth outward with the inside or hollow side of the toole and thrust it clean out of his head Blundevile that done serue the other Wolfes tooth on the other side in like manner and fill vp the empty places with salt finely braied But if the vpper iawe-teeth do also ouerhang the neather teeth so cut the inside of his mouth as is aforesaid then keeping his mouth stil open take your toole and mallet and pare al those teeth shorter running alongst them euen from the first vnto the last turning the hollow side of your toole towards the teeth so shal not the toole cut the inside of his cheekes and the backe or round side being turned toward the foresaid checkes and that doone wash all his mouth with vineger and salt and let him go Why the diseases in the necke withers and backe be declared heere before the diseases in the throate HAuing hitherto spoken of the diseases incident to a horsses head and to al the parts thereof natural order requireth that we shold now discend into the throat as a part next adiacent to the mouth But forasmuch as the diseases in the throate haue not onely afinity with the head but also with the lungs and other inward parts which are many times grieued by meanes of distillation comming from the head and through the throat I wil speake of the diseases incident to the necke withers and backe of a Horsse to the intent that when I come to talke of such diseases as rheumes and distillations doe cause I may discourse of them orderly without interruption Of the Cricke in the necke BEcause a Cricke is no other thing but a kind of conuulsion and for that we haue spoken sufficiently bofore of al kinds thereof in the chapter of conuulsion I purpose not heere therefore to trouble you with many wordes but onely shewe you Russius opinion and also Martins experience therein The cricke then called of the Italians Scima or Luterdo according to Russius and according to Martin is when the Horsse cannot turne his neck any maner of way but hold it stil right forth insomuch as he cannot take his meate from the ground but by times and that very slowly Russius saith it commeth by meanes of some great weight laid on the horsses shoulders or else by ouermuch drying vp of the sinnewes of the necke The cure whereof according to Martin is in his sort Draw him with a hot iron from the root of the eare on both sides of the necke through the midst of the same euen down to the breast
Mantuan Est in eis Pietas Crocodili astutia Hyaenae And the female is far more subtill then the male and therefore more seldome taken for they are afraid of their own company It was constantly affirmed that among eleuen Hyaenes there was found but one female it hath beene beleeued in ancient time that there is in this beast a magicall or enchanting power for they write that about what creature soeuer he goeth round three times it shall stand stone-still and not be able to mooue out of the place and if Dogs do but come within the compasse of their shaddow and touch it they presently loose their voice and that this she dooth most naturally in the ful moone Aelianus philes for although the swiftnesse or other opportunity of the Dogges helpeth them to fly away from her yet if she can but cast her shadow vpon them she easily obtaineth her prey She can also counterfeit a mans voice vomit cough and whistle by which meanes in the night time she commeth to houses or foldes where Dogs are lodged and so making as though she vomited or else whistling draweth the Dogs out of doors to her and deuoureth them Solinus Aelianus Likewise her nature is if she find a man or a Dog on sleepe she considereth whether shee or he haue the greater body if she then she falleth on him and either with her weight or some secret worke of nature by stretching her body vpon him killeth him or maketh him sencelesse whereby without resistance she eateth off his hands but if she find her body to be shorter or lesser then his then she taketh her heeles and flyeth away If a man meet with this beast he must not set vpon it on the right hand but on the lefte for it hath bin often seene that when in hast it did run by the Hunter on the right hand he presently fel off from his horse sencelesse and therefore they that secure themselues from this beast must be carefull to receiue him on the left side that so hee may with more facility be taken especially saith Pliny if the cords wherein he is to be ensnared be fastned with seuen knots Aelianus reporteth of them that one of these comming to a man asleep in a sheep-coat by laying her left hand or forefoote to his mouth made or cast him into a dead-sleep and afterward digged about him such a hole like a graue as shee couered all his body ouer with the earth except his throat and head whereupon she sat vntill she suffocated and stifled him yet Philes attributeth this to her right foote The like is attributed to a Sea-calfe and the fish Hyaena and therefore the old Magicians by reason of this exanimating property did not a little glory in these beasts as if they had beene taught by them to exercise diabolicall and praestigious incantations wherby they depriued men of sence motion and reason They are great enemies to men and for this cause Solinus reporteth of them that by secret accustoming themselues to houses or yardes where Carpenters or such mechanicks worke they learne to call their names and so will come being an hungred and call one of them with a distinct and articulate voyce whereby he causeth the man many times to forsake his worke and goe to see the person calling him but the subtill Hyaena goeth farther off and so by calling allureth him from helpe of company Textor and afterward when she seeth time deuoureth him and for this cause hir proper Epithite is Aemula vocis Voyce counter-fayter Aelinaus Their enmitie with other beasts Orus There is also great hatred betwixt a Pardall and this beast for if after death their skins be mingled together the haire falleth off from the Pardals skinne but not from the Hyaenaes and therfore when the Egyptians describe a superiour man ouercome by an inferiour they picture these two skinnes and so greatly are they afraide of Hyaenaes that they runne from all beasts creatures and places whereon any part of their skinne is fastened And Aelianus saith that the Ibis bird which liueth vpon serpents is killed by the gall of an Hyaena He that will go safely through the mountaines or places of this beasts aboade Rasis Albertus say The naturall vse of their skinnes Palladius Rasis Plutarch that hee must carry in his hand a roote of Coloquintida It is also beleeued that if a man compasse his ground about with the skinne of a Crocodile an Hyaena or a sea-Calfe and hang it vp in the gates or gaps thereof the fruites enclosed shall not be molested with haile or lightning And for this cause Mariners were wont to couer the tops of their sailes with the skinnes of this beast or of the Sea-calfe and Horus sayth that a man clothed with this skinne may passe without feare or daunger through the middest of his enemies for which occasion the Egyptians doe picture the skin of an Hyaena to signifie fearelesse audacitie Neither haue the Magitians any reason to ascribe this to any praestigious enchauntment seeing that a figge tree also is neuer oppressed with haile nor lightning And the true cause thereof is assigned by the Philosophers to be the bitternesse of it for the influence of the heauens hath no destructiue operation vppon bitter but vppon sweete things Coelius and there is nothing sweete in a figge tree but onely the fruite Also Collumella writeth that if a man put three bushels of seede graine into the skinne of this beast and afterward sowe the same without all controuersie it will arise with much encrease Gentian worne in an Hyaenaes skin seuen daies in steede of an amulet is very soueraigne against the biting of mad dogges And likewise if a man hold the tongue of an Hyaena in his hand there is no dogge that dareth to seize vpon him The skinne of the forehead or the bloud of this beast resisteth all kind of witchcraft and incantation Likewise Pliny writeth that the haires layed to womens lips maketh them amorous And so great is the vanitie of the Magicians that they are not ashamed to affirme that by the tooth of the vpper iaw of this beast on the right side bound vnto a mans arme or any part thereof he shall neuer be molested with dart or arrow Likewise they say that by the genital of this beast and the article of the backe-bone which is called Atlantios with the skinne cleauing vnto it preserued in a house keepeth the family in continuall concord and aboue al other if a man carry about him the smallest and extreame gut of his intrailes he shal not onely be deliuerd from the Tyrany of the higher powers Actuarius Zoroastres but also foreknow the successe and euent of his petitions and sutes in Law If his left foot and nailes be bound vp together in a Linnen bagge and so fastned vnto the right arme of a man he shal neuer forget whatsoeuer he hath heard or knoweth And if he cut off the right foot with the left hand and
demaunded the cause why hee laughed not before aunswered that men do but faine merriments whereas Apes are naturally made for that purpose Moreouer Apes are much giuen to imitation and derision and they are called Cercopes Qualities of apes because of their wicked crafts deceipts impostures and flatteries wherefore of the Poets it is fained that there were two bretheren most wicked fellowes that were turned into Apes and from their seate or habitation came the Pithecusan Islands which Virgill calleth Inarime for Arime was an old Hetrurian word for an Ape and those Islands being the seates of the * Varinus Docibility of apes Gyants who being by God ouerthrowen for their wickednes in derision of them Apes were planted in their roomes Apes haue beene taught to leape singe driue Wagons raigning and whipping the Horses very artificially and are very capable of all humaine actions hauing an excellent memory either to shew loue to his friends or hatefull reuenge to them that haue harmed him but the saying is good that the threatning of a flatterer and the anger of an Ape are both alike regarded Hurts receiued by apes It delighteth much in the company of dogs and young Children yet it will strangle young Children if they be not well looked vnto A certaine Ape seeing a Woman washing her Child in a basen of warme water obserued her diligently An History and getting into the house when the Nurse was gone tooke the childe out of the Cradle and setting water on the fire when it was hot stripped the Childe naked and washed the childe therewith vntill it killed it The countries where Apes are found are Lybia and all that desart Woods betwixt Egypt Aethiopia and Libia and that parte of Caucasus which reacheth to the red Sea Countries breeding Apes In India they are most aboundant both Redde blacke greene dust-colour and white ones which they vse to bring into Citties except Red ones who are so venereous that they will rauish their Women and present to their Kings which grow so tame that they go vp and downe the streetes so boldly and ciuilly as if they were Children Booke of Voyages frequenting the Market places without any offence whereof so many shewed themselues to Alexander standing vpright that he deemed them at first to be an Army of enemies and commaunded to ioyne battell with them vntill he was certified by Taxilus a King of that Countrey then in his Campe they were but Apes In Caucasus there are trees of Pepper and Spices whereof Apes are the gatherers Labour of Apes liuing among those trees for the Inhabitants come and vnder the trees make plaine a plotte of ground and afterward cast thereupon boughs and braunches of Pepper and other fruites as it were carelesly which the Apes secretly obseruing in the night season they gather togither in great aboundance all the braunches loaden with Pepper and lay them on heapes vppon that plot of ground and so in the morning come the Indians and gather the Pepper from those boughes in great measure reaping no small aduantage by the labor of Apes who gather their fruites for them whiles they sleepe for which cause they loue them and defend them from Lyons dogges and other wilde Beasts In the region of Basman subiect to the great Cham of Tartaria are many and diuers sorts of Apes very like mankinde which when the Hunters take they pull off their haires al but the beard and the hole behinde and afterward dry them with hot spices and poudering them sell them to Marchants who carry them about the world preswading simple people that there are men in Islands of no greater stature To conclude Diuersity of apes there are Apes in Trogloditae which are maned about the necke like Lyons as big as great Bel-weathers So are there some called Cercopitheci Munkyes Choeropitheci Hog-Apes Cepi Callitriches Marmosits Cynocephali of a Dog and an Ape Satyres and Sphinges of which we will speake in order for they are not all alike but some resemble men one way and some another Chymaera as for a Chymaera which Albertus maketh an Ape it is but a figment of the Poets The same man maketh Pigmaees a kinde of Apes and not men but Niphus proueth that they are not men bycause they haue no perfect vse of reason lib. 7.1 de animal no modesty no honesty nor iustice of gouernment and although they speake yet is their language imperfect and aboue all they cannot bee men because they haue no Religion Pygmaeys which Plato saith truely is propper to euery man Besides their stature being not past three foure or fiue spans long their life not aboue eight yeares and their imitation of man do plainely proue them rather to be Apes then men and also the flatnesse of their Noses Onesicritus their Combats with Cranes Partridges for their egges and other circumstances I wil not stand vpon but follow the description of Apes in general Apes do outwardly resemble men very much and Vesalius sheweth that their proportion differeth from mans in moe things then Galen obserued as in the muscles of the breast those that moue the armes The anatomy of apes the elbow and the Ham likewise in the inward frame of the hande in the muscles mouing the toes of the feete the feete and shoulders in the instrument mouing in the sole of the foote also in the fundament mesentary the lap of the liuer the hollow vain holding it vp which mē haue not yet in their face nostrils eares eye-lids breasts armes thumbes fingers nailes they agree very much Their haire is very harsh short and therfore hairy in the vpper part like men and in the neather part like Beasts they haue teeth before and behinde like mē hauing a round face and ey-lids aboue and beneath which other Quadrupedes haue not Politianus saith that the face of a Bull or Lyon is more comely then the face of an Ape which is liker a mans They haue two Dugs their breasts armes like men but rougher such as they vse to bend as a man doth his foote So their hands fingers and nails are like a mans but ruder and nimbler and nature hauing placed their Dugs in their breast gaue them armes to lifte their young ones vp to sucke them Their feete are propper and not like mans hauing the middle one longest for they are like great handes and consist of fingers like handes but they are alike in bignesse except that which is least to a man is greatest to an Ape whose sole is like the hand but that it is longer and in the hinder part it is more fleshie somewhat resembling a heele but put backward it is like a fist They vse their feete both for going and handling the neather parts of their armes and their thighes are shorter then the proportion of their elbowes and shins they haue no Nauel but ther is a hard thing in that place the
vpper part of their body is far greater then the neather like other Quadrupedes consisting of A porportion betweene fiue and three by reason whereof they grow out of kinde hauing feete like hands and feete They liue more downeward then vpward like other foure footed Beasts and they want Buttocks although Albertus saith they haue large ones they haue no taile like 2. legged creatures or a very small signe thereof The genitall or priuy place of the female is like a Womans but the Males is like a dogges their nourishment goeth more forward then backward like the best horses and the Arabian Seraph which are higher before then behinde and that Ape whose meate goeth forward by reason of the heate of heart and Lyuer is most like to a man in standing vpright their eyes are hollow and that thing in men is accounted for a signe of a malitious minde as little eies are a token of a base and abiect spirit Men that haue low and flat Nostrils are Libidinous as Apes that attempt women and hauing thicke lippes the vpper hanging ouer the neather they are deemed fooles like the lips of Asses and Apes Albertus saith he saw the heart of a Male Ape hauing 2. tops of snarp ends which I knowe not whether to terme a wonder or a Monster An Ape and a Cat haue a small backe and so hath a weake hearted man a broad and strong back signifieth a valiant and magnanimous mind The Apes nailes are halfe round and when they are in copulation they bende their Elbowes before them the sinewes of their hinder ioynts being turned cleane about but with a man it is cleane otherwise The vaines of their armes are no otherwise dissected then a mans hauing a very small and ridiculous crooked thumbe by reason of the Muscles which come out of the hinder part of the Leg into the middle of the Shinne and the fore muscles drawing the leg backeward they cannot exactly stand vpright and therefore they runne and stand like a man that counterfaites a lame mans halting The disposition of Apes And as the body of an Ape is Ridiculous by reason of an indecent likenesse and imitation of man so is his soule or spirit for they are kept only in rich mens houses to sport withall being for that cause easily tamed following euery action he seeth done euen to his owne harme without discretion A certaine Ape after a shipwracke swimming to land An History was seene by a Countreyman and thinknig him to be a man in the water gaue him his hand to saue him yet in the meane time asked him what Countrey man he was who answered he was an Athenian well saide the man dost thou know Piraeus which was a port in Athens very well Places of their abode saide the Ape and his wife frends and children where at the man being moued did what he could to drowne him They keep for the most part in Caues and hollow places of hils in rocks and trees feeding vpon Apples and Nuts but if they finde any bitternesse in the shel they cast all away They eate Life and picke them out of heads and garments Food of apes They will drinke wine till they be drunk but if they drink it oft they grow not great specialy they lose their nails as other Quadrupedes do They are best contented to sitte aloft although tied with chaines They are taken by laying for them shoos and other things for they which hunt them will anoint their eies with water in their presence and so departing leaue a pot of lime or Hony in stead of the water The manner of taking Apes which the Ape espying commeth and anointeth her eies therewith and so being not able to see doeth the hunter take her If they lay shooes they are leaden ones to heauy for them to weare wherein are made such deuises of Ginnes that when once the Ape hath put them on they cannot be gotten off without the help of man So likewise for little Bags made like Breeches wherewithall they are deceiued and taken Procreation of apes They bring forth young ones for the most part by twins whereof they loue the one and hate the other that which they loue they beare in their Armes the other hangeth at the dams back and for the most part she killeth that which she loueth by pressing it to hard afterward she setteth her whole delight vpon the other The Egyptians when they discribe a father leauing his inheritance to his sonne that he loueth not picture an Ape with hir young one vpon her backe The male and female abide with the young one and if it want anything the male with fist and irefull aspect punisheth the female When the Moone is in the waine they are heauy and sorrowful Secretes in their nature which in that kinde haue tailes but they leape and reioyce at the change for as other Beasts so doe these feare the defect of the starres and planets They are full of dissimulation and imitation of man they readiler folow the euill then the good they see their imitation They are very fierce by nature and yet tamed forget it but still remaine subiect to madnesse their loue They loue Conies very tenderly for in England an old Ape scarse able to goe did defend tame Conies from the Weasell as Sir Thomas Moore reported thâ—ir â—eere They feare a shel fish and a snaile very greatly as appeareth by this History In Rome a certaine Boy put a snaile in his hat and came to an Ape who as he was accustomed leapes vpon his shoulder and tooke off his hat to kil Life in his head but espying the snaile it was a wonder to see with what hast the Ape leaped from the Boyes shoulder and in trembling manner looked backe to see if the snaile followed him also when a snaile was tied to the one end of another Apes chaine so that he could not chose but continually looke vpon it one cannot imagine how the Ape was tormented therewith finding no meanes to get from it cast vp whatsoeuer was in his stomaeke and fell into a grieuous feuer till it was remoued from the snaile an antiquity and refreshed with Wine and water Cardane reporteth that it was an ancient custome in former time when a parracide was executed he was after he was whipped with bloody stripes put into a sacke with a liue Serpent a dog an Ape and a Cocke by the Serpent was signified his extreame malice to mankinde in killing his father by the Ape that in the likenesse of man he was a Beast by the dog how like a dog he spared none no not his owne father and by a cocke his hatefull pride and then were they altogether hurld headlong into the Sea That he might be deemed vnworthy of all the Elements of life and other blessings of nature A Lyon ruleth the beasts of the earth and a Dolphin the beasts of the sea when the Dolphin
is in age and sicknes she recouereth by eating a sea-ape and so the Lyon by eating an ape of the earth and therefore the Egiptians paint a Lyon eating an ape to signifie the medicin of apes a sicke man curing himselfe The hart of an ape sod and dried whereof the weight of a groat drunk in a draught of stale Hunny sod in water called Mellicraton strengthneth the heart emboldneth it and driueth away the pulse and pusillanimity thereof sharpeneth ones vnderstanding and is soueraigne against the falling euill THE MVNKEY Ioh. Leo. Affrican The contrey of their abod and Breed They are bred in the hils of constance in the woods of Bugia and Mauritania In Aethiopia they haue blacke heads haire like asses and voices like to other In India they report that the Munkeys will clime the most steepe and high rockes and fling stones at them that prosecute to take them When the king of Ioga in India for religion goeth on Pilgrimage he carrieth with him very many Munkeys In like sort Munkeys are brought from the new found Lands from calechut and Prasia and not farre from Aden a cittie of Arabia is a most high hill Hart of Munkeys abounding in these beasts who are a great hinderance to the poore vintagers of the countrey of calechut for they will climbe into the high palm trees and breaking the vessels set to receiue the Wine poure forth that lickquor they finde in them Their food they will eat hearbes and graine and ears of grasse going togither in great flocks whereof one euer watcheth at the vtmost bounds of their campe that he may crye out when the husbandman commeth and then al flying and leaping into the next trees escape away the females carry their young ones about with them on their shoulders and with that burden leape from tree to tree There be of this kind of Munkeys two sorts one greater the other lesser Diuersities of Munkeys as is accounted in England and Munkeys are in like sort so diuided that there be in all foure kinds differing in bignes whereof the least is little bigger then a squirrell and because of their marueilous and diuers mowings mouings voices and gestures the Englishmen call any man vsing such Histrionical actours a Munkey The onely difference betwixt these and other Apes aforesaide is their taile Solinus Their anatomy and parts they differ from men in their Nerues in the ioynts of their loynes and their processes and they want the thirde muscle moouing the fingers of their handes Mammonents are lesse then an Ape Vâ—ssâ—â—us Mammonets brown on the back and white on the belly hauing a long and hairy taile his neck almost so big as his body for which cause they are tied by the hips that they slip not collar They haue a round head a face like a man but blacke and bald on the crowne his nose in a reasonable distance from his mouth like a mans and not continued like an Apes his stones greenish blew like a Turkey stone They are caught after the manner of Apes and being tamed and taught they conceiue and worke very admirable feats and their skins pulled off them being dead are dressed for garments The foolish Arabians dedicated Memnonius cercopithecus vnto heauen and in all afflictions implored his aide Festus another kind There is one other kind of Munkeys whose taile is onely hairy at the tip called corcolipis THE CEPVS OR Martine Munkey THE Martine called cepus of the Greeke worde The names Kepos which Aristotle writeth Kebos and some translate Caebus some Cephus or Cepphus or more barbarously celphus the latines sometimes Ortus Diodorus Siculus for indeede this kinde of ape in his best estate is like * a garden set with diuers flowers and therefore the best kinde of them is discerned and known by the sweetest sauour such being alwayes the most ingenious imitators of men It is very probable that this name cepus is deriued of the Haebrewe Koph and Kophin signifying apes in general as is before said but yet this kind is destinguished from other by strabo Aelianus and Pliny although Aristotle doeth make no difference betwixt this and another ordinarie Munkey The games of great Pompey first of all brought these Martines to the sight of the Romaines and afterward Rome saw no more Pliny The first knowledg of Mâ—rtins they are the same which are brought out of Aethiopia and the farthest Arabia their feet and knees being like a mans and their fore-feet like hands their inward parts like a mans so that some haue doubted what kinde of creature this should be which is in part a man and yet a Foure-footed beast it hauing a face like a Lyon Their country of breed Strabo and some part of the body like a Panther being as big as a wilde goate or Roe-bucke or as one of the dogs of Erithrea and a long taile the which such of them as haue tasted flesh will eat from their owne bodies Their anatomy Strabo Scaliger Concerning their coulor howsoeuer they are not all alike for some are blacke with white spots hauing a greater voyce then others some yellow some Lyon-tauny some golden yellow and some cole-black yet for the most part the head and backe parts to the taile are of a fiery color with some golden hair aspersed among the residue Their color a white snowt and certain golden strakes like a collar going about the necke the inferior parts of the necke downe to the brest and the forefeet are white Aelianus their two dugs as big as a mans hand can gripe are of a blewish coulor and their belly white their hinder legs blacke and the shape of their snowt like a Cynocephale which may be the difference betwixt Aelianus and Strabo their cepus and Aristotles Cebus for nature many times bringeth forth like beasts which are not of the same kind Cay In England there was a Martine that had his backe and sides of a green coulor hauing heere and their white haire the belly chin and beard which was round white the face and shins blacke and the nose white being of the lesser kind for in bignes it exceeded not a coney Their disposition Some of them in Aethiopia haue a face like a Satyre and other members in part resembling a Beare and in part a Dog so are the Prasian Apes This Martine did the Babilonians inhabiting neere Memphis for the strangenes the coulor and shape thereof worship for a God They are of euill disposition like Apes and therefore we will spare both their pictures and further description finding very little of them in Histories worth commemoration The Ape CALITRICH THE Calitrich so called by reason of his bearde the name and may bee termed in English a bearded Ape Pliny Countrey of breed will liue no other where then in Ethiopia and India which are easie to take but verye harde to bring away aliue
with young is not certaine Time of bearing the yong beares some affirm 3. moneths others but 30. daies which is more probable for wild beasts doe not couple themselues being with young except a Hare and a Linx aad the beares being as is already said verie lustull to the intent that they may no longer want the company of their males do violently cast their whelps and so presently after deliuery do after the maner of conies betake themselues to their lust norishing their yong ones both togither this is certaine that they neuer come out of their caues till their young ones be thirtie daies old at the least and Pliny precisely affirmeth The bignesse of a beare-whelpe that they litter the thirtith daie after their conception and for this cause a beare bringeth forth the least whelpe of all other great beastes for their whelpes at their first littering are no bigger then rats nor longer then ones finger And whereas it hath beene beleeued and receiued that the whelpes of bears at their first littering are without all forme and fashion and nothing but a little congealed blood like a lumpe of flesh which afterwarde the old one frameth with her tongue to her owne likenes as Pliny Solinus Aelianus Orus Oppianus and Ouid haue reported yet is the truth most euidently otherwise as by the eye witnes of Ioachimus Rhetichus and other Beares not so vnperfect as some haue reported is disproued onlie it is litterd blind without eies naked without haire and the hinder legs not perfect the forefeet folded vp like a fist and other members deformed by reason of the imoderate humor or moystnes in them which also is one cause why the womb of the beare cannot retaine the seed to the perfection of her young ones Number of yong oneâ— They bring foorth sometimes two and neuer aboue fiue which the old beare dailye keepeth close to her brest so warming them with the heat of her body and the breath of her mouth till they be thirty daies old 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 darkenes 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 commonly called in English Wake-Robbin or Calues-foot being of very sharpe and tart taste Remedy in Nature which enlargeth their guts and so being recouered they remaine all the time their young are with them more fierce and cruell then at other times And concerning the same Arum called also Dracunculus and Oryx there is a pleasaunt vulgar tale whereby some haue conceiued 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 Heluetia which comming downe a hill with a great caldron on his backe he saw a beare eating of a root which he had pulled vp with his feet a fabulous tale yet vulgarly beleeued 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 hauing couered his heade with the caldron to keepe himselfe from the vehemency of colde and there slept all the Winter time without harme and neuer rose againe till the spring time Which fable if a man will beleeue then doubtlesse this hearbe may cause the Beares to be sleepers not for fourteene dayes but for fourescore dayes together The meat of Beares The ordinary food of Beares is fish for the Water-beare and others will eate fruites Apples Grapes Leaues and Pease and will breake into bee-hiues sucking out the hony Horat Vespertinus circumgemit vrsus ouile Likewise Bees Snayles and Emmets and flesh if it bee leane or ready to putrifie but if a Beare doe chaunce 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 euen bitinge at it Of the quantity partes of Beares Some affirme that Beares doe waxe or growe as long as they liue that there haue beene seene some of them fiue cubits long yea I my selfe saw a Beares skinne of that length and broader then any Oxes skinne The parts or members The head of a Beare is his weakest part as the hande of a Lyon is the strongest for by a small blow on his head he hath often bene strucken deade the bones of the head being verie thinne and tender yea more tender then the beake of a Parrot The mouth of a Beare is like a Hogges mouth but longer being armed with teeth on both sides like a saw and standing deepe in his mouth they haue verie thicke lippes for which cause hee cannot easily or hastily with his teeth breake asunder the hunters nettes except with his forefeet His necke is short like a Tygers and a Lyons apt to bend downeward to his meat his bellie is verie large being vniforme and next to it the intrals as in a Wolfe It hath also foure speanes to her Paps The genitall of a Beare after his death waxeth as hard as horn his knees and elbowes are like to an Apes for which cause they are not swift or nimble his feete are like handes and in them and his loines is his greatest strength by reason whereof he sometimes setteth himselfe vpright vppon their hinder legges the pasterne of his legge being fleshy like a cammels which maketh them vnfit for trauell they haue sharpe clawes but a verye small taile as all other longe hayred creatures haue They are exceeding full of fat or Larde-greace which some vse superstitiouslie beaten with oile a superstitius vse of Beares larde or fat wherewith they annoint their grape-sickles when they go to vintage perswading themselues that if no bodie know thereof their tender vine braunches shall neuer be consumed by catterpillers Other attribute this to the vertue of Beares blood and Theophrastus affirmeth that if beares grease be kept in a vessell at such time as the beares lie secret A secret it will either fill it vp or cause it to runne ouer The flesh of beares is vnfit for meat Meat of beares flesh yet some vse to eat it after it hath bene twice sodde other eat it baked in pasties but the truth is it is better for medicine then food Theophrastus likewise affirmeth that at the time when beares lie secret their dead flesh encreaseth which is kept in houses another
thus vsed it looketh very white after the same manner may be vsed the fat of Lyons Leopards Panthers camels Boares and Horsses The fat kall about the gutts melted in a frying pan and annoynted vpon the genitals and brest helpeth the Dysenterie The marrow of a Bull beaten and drunke cureth the payne in the small of the belly and Rasis sayth that if it be melted at a fire and mingled with one fourth parte of Myrrhe and oyle of bayes and the handes and feete bee therewithall annoynted and rubbed morning and euening it helpeth the contractions of the Nerues and sinnewes The fat of a dormouse of a hen and the marrow of a Bull melted togither and poured warme into the eares easeth their paine very much and if the liuer of a Bull be broiled on a soft fire and put into ones mouth that hath the tooth-ache the paine wilâ— goe away so soone as euer the teeth touch it The gall of a bull is sharper then an Oxes and it is mingled with honey for a wound-plaster and in all outward remedies against poison It hath also a quality to gnaw the deadnes or corruption out of wounds and with the iuyce of leekes and the milke of Women it is applyed against the Swine pox and fistulaes but the gal alone rubbed vpon the biting of an Ape cureth that Malady Likewise the vlcers in the head both of men women and children And if the woole of a hare be burned to ashes and mingled with oyle of myrtles Buls gall and beaten alume and so warmed and annointed vppon the heade it stayeth the falling away of the haire of the head With the gall of a Bull and the white of an Egge they make an eye-salue and so annoint therewith dissolued in water foure dayes togither but it is thought to bee better with hony and balsam and instilled with sweet new wine into the eares it helpeth awaye the paines of them especially running-mattry eares with womans or Goats milke It being taken with hony into the mouth helpeth the cliftes and sores therein and taken with the water of new coloquintida and giuen to a woman in trauel causeth an easie child birth Galen was wont to giue of a buls gall the quantity of an almonde with two spoonefuls of wine called Vinuus Lynghatum to a Woman that hath her childe dead within her body which would presently cause the dead Embrion to come forth The genital of a red bull dryed to pouder and drunke of a Woman to the quantity of a golden Noble it maketh her to loath al maner of copulation but in men as the later Phisitians affirme it causeth that desire of lust to increase The dung of a bul layed too warm helpeth al hardnesse and burnt to pouder helpeth the member that is burnt The vrine or stale of buls with a little Nitre taketh away scabs and Leprosies Of another Beast called Buselaphus THere was saith D. cay a clouen footed beast brought out of the deserts of Mauritania into England of the bignesse of a hinde in forme and countenance betwixt a hinde and a cow The description of this strange beast and therefore for the resemblance it beareth of both I will call it Buselaphus or Boniceruus or Moschelaphus or a cow hart hauing a long and thinne head and eare a leane and slender Leg and Shinne so that it may seeme to bee made for chase and celerity His taile not much longer then a foote The name but the forme thereof very like a cowes and the length like a harts as if nature seemed to doubt whether it should encline to a cow or a hart his vpper parts were yellowish and smooth his neather partes blacke and rough the haire of his bodye betwixt yellow and red falling close to the skinne The seuerall parts but in his forehead standing vppe like a Starre and so also about the hornes which were blacke and at the top smooth but downward rough with Wrinkles meeting on the contrary part and on the neerer side spreading from one another twice or thrice their quantity These hornes are in length one foote a hand bredth but three hand bredthes thicke at the roote and their distance at the roote was not aboue one fingers bredth so arising to their middle and a little beyond where they differ or grow asunder three hands bredth and a halfe then yeeld they together againe a little and so with another crooke depart asunder the second time yet so as the tops of the hornes do not stand asunder aboue two hands bredth three fingers and a halfe From the crowne of the head to the Nostrils there goeth a blacke strake which is one foote two palmes and one finger long in bredth aboue the eyes where it is broadest it is seuen fingers in thicknesse one foote and three palmes it hath eight teeth and wanteth the vppermost like a cow Pausamas and yet cheweth the cud it hath two vdders vnder the belly like a heyghfer that neuer had calfe it is a gentle and pleasant beast apt to play and sport being not onely swift to runne but light and actiue to leape It will eate any thing either bread broath salted or pouldred beefe grasse or herbes and the vse heereof being aliue is for hunting and being dead the flesh is sweete and pleasant for meate OF THE OXE and COVV And Bucalus or Bos Nouellus for a little oxe Schor in Haebrew signifieth a Bull or oxe Bakar heards or a cow Thor in the Chalday hath the same signification with Schor and among the latter Writers you may find Tora a masculine and Torata a feminine for a Bull and a cow accustomed to be handled for labour The Graecians call then bous boes the Arabians bakar and it is to be noted that the holy scriptures distinguish betwixt tzon signifieng flockes of sheepe and Goates bakar for heards of cattel and Neate and Meâ—a is taken for Bugils or the greatest oxen or rather for fatted oxen for the verbe Mara signifieth to feed fat Egela is interpreted Ierem 46. for a young cow and the Persians Gosalai It is very probable that the Latin Vacca is deriued from the haebrew bakar as the Saracen word baccara so in Haebrew Para is a cow and Par a Steere and ben bakar the sonne of an oxe or calfe and wheras the Haebrews take Parim for oxen in general the chaldees translate it Tore the Arabs Bakera the Persians Nadgaeah or Madagaucha the Itallians call it bue the French beuf the Spaniard buey the Germanes Ochs and Rind the Illirians wull Of the name of a Cow The Italians call a cow Vacca at this day the Gaecians bubalis and Damalis or Damalai for a cow which neuer was couered with Bul or tamed with a yoake and Agelada The French Vache the Spaniardes Vaca the Germanes Ku or Kuhe and the cittizens of Altina ceua from which the English word cow seemeth to be deriued the Latine word is a young heighfer
the crowne of her head that it is a presage of raine and if the backe of a cat be thinne the beast is of no courage or value They loue fire and warme places whereby it falleth out that they often burne their coates Their copulation They desire to lie soft and in the time of their lust commonly called cat-wralling they are wilde and fierce especially the males whoe at that time except they be gelded will not keepe the house at which time they haue a peculiar direfull voyce The maner of their copulation is this the Female lyeth downe and the Male standeth and their females are aboue measure desirous of procreation for which cause they prouoke the male and if he yeeld not to their lust they beate and claw him but it is onely for loue of young and not for lust Aristotle the meale is most libidinous and therefore seeing the female will neuer more engender with him during the time hir young ones sucke hee killeth and eateth them if he meet with them to prouoke the female to copulation with him againe Aelianus for when she is depriued of her young she seeketh out the male of her own accord for which the female most warily keepeth them from his sight During the time of copulation the female continually cryeth whereof the Writers giue a double cause one because she is pinched with the talants or clawes of the male in the time of his lustfull rage and thother because his seed is so fiery whot that it almost burneth the females place of conception When they haue litered or as we commonly say kittened they rage against Dogges and will suffer none to come neere their young ones The best to keep are such as are littered in March Choyse of young Cats they go with young fifty daies and the females liue not aboue sixe or seuen yeares the males liue longer especially if they be gelt or libbed the reason of their short life is their rauening of meate which corrupteth within them They cannot abide the sauour of oyntments but fall madde thereby Gillius Caelius alu Mundellâ— Their diseases they are sometimes infected with the falling euill but are cured with Gobium It is needelesse to spend any time about her louing nature to man how she flattereth by rubbing her skinne against ones Legges how she whurleth with her voyce hauing as many tunes as turnes for she hath one voice to beg and to complain another to testifie her delight pleasure another among hir own kind by flattring by hissing by puffing by spitting insomuch as some haue thought that they haue a peculiar intelligible language among themselues Therefore how she beggeth playeth leapeth looketh catcheth tosseth with her foote riseth vp to strings held ouer her head sometime creeping sometimes lying on the back playing with one foot somtime on the bely snatching now with mouth anon with foot aprehending greedily any thing saue the hand of a man with diuers such gestical actions it is needelesse to stand vpon insomuch as Coelius was wont to say The hurt that commeth by the familiarity of a cat that being free from his Studies and more vrgent waighty affaires he was not ashamed to play and sport himselfe with his Cat and verily it may well be called an idle mans pastime As this beast hath beene familiarly nourished of many so haue they payed deare for their loue being requiret with the losse of their health and sometime of their life for their friendship and worthily because they which loue any beasts in a high mesure haue so much the lesse charity vnto man Therefore it must be considered what harmes and perils come vnto men by this beast It is most certaine that the breath and sauour of cats consume the radicall humour and destroy the lungs Ahynzoar and therefore they which keepe their cats with them in their beds haue the aire corrupted and fall into feuer hectickes and consumptions Alex benidict There was a certaine company off Monkes much giuen to nourish and play with Cattes whereby they were so infected that within a short space none of them were able either to say reade pray or sing in all the monastery and therefore also they are dangerous in the time of pestilence for they are not onely apt to bring home venomous infection but to poyson a man with very looking vpon him wherefore there is in some men a naturall dislike and abhorring of cats their natures being so composed that not onely when they see them but being neere them and vnseene and hid of purpose they fall into passions fretting sweating pulling off their hats and trembling fearefully as I haue knowne many in Germany the reason whereof is because the constellation which threatneth their bodies which is peculiar to euery man worketh by the presence and offence of these creatures and therefore they haue cryed out to take away the Cats The like may be sayd of the flesh of cats â—â— cats flesh which can sildome be free from poyson by reason of their daily foode eating Rats and Mice Wrens and other birds which feede on poyson and aboue all the braine of a cat is most venomous for it being aboue measure dry Ponzettus Alexander stoppeth the animall spirits that they cannot passe into the ventricle by reason whereof memory faileth and the infected person falleth into a phrenzy The cure wherof may he this take of the Water of sweete Marioram with Terra lemnia the waite of a groate mingled together and drinke it twice in a month putting good store of spices into all your meate to recreate the spirits withall let him drinke pure Wine wherein put the seede of Diamoschu But a cat doth as much harme with her venemous teeth therefore to cure her biting they prescribe a good diet sometime taking Hony turpentine and Oyle of Roses melt together and laied to the wound with Centory sometime they wash the wound with the vrine of a man and lay to it the braines of some other beast and pure wine mingled both together Mathaeolus The haire also of a cat being eaten vnawares stoppeth the artery and causeth suffocation and I haue heard that when a child hath gotten the haire of a cat into his mouth it hath so clouen stucke to the place that it could not be gotten off again and hath in that place bred either the wens or the kings euill to conclude this point it appeareth that this is a dangerous beast that therfore as for necessity we are constrained to nourish them for the suppressing of small vermine so with a wary and discret eie we must auoyde their harmes making more account of their vse then of their persons In Spaine and Gallia Narbon they eate cats but first of al take away their head and taile and hang the prepared flesh a night or two in the open cold aire to exhale the sauour and poyson from it finding the flesh thereof
of conies standing betwixt corsica and Sardinia For their seueral parts they are most like vnto a Hare except in their head and taile which is shorter and their colour which is alway brighter Agricola Aelianus The vse of their skinnes crescennensis and lesse browne and sandy or else sometimes conies are white black gryseld tauny blewish yellow-spotted ash-coloured and such like And Alysius saith that in some places they are also greene and their skinnes are of great vse through the world especially in all the North and East for garments facings and linings The gray and yellowish are the worst but the white and blacke are more pretious especially of the English if the blacke be aspersed with some white or siluer haires and in their vse the Buckes are most durable yet heauier and harsher The belly is most soft gentle easie therfore more set by The vse of their flesh Pliny although of lesse continuance Their flesh is very white and sweet especially of the young ones being about fourteen or twenty daies olde and some haue deuised a cruell delicate meat which is to cut the yong ones out of the dams belly and so to dresse and eat them but I trust there is no man among christians so inhumanely gluttonous as once to deuise or approue the sweetnes of so foule a dish but the tame ones are not so good for in Spaine they will not eat of a tame cony because euery creature doth partake in tast of the ayre wherein he liueth and therfore tame conies which are kept in a close and vnsweet ayre by reason of their owne excrementes cannot tast so well or be so wholesome as those which run wilde in the mountaines and fields free from all infection of euill ayre They loue aboue all places the rockes and make Dennes in the earth The places of their abod and whereas it is said Psal 104. that the stony rocks are for the cony it is not to be vnderstood as though the feet of the cony could pierce into the rocke as into the earth and that she diggeth hir hole therein as in looser ground but that finding among the rocks holes already framed to her hand or else some light earth mingled therewith she more willingly entreth thereinto as being more free from raine floods then in lower and softer ground for this cause they loue also the hils and lower grounds and woods where are no rocks as in England which is not a rocky countrey but wheresoeuer she is forced to liue there she diggeth hit-holes wherein for the daytime she abideth but morning euening commeth out from thence and sitteth at the mouth thereof In their copulation they engender like Elephants Tigres and Linxes that is Their copulation and procreation Tho. Gypson the male leapeth on the backe of the female their priuy parts being so framed to meet one another behind because the females do render their vrine backward their secrets and the seed of the male are very small They begin to breed in some countryes being but sixe moneths old but in England at a yeare old and so continue bearing euery moneth at the least seuen times in one yeare if they litter in March but in the winter they do not engender at al and therefore the authors say of these and Hares that they abound in procreation by reason whereof a little store wil serue to encrease a great borough Their young being littered are blind and see not til they be 9. dayes old and their dam hath no suck for them til she hath bene six or seauen houres with the male Tho. Gypson at the least for sixe houres after she cannot suckle them greatly desiring to go to the Bucke and if she be not permitted presently shee is so farre displeased that she wil not be so inclined againe for 14. daies after I haue bin also credibly informed by one that kept tame conies that he had Does which littered three at a time and within fourteene daies after they littered foure more Their ordinary number in one litter is fiue and sometimes nine but neuer aboue and I haue seene that when a Doe hath had nine in her belly two or three of them haue perished and bene oppressed in the wombe by suffocation The males will kill the young ones if they come at them like as the Bore-cats and therefore the female doth also auoid it carefully The cruelty of the males and of some females couering the nest or litter with grauell or earth that so they may not be discouered there are also some of their females very vnnaturall not caring for their yong ones but suffer them to perish both because they neuer prouide a warme littour or nest for them as also because they forsake them being littered or else deuoure them For the remedy of this euill he that loueth to keepe them for his profit must take them before they be deliuered and pull off the haire or flesh vnderneath their belly and so put it vpon their nest that when the young one commeth forth it may not perish for cold and so the dam will be taught by experience of paine to do the like herselfe Thus farre Thomas Gypson an English physitian For Conies you may giue them Vine-leaues Fruits Herbes Grasse Bran Their meat and food Oatmell Mallowes the parings of Apples likewise Cabadges Apples themselues and Lettuce and I my selfe gaue to a cony blew wolfe-baine which she did presently eat with out hurt but Gallingale and blind Nettle they will not eat In the winter they wil eat hay the danger in their meat drinke oats and chaffe being giuen to them thrice a day when they eat greenes they must not drinke at all for if they do it is hazzard but they will incurre the Dropsie and at other times they must for the same cause drink but litle and that little must be alway fresh It is also dangerous to handle their yong ones in the absence of the dam for hir iealousie will easily perceiue it which causeth her so to disdain thē that either she biteth forsaketh or killeth them Foxes wil of their own acord hunt both Hares conies to kil and eat them Albertus the medicins in a Cony Touching their medicinall properties it is to be obserued that the brain of conies hath bin eaten for a good Antidot against poyson so also the Hart which is hard to be disgested hath the same operation that is in triacle There is also an approued medicine for the Squinancy or Quinsie take a liue cony burn her in an earthen pot to pouder then take a spoonful of that pouder in a draught of wine and drink the most part thereof and rubbe your throat with the residue and it shal cure with speed and ease as Marcellus saith The fat is good against the stopping of the bladder and difficulty of vrine being anointed at a fire vpon the hairy place of the
short Legs little feete long taile and White colour and the haires about the shoulders longer then ordinary is most coÌ„mended They are of pleasant disposition and will leape and bite without pinching and barke prettily and some of them are taught to stand vpright holding vp their fore legs like hands other to fetch and cary in their mouths that which is cast vnto them There be some wanton Women which admit them to their beds and bring vp their young ones in their owne bosomes for they are so tender that they sildome bring aboue one at a time but they loose their life It was reported that when Grego in Syracuse was to goe from home among other Gossips she gaue hir mayd charge of two thinges one that she should looke to her child when it cryed the other that she should keepe the litle dog within doores Publius had a little dog called Issa hauing about the necke too siluer bels vpon a silken Collar which for the neatnesse thereof seemed rather to be a picture then a creature whereof Martiall made this elegant Epigram comprehending the rare voyce and other gestures in it Issa est purior osculo columbae Issa est earior indicis lapillis Hanc tu si queritur loqui putabis Collo nexa cubat capitque somnos Et desiderio coacta ventris Sed blandopede suscitat toroque Castae tantus inest pudor catellae Pictam publius exprimit tabella Vt fit tam similis sibi nec ipsa Aut vtramque putabis esse veram Issa est blandior omnibus puellis Issa est delitiae eatella publij Sentit tristitiamque gaudiumque Vt suspiria nulla sentiantur Gutta pallia non fefallit vlla Deponi monet rogat leuari Hanc ne lux rapiat suprema totam In qua tam similem videbis issam Issam denique pone cum tabella Aut vtranque putabis esse pictam Marcellus Empiricus reciteth a certaine charme made of the rinde of a wild figtree held to the Spleene or liuer of a little dog and afterward hanged vp in the smooke to dry and pray that as the rind or barke dryeth so the liuer or Spleene of the dog may neuer grow and thereupon the dog saith that foolish Empericke shall neuer grow greater then it was at the time that the barke was hanged vp to drying To let this trifle goe I will end the discourse of these little dogs with one story of their loue and vnderstanding There was a certaine noble Woman in Sicily Aelianus A lamentable story of the discouery of an adulâ—erer by a little dog which vnderstanding her husband was gone along iorney from home sent to a louer I should say an adulterer she had who came by bribery mony giuen to her seruants she admitted him to her bed but yet priuately more for feare of punishenent then care of modesty and yet for all her craft she mistrusted not her little Dog who did see euery day where she locked vp this adulterer at last her husband came home before her louer was auoyded and in the night the little Dog seeing his true maister returned home ranne barking to the doore and leaped vp thereupon within which the Whoremonger was hidden and this he did oftentimes together fawning and scraping his Lord and maister also insomuch as he mistrusted and the iustly some strange euent At last he brake open the doore and found the adulterer ready Armed with his sword wherewithall he slew the goodman of the house vnawares and so enioyed the adulterate Woman for his wife for murther followeth if it go not before adultery This story is related by Aelianus to set forth a vertue of these little Dogs how they obserue the actions of them that nourish them and also some descretion betwixt good and euill The Dogs of Egypt are most fearefull of all other and their custome is to runne and drinke or drinke of the Ryuer Nilus running for feare of the Crocodils Aelianus Solinus Whereupon came the Prouerbe of a man that did any thing slightly or hastily Vt canis Nilo bibit Alcibiades had a Dog which he would not sell vnder 28. thousand Sesterces that is seuen hundred French Crownes it was a goodly and beautiful Dog yet he cut off his taile whereof he gaue no other reason being demaunded why he so blemished his Beast Pollux but onely that by that fact hee might giue occasion to the Athenians to talke of him The Dogges of Caramania can neuer be tamed for their men also are wilde and liue without al law and ciuility and thus much of Dogs in special In the next place I thoght good to insert into this story the treatise of English Dogs Aelianus first of all written in Latine by that famous Doctour in Phisicke Iohn Cay and since translated by A. F. and directed to that noble Gesner which is this that followeth that so the reader may chuse whether of both to affect best The Preamble or entrance into the Treatise following I Wrote vnto you well beloued friend Gesner not many years past a manifolde history containing the diuers forms and figures of Beasts Birds and Fishes the sundry shapes of plants and the fashions of Hearbes c. I wrote moreouer vnto you seuerally a certaine abridgement of dogs which in your discourse vppon the formes of Beasts in the second order of milde and tamable beasts wher you make mention of Scottish Dogs and in the winding vp of your letter written and directed to Doctour Turner comprehending a Catalogue or rehersall of your books not yet extant you promised to set fâ—râ—h in print and openly to publish in the face of the world among such your workes as are not yet come abroad to light and sight But because certain circumstances were wanting in my breuiary of English dogs as seemed vnto me I staied the publication of the same making promise to send another abroad which might be committed to the hands the eies the eares the minds and the iudgements of the Readers Wherefore that I might performe that precisely which I promised solemnly accomplish my determination and satisfie your expectation which are a man desirous and capable of all kind of knowledg and very earnest to be acquainted with al experiments I wil expresse and declare in due order the grand and generall kind of English dogs the difference of them the vse the properties and the diuers natures of the same making a tripartite diuision in this sort and manner All English dogges be either of a gentle kind seruing the game a homely kind apt for sundry necessary vses or a currish kind meete for may toies Of these three sorts of kindes so meane I to intreate that the first in the first place the last in the last roome and the middle sort in the middle seate be handled I call them vniuersally all by the name of English dogs as wel because England only as it hath in it English dogges so it is
of taking Elephants for they set on the ground very strong charged bent-bowes which are kept by manye of their strongest young men and so when the flockes of Elephants passe by they shoote their sharp arrowes dipped in the gall of Serpents and wound some one of them and follow him by the blood vntill he be vnable to make resistance There are three at euery bowe two which hold it and one that draweth the string Other againe watch the trees whereunto the beast leaneth when he sleepeth neere some Waters and the same they cutte halfe asunder whereunto when hee declyneth his bodye the Tree is ouerturned and the Beast also and beeing vnable to rise againe because of the short Nerues and no flexions in his Legs there he lyeth till the Watch-man come and cut off his head Aristotle describeth another manner of taking Elephants in this sorte The Hunter saith he getteth vp vpon a tamed Elephant and followeth the Wilde one till hee haue ouertaken it then commaundeth he the tame beast to strike the other and so continueth chasing and beating him til he haue wearied him and broken his vntameable nature Then doth the rider leape vppon the wearied and tyred Elephant and with a sharpe pointed Sickle doth gouerne him after the tame one and so in short space he groweth gentle And some of them when the ryder alighteth from their backes grow Wilde and fierce againe for which cause they binde their forelegges with strong bands and by this meanes they take both great and small old and young ones but as the old ones are more wilde and obstinate and so difficult to be taken so the younger keepe so much with the elder that a like impossibility or difficulty interposeth it selfe from apprehending them In the Caspian lake there are certaine fishes called Oxyrinchi out of whom is made such a firme glew Gillius that it will not be dissolued in ten daies after it hath taken hold for which cause they vse it in the taking of Elephants There are in the Island Zeira many Elephants whom they take on this manner In the Mountaines they make certaine cloysters in the earth hauing two great Trees standing at the mouth of the cloysters and in those trees they hang vp a great par-cullis gate within that Cloyster they place a tame female Elephant at the time of their vsuall copulation the wild Elephants doe speedily winde her and make to her and so at the last hauing found the way betwixt the two trees enter into her sometime twenty and sometime thirty at a time then are there two men in the said trees which cut the rope whereby the gate hangeth so it falleth downe and includeth the Elephants where they suffer them alone for sixe or seuen daies without meate whereby they are so infeebled and famished that they are not able to stand vpon their legs Then two or three stronge men enter in amonge them and with great staues and Clubbes be labour and cudgell them till by that meanes they grow tame and gentle and although an Elephant be a monster-great-beast and very subtill yet by these and such like meanes do the inhabitants of India and Aethiopia take many of them with a very small labour to their great aduantage Against these slights of men may be opposed the subtill and cautelous euasions of the beast auoyding all the foot-steps of men if they smell them vpon any herbe or leafe The subtilty of Elephants against their hunters and for their fight with the Hunters they obserue this order First of all they set them foremost which haue the best teeth that so they may not be afraid of Combat and when they are weary by breaking downe of trees they escape and fly away But for their Hunting they know that they are not hunted in India for no other cause then for their teeth and therefore to discourage the hunters they set them which haue the worst teeth before and reserue the strongest for the second encounter for their wisedome or naturall discretion is heerein to be admired that they will so dispose themselues in all their battailes when they are in chase that euer they fight by course and inclose the youngest from perill so that lying vnder the belly of their Dammes they can scarce be seene and when one of them flyeth they all flye away to their vsuall resting places stryuing which of them shall goe foremost And if it at any time they come to a wide and deepe Ditch which they cannot passe ouer without a bridge then one of them descendeth and goeth downe into the Ditch and standeth transuerse or Crosse the same by his great bodye filling vppe the empty partes and the residue passe ouer vpon his backe as vpon a bridge Afterward when they are all ouer they tarry and helpe their fellowe out of the Ditch or Trench againe by this slight or deuise one of them putteth downe to him his Legge and the other in the Ditch windeth his trunke about the same the residue standers by cast in bundels of Sprigs with their mouthes which the Elephant warily and speedily putteth vnder his feete and so raiseth himselfe out of the Trench againe Aelianus Tzetzes Plutarch and departeth with his fellowes But if they fall in and cannot finde any helpe or meanes to come forth they laye aside their naturall Wilde disposition and are contented to take meate and drinke at the handes of men whose presence before they abhorred and being deliuered they thinke no more vpon their former condition but in forgetfulnesse thereof remaine obedient to their deliuerers Being thus taken as it hath beene said it is also expedient to expresse by what Art and meanes they are Cicurated and tamed First of all therefore when they are taken The art of taming elepha Aelianus they are fastened to some Tree or Piller in the earth so as they can neyther kicke backeward nor Leape forwarde and there hunger thirst and famine like twoo most stronge and forcible Ryders abate their naturall wildenesse strength feare and hatred of men Afterward when their keepers perceiue by their deiection of minde that they beginne to be mollified and altered then they giue vnto them meate out of their hands vpon whom the beast doth cast a farre more fauorable and cheerefull eie considering their owne bondage and so at the last necessity frameth them vnto a contented and tractable course and inclination But the Indians by great labour and industry take their young Calues at their Watering places and so leade them away intising them by many allurementes of meate to loue and obey them so as they grow to vnderstand the Indian language but the elder Indian Elephants doe very hardly and sildome grow tame because of their remembrance of their former liberty by any bands and oppression neuerthelesse by instrumentall musicke ioyned with some of their coutrey songs and ditties they abate their fiercenesse and bring downe their high vntractable stomacks so as without all
already are manifested to accompany a mad Dog and that more often in Summer then in winter Albertus Albert. Liber Aetius When a Foxe feeleth himselfe sicke nature hath taught him to eate the gum of Pine-trees wherewithall he is not onely cured but also receiueth length of daies They are also vexed with the falling away of their haire called therefore Alopecia because Foxes are most commonly vexed therewith and as we see in plantes that some of them drye and consume through want of moysture to feede them other are suffocated and choaked by aboundance and as it were drowned in humidity so it happeneth in haire which groweth out of the body of beastes and the heades of men no otherwise then plants out of the earth and are therefore to be nourished by humours which if they faile and waxe drye the haire also shorteneth with them and as it were rotteth away in length but if they abound and ouerflowe then do they loosen the rootes of the haire and cause them to fall off totally This disease is called Alopecia and the other Ophiasis because it is not generall but only particular in one member or part of the body or head there it windeth or indenteth like a Serpents figure Mychaell Ferus affirmeth that sometime the liuer of the Foxe inflameth and then it is not cured but by the vlcerous blood flowing to the skin and that euill blood causeth the Alopecia or falling away of the haire for which cause as is already said a Foxes skin is little worth that is taken in the summer time The length of the life of a Foxe is not certainely knowen yet as Stumpsius and others affirme The length of their life it is longer then the life of a Dog If the vrine of a Foxe fall vpon the grasse or other Herbs it drieth and killeth them and the earth remaineth barren euer afterward The sauour of a Foxe is more strong then of any other vulgar beast he stincketh at Nose and taile Varinus for which cause Martiall calleth it Olidam Vulpem an Olent or smelling beast Hic olidam clamosus ages in retia vulpem Touching the hunting or taking of Foxes I approue the opinion of Xenophon who auoucheth The hunting and taking of Foxes leporum capturam venatico studia quam vulpium digniorem that is the Hunting of the Hare is a more noble game or pastime then the hunting of the Foxe This beast is more fearefull of a Dogge then a Hare for the onely barking of Dogges causeth him to rise many times from his denne or lodgings out of the earth or from the middle of bushes Aelianus briars and brambles wherein he hid himselfe and for his hunting this is to be obserued Oppianus that as in hunting of a Hart it hath beene already related the Hunter must driue the beast with the winde because it hindereth his refrigeration so in hunting of a Foxe he driue him againe the winde and then he preuenteth all his crafty and subtill agitations and diuises for it stayeth his speede in running and also keepeth his sauour fresh alway in the Nose of the Dogs that follow him Dellisarius for the Dogges that kill a Fox must be swifte stronge and quicke sented and it is not good to put on a few at once but a good company together for be assured the Foxe will not loose his owne blood till hee hazzard some of his enemies and with his taile which he windeth euery way doth hee delude the hunters when the Dogs are pressed neere vnto him and are ready to bite him Textâ—r he striketh his taile betwixt his Legs and with his owne vrine wetteth the same and so instantly striketh it into the dogs mouths whereof when they haue tasted so many of them as it touched will commonly leaue off and follow no farther Their teeth are exceeding sharp and therefore they feare not to assault or contend with beasts exceeding their stature strength and quantity Somtime he leapeth vp into a tree and there standeth to be seene and bayed at by the Dogs and Hunters Oppianus like as a Champion in some fort or Castle and although fire be cast at him yet will he not discend down among the dogs yea he endureth to be beaten and pierced with Hunters speares but at length being compelled to forsake his holde and giue ouer to his enemies downe he leapeth falling vpon the crew of barking Dogs like a flash of lightning and where he layeth hold there he neuer looseth teeth or aswageth wrath til other dogs haue torne his limbs and driuen breath out of his body If at any time he take the earth then with Terriour dogges they ferret him out of his den againe In some places they take vpon them to take him with nets which sildome proueth because with his teeth he teareth them in pieces yet by Calentius this deuise is allowed in this verse Et laqueo Vulpes decipe casse foïnas But this must be wrought vnder the earth in the caues dennes or furrowes made of pur-which is to be performed two manner of waies one by placing the gin in some perch of Wood so as that assoone as the beast is taken by the Necke it may presently fly vp and hang him for otherwise with his teeth hee will sheare it asunder and escape away aliue or else that neere the place where the rope is fastened to slippe vppon the heade of the Foxe there bee placed some thicke collor or brace so as hee can neuer bite it asunder The French haue a kind of Ginne to take them by the Legges which they call Hausepied and I haue heard of some which haue found the Foxes Legge in the same Gin A noble instance of a Foxes coragâ— bitten off with his owne teeth from his body rather putting himselfe to that torment with his owne teeth then to expect the mercy of the Hunter and so went away vppon three feet and other haue counterfeited themselues dead restraining their breath and winking not stirring any member when they saw the Hunter come to take them out of the Ginne The subtlery of a Fox take in a snare who comming and taking his Legge forth not suspecting any life in them so soone as the Foxe perceiueth himselfe free away hee went and neuer gaue thankes for his deliuerance for this cause Blondus saith truely that onely wise and olde Hunters are fit to take Foxes for they haue so many deuises to beguile men and deliuer themselus that it is hard to know when he is safely taken vntill he be throughly dead They also vse to set vp Ginnes for them bayted with Chickens in Busnes and Hedges but if the setter be not at hand so soone as the Foxe is insnared it is daungerous but that the beast will deliuer it selfe In some places againe they set vp an iron toyle hauing in it a ring for the foxe to thrust in his head and through that sharpe pikes at
the farther end whereof is placed a piece of flesh so that when the hungry foxe commeth to bite at the meate and thrusteth in his head the pikes sticke fast in his necke and he ineuitably insnared Moreouer as the harmefulnesse of this beast hath troubled many so also they haue deuised moe engins to deceiue and take him for this cause there is another pollicy to kill him by a bowe full bent with a sharpe arrow and so tenderly placed as is a trap for a Mouse and assoone as euer the foxe treadeth thereon presently the arrow is discharged into his owne bowels by the waight of his foote Againe for the killing of this beast they vse this sleight they take of Bacon-grease or Bacon as much as ones hand and rost the same a little and therewith annoint their shoesoles and then take the Liuer of a Hogge cut in pieces and as they come out of the wood where the beast lodgeth they must scatter the said pieces in their foote-steps and drawe the carcasse of a dead Cat after them the sauour whereof will prouoke the beast to follow the foot-steps then haue they a cunning Archer or handler of a Gunne who obserueth and watcheth in secret till the Beast come within his reach and so giueth him his great deadly wound But if the Fox be in the earth and they haue found his denne then they take this course to worke him out They take a long thing like a Bee-hiue and open at one end and yron wiers at the other like a grate and at the open end is set a little doore to fall downe vppon the mouth and to inclose the Fox when he entereth in by touching of a small rod that supporteth that doore This frame is set to the Foxes dens mouth and all the other passages watched and stopped The Fox hauing a desire to go forth seeing light by the wiers misdeemeth no harme and entereth into the hiue which is wrought close into the mouth of his den and being entered into it the rodde turneth the dore fast at the lower end or entraunce and so the fox is intrapped to be disposed of at the will of the taker The beast â—s 〈◊〉 â—miesf 〈◊〉 Foxes are annoied with many enemies and to beginne with the least the small flies and called gnats do much trouble and infect them against whome the foxe vseth this policie He taketh a mouthful of straw or soft hay or haire and so goeth into the water dipping his hinder parts by litle and litle then the flies betake themselues to his heade which he keepeth out of water which the fox feeling dippeth or diueth also the same vnder water to his mouth Albertus wherein he holdeth the hay as aforesaid whereunto the flies runneth for sanctuary or dry refuge which the fox perceiuing suddenly casteth it out of his mouth and runneth out of the water by this meanes easing himselfe of al those enemies In like manner as al beasts are his enemies and hee friend and louing to none so with strength courage and policie he dealeth with euery one not onely against the beastes of the land but also against the monsters of the sea When he findeth a neast of waspes in the earth or in other places as in Trees he laieth his taile to the hole and so gathereth into it a great many of them which he presently dasheth against the Wall or Tree or stones adioyning and so destroyeth them and thus he continueth vntill he haue killed them al and so maketh himselfe execute to their heapes of hony Gillius His manner is when he perceiueth or seeth a flocke of foule to flye in the aire to rowle himselfe in red earth making his skin to looke bloody and lie vpon his backe winking with his eie and holding in his breath as if he were dead which thing the birds namely Crows Rauens and such like obseruing because of the hatred of his person they for ioy alight triumph at his ouerthrow and this the fox indureth for a good season till oportunity seruing his turne and some of the fowle come neare his snowt then suddenly hee catcheth some one of them in his mouth feeding vpon him like a liuing and not a dead foxe and so doth deuoure and eate him as the Leopard doth deuoure and eate Apes and the Sea-frog other little fishes In like sort he deceiueth the Hedgehogge for when the hedghog perceiueth the foxe comming to him he rowleth himselfe togither like a foote-ball and so nothing appeareth outward exeept his prickles which the fox cannot indure to take into his mouth and then the crafty fox to compasse his desire licketh gently the face and snowt of the Hedgehogge by that meanes bringing him to vnfold himselfe againe and to stand vpon his legs which being done he instantly deuoureth or else poisoneth the beast with the vrine that he rendereth vpon the Hedgehogges face and at other times hee goeth to the waters and with his taile draweth fishes to the brimme of the Riuer and when that he obserueth a good booty hee casteth the Fishes cleane out of the water vppon the dry lande and then devoureth them All kinds of Hawkes are enemies to foxes and foxes to them because they liue vppon Carrion and so in the prouince of Vla. Auicen saw a fox and a Crow fight together a longe season and the Crow with his talentes so bee gripling the foxes mouth that he coulde not barke and in the meane time she beat and picked his head with her bill vntil he bled againe The Eagles fight with foxes and kil them and Olaus Magnus affirmeth that in the Northern Regions they lay Egges and hatch their young in those skinnes which they themselus haue stripped off from foxes and other beasts The Kites Vultures and wolues are enemies to foxes because they are al flesh-deuouring-creaturs but the fox which hath so many enemies by strength or subtilties ouer commeth al Whereupon Persius calleth a subtill man a Foxe saying Astutam vapido seruas sub pectore vulpem The medicinall vses of this beast are these first as Pliny and Marcellus affirme a Fox sod in water till nothing of the Foxe be left whole except the bones The medicines arising out of Foxes and the Legges or other parts of a gouty body washed and daily bathed therein it shall driue away all paine and griefe strengthning the defectiue and weake members so also it cureth all the shrinking vp and paines in the sinnewes and Galen attributeth the same vertue to an Hyaena sod in Oyle and the lame person bathed therein for it hath such power to euacuate and draw forth whatsoeuer euill humour aboundeth in the body of man Sextus that it leaueth nothing hurtfull behinde Neuerthelesse such bodies are soone againe replenished through euill dyet and relapsed into the same disease againe The Fox may be boyled in fresh or salt water with annise and time and with his skin on whole and not slit or
her to the nets must driue her in with great cry and being in the net he must gently restraine the Dogs and make signification to the hunter that she is taken or else if it faile let him shew the contrary The keeper of the nets must keepe silence least by hearing of his voice she be auerted and the hunter must take the Dogs and go to the forme there to start the Hare and the fashion was in auntient time among the Pagans first of all to call vpon Apollo and Diana their immagined Goddes of hunting to speede their sport to whome they promised part of their game But when the dog is sent forth and after much winding and casting about falleth into the footsteppe of the Hare then let him loose another and seeing them runne in one course vncouple all the houndes let him follow after speaking to his dogs by name saying nowe A then B. Hoika C. and such like Words of Art not pressing them too eagerly at the beginning but gentlie encoraging them to the pursuit The Dogs take this for a signe of ioy and being glad to gratifie their maisters run along with gallant cry turning ouer the doubtful footsteps now one way then another like the cuts of Indentures through rough and plain crooked and straight direct and compasse wagging of their tailes and glistering with their eies vntil they find the Hares form then they make signification thereof to the hunter with their tailes voices and paces nowe running together now standing stil deuided asunder they set vpon the beast who sudainly riseth and turnes the cry of the hounds after hir flight then must the hunters cry out Io Dogs there boies there Io A Io B Io C and the shortest word is fittest to applawde the Dogs Let the hunter also runne after so as he neuer meet the Hare and trouble the hounds the poore Hare gets her out of sight and runs to the place where she was first started but if she fall into the nets by the way the keeper of the nets must giue token to the hunters by his hollowing voice after the vsuall manner of woodmen O Oha O ohe that the game is at an end and then call the Dogs by name If the Hare run farre and stand long on foot and if the dogs passe ouer the Hares footsteps and discry them not then must the hunter recal them with a peculiar hunting terme and lead them to the place or casting about it as neare as he can rebuking the Dogges that range at vncertainties and exhorting them that be diligent who when they haue found the footings againe run on as before with al alacrity In the mean season let the hunter stand still til the dogs do infalliably demonstrat vnto him that they haue found the game againe then let the hunter proceede as before exhorting his dogs to the sport and if it last al day the hunter must regard that he restrain and keepe the Dogges to the wearyed Hare least if they start a fresh one their labour be lost If it be in Summer about noone let him rest his dogges for strengthning of their feete till the heat be ouer if it be snowy weather and the winde set Northerly the footesteps remaine long and are not easely melted but if the South winde blowe the foote steps are very quickly shortened and neither when the snowe falleth fast or the winde bloweth strong must the Dogges be ledde foorth to hunting for the snow burneth the Dogges noses and the frost killeth the heat of the Hares foot then let the hunter take his nets and some other companion with him and go to the woodes or mountaines tracing out the foot-steps of the beast in the snow vnto the forme which is in some steep or shadowed place where the windes blow ouer the snow for in such places doth the Hare seek her lodging hauing found it let him not come too neare least he raise her from hir seat but cast round about and if he find no footings from that place he may take it for graunted that the Hare is found Hauing so done let him leaue her and seeke another before the snow be melt and the footings dashed hauing respect to the time of the day that so he may inclose and take them before the euening then let him draw his nets round about them compasing the whole plat wherein shee resteth and then raise her from her stoole if she auoide the net he must follow her by the foot vnto her next lodging place which will not be far off if he follow her close for the snow doth weary her and clot vpon her hinder feet so as the hunter may take her with his hand or kil her with his staffe Blondus showeth another way of taking Hares The hunters spread and deuide themselues by the vntilled and rough wais leading a Grey-hound in a slip beating the bushes hedges and thornes and many times sending before them a quicke smelling Hound which raiseth the Hare out of her muse and then let goe the Grey-hound with hunting terms and cryes exhorting him to follow the game and many times the Dogs teare the Hare into many pieces but the hunters must pull them bleeding from the mouth of their Dogs Others againe lie in waite behinde Bushes and trees to take the Hare on a sudden and some in the vineyards for when they are fat resty they are easily ouertaken especially in the cold of winter Cyrus as appeareth in Zenophon was taught to make ditches for the trapping of Hares in their course and the Eagles and Hawkes watch the Hare when she is raised and hunted by the houndes and set vpon her on the right side whereby they kill and take her so that it is true which was said at the beginning that Hares are hunted by men and beasts Hauing thus discoursed of hunting and taking of hares Of parks and warrens of Hares now it followeth also in a word or two to discourse of Parkes or inclosed Warrens wherein Hares Conies Deere Boares and other such beastes may alwaies bee ready as it were out of a store-house or seminary to serue the pleasure and vse of their maisters Grapaldus saith that the first Roman that euer inclosed wilde beasts was Fuluius Herpinus and Gillius saith that Varro had the first warren of Hares the manner was saith Columella that Richmen possessed of whole Towns and Lordships neare some village inclosed a peece of land by paile mud-wall or bushe storing the same with diuers wilde beastes and such a one there was in the Lordship that Varro bought of Marcus Piso in Tusculanum and Quintus Hortentius saw at Lawretum a wood inclosed containing fifty Akers wherein were nourished all sortes of wild beasts within the compasse of a wall Quintus Althea commanded his forester to call the beastes together before him and his guestes sitting at supper and instantly he founded his pipe at the voice whereof there assembled together a great company of all
helpeth children to breed teeth easily if the gummes be rubbed therewith for it hath the same power against inflamation that hony and Butter hath being drunke in wine and the stones thereof rosted and eaten it is good for him which hath any paine in his bladder Serenus and if the vrine exceede ordinary for staying thereof take the braine heereof to be drunke in wine The tooth of a hare layed to that part where the teeth ake easeth them Take the mawe with the dung in it Rasis and wash it in old wine so as the dung may mingle therewith and then giue it to one sicke of the bloody flixe and it shal cure him The rennet hath the same vertue that is in a Calues or Kyds and whereas Nicander praiseth it in the first place for the vertue it hath in it against poyson Nicoon an ancient Phisitian giueth it the second place Aristotle Gallen for it is full of sharpe digesting power and therefore hath a drying quality It dissolueth the congealed and coagulated milke in the belly and also clotted blood within in the stomach more effectually then the rennet of any other beast being alway the better for the age Being mingled with vineger it is drunke against poyson Dioscorides and also if a man or Beast bee annoynted with it no Serpent Scorpion Spider or wilde Mouse whose teeth are venomous will venter to sting the body so annointed or else inwardly take thereof three spoonfuls with wine against the said bitings or of any Sea-fish or Hemlocke after the wound receiued and with vineger it is soueraigne against all poison of Chamaeleons or the blood of Bulles The same being drunke in vineger or applyed outwardly to womens breasts disperseth the coagulated milke in them also being mingled with Snailes or any other shelfish which feede vpon greene herbes or leaues it draweth forth Thornes Dartes Arrowes or Reedes out of the belly or mingled with gum of Franckincense Oyle bird-lime Marcellus and Bees-glew of each an equall quantity with vineger it stauncheth blood and all yssues of blood flowing out of the belly and it also ripeneth an old sore according to the saying of Serenus Si inducas leporis asper sa coagula vino Being layed to the kings euill in Lint with vineger it disperseth and cureth it also it healeth Cankers it cureth a quartan Ague also mixed with Wine and drunke with vineger against the falling euill and the stone in the bladder If it bee mixed with Sagapanum and Wine Amyney and infused into the eares giueth help as also the paine of the teeth It dissolueth blood in the lights and easeth the paine of blood congealed in your stomacke Dioscorides when one spiteth blood if he drinke Samia and Mirtle wine with the rennet of a hare it shal giue him very present ease The later learned Physitians take a drinke made of vineger and Water and giue it warme to eiect and expell blood out of the Lightes and if any drop thereof cleaue in the bowels then doe they three or foure times together iterate this potion and after apply and minister all binding astringent medicines and emplasters and for the bloody-flix it is good to be vsed It is held also profitable by Dioscorides and other the ancients that if the pap or brest of a Woman bee annointed therewith it stayeth the sucking infantes loosenesse of the belly or else giuen to the child with Wine or if it haue an Ague with Water There is saith Aristotle in the rennet a fiery quality but not in the highest degree for as fire dissolueth and discerneth so doth this in milke distinguish the ayery part from the watery and the watery from the earthye Wherefore when one tasteth an olde rennet he shall thinke hee tasteth an old putrified Cheese but as leauen is to bread which hardneth ioyneth and seasoneth the same so is rennet to Cheese and therfore both of them haue the same qualityes of dissoluing and binding Galen affirmeth that he cured one of gowty tumours and swellings by applying thereunto olde and strong putrified cheese beaten in a morter and mixed with the salted fatte or leg of a Swine If a man sicke of the bloody-flixe drinke thereof in a reere egge two scruples for three daies together fasting it will procure him remedy For pacifieng the Collicke drinke the rennet of a Hare the same mingled with Goose grease stayeth the incontinensie of vrine it also retaineth womens flowers If it be drunk with vineger it helpeth the secunds and being applied with Saffron and the iuyce of leeks driueth a dead child out of the wombe If it be drunke three or foure daies together after child-birth it causeth barrennesse There are saith Pliny a kind of Wormes which being bound to women before the sunne rysing in a harts skin cause them that they cannot conceiue this power is called Afocion Masarius saith that if a Woman drinke this rennet to her meate before she conceiue with child she shall be deliuered of a Male child and such is the foolish opinion of them which affirme at this day that if men eate parsly or white buds of blacke yuie it maketh them vnable to carnall copulation Aetuis The rennet of a Hare easeth and disperseth al tumors and swellings in womens breasts the Lights of a Hare powdred with salt with Franckinsens and white Wine helpeth him that is vexed with the falling sicknesse if he receiue it thirty daies together Sextus ascribeth the same remedy to the hart and Pliny commendeth the Lights to heale the paine in the eies by binding it vpon the eies Being drunke in powder it cureth the secrets If the heeles be troubled with kybes they are healed with the fat of Beares but if they bee wrunge with a cold they are healed with the dust of a Hares haire or the powder of the Lights Likewise when the foote is hurt with straight shooes it hath the same operation The ancient Magi tooke the skin of an Oxe in powder with the vrine of Boies and sprinkled it on the toes of there feete binding the heart of a Hare to the hands of him that hath a quartan Ague and some cure it by hanging the heart of a young hare or Leueret to the necke or arme Sextus in the beginning of the fit of him that is so visited The heart of a hare dried mixed with Franckincense or Manna in white wine drunke thirty daies together cureth the falling sicknesse Pliny For the paine in the belly take the same medicine and being drunke with warme water mingled with Samia cureth the fluxes of women also if a man that hath the fluxe eat the Liuer of a Hare dipped in sharpe vineger it helpeth him if hee bee Liuer sicke or if one haue the falling sicknesse eate the quantity of an ounce thereof and it helpeth him The gall of a Hare the Hart Lungs Lights and liuer of a Weasill mixed together three drams one dram of Castoreum
thinner and better blood and therefore it is to be preferred only the measure of the prouender is lefte to the discretion of the horsse-keeper and there is no meate more wholsome for a horsse than barly and chaffe because it wil make him ful of life and also able to indure labor yet not ouer fat In England in many placeâ— they giue their horsses bread made of Fitches beans and pease When one is to make a iourney on horsse-back let him not giue his horse to much prouinder the noone before but somewhat the more hay and bread steeped in wine and also let him serue him sooner at night than ordinary that so the beast may take the more rest There be which refuse to giue horsses wet prouender or steeped bread because they conceiue that it will breed in them loathsomnesse of meat but the truth is a reasonable horsse-keeper preuenteth that mischeefe and besides the meat of a horsse is altogither so drie that the beast himselfe is indangered to be sicke of that disease and therefore it is as safe to giue him moistened foode sometimes as well as to giue him bread mingled with salt Camerarius When a horsse is weary or sweateth let him not drinke nor eat prouender but after he is walked a litle while giue him hay first of al couering him with a large cloath and remember that hay is not to be cast before a horsse as it is out of the reeke but first of all it must be pulled and shaken betwixt the handes for the auoiding of dust and other filth Restrain the horsse as much as you may from eating the litter vnder his feet for euen the best meat so defiled is vnholsome It is also good sometimes to suffer him to picke vp his meat on the ground betwixt his forelegs that will make his necke to grow thinner leanner and more comely Let his necke be fast bound in the stable with a Letherne collar and bind with a manicle his fore-legge to the hinder leg on the contrary side and so shal his legs be preserued in more health because they cannot mooue out of their place but with difficulty Concerning the drinke of horsses something more is to be added in this place and namely brackysh and troubled water such as runneth softly as in great pondes is fittest for horsse because that water being hot and thicke nourisheth better but the swift Water is colder Râ—sâ—ius and therefore more vnholsome but yet in hot times as in Summer the sweet and clearer water is more conuenient if custome bee not against it And because a horsse except he drinke freely can neuer be fat let his mouth oftentimes be washed within with salt and wine and that will make him eat and drinke more liberally and yet the running water is more wholsome for horsses because whatsoeuer is moueably fluent is lesse subiect to poyson then that which standeth still but if a horsse sweat or be weary it is not safe to let him drinke any thing except he first stale for in such cases followeth distention And it is better to turne or lead forth your horsse to water then to bring it vnto them And if at any time necessity cause this to be done then let the Water be very cleare and fresh His stable or lodging ought to be ordered as neither it offend him by cold in winter nor yet thorough heat in Summer for both these extremeties are pernicious and therfore when the weather is extreame colde then must the horsses backe and belly be couered with a cloath and when on the contrary it exceedeth in heat then must his litter be taken away Also in heate he must bee couered with linnen to auiode flies and in cold with woollen to helpe nature likewise it is good toward night to picke cleanse and open his hooues with some artificiall instrument and to thrust into the hollow cow-dung or in defect thereof horse-dung with a little strawe that so he may not shake it out againe but this is not good to be done euerie daye but rather euery second day and it is good to mingle therewith sewet or greace or els a new laide Egge with warme â—shes In auncient time they vsed not to shoo their horsses with yron vntill the daies of Catullus who remembreth this custome saying Ferream vt soleam tenaci in voragine mula So that it seemeth that this deuise was first of al inuented for mules These horsse-shooes ought to be round like his feet and not heauy least the horsses nimblenes be thereby hindered great care must be had in nailing or seting theÌ„ on least the tender and fleshy part of the foot be thereby pierced Pollux Another charge of a horsse-keeper is to keepe his horsses lippes soft tender and gentle so as he may more sencibly feele his bit and for this cause let him often rub them with his hands and warme Water and if neede require with oyle also and in handling of a horsse this must be obserued for a generall rule that neither he come to the horsse right before his face nor behind his taile because both these are dangerous to the rider least by his heeles or mouth hee harme him but on his side he may safely set vpon him or handle his horsse and when he leadeth him he must likewise goe on his side Likewise good and painefull dressing of a horsse is no small meanes to retaine him in in sound and perfect health and therfore he must often be touched with the curry-comb and afterward with a handfull of strawe so as the hand may follow the stroke to lay the haire smooth and their fashion was in old time to brush ouer their horsses with a little tone linnen instrument made like a sword whereby they excusse all dust from the beast and heerein it is wisedome to beginne at the head and mane and so to descende to other parts and to touch the horsses backe gently he may wash the head and mane because it being so bony it is daungerous least the combe offend and greeue the beast except it be layed on very tenderly but it is not good to wash the legges because daily washing softneth the hoofe by sliding downe of the Water and therefore it is sufficient onely to stroke them downe with his hands The neather part also of the belly is not to be kept ouer clean for the more it is clensed with water the more is the horsse pained therein Camerarius when a horsse is dressed it is good to bring him out of the stable that so in the open ayre hee may be tyed in a longer halter and seeme to be at liberty whereby he shall be brought to more cleannesse and tractable gentlenesse standing vppon some smooth stones till all the dust and loofe haires both by the combe and brush be driuen away and in the meane time the stable be emptied and this is to be performed before the horsses watering You must also
foreheade and of his temples and also of his taile with a sharpe hot yron that the corrupt humours may yssue outward That done take hot brickes or else a pan of fresh burning coales and hold it nigh vnto his belly and flankes to the entent that they may bee thoroughly warmed and being so warmed annoint them al ouer with oyle de Bav or Dialthea to defend his body from the cold and let his head be well couered and al his bely kept warme Yea and it were good to bath his head sometime as Russius saith with a bath made of Rew Wormewoode Sage Iuneper Bay leaues and Hysop And let his drinke be warme water mingled with Wheat meale yea and to make it the more comfortable it were good as Russius saith to put thereunto some Cinamon Ginger Galingale such hot pieces And his meat in Winter season would bee no other but sodden corne or warme mashes made of ground Malt and wheat bran in summer season if he went to grasse I think it would do him most good so that he go in a dry warm ground for by feeding alwaies downeward he shall purge his head the better as Russius saith Thus much of the Glanders and mourning of the Chine Now we wil speake somwhat of the strangullion according to the opinion of the Authors though not to the satisfaction perhaps of our English Ferrers Of the strangullion or Squinancy THe Strangullion called of the Latines Angina according to the Physitians is an inflamation of the inward partes of the throate and as I saide before is called of the Greeks Synanchi which is as much to say in English as strangling wherof this name strangullion as I thinke is deriued for this disease doth strangle euery man or beast and therefore is numbred amongst the perilous and sharp diseases called of the Latines Morbi accuti of which strangilng the physitians in mans body make foure differences The first and worst is when no part within the mouth nor without appereth manifestly to be inflamed and yet the patient is in great perill of strangling The second is when the inwarde parts of the throat onely be inflamed The third is when the inward and outward partes of the throat be both inflamed The fourth is when the muscles of the necke are inflamed or the inward ioynts thereof so loosened as they straiten thereby both the throat or wesand or wind-pipe for short breath is incident to all the foure kinds before recited and they proceede all of one cause that is to say of some collerick or bloody-fluxion which comes out of the branches of the throat-vaines into those parts and there breedeth some hot inflamation But now to proue that a horse is subiect to this disease you shall hear what Absirtus Hierocles Vegetius and others doe say Absirtus writing to his friend a certaine Ferrer or horse-leach called Aistoricus speaketh in this manner When a Horse hath the strangvllion it quickly killeth him the signes whereof be these His temples will be hollow his tong will swell and hang out of his mouth his eies also will be swollen and the passage of his throat stopt so as he can neither eat nor drinke All these signes be also confirmed by Hierocles Moreouer Vegetius rendereth the cause of this disease affirming that it proceedeth of aboundance of subtile blood which after long trauell will inflame the inward or outward muscles of the throat or wisand or such affluence of blood may come by vse of hot meats after great trauell being so alteratiue as they cause those parts to swell in such sort as the Horse can neither eat nor drinke nor draw his breath The cure according to vegetius is in this sort First bath his mouth and tongue well with hot water and then annoint it with the gal of a Bull that done giue him this drinke Take of old oyle two pound of olde wine a quart nine figs and nine Leekes heads well stamped and braied together And after you haue boiled these a while before you straine them put therunto a little Nitrum Alexandrinum and giue him a quarte of this euery morning and euening Absirtus and Hierocles would haue you to let him blood in the palate of his mouth and also to poure wine and oile into his nostrils and also giue him to drinke this decoction of Figs and Nitrum sodden together or else to anoint his throat within with nitre oyle and hony or else with hony hogs dung mingled together which differeth not much from Galen his medicine to be giuen vnto man For he saith that hony mingled with the powder of hogs dung that is white and swallowed downe doth remedy the squanancy presently Absirtus also praiseth the oyntment made of Bdellium and when the inflamation beginneth somwhat to decrease he saieth it is good to purge the horse by giuing him wild Cocumber and Nitre to drink Let his meat be grasse if it may be gotten or else wet hay and sprinkled with Nitre Let his drinke also be lukewarme water with some barly meale in it Of the Cough OF Coughes some be outward and some be inwarde Those bee outward which doe come of outward causes as by eating a feather or by eating dusty or sharpe straw and such like things which tickling his throate causeth him to cough you shal perceiue it by wagging and wrying his head in his coughing and by stamping somtime with his foote laboring to get out the thing that grieueth him and cannot The cure according to Martin is thus Take a Willow wand rowled throughout with a fine linnen clout and then annoint it all ouer with hony and thrust it downe his throat drawing your hand to and fro to the intent it may either driue down the thing that grieueth him or else bring it vp and do this twice or thrice annointing euery time the sticke with fresh hony Of the inward and wet cough OF inward Coughs some be wet and some be dry The wet cough is that commeth of cold taken after some great heat giuen to the Horsse dissoluing humors which being afterward congealed do cause obstruction and stopping in the lungs And I call it the wet cough because the Horse in his coughing will voide moist matter at his mouth after that it is once broken The signes be these The Horsse will be heauy and his eies wil run a water and he wil forsake his meate and when he cougheth he thrusteth out his head and reacheth with great paine at the first as though hee had a dry cough vntill the fleame be broken and then hee will cough more hollow which is a signe of amendment And therfore according to Martins experience to the intent the fleam may breake the sooner it shal be necessary to keepe him warme by clothing him with a double cloth and by littering him vp to the belly with fresh straw and then to giue him this drinke take of barly one peck and boile it in 2. or 3. gallons of
weare the same whosoeuer seeth him shal fal in loue with him besides the Beast Also the marow of the right foot is profitable for a Woman that loueth not her husband if it be put into her nostrils And with the powder of the left claw they which are anointed therwith it being first of al decocted in the blood of a weasil do fal into the hatred of al men And if the nailes of any beast bee found in his mawe after he is slain it signifieth the death of some of his hunters And to conclude such is the folly of the Magitians that they beleeue the transmigration of soules not only out of one man into another but also of man into Beasts And therefore they affirm that their men Symis and religious votaries departing life send their soules into Lyons Paâ—phirius and their religious women into Hyaenaes The excrements or bones comming out of the excrements when it is killed are thought to haue vertue in them against magicall incantations And Democritus writeth that in Cappadocia and Mesia by the eating of the hearbe Therionarcha all wilde beastes fall into a deadly sleepe and cannot be recouered but by the aspersion of the vrine of this beast And thus much for the first kind now followeth the second THE SECOND KIND OF HYAENA called Papio or Dabuh THis beast aboundeth neare Caesaria in quantity resembling a Foxe but in wit and disposition a Wolfe the fashion is The region and quantity being gathered together for one of them to go before the flocke singing or howling and all the rest answering him with correspondent tune In haire it resembleth a Fox their voices are so shrill and sounding that although they be very remote and farre off yet do men heare them as if they were hard by And when one of them is slaine The lamentation for the dead Albertus Bellunensis The seuerall names the residue flocke about his carcasse howling like as they made funerall lamentation for the dead When they growe to bee very hungry by the constraint of famine they enter into the Graues of men and eate their dead bodyes yet is their fleshe in Syria Damascus and Berutus eaten by men It is called also Randelos Abenaum Aldabha Dabha Dahab and Dhoboha which are deriued from the Hebrew word Deeb or Deeba Dabuh is the Arabian name The parts naturall disposition and the Africans call him Leseph his feete and legs are like to a mans neither is it hurtfull to other beastes being a base and simple creature The colour of it is like a Beare and therefore I Iudge it to be Arctocyon which is ingendred of a beare and a dogge and they barke onely in the night time They are exceedingly delighted with Musicke such as is vsed by pipes and tymbrels The manner of their taking wherefore when the hunters haue found out their caues they spred their nets and snares at the mouth thereof and afterwards striking vp their instruments the seely beast inconsiderat of all fraude commeth out and is taken the picture hereof is formerly expressed And there was one of these in Germanie in the yeere of our Lord 1551. at the Citty Auspurg to be seene publikely It was brought out of the wildernesse of India it did eate apples peares and other fruites of trees and also bread but especially it delighted in drinking of wine when it was an hungry it climed vp into trees and did shake the boughes to make the fruite fall and it is reported that when it is in the tree it feareth not an Elephant but yet auoydeth all other beastes which it is not able to resist It was of a chearefull nature but then especially when it saw a woman whereby it was gathered that it was a lustfull beast His foure feete were deuided like a mans fingers and the female euer bringeth foorth twins a male and a female together It continually holdeth vp his tayle shewing the hole behind for at euery motion it turneth that as other beastes doe their head It hath a short tayle and but for that I should iudge it to be a kind of Ape I know not whether it be that kinde of little Wolfe which Bellonius saith aboundeth in Cilicia and Asia which in the night time raueneth and commeth to the bodies of sleeping men taking away from them their bootes shooes caps or bridles when they are shut vp in the night time they barke like dogges but being at libertie they liue two hundred in a company so that there is no beast so frequent as these in all Cilicia As for the golden Woolfe spoken of by Oppianus I deferre the description of it to his due place for they are not all of one colour and thus much shall suffice for the second kinde of Hyaena OF THE CROCVTA The region proportion and other qualities THe third kind of the Hyaena is called Crocuta not the Gulon aforesaid but another different from that which is said to be an Aethiopian foure-footed beast because it is ingendred betwixt a lionesse and an Hyaena His teeth are all of one bone being very sharpe on both sides of his mouth and included in fleshlike as in a case that they may not be dulled with their teeth they breake any thing It is said also by Solinus that it neuer winketh that their nature seemeth to be tempered betwixt a dogge and a Woolfe yet is it more fierce then either of both more admirable in strength and especially of the teeth and belly hauing power to breake and digest any bone it imitateth also the voice of a man to deuour them as is said before in the Hyaena In the Region Dachinabades which is a mediterranean Country in the East containing great and high mountaines Amongst other wild Beasts are abundance of these Crocutâ—â—s and at the marriage of Antonius the sonne of Seuerus the Emperour to Plautilla the daughter of Plautianus amongest the spectacles set foorth for the delight of the beholders was a combat betwixt an Elephant and this beast which before that time was neuer to be seene at Rome as Dion reporteth and thus much for the thirde kinde of Hyaena except I may ad thereunto that Beast which the Italians call Loupchatt that is Lupus Catus a Wolfe-cat resembling in face a cat with sharpe and harmefull clawes being betwixt a blacke and spotted colour and was called an Indian wolfe and this was to be publickely seene in the Byshops castle at Trent OF THE MANTICHORA THis beast or rather Monster as Ctesias writeth is bred among the Indians hauing a treble rowe of teeth beneath and aboue whose greatnesse roughnesse and feete are like a Lyons his face and eares like vnto a mans his eies gray and collour red his taile like the taile of a Scorpion of the earth armed with a sting casting forth sharp pointed quiâ—ls his voice like the voice of a small trumpet or pipe being
Although about this matter there be sundry opinions of men some making question whether it be true that the Lyon will spare a prostrate suppliant making confession vnto him that hee is ouercome yet the Romans did so generally beleeue it that they caused to be inscribed so much vpon the gates of the great Roman pallace in these two verses Iratus recolas Textor quam nobilis ira leonis In sibi prostratos se negat esse feram It is reported also that if a man and another beast be offered at one time to a lyon to take his choice Albertus whether of both he will deuoure he spareth the man and killeth the other beast These lions are not onely thus naturally affected but are enforced thereunto by chance and accidentall harmes As may appeare by these examples following Mentor the Syracusan as he trauailed in Syria met with a Lyon that at his first sight fell prostrate vnto him roling himselfe vpon the earth like some distressed creature whereat the man was much amazed and not vnderstanding the meaning of this beast he indeauored to run away the beaste still ouertooke him and met him in the face licking his footstepes like a flatterer shewed him his heele wherein hee did perceiue a certaine swelling whereat hee tooke a good heart going vnto the Lyon tooke him by the legge and seeing a splint sticking therein hee pulled it forth so deliuering the Beast from paine for the memory of this fact the picture of the man and the Lyon were both pictured together in Syracusis vntill Plynies time as hee reporteth The like story is reported of Elpis the Samian who comming into Affricke by shippe and there goyng a shore had not walked very far on the land but he met with a gaping lyon at which being greatly amazed he climbed vp into a tree forasmuch as there was no hope of any other flight and prayed vnto Bacchus who in that Countrey is esteemed as chiefe of the Gods to defend him as hee thoght from the iaws of death but the lion seeing him to climb into the tree stood stil and layed himselfe downe at the roote thereof desiring him in a manner by his heauy roaring to take pitty vppon him gaping with his mouth and shewing him a bone sticking in his teeth which through greedinesse he swallowed which did so paine him that he could eate nothing at the last the man perceiuing his mind moued by a miracle layed aside all feare and came downe to the dumbe-speaking distressed Lyon and eased him of that misery which being performed he not onely shewed himselfe thankefull for the present time but like the best natured honest man neuer forsooke shore Pliny but once a day came to shew himself to the man his helper during the time that they abode in those quarters therefore Elpis did afterward dedicate a temple vnto Bacchus in remembrance thereof And this seemeth to me most woonderfull that Lyons should know the vertue of mens curing hands aboue other creatures also come vnto them against nature kind but so much is the force of euil pain that it altereth al courses of sauage minds and creatures When Androcles a seruant ranne away from a Senator of Rome Aelianus Gellius because he had committed some offence but what his offence was I know not and came into Affrica leauing the Citties and places inhabited to come into a desert region Afterward when Androcles had obtained a maister being Consull of that prouince of Affrica A notable story of a Lyon hee was compelled by daily stripes to run away that his sides might bee free from the blowes of his maister and went into the solitary places of the fieldes and the sandes of the wildernesse and if hee should happen to stand in neede of meat he did purpose to end his life by some meanes or other and there hee was so scortched with the heate of the sunne that at last finding out a caue he did couer himselfe from the heate of it therein and this caue was a lyons den But after that the lyon had returned from hunting being very much pained by reason of a Thorne which was fastened in the bottom of his foote vttered forth such great lamentation and pittifull roaringes by reason of his wound as that it should seeme hee did want some body to make his moane vnto for remedy at last comming to his caue and finding a young man hid therein hee gently looked vpon him and began as it were to flatter him and offered him his foote and did as well as hee could pray him to pull out the peece of splint which was there fastened But the man at the first was very sore afraid of him and made no other reckoning but of death but after that he saw such a huge sauage beast so meeke and gentle beganne to thinke with himselfe that surely there was some sore on the bottom of the foote of the beast because he lifted vp his foote so vnto him and then taking courage vnto him Gellius lifted vppe the lyons foot and found in the bottom of it a great peece of splint which he plucked forth and so by that meanes eased the lyon of her paine and pressed forth the matter which was in the wound and did very curiously without any great feare throughly dry it and wipe away the bloud the lyon being eased of his paine laide himselfe downe to rest putting his foot into the hands of Androcles With the which cure the lion being very wel pleased because he handled him so curtiously and friendly not onely gaue him for a recompence his life but also went daily abroad to forrage and brought home the fattest of his prey Androcles whom all this while euen for the space of three yeares he kept familiarly without any note of cruelty or euill nature in his den and there the man and the beast liued mutually at one commons the man roasting his meate in the whot sun and the lyon eating his part raw according to kinde When he had thus liued by the space of three yeares and grew weary of such a habitation life and society he bethought himselfe of some meanes to depart and therfore on a day when the lion was gone abroad to hunting the man tooke his iourny away from that hospitality and after he had trauailed three daies wandering vp and down he was apprehended by the legionary souldiers to whom he told his long life and habitation with the lyon and how he ranne away from his maister a senator of Rome which when they vnderstood they also sent him home againe to Rome to the Senator And being receiued by his maister he was guilty of so great and foule faults that he was condemned to death and the manner of his death was to be torne in peeces of Wilde beasts Now there were at Rome in those daies many great fearefull cruell and rauening beastes and among them many Lyons it fortuned also that shortly
that some such like humor may issue out of them not onely by accident but through affinity of nature and condensate into a stone which the people finding couered in the sand vnder the trees and through their former perswasion might easily take it for the stone ingendred by the vrine of the Linx Hermolaus also writeth this of the Lycurium that it groweth in a certaine stone and that it is a kind of Mushrom 〈…〉 out of 〈◊〉 or Padstoole which is cut off yearely and that another groweth in the roome of it a part of the roote or foot being left in the stone groweth as hard as a flint and thus doth the stone encrease with a naturall fecundity which admirable thing saith he I could neuer be brought to beleeue vntill I did eate thereof in myne owne house Euax as is recyted by Syluaticus saith that the vrine of the Linx domi seruatus generat optimos sungos supra se quotanis reserued at home in ones house bringeth forth euery yeare the best Mushroms This is also called lapis Litzi and lapis prasius which is deuided into three kindes that is Iaspis Armeniâ—cus and lapis phrigius called also Belemintes wherewithall the Chirurgians of Prussia and Pomerania cure greene wounds and the Phisitians breake the stone in the bladder But the true Lyncurium which is extant at this day and currant among the Apothecaries is as light as the Pummis-stone and as big as filleth a mans fist being of a blackish colour or of a russet the russet is more solide sandy and fat and being bruised or eaten tasteth like earth both kinds are couered with little white skins and there is apparant in them a spungy tenatious substance and this I take to be the Mushrom whereof Hermolaus speaketh And by the little stones and small skinnes it may be coniectured to be corpus heterogones interracoalescens A Hetrogenian body encreasing in the earth wherewithall it hath no affinity There was another stone of the vrine of a Linx to be seen in Sauoy the substance wherof was clearely christal the forme of it was triangular the hardnes so as you might strike fire with it and the colour partly white and partly like wine mingled with water so that I will conclude that the vrine of a Linx may engender a stone though not in such manner as is before saide For the Arabian Iorath affirmeth that with in seauen daies after the rendring it turneth into a stone but it is not the Lyncurius property so called for that is the Amber or gum before spoken of although catacrestically so called And if it be true that there bee certaine Mushroms neare the red-sea which by the heat of the sunne are hardned into stones then also it may follow very naturally that those stones may produce Mushroms againe for both the dissolution and the constitution of things are thought to be grounded vpon the same principles And thus much shal suffice for the vrine of the Linx and the stone made thereof The skins of Linxes are most pretious vsed in the garments of the greatest estates both Lords Vses of theyr seueâ—â—â— parts Pâ—â—rus Kings and Emperors as we haue shewed before and for that cause are sold very deare The clawes of this beast especially of the right foote which hee vseth instead of a hand are eâ—cluded in siluer and sold for nobles a peece and for Amulets to bee worne against the falling sicknesse The loue of these beasts to their young ones is very great like as the Pardals Lions and Tygers The king of Tartaria hath tame Linxes which he vseth in hunting instead of dogs The ancient Pagans dedicated this beast to Bacchus feigning that when he triumphed in his chariot of vine branches hee was drawne by Tygers and Linxes Lynxes tamed And therefore Virgill saith Quid Lynces Bacchi variae And Ouid Dicta racemifero Lyncas dedit India Baccho Al the nailes of a Linx being burned with the skin beaten into powder and giuen in drink will very much cohibite and restraine abhominable lechery in men the medcines of the Lynx it will also restraine the lust in women being sprinkled vpon them and also very effectually and spedily take away either itch or scurfe in man or womans body The vrin of this beast is accounted very medicinable for those which are troubled with the strangury or running of the raines The same is also very good and wholesome for the curing of any paine or griefe in the wind-pipe or throat Pliny Bonarus Baro doth affirme that the nailes of Linxes which are in their country are had in great estimation and price amongst their piers or noble men for there is a very certaine opinion amongst them that those nailes being put vpon the yeard of either horse or beast whose vrine is kept backe or restrained will in very short space cause them to void it without any griefe at al. He reporteth also that their nailes doe there wax white and that they include them all in siluer and do commend them for an excellent remedy against the cramp if they be worne peraduenture because they are bending and crooked by which perswasion ther are some superstitious men which hang certain rootes which are crooked and knotty about them against the crampe There are likewise some which do ascertaine that these nailes are good and ready helpes for the sorenes of the vnula which is in Horses mouthes and for that cause there are many horsemen which carry them continually about them The Linxe or wolfe which is begotten of a wolfe and a Hinde the Musk-cat Arnoldus the weasell and al such other like beasts do more hurt men by their biting teeth-wounds then by poison There was a certaine hunter as Collinus reporteth which told him that the flesh of a Linx being sod in some whot pottage or broth and afterwardes eaten would be a very good and wholesome medicine for the expelling of the Ague or quartan feauer and that the bones of the same beast being brent and pounded into powder would be a very excellent remedy for the curing of wounds which are old and stale and ful of putrifaction as also the Fistulaes which grow in the thighes or hips of men Of the Marder Martell or Marten THis beast is called in the Hebrew Oach or as some say Zijm amongst the Arabians Eastoz or rather Kacheobeon The seueral names or Kachineon in Latine Martes the Germans Marder or Marter like the english the Italians Marta Martore or Martorello the French Mardre or Foyne the Spaniards Marta the Illirians and Polonians Kuna and some later Latins vse these words Marta Martarus Marturus and Marturellus the reason or etimoligy of this Latin worde is taken from Martia which signifieth Martial because this beast in warlike hostill manner destroyeth her aduersaries two kinds of Martens and liueth vpon the prey of hens birds and Mice The Germans deuide these into two kinds which they
feet Cardanus with her feete she diggeth and with her nose casteth awaye the earth and therefore such earth is called in Germany mal werff and in England Mole-hill and she loueth the fieldes especially meddowes and Gardens where the ground is soft for it is admirable with what celerity she casteth vp the earth They haue fiue toes with clawes vpon each forefoot and foure vpon each foote beehind according to Albertus but by diligent inspection you shall find fiue behind also for there is one very little and recurued backward which a man slightly and negligently looking vpon would take to be nothing The palme of the forefeet is broad like a mans hand and hath a hollow in it if it be put togither like a fist and the toes or fingers with the nailes are greater then any other beast of that quantity And to the end that he might be wel armed to digge the forepart of her forelegges consist of two solide and sound bones which are fastned to her shoulders and her clawes spread abroad not bending downewarde and this is peculiar to this beast not competible to any other but in her hinder legges boeth before and behind they are like a Mouses except in the part beneath the knee which consisteth but of one bone which is also forked and twisted The taile is short and hairy And thus much for the anatomy and seuerall parts the places of their abode They liue as we haue saide in the earth and therfore Cardan saith that there is no creature which hath blood and breath that liueth so long togithervnder the earth and that the earth doth not hinder their exspiration and inspiration for which cause they keepe it hollow aboue them that at no time they may want breath although they doe not heaue in two or three daies but I rather beleeue when they heaue they doe it more for meate then for breath for by digging and remoouing the earth they take Wormes and hunt after victuals When the wormes are followed by Molds for by digging and heauing they foreknow their owne perdition they flie to the superficies and very toppe of the earth the silly beast knowing that the Molde their aduersary dare not followe them into the light so that their wit in flying their enemy is greater then in turning againe when they are troade vpon They loue also to eat Toads and Frogges for Albertus saith he saw a great Toade whose legge a Mole helde fast in the earth and that the Toade made an exceeding great noise crying out for hir life during the time that the Molde did bite hir And therefore Toads and frogs do eat dead Moles They eat also the root of herbs and plants for which cause they are called by Oppianus poiophagi Herbiuorae herbe-eaters In the month of Iuly they come abroad out of the earth Enemies to Moles I thinke to seeke meate at that time when wormes be scanty They are hunted by Weasels and wilde Cats for they will follow them into their holes and take them but the Cats do not eate them whereas wee haue said alreadye that they haue an vnderstanding of mens speech when they heare them talke of them Vnderstanding of Moles I may adde thereunto a story of their vnderstanding thus related by Gillius in his own experience and knowledge When I had saith he put downe into the earth an earthen pot made of purpose with a narrow mouth to take Moles it fortuned that within shorte space as a blind Mole came along shee fell into it and could not get forth againe but lay therein whyning one of her fellowes which followed her seeing his mate taken heaued vp the earth aboue the pot with her nose cast in so much til she had raised vp her companion to the brim and was ready to come forth by which in that blind creature confined to darknesse doth not onely appeare a wonderfull worke of almighty God that endoweth them with skill to defend and wisely to prouide for their owne safety but also planted in them such a naturall and mutuall loue one to another which is so much the more admirable considering their beginning or creation as we haue shewed already Because by their continuall heauing and laboring for meate they doe much harme to Gardens and other places of their aboad and therefore in the husband-mans and house-wifes common-wealth it is an acceptable labor to take and destroy them Taking of Moles For which cause it is good to obserue their passages and marke the times of their comming to labor which being perceiued they are easily turned out of the earth with a spade and this was the first and most common way Some haue placed a boord full of pikes which they fasten vppon a small sticke in the mole-hil or passage and when the mole commeth to heaue vp the earth by touching the sticke she bringeth down the pikes and sharp nailed board vpon her owne body and back Other take a Wyar or yron and make it to haue a very sharp point which being fastened to a staffe and put into the earth where the Moles passage is they bend and so set vp that when the Mole commeth along the pike runneth into her and killeth her The Graecians saith Palladius did destroy and driue away their Moles by this inuention they tooke a great Nut or any other kind of fruit of that quantity receipte and solidity wherein they included chaffe Brimstone and Wax then did they stop al the breathing places of the Moles except one at the mouth wherein they set this deuise on fire so as the smoke was driuen inwarde wherewithall they filled the hole and the place of their walkes and so stopping it the Moles were either killed or driuen away Also Paxamus sheweth another meanes to driue away and take Molles If you take white Hellebor and the rindes of wilde Mercury instead of Hemlocke and dry them and beate them to poulder afterward sifte them and mixe them with meale and with Milke beaten with the white of an Egge and so make it into little morsels or bals Paramus and lay them in the Mole-hole and passages it will kill them if they eate thereof as they will certainely doe Many vse to kill both Moles and Emmets with the froath of new Oyle And to conclude by setting an earthen pot in the earth and Brimstone burning therein it will certainely driue them for euer from that place Vnto which I may adde a superstitious conceite of an obscure Author who writeth that if you whet a mowing syth in a fielde or meddow vpon the feast day of Christs natiuity commonly called Christmas day all the molles that are within the hearing thereof will certainly for euer forsake that fielde meddow or Garden With the skinnes of moles are purses made for the rough and soft haire Vse 〈◊〉 theyr seueral parts and also blacke russet colour is very delectable Pliny hath a strange saying which is this
a certaine fountaine wherein do liue Rats of the earth they should say Rats of the water for hereunto agree both Pliny and Theophrastus Likewise in a riuer of Cassinus the auncient wise-men which were followers of Zoroastres made great account of the Hedghog but hated deadly the water-rats and said that he that could kil most of them was most deare and acceptable to God And furthermore they said that dogs hens and hedghogs did proceed and were attended from and by good angels and water-rats by euill And thus much shal suffice for the discourse of the Rat. The story which ensueth is of strange and lesse knowne Mice and therefore I wil disttibure them after an alphabiticall order according to their seueral names Of the Alpine-Mouse These Alpin Mice are in the tops of the Apenine hils and none of the Auncientes except Pliny make mention thereof and it is doubtfull whether he doeth describe it or no. For his words are Sunt his Muribus Alpinis pares in Egypto similiterque residunt in clunibus binis pedibus gradiuntur prioribusque vt manibus vtuntur that is to say there are mice in Egypt like to the Alpin Mice for they sit vpon their Buttocks and goe with their foremost two feet which also they vse insteed of hands by which we collect that they are not the same but like the Alpine mice The quantity of this beast and the seuerall parts The Alpine mouse is in quantity like a Hare or at the least betwixt a Hare and a Cony being more fat and of a thicker body then a Cat but shorter legges in outward appearance most like a mouse and therefore it is called an Alpine mouse The backe of it is very broad and the haire harder and harsher then a Conies The colour for the most part is yellow Mathaeolus which in some is more cleare and in others more obscure and browne Their eyes of a reasonable quantity standing farre out of their heads Their eares very short like cropt eares The head like a Hares and their feet with long nails his foreteeth like a squirrels two aboue and two beneath but long and sharpe like a Beuers in colour yellowe about the nose and vpper-lippes he hath long-blacke-bristle-haires like a cat The taile is halfe a cubit long according to Stumpsius but two palmes according to Agricola His legges very short and thicke couered with long deep thicke haire like to the bottome of his belly The toes of his feet are like a Beares and his clawes long and blacke wherewithall be diggeth the earth to make his denne he goeth vpon his hinder feete like a Beare or like an Ape by iumpes and with his forefeet he taketh his meat like a squirrell an Ape sitting in the meane time vpon his buttockes His backe is also very fatte although all the other parts of his body be leane and yet that on his backe cannot be said to be fat but rather like a cowes vdder neither fat nor flesh and they encrease or grow more in bredth then in length The description of the great Alpine mouse Scaliger describeth them in this manner a Marmot saith he for so he tearmeth an Alpine mouse in French is a Beast about the bignesse of a Badger hauing haire and tayle much like it and after the same manner short legges and little or no eares long sharp firme crooked strong and blacke clawes which is numbred amongst the kinds of mice with whom it holdeth little correspondence except that like a squirell it taketh his meate in the forefeet as with hands and eateth sitting vppon his taile They agree also with the Dormouse in their sleepe for they passe ouer winter sleeping Their teeth are like to the teeth of hares and mice after that they are made tame they are not hurtfull to men or children except they be prouoked Being kept in houses they will eat and gnaw all linnen and woolen cloath Thus farre Scaliger But we haue shewed already that the outward appearance of it is like a mouse and that therefore it is safer to follow Pliny Albertus Mathaeolus Stumpsius and others then his sole and singular opinion they keepe as we haue said already in the tops of the mountaines wherein they make their caue with woonderfull art and circumspection The places of their abod and then singular art in making their caue making two different passages into their denne one aboue another a poles length which meete in the middle like a forke or the coniunction of two riuers or pathe-waies making the seate of their rest to be very deepe in the Mountaine and therein they remaine fiue seauen nine or eleuen of them together They play many times before the mouth of their denne together and in their sport or pastime Their obseruation of watch barke like little Dogges When they go out of their caue into the mountaines to gather foode or to playe or to fetch in grasse alwaies one of them remaineth like a Watchman neare the mouth of the caue vpon some high place looking most diligently and vigilantly both farre and neare and if he see eyther a man or wilde beast comming towardes them then hee suddainely cryeth out and with his voice giueth the warning word whining like the whisling of a pipe if his fellowes be farre off or else barking like a Dogge if they be neare at hand When the residue heare it they presently repaire home and he which kept the watch entereth into the denne last of all And it is reported by a certaine Greeke writer that if their speculator doe not giue them the watch-worde but that they are endaungered by any man or Beaste thorough his negligence they teare him in pieces with their teeth There is no beast which is so strong as this Stumsius considering the quantity for it hath beene seene that when a lusty young man tooke one of them by the hinder leg as it ran into the den he could not withall his might plucke it backe againe The strength of this beast The clawes of it are exceeding sharpe and fit to dig so that it is thought if a man find them in the earth and seeke to take them by digging vnto them he shall labour in vaine because the beast diggeth faster from him then he can follow her they cannot run very fast in the plaine ground but are easily killed by a man except they get into the earth with their teeth they bite deepe for they can shere asunder wood with them like Beauers Their vsuall foode they eate or liue vpon fruits especially being tamed when they are young they refuse not bread flesh fish or pottage and aboue all they desire milk Butter and cheese for in the Alpes they will breake into the little cottages where milk is kept and are oftentimes taken in the manner sucking vp the milke for they make a noise in sucking of milke like a pig In the month of May they are
meate whereby thou dost wrong others as thou hast bene wrongd thy selfe By which it is manifest that Myoxus is neither a Toad nor a Frog but the Dormous And the charme which is made for the Asses vrine as we haue shewed already in his story Gallus bibit non meijet Myoxus meijet non bibit whether they render vrine drinke not The cocke drinketh and maketh not water the Dormous maketh water and neuer drinketh But whether it be true or no that she neuer drinketh I dare not affirme But this is certain that she drinketh but very sildome and it ought to be no wonder that she should make water for tame Conies as long as they can feed vpon greene hearbes do render abundance of vrine and yet neuer drink The Graecians also do call this beast Elayos although that word do likewise signifie a Squirel In Maesia a wood of Italy there is neuer founde Dormous except at the time of their littering They are bigger in quantity then a squirrel the colour variable somtimes black The quantity colour and seuerall partes somtimes grisled sometimes yellowe on the backe but alwaies a white belly hauing a short haire and a thinner skinne then the pontike mouse They are also to be found in Heluetia about Clarona It is a biting and an angry beast and therefore sildome taken aliue The beake or snowt is long the eares short and pricked the taile short and not very hairy at the ende The middle of the belly swelleth downe betwixt the breast and the loyns which are more narrow and trussed vp together they are alwaies very fat and for that cause they are called Lardironi Bucke-mast is very acceptable meat vnto them and doth greatly fatten them Their food they are much delighted with walnuts they climbe trees and eat Apples according to some but Albertus saith more truely that they are more delighted with the iuyce then with the Apple For it hath bin oftentimes sounde that vnder Apple trees they haue opened much fruite and taken out of it nothing but the kernels for such is their wit and policie that hauing gathered an Aple they presently put it in the twist of a tree betwixt bowes and so by sitting vpon the vppermost bough presse it assunder They also grow fat by this meanes In auncient time they were wont to keepe them in coopes or tunnes and also in Gardens paled about with boord where there are beeches or Wal-nut trees growing Norishers nourishing of Dormice and in some places they haue a kind of earthen potte wherein they put them with Wal-nuttes Buck-mast and Chesnets And furthermore it must be obserued that they must be placed in romes conuenient for them to breed young ones their water must be very thinne because they vse not to drinke much and they also loue dry places Titus Pompeius as Varro saith did nourish a great many of them enclosed and so also Herpinus in his park in Gallia It is a beast wel said to be Animal Semiferum a creatur half wilde for if you set for them hutches and nourish them in warrens together it is obserued that they neuer assemble but such as are brede in those places And if straungers come among them which are seperated from them either by a mountaine or by a riuer Society and charity in them Pliny they discry them and fight with them to death They nourish their parents in their old age with singular piety We haue shewed already howe they are destroyed by the Viper and it is certaine that all serpentes lie in wait for them Their old age doth end euery winter They are exceeding sleepy and therefore Martiall saith Somniculosos illi porrigit glires They grow fat by sleeping and therefore Ausonius hath an elegant verse Dic cessante cibo somno quis opimior est glis Because it draweth the hinder legges after it like a Hare it is called Animal tractile for it goeth by iumpes and little leapes In the winter time they are taken in deepe ditches that are made in the woods couered ouer with small stickes straw and earth which the cuntrymen deuise to take them when they are asleepe The meane◠to take these Dormice At other times they leap from tree to tree like Squirrelles and that they are killed with arrowes as they goe from bough to bough especially in hollowe trees for when the hunters finde their haunt wherein they lodge they stop the hole in the absence of the Dormouse and watch her turne backe againe the silly beast finding her passage closed is busied hande and foote to open it for entrance and in the mean season commeth the hunter behind her and killeth her In Tellina they are taken by this meanes The countrimen going into the fields carryeth in their hands burning torches in the night time which whē the silly beast perceiueth with admiration thereof flocketh to the lights whereunto when they were come they were so daseled with the brightnesse that they were starke blinde and might so bee taken with mens hands The vse of the flesh of these mice The vse of them being taken was to eat their flesh for in Rhetia at this day they salt it and eat it because it is sweet and fat like swines flesh Ammianus Marcellinus wondereth at the delicacy of his age because when they were at their tables they called for ballaunces to weigh their fish and the members of the Dor-mouse which was not done saith hee without anye dislike of some present and thinges not heretofore vsed are now comended daily Appitius also prescribeth the muscles and flesh inclosed of them taken out of euery member of a Dormous beaten with pepper Nut-kernels Parcenippes and Butter stuffed altogether into the belly of a Dormous and sewed vp with thread and so baked in an Ouen or sod in a kettle to be an excellent and delicate dish And in Italy at this day they eat Dormice saith Coelius yet there were ancient lawes among the Romans called Leges censoriae whereby they were forbidden to eat Dormice strange birds shel-fish the neckes of beasts and diuers such other things And thus much shal suffice for the description of the Dormouse The medicines of the Dormouse Dormyse being taken in meate doe much profit against the Bulimon The powder of Dormyse mixed with oyle Pliny doth heale those which are scalded with any hot licker A liue Dormouse doth presently take away all warts being bound thereupon Dormyse and field-mice being burnt and their dust mingled with hony will profit those which desire the clearnesse of the eyes if they doe take thereof some small quantitie euery morning Marcellus The powder of a Dormouse or field mouse rubbed vpon the eyes helpeth the aforesaid disease A Dormouse being flead roasted and annointed with oyle and salt being giuen in meate is an excellent cure for those that are short winded The same also doth very effectually heale those that spit out filthy matter or
of them in the top of a high mountaine in ITALY And Sylnaticus calleth this mouse Mus Suring or Sucsinus and calleth it a counter poyson to Wolfe-bane and that God might shew thus much vnto men he causeth it to liue vpon the rootes in testimony of his naturall vertue destroying poyson and venimous hearbâ— THE INDIAN MOVSE AND DIVERS other kinds of mice according to their Countries I Do finde that diuers times mice do take their names from regions wherein they enhabite which happeneth two maner of waies one because the forme of their bodies will somewhat vary the other because not onely in shape but also in witte they haue some thinges in them common to mice ouer and aboue the mice of our countreies Mice of the Last therefore we will breefely comprehend al their surnames of whatsoeuer regions they are in one order or Alphabet In the Oriental parts of the worlde there are great mice as ALEXANDER writeth of the quantity of Foxes who do harme both men and beasts and although they cannot by their biting kil any man yet do they much grieue and molest them Americâ—s Vespucius writeth that he found in an ysland of the sea being distant from Vlisbona a thousand leagues very great mice Egyptian mice The haire of the AEGYPTIAN mice is verye hard and for the most part like a Hedgehogges and there are also some which walk bolt vpright vpon two feet for they haue the hinder legs longer and their fore legges shorter their procreation is also manifold and they do likewise sit vpon their buttockes and they vse their forefeet as hands But Herodotus affirmeth these mice to be of AFFRICKE and not of AEGYPT amongst the AFFRICAN or CARTHAGENIAN pastures saith he in AFFRICKE towards the Orient there are three kinds of mice of the which some are called Bipedall or Two-footed some in the CARTHAGENIAN language Zetzeries which is as much in our language as hils some Hedg-hogges Cyrenean mice There are more kinds of mice in the CYRENAICAN region some which haue broad foreheads some sharpe some which haue pricking haire in the manner of Hedge-hogs It is reported that in CYRENE there are diuers kinds of mice both in colour and shape Pliny and that some of them haue as broad a countenance as a Cat some haue sharpe bristles and beare the forme and countenance of a viper which the inhabitants call Echenetae but improperly as it appeareth by the words of Aristotle in his booke of wonders Herodotus also affirmeth the like of those Mice to be in shape and colour like Vipers but Pliny and Aristotle doe both disallow it and say that in those iuice there is nothing common to vipers but onely to hedge-hogges as concerning their sharpe bristles There are also some Mice in Egypt which doe violently rush vpon pastures and corne of which things Aelianus speaketh saying in this manner when it beginneth first to raine in Egypt the Mice are wont to be borne in very small bubbles which wandring far and neare through all the fieldes doe affect the corne with great calumitie by gnawing and cutting a sunder with their teeth the blades thereof and wasting the heapes of that which is made in bundles doe bring great paines and businesse vnto the Egyptians by which it comes to passe that they endeuor all maner of waies to make snares for them by setting of Mice-trapes and to repell them from their inclosures and by ditches and burning fires to driue them quite away but the Mice as they will not come vnto the traps for as much as they are apt to leape they both goe ouer the hedges and leape ouer the ditches But the Egyptians being frustrated of all hope by their labours all subtill inuentionâ— and pollicies being left as it were of no efficacie they betake themselues humbly to pray to their Gods to remooue that calamitie from them Whereat the Mice by some feare of a diuine anger euen as it were in battell aray of obseruing a squadron order A wonder in the Egyption Mice doe depart into a certaine mountaine The least of all these in age doe stand in the first order but the greatest and eldest doe lead the last troupes compelling those which are weary to follow them But if in their iourney the least or yoongest do chaunce through trauaile to waxe weary all those which follow as the manner is in wars doe likewise stand still Aelianus and when the first begin to goe forward the rest doe continually follow them It is also reported that the Mice which inhabite the Sea doe obserue the same order and custome The Africane Mice doe vsually die as soone as euer they take any drinke but this is commonly proper vnto all mice as Ephesius affirmeth where it is written Medicine by african mice aboue concercerning the poysoning of mice Mice but especially those of Affricke hauing their skinnes pulled off boyled with oyle and salt and then taken in meate doth very effectually cure those which are troubled with any paines or diseases in the lunges or lights The same doth also easily helpe those which are molested with corrupt and bloody spettings with retchings The kindes of Affrican mice are diuers some are two footed Pliny some haue haire like vnto hedge-hogges some faces of the breadth of a Weasell but some call these mice Cirenacian some Egyptian as I haue before declared The Arabian Mice In Arabia there are certaine mice much bigger then Dormice whose former legges are of the quantitie of a hand breadth and the hinder of the quantitie of the ioynt to the ende of the finger I doe vnderstand them to be so short that nothing thereof may seeme to appeare without the body except the space of the ioynts of the finger as it is in Martinets It is said that the garments of the Armenians are vsually wouen with mice which are bred in the same countrey The armenian Mice or diuersly docked with the shape of the same creature The Author writeth that Pliny maketh mention of the Armenian mouse but I haue reade no such thing therefore he doth perchaunce take the Armenian mouse for the Shrew In Cappadocia there is a kinde of mouse which some call a Squirrell Aelianus writing of the Caspian mice Of the Caspian mouse Amyntas saith he in his booke entituled De mansionibus which he doth so inscribe saith that in Caspia there doe come an infinite multitude of mice which without any feare doe swim in the flouds which haue great and violent currentes and holding one another by their tailes in their mouthes as it is likewise reported of Wolues haue a sure and stable passage ouer the water But when they passe ouer any tillage of the earth they fell the corne and climing vp into trees doe eate the fruite thereof and breake the boughes which when the Caspians cannot resist they doe by this meanes endeuour to restraine their turbulent incursions for they remooue
the suffocation of the womb and all other diseases incident vnto the secret parts and also helpeth places in the body being burnt by fire The fat of a ram being mingled with red Arsenicke and annointed vppon any scaull or scab the same being afterward pared or scraped doth perfectly heale it It doth also being mixed with Allum helpe those which are troubled with kibes or chilblanes in their heeles The sewet of a ram mingled with the powder of a pumise stone and salt of each a like quantity Sextus is said to heale fellons and inflammations in the body The lunges of smal cattel but especially of a ram doth restore chaps or scarts in the body to their right collour The same vertue hath the fat of a ram being mingled with Nitre The gal of a ram mingled with his own sewet Marcellus is very good and profitable for those to vse who are troubled with the gout or swelling in the ioynts The horne of a ram being burned and the dust of the same mixed with oyle and so pounded together being often anointed vpon a shauen head doth cause the haire to frisle and curle A comb being made of the left horn of a ram and combed vpon the head doth take away all paine vpon the left part thereof if likewise there be paine in the right side of the head the right horne of a ram doth cure it For the curing of the losse of one wits springing from the imperfection of the braine take the head of a ram neuer giuen to venery being chopped off at one blow the hornes being onely taken away and seeth it whole with the skin and the wooll in water then hauing opened it take out the braines and adde vnto them these kinds of spices Cinamon Ginger Mace and Cloues of each one halfe an ounce these being beaten to powder mingle them with the braines in an earthen platter diligently tempering of them by a burning cole not very big for feare of burning which might easily be done but there must great care be had that it be not too much dryed but that it might be so boyled that it be no more dryed then a calfes braines being prepared for meate It shall be sufficiently boiled when you shall wel mingle them at the fire then keep it hid and for three daies giue it daiely to the sick person fasting so that he may abstain from meat and drinke two houres after It may be taken in bread or in an Egge or in whatsoeuer the sicke party hath a desire vnto but there must be regard that he be not in a cleare place and that hee vse this forty daies space which they are wont to vse whose blould is with drawne or fled away and let him abstaine from wine assayng his head There are those which are holpen in a short space some in sixe or eight weekes by this Medicine being receiued But it is conuenient that it be required for three months Marcellus and then it will haue the more power therein The lunges of a Ramme while they are hot applyed vnto woundes wherein the flesh doeth to much encrease doth both represse and make it equal The lungs of smal cattel but especially of Rams being cut in smal pieces applyed whiles they are hot vnto bruised places do very speedily cure them and reduce them to the right collour The same doth cure the feete of such as are pinched through the straightnesse of their shooes The lunges of a Ram applyed vnto kibed heeles or broken vlcers in the feet doth quite expell away the paine notwithstanding the exceeding a chor pricking thereof One drop of the liquor which is boyled out of a Rams lungs put vpon the small nailes vpon the hand doth quite expell them The like operation hath it to expell Wartes being annointed thereupon The corrupt bloud of the lungs of a Ram vnroasted doth hele all paines in the priuy members of man or woman as also expell warts in any place of the body Sextus The iuyce of the lungs of a ram while they are roasted vpon a Gridiron being receiued doth by the vnction thereof purge and driue away the little blacke warts which are wont to grow in the haire or priuy parts of any man The liquor which distilleth from the lunges of a ram being boiled Aesculapius doth heale Tertian Agues and the disease of the raines which grow therein The lungs of a Lamb or ram being burned and the dust thereof mingled with oile or being applyed raw doe heale the sorenesse of kibes and are accounted very profitable to be bound vnto vlcers The lungs of a ram being pulled forth and bound hot vnto the head of any one that is frenzy wil presently help him Against the pestilent disease of sheepe take the belly of a ram and boile it in wine then being mixed with Water giue it to the sheepe to drinke and it wil bring present remedy The gall of a ram is very good for the healing of those which are troubled with any pains in the eares comming by the casualty of cold The gal of a ram mingled with his owne sewet doth ease those which are troubled with the gout The gall of a Weather mingled with the wool and placed vpon the nauell of young children Marcellus doth make them loose in their bellies The stones of an old ram being beaten in halfe a penny waight of water or in 3. quarters of a pint of Asses milk are reported to be very profitable for those which are troubled with the falling sicknesse The stones of a ram being drunke in water to the waight of three halfe pence cureth the same disease The dust of the inward parts of a rams thighs being lapped in rags or clouts washed very exactly before with womens milk doth heale the vlcers or runnings of old sores Pliny The dust of the hoofe of a ram mingled with hony doth heale the bitings of a Shrew The dung of Weathers mingled with vineger and fashioned in the forme of a plaister doth expel black spots in the body and taketh away al hard bunches arising in the flesh The same being applyed in the like manner cureth S. Anthonies fire and healeth burned places The filâ—h or sweat which groweth between the thighs of a ram being mingled with Mirrhe and the Hearbe called Hart-wort and drunke of each an equal parte is accounted a very excellent remedy for those which are troubled with the Kings euill Sextus But Pliny commendeth the filth of rams eares mingled with Myrrhe to be a more effectuall and speedily remedy against the said disease The medicines of the Lamb. The best remedy for bitings of Serpents is this presently after the wound to applie some little creatures to the same Aetius being cut in small peeces and laid hot vnto it as cocks Goats Lambes and young pigges for they expell the poison and much ease the paines thereof An ounce of Lambes blood being fresh before that it doth
to bee of opinion that their spottes are sometimes of diuers colours both yellow and blacke and those long like rods in these sayings Tibi dant variae pectora Tigres And againe Vhera viergata faraecaspia And Cilius saith Corpore virgato Tigris It were needlesse to speake of their crooked clawes their sharpe teeth and deuided feet their long taile Oppianus agilitye of body and wildenesse of nature which getteth all their foode by hunting It hath beene falsely beleeued that all Tigers be females and that there are no males among them and that they engender in copulation with the wind whereupon Camerarius made this witty riddle in his Rhetorical exercises A fluuio dicor fluuius vel dicitur ex me Iunctaque sum vento vento velotior ipso Et mihi dat ventus natos nec quaero maritos The Epithits The Epithites of this beastes are these Armenian Tigers sharpe Ganietican Hercanian fierce cruell and wicked vntamed spotted diuers-coloured straked bitter rauenous Affrican greedy Caspian Carcesian Caucasean Indean Parthean Marsian streight-footed madde stiffe fearefull strong foaming and violent with many such others as are easie to be found in euery Author The voice of this beast is cald Ranking according to this verse Tigrides indomitae rancant rugiuntque leones Now because that they are strangers in Europe as we haue saide already neuer breeding in that part of the world and as sildome seen we must be constrained to make but a short story of it because there are not many diuers thinges concerning the nature of it and in the physicke none at all Their food For the manner of their foode they prey vppon all the greatest beasts and sildome vpon the smaller as Oxen Harts and Sheepe but Hares and Conies they let alone It is reported by Plutarch A history of a tame Tiger that was brought vp with a Kid the said kid was killed and laide before him to eat but he refused it two daies together 〈◊〉 the third day opressed with extremity of hunger by her ranking and crying voice 〈◊〉 made signes to her keeper for other meate who cast vnto her a cat which presently it pulled in peeces and deuoured it The like story vnto this we haue shewed already in the Panther Generally the nature of this beast is according to the Epithites of it sharpe vntamed cruell and rauenous neuer so tamed but sometimes they returne to their former natures yet the Indians do euery year giue vnto their king tamed Tigers and Panthers and so it commeth to passe that sometimes the Tiger kisseth his keeper as Seneca writeth In the time of their lust they are very raging and furious according to these verses of Virgill Per sylvas tum saeuus aper tum pessima Tigris Heu male cum libyae solis erratur in agris Their copulation and generation They ingender as Lyons do and therefore I maruell how the fable first came vppe that they were all females and had no males amonge them and that the females conceiued with young by the West wind we haue shewed already in the story of the Dogs that the Indian Dogge is engendered of a Tiger and a Dogge and so also the Hercanian dogs Whereby it is apparant that they do not onely conceiue among themselues but also in a mingled race The male is sildome taken because at the sight of a man hee runneth away leaueth the female alone with her yong ones for he hath no care of the Whelps and for this occasion I thinke that the fables first came vp that there were no males among the Tigers The female bringeth forth many at once like a Bitch which she nourisheth in her den very carefully louing them and defending them like a Lionesse from the Hunters whereby she is many times ensnared and taken It is reported by Aelianus that when they heare the sound of Bels and Timbrils they grow into such a rage and madnesse that they teare their owne flesh from their backes For the taking of Tigers The taking and killing of Tygers Plutarch Calistines the Indians neare the Riuer Ganges haue a certaine Hearb growing like Buglosse which they take and presse the iuyce out of it this they preserue beside them and in still silent calme nights they poure the same down at the mouth of the Tigers den by vertue whereof it is said the Tigers are continually enclosed not daring to come out ouer it through some secret opposition in nature but famish and dye howling in their caues through intollerable hunger so great is the swiftnesse of this beast as we haue shewed already that some haue dreamed it was conceiued by the wind For as the swiftest horses and namely the horsses of Dardanus are likewise fabled to be begotten by the Northern wind so the Tigers by the West wind Therfore they are neuer taken but in defence of their yoūg ones neither is there any beast that liueth vpon preying so swift as they Solam Tigrim Indis in superabilem esse dicunt Philostratus quoniam fugiendi celeritate quae ventos equare dicitur è conspectu aufugit Onely the Tiger the Indians say can neuer bee conquered because when he is hunted he runneth away out of sight as fast as the wind For this cause they diligently seeke out the caues and dens of the Tigers where there young ones are lodged and then vpon some swift Horsses they take them and carry them away when the female Tiger returneth and findeth her den empty in rage she followeth after them by the foot whom she quickly ouertaketh by reason of her celerity The Hunter seeing her at hand casteth downe one of her Whelpes the distressed angry beast knowing that shee can carry but one at once first taketh vp that in her mouth without setting vpon the Hunter contented with that one returneth with it to her lodging hauing layd it vp safe backe againe she returned like the wind to pursue the Hunter for the residue who must likewise set her downe another if hee haue not got into his ship for except the Hunter be neare the Water side and haue a ship ready she will fetch them all from him one by one or else it wil cost him his life therfore that enterprise is vndertaken in vaine vpon the swiftest Horses in the World except the Waters come betwixt the hunter and the Tiger And the maner of this beast is when she seeth that her young ones are shipped away and shee for euer depriued of seeing or hauing them againe she maketh so great lamentation vpon the Sea shoare howling braying and rancking that many times she dyeth in the same place but if shee recouer all her young ones againe from the hunters shee departeth with vnspeakeable ioy without taking any reuenge for their offered iniury For this occasion the hunters do deuise certaine round spheares of glasse wherein they picture their young ones very apparant to be seene by the damme one of these they cast
obseruation Nicolaus Venetus an Earle saith that in Masinum or Serica that is the Mountaines betwixt India and Cathay as Aeneas Syluius writeth there is a certain Beast hauing a Svvines head an Oxes taile the body of an Elephant vvhom it doth not onely equall in stature but also it liueth in continuall variance vvith them and one horne in the forehead now this if the Reader shall thinke it different from the former I doe make the thirde kinde of a Vnicorn and I trust there is no Wise-man that wil be offended at it for as we haue shewed already in many stories that sundry Beastes haue not onely their diuisions but subdeuisions into subalternal kinds as many Dogges many Deere many Horsses many Mice many Panthers and such like why should there not also bee many Vnicorns And if the Reader be not pleased vvith this let him either shew me better reason which I know hee shall neuer be able to do or else beside least the vttering of his dislike bewray enuy and ignorance Other discourses of the horne Novv although the parts of the Vnicorne be in some measure described and also their Countrys namely India and Ethiopia yet for as much as al is not said as may be said I will adde the residue in this place And first of al there are two kingdomes in India one called Niem and the other Lamber or Lambri both these are stored vvith Vnicornes And Aloisius Cadamustus in his fifty Chapter of his booke of nauigation writeth that there is a certaine region of the new found world wherein are found liue Vnicornes and toward the East and South vnder the Equinoctiall there is a liuing creature with one horne which is crooked and not great hauing the head of a Dragon and a beard vpon his chin his necke long and stretched out like a Serpents the residue of his body like to a Harts sauing that his feete colour and mouth are like a Lyons Pbiles and this also if not a fable or rather a monster may be a fourth kinde of Vnicorne And concerning the hornes of Vnicornes now we must performe our promise which is to relate the true historie of them as it is found in the best writers This therefore growing out of the forehead betwixt the eye lids is neither light nor hollow nor yet smooth like other hornes but hard as Iron rough as any file reuolued into many plights sharper than any darte straight and not crooked and euery where blacke except at the point There are two of these at Venice in the Treasurie of S. Markes Church as Brasavolus writeth one at Argentarat which is wreathed about with diuers sphires 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 Vnicorne in the riuer Arrula neare Bruga in Heluetia the vpper face or out-side whereof was a darke yellow it was two cubites in length but had vpon it no plights or wreathing versuus It was very odoriferous especially when any part of it was set one fire so that it smelled like muske as soone as it was found it was carried to a Nunnery called Campus regius but afterwardes by the Gouernor of Heluetia it was recouered backe againe because it was found within his teritorie Now the vertues of this horne are already recited before and yet I will for the better iustifiyng of that which I haue said concerning the Vnicornes horne adde the testimony of our learned men which did write thereof to Gesner whose letters according as I find them recorded in his worke so I haue here inserted and translated word for word And first of all the answere of Nicholas Gerbelius vnto his Epistle concerning the Vnicornes horne at Argentoratum is this which followeth for saith he The horne which those Noblemen haue in the secrets of the great Temple I haue often seene and handled with my hands It is of the length of a tall man if so be that you shall thereunto adde the point thereof for there was a certaine euill disposed person among est them who had learned I know not of whom that the point or top of the same horne would be a present remedy both against all poyson and also against the plague or pestilence Wherefore that sacrilegious theefe plucked off the higher part or top from the residue being in length three or foure fingers For which wicked offence both he himselfe was cast out of that company and not any euer afterwards of that family might be receaued into this society by an ordinance grauely and maturely ratified This pulling off of the top brought a notable deformitie to that most splendant gift The whole horne from that part which sticketh to the forehead of this beast euen vnto the top of the horne is altogether firme or solide not gaping with chops chinks or creuises with a litle greater thicknes then a tile is vsua lly amongst vs. For I haue often times comprehended almost the whole horne in my right hand From the roote vnto the point it is euen as wax candles are rowled together most elegantly seuered and raised vp in little lines The waight of this horneâ—â— of so great a massinesse that a man would hardly beleeue it and it hath beene often wondred at that a beast of so little a stature could beare so heauy and weighty a burden I could neuer smell any sweetnesse at all therein The colour thereof is like vnto old yuory in the midst betwixt white and yellow But you shall neuer haue a better patterne of this then where it is sold in litle peeces or fragments by the oile-men For the colour of our horne is life vnto them But by whom this was giuen vnto that same temple I am altogether ignorant Another certaine friend of mine being a man worthy to be beleeued Gerbellius A second history of a Vnicorns horn declared vnto me that he saw at Paris with the Chancellor being Lord of Pratus a peece of a Vnicorns horne to the quantity of a cubit wreathed in tops or spires about the thickenesse 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 woulde boile in the Wine although they were neuer burned hauing very little or no smell at all therein When Ioannes Ferrerius of Piemont had read these thinges he wrote vnto me that in the Temple of Dennis neare vnto Paris that there was a Vnicornes horne six foot-long wherin all those things which are written by Gerbelius in our chronicles were verified both the weight and the colour but that in bignesse it exceeded the horne at the Citty of Argentorate being also holow almost a foot from that part which sticketh vnto 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 A third Hystory of a Vnicornes horne I heare that in the former yeare which was from the yeare of our Lord 1553. when Vercella was ouerthrown by the French there was broght from that treasure vnto the King of France a very great Vnicorns horne the price wherof was valued at fourscore thousand Duckets Paulus Poaeius describeth an Vnicorne in this manner Another description of the Vnicorn 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 yuorie whitenesse thereof to haue the wonderfull power of dissoluing and speedy expelling of all venome or poison whatsoeuer For his horne being put into the water driueth away the poison that hee may drinke without harme if any venomous beast shall drinke therein before him This cannot be taken from the Beast being aliue forasmuch as he canot possible be taken by any deceit yet it is vsually seene that the horne is found in the desarts as it happeneth in Harts who cast off their olde horne thorough the inconueniences of old age which they leaue vnto the Hunters Nature renewing an other vnto them The horne of this beast being put vpon the Table of Kinges and set amongst their iunkets and bankets doeth bewray the venome if there be any suche therein by a certaine sweat which commeth ouer it Concerning these hornes there were two seene which were two cubits in length of the thicknesse of a mans Arme the first at Venice which the Senate afterwards sent for a gift vnto Solyman the Turkish Emperor the other being almost of the same quantity and placed in a Syluer piller with a shorte or cutted paint which Clement the Pope or Bishop of Rome being come vnto Marssels broght vnto Frācis the King for an excellent gift Furthermore concerning the vertue of such a gifte I will not speake more of this beast then that which diuulged fame doeth perswade the beleeuers Petrus Bellonius writeth that he knewe the tooth of some certaine Beast in time past sold for the horne of a Vnicorne Of adulterated Vnicorns horns what beast may be signified by this speech I know not neither any of the French men which do liue amongst vs and so a smal peece of the same being adulterated sold sometimes for 300. Duckets But if the horne shal be true and not counterfait it doth notwithstanding seeme to be of that creature which the Auncientes called by the name of an Vnicorne especially Aelianus who only ascribeth to the same this wonderfull force against poyson and most grieuous diseases for he maketh not this horne white as ours doth seeme but outwardly red inwardly white and in the middest or secrettest part only blacke But it cannot bee denied that this our Vnicornes horne was taken from some liuing wilde Beast For their are found in Europe to the number of twenty of these hornes pure and so many broken two of the which are showne in the treasury of Saint Markes church at Venice I heard that the other was of late sent vnto the Emperor of the Turkes for a gift by the Venetians both of them about the length of six cubits the one part which is lowest being thicker and the other thinner that which is thicker exceedeth not the thicknesse of three inches iust which is also attributed vnto the horne of the Indian Asse but the other notes of the same are wanting I doe also know that which the King of England possesseth to be wreathed inspires euen as that is accounted in the Church of S. Dennis then which they suppose none greater in the world and I neuer saw any thing in any creatures more worthy praise then this horn The substance is made by nature not Art wherin al the marks are found which the true horne requireth And forsomuch as it is somewhat hollowe about the measure of a foot which goeth out of the head the bone growing from the same is comprehended I coniecture that it neuer falleth as neither the hornes of a Muskcat a wilde Goat and an Ibex do but the hornes of these beasts do yearely fall off namely the Bucke the Hart Field-goat and Camelopardall It is of so great a length that the tallest man can scarsely touch the top thereof for it doth fully equall seuen great feet It weigheth thirteen pounds with their assize being only weighed by the gesse of the hande it seemeth much heauier The figure doth plainely signifie a wax candle being folded a wreathed within it selfe beeing farre more thicker from one part and making it selfe by little and little lesse towards the point the thickest part thereof cannot be shut within ones hand it is the compasse of fiue fingers by the circumference if it bee measured with a thred it is three fingers and a span That part which is next vnto the heade hath no sharpenesse the other are of a polished smoothnes The splents of the spire are smooth and not deep being for the most part like vnto the wreathing turnings of Snailes or the reuolutions or windings of Wood-bine about any wood But they proceed from the right hande toward the left from the beginning of the horne euen vnto the very ende The colour is not altogether white being a long time somewhat obscured But by the weight it is an easie thinge to coniecture that this beast which can beare so great burden in his head in the quantity of his body can bee little lesse then a great Oxe There are found oftentimes in Polonia certaine hornes which some men gesse to be of the Vnicorns by a doubble Argument First because they are found seuerall Of the Vnicornes horns found in Polonia neuer by twaines which as yet is heard although sometimes they may be found with the scull and bones of the rest of the body furthermore because their strength or vertue is approued against great and most grieuous diseases concerning which thing Antonius Schnebergerus a Phisitian of great learning amongst the Sarmatians and an excellent obseruer of nature writ vnto me some fiue yeare past to see some of these hornes hauing sent them by the labour of my very good friend Ioachinnus Rhaeticus a most excellent phisitian in Sarmatia and incomparable in the mathematick Artes in this age The first of these hornes saith hee I sawe being of the length of my fadome with a duskishe or darkish colour the point there of being exceeding sharpe and smooth The compasse about the root of the horne did exceed six spans The outside was plaine with no turnings of spires the substance easie to be crummed the figure crooked the colour exceeding white within which if it be drunk in wine doth draw ouer it selfe a dark colour Eight such diuisions were ioyned to the same as you shall see in the greater part which I send
weake creatures but there are also wild common wolues who lie in waite to destroy their heards of cattell and flocks of sheep against whom the people of the country do ordaine general huntings taking more care to destroy the young ones then the old that so the breeders and hope of continuance may be taken away And some also do keepe of the whelps aliue shutting of them vp close and taming them especially females who afterwards engender with dogs whose Whelpes are the most excellent keepers of flocks and the most enimies to wolues of all other Wolues are â—oâ— wilde dogges There be some haue thought that Dogs and Wolues are one kind namely that vulgar Dogs are tame Wolues and rauening wolues are wilde dogs But Scaliger hath learnedly confuted this opinion shewing that they are two distinct kinds not ioyned together in nature nor in any naturall action except by constraint for he saith that there are diuers wilde dogs are not wolues and so haue continued for many yeares in a hill cald Mountfalcon altogether refusing the society and seruice of men yea sometimes killing and eating them and they haue neither the face nor the voyce nor the stature nor the condicions of wolues for in their greatest extremity of hunger they neuer set vpon flocks of sheep so that it is vnreasonable to affirme that wolues are wilde dogs although it must needs be confessed The voyces of wolues that in outward proportion they are very like vnto them Some haue thought that wolues cannot bark but that is false as Albertus writeth vpon his owne knowledge the voice of wolues is called Vulatus howling according to these verses Ast lupus ipse vlulat frendet agrestis aper And againe Per noctem resonare lupis vlulantibus vrbes It should seeme that the word Vlulatus which the Germans translate Heulen the French Hurler and we in English howling is deriued either from the imitation of the beasts voice or from a night whooping Bird called Vlula I will not contend but leaue the Reader to either of both for it may be that it commeth from the Greek word Ololeuzein which signifieth to mourne and howle after a lamentable manner and so indeed wolues doe neuer howle but when they are oppressed with famin And thus I leaue the discourse of their voyce with the annotation of Seruius Vlulare canum est furiare To howle is the voyce of dogs and furies Although there be great difference of colours in wolues as already I haue shewed yet most commonly they are gray and hoary that is white mixed with other colours and therefore the Graecians in imitation therof do cal their twie-light which is betwixt day and night as it were participating of black and white Licophos wolfe-light because the vpper side of the wolues haire is browne and the neather part white It is said that the shaggy haire of a wolfe is full of virmin and wormes and it may well be for it hath beene proued that the skin of a sheep which was killed by a wolfe breedeth wormes The braines of a wolfe do decrease and encrease with the Moon and their eies are yellow black and very bright sending forth beames like fire The seueral partes carrying in them apparant tokens of wrath and mallice and for this cause it is said they see better in the night then in the day being herein vnlike vnto men that see better in the day then in the night for reason giueth light to their eyes and appetite to beasts and therfore of ancient time the wolfe was dedicated to the Sun for the quicknesse of his seeing sence and because he seeth far And such as is the quicknesse of his sence in seeing such also it is in smelling Coelius Stumpsius for it is reported that in time of hunger by the benefit of the wind hee smelleth his prey a mile and a halfe or two mile off for their teeth they are called Charcharodontes that is sawed yet they are smooth sharp and vnequall and therefore bite deepe as we haue shewed already for this cause the sharpest bits of horses are called Lupata All beasts that are deuourers of flesh doe open their mouths wide that they may bite more strongly and especially the wolfe The necke of a wolfe standeth on a straight bone that canot well bend therefore like the Hyaena when he would looke backwards he must turne round about the same necke is short which argueth a trecherous nature It is saide that if the heart of a wolfe be kept dry it rendreth a most fragrant or sweet smelling sauor The liuer of a VVolfe is like to a horses hoofe and in the blather there is found a certaine stone cald Syrites being in colour like Saffron or Honny yet inwardly containe certaine weake shining stars this is not the stone called Syriacus or Indiacus which is desired for the vertue of it against the stone in the blather The forefeet haue fiue distinct towes and the hinder feet but 4. because the forefeet serue in stead of hands in Lyons dogs wolues and Panthers VVe haue spoken already of their celerity in running and therefore they are not compared to Lions which go foot by foot but vnto the swiftest Dogs It is sayd they will swim and go into the water two by two euery one hanging vpon anothers taile which they take in their mouthes and therefore they are compared to the daies of the yeare which do successiuely follow one another being therfore called Lucabas For by this successiue swimming they are better strengthned against impression of the flouds and not lost in the waters by any ouerflowing waues or billowes The meat voracity of Wolues Great is the voracity of this beast for they are so insatiable that they deuoure haire and bones with the fleshe which they eat for which cause they render it whole againe in their excrements and therefore they neuer grow fat It was well sayd of a learned man Lupus vorat potius quam commedit carnes pauco vtitur potu That is A wolfe is rather to rauen then to eat his meat VVhen they are hungry they rage much although they be nourished tame yet can they not abide any man to look vpon them while they eat when they are once satisfied Aelianus Philes they endure hunger a great time for their bellies standeth out their tongue swelleth their mouth is stopped for when they haue droue away their hunger with aboundance of meate they are vnto men and beasts as meeke as lambs til they be hungry again neither are they moued to rapine though they go through a flock of sheep but in short time after their bellies and tongue are calling for more meat and then saith mine Author In antiquaÌ„ frigraÌ„ redit iterumque lupus existit That is They returne to their former conditions and become as rauening as they were before Neither ought this to seem strange vnto any man for the like things are formerly reported
the night time commeth vnto a folde of sheep he first of al compasseth it round about watching both the Shepheard and the Dogge whether they be asleepe or awake for if they be present and like to resist then he departeth without dooing any harme but if they be absent or asleepe then looseth he no opportunity but entereth into the sold and falleth a killing neuer giuing ouer til he haue destroyed al except he be hindered by the approch of â—â—e or other for his manner is not to eat any til he haue killed al Textor Albertus not because hee feareth the ouer-liuers wil tel tales but for that his insatiable mind thinketh he can neuer bee satisfied and then when al are slaine he falleth to eat one of them Now although there be great difference betwixt him and a Bul both in strength and stature yet is he not affraid to aduenture combat trusting in his policy more then his vigor for when he setteth vpon a Bul he commeth not vpon the front for feare of his hornes nor yet behind him for feare of his heeles but first of al standeth a loofe from him Aelianus with his glaring eyes daring and prouoking the Bul making often prosers to come neere vnto him yet is wise enough to keepe aloofe till he spy his aduauntage and then he leapeth suddenly vpon the backe of the Bull at the one side and being so ascended taketh suche hold that he killeth the beast before he loosen his teeth It is also worth the obseruation how he draweth vnto him a Calfe that wandereth from the dam for by singular treacherie he taketh him by the nose first drawing him forwarde and then the poore beast striueth and draweth backward and thus they struggle togither one pulling one way and the other another till at last the Wolfe perceiuing aduantage and feeling when the calfe pulleth heauyest suddenly he letteth go his hold whereby the poore beast falleth backe vpon his buttocks and so downe right vpon his backe then flyeth the Wolfe to his belly which is then his vpper part and easily teareth out his bowels so satisfieng his hunger-greedy appetite But if they chance to see a Beast in the water or in the marsh emcombred with mire they come round about him stopping vp al the passages where he shold come out baying at him and threatning him so as the poore distressed Oxe plungeth himselfe many times ouer head and ears or at the least wise they so vex him in the mire that they neuer suffer him to come out aliue At last when they perceiue him to be dead and cleane without life by suffocation It is notable to obserue their singular subtilty to drawe him out of the mire whereby they may eat him for one of them goeth in and taketh the beast by the taile who draweth with al the power he can for wit without strength may better kil a liue Beast then remoue a dead one out of the mire therefore he looketh behind him and calleth for more helpe then presently another of the wolues taketh that first wolues tail in his mouth and a third wolfe the seconds a fourth the thirds a fift the fourth and so forward encreasing theyr strength vntil they haue pulled the beast out into the dry lande whereby you may see how they torment and stretch their owne bodies biting their tailes mutually pinching and straining euery ioynt vntil they haue compassed their desire and that no man shold thinke it strange for a Wolfe to kil an Oxe It is reported that Danaus did build a temple to Apollo at Argos in the very same place where he saw a Wolfe destroy an Oxe because he receiued instruction thereby that he should be king of Greece Wolues are also enemies to the Buffes and this is no maruaile seeing that it is confidently reported by Aelianus that in time of great famine when they get no meat they destroy one another for when they meet together each one bemoaning himselfe to other as it were by consent they run round in a circle and that Wolfe which is first giddy being not able to stande falleth downe to the ground and is deuoured by the residue for they teare him in peeces before they can arise againe The â—â—aun of Wolues Pliny affirmeth that there be Wolues in Italy whose sight is hurtfull to men for when a man seeth one of them though he haue neuer so much desire to cry out yet hee hath no power but the meaning of this is as we find in other writers that if a Wolfe first see a man the man is silent and cannot speake but if the man see the Wolfe the Wolfe is silent and canot cry otherwise the tale is fabulous and superstitious and thereupon came the prouerbe Lupus in fabula est to signifie silence Now although these things are reported by Plato Ruellius Vincentius Ambros yet I rather beleeue them to be fabulous theÌ„ true howbeit Albertus writeth that when a man is in such extremity if he haue power but to loose his cloke or garment from his backe he shal recouer his voice again And Sextus saith that in case one of these Wolues do see a man first if he haue about him the tip of a wolues taile he shal not neede to feare anie harme There be a number of such like tales concerning wolues and other creatures as that of Pithagoras A beast making water vpon the vrine of a wolfe shal neuer conceiue with young All domestical Foure footed-beasts which see the eie of a wolfe in the hand of a man wil presently feare and runne away If the taile of a wolfe be hung in the cratch of Oxen they can neuer eat their meate If a horse tread vpon the foote-steps of a wolfe which is vnder a Horse-man or Rider hee breaketh in peeces or else standeth amazed If a wolfe treadeth in the footsteppes of a horse which draweth a waggon he cleaueth fast in the rode as if he were frozen If a mare with foale tread vpon the footsteps of a wolfe she casteth her foal and therefore the Egyptians when they signifie abortment doe picture a mare treading vppon a wolues foot These and such other things are reported but I cannot tell how true as supernatural accidents in wolues The wolfe also laboureth to ouercome the Leoparde and followeth him from place to place but forasmuch as they dare not aduenture vpon him single or hand to hand they gather multitudes and so deuoure them VVhen wolues set vpon wilde Bores Orâ—â— although they bee at variance amonge themselues yet they giue ouer their mutual combats and ioyne together against the VVolfe their common aduersarie For these occasions a wolfe hath euermore bin accounted a most fyerce and wilde beast as may further appeare by this Historie following A history VVhen Euristines and Procles intended to marie the Daughters of some Graecian that so they might ioyne themselues in perpetual league and amity by affinity they went to Delphos to
historiographer in his 4. lib. reporteth A Greyhound of King Richard the second that wore the Crowne and bare the Scepter of the realme of England neuer knowing any man beside the kings person when Henry Duke of Lancaster came to the castle of Flinte to take king Richard the Dog forsaking his former Lord and maister came to Duke Henry fawned vpon him with such resemblances of goodwill and conceiued affection as he fauoured king Richard before he followed the Duke and vtterly left the King So that by these manifest circuÌ„stances a man might iudge his Dog to haue beene lightened with the lampe of foreknowledge and vnderstanding touching his old maisters miseries to come and vnhappines nie at hand which king Richard himselfe euidently perceiued accounting this deede of his dog a Prophecy of his ouerthrow Of the Dogge called the Leuiner or Lyemmer in Latine Lorarius ANother sort of Dogs be there in smelling singular and in swiftnesse incomparable This is as it were a middle kind betwixt the Harier and the Greyhound as well for his kind as for the frame of his body And it is called in Latine Leuinarius a Leuitate of lightnesse and therefore may well be called a light-hound it is also called by this word Lorarius a Loro a leame wherewith it is led This Dogge for the excellency of his conditions namely smelling and swift running doth follow the game with more eagernes and taketh the prey with a iolly quicknesse Of the Dogge called a Tumbler in Latine Vertagus THis sort of Dogges which compasseth all by craftes fraudes subtilties and deceiptes we English men call Tumblers because in hunting they turne and tumble winding their bodyes about in circle-wise and then fiercely and violently venturing vpon the beast doth suddenly gripe it at the very entrance and mouth of their receptacles or closets before they can recouer meanes to saue and succor themselues This Dogge vseth another craft and sâ—btilty namely when he runneth into a warren or fetcheth a course about a conyburrough he hunts not after them he fraies them not by barking he makes no countenance or shaddow of hatred against them but dissembling friendship and pretending fauour passeth by with silence and quietnesse marking and noting their holes diligently wherein I warrant you he will not be ouershot nor deceiued When he commeth to the place where Conies be of a certainety he cowcheth downe close with his belly to the ground prouided alwaies by his skill and pollicie that the winde be neuer with him but against him in such an enterprize And that the Conyes spy him not where he lurketh By which meanes he obtaineth the scent and sauour of the conies carryed towardes him with the wind and the ayre either going to their holes or comming out either passing this way or running that way and so prouideth by his circumspection that the silly simple Conny is debarred quite from his hole which is the hauen of their hope and the harbour of their health and fraudulently circumuented and taken before they can get the aduantage of their hole Thus hauing caught his prey he carrieth it speedily to his maister wayting his Dogs returne in some conuenient lurking corner These Dogges are somewhat lesser then the houndes and they be lancker and leaner beside that they be somewhat pricke eared A man that shall marke the forme and fashion of their bodies may well cal them mungrel Grey-hounds if they were somewhat bigger But notwithstanding they counteruaile not the Greyhound in greatnesse yet will he take in one daies space as many Conies as shall arise to as big a burthen and as heauy a loade as a horse can carry for deceipt and guile is the instrument whereby he maketh this spoile which pernicious properties supply the places of more commendable qualities Of the Dogge called the theeuish Dogge in Latine Canis furax THe like to that whom we haue rehearsed is the theeuish dog which at the mandate bidding of his master fleereth and leereth abrod in the night hunting Conies by the aire which is leuened with the sauour and conueied to the sence of smelling by the meanes of the wind blowing towardes him During all which space of his hunting he will not barke least he should be preiudicial to his own aduantage And thus watcheh and snatcheth vp in course as many Conies as his maister will suffer him and beareth them to his maisters standing The farmers of the countrey and vplandish dwellers call this kind of Dog a night cur because he hunteth in the darke But let thus much seeme sufficient for dogs which serue the game and disport of hunting Of gentle Dogges seruing the hauke and first of the Spaniell called in Latine Hispaniolus SVch Dogs as serue for fowling I thinke conuenient and requisite to place in the second Section of this treatise These are also to be reckoned and accounted in the number of the Dogs which come of a gentle kinde and of those which serue for fowling there be two sorts The first findeth game on the land the other findeth game on the water Such as delight on the land play their parts either by swiftnesse of foot or by often questing to search out and to spring the bird for further hope of aduantage or else by some secret signe and priuy token bewray the place where they fall The first kind of such serue the Hauke the second the net or traine The first kind haue no peculiar names assigned vnto them saue onely that they be denominated after the birde which by naturall appointment he is alotted to take for the which consideration some bee called dogs for the Falcon the Phesant the Partridge and such like The common sort of people call them by one general word namely Spaniels As though these kind of dogs came originally and first of al out of Spaine The most part of their skins are white and if they be marked with any spots they are commonly red and somewhat great therewithall the haires not growing in such thicknes but that the mixture of them may easily be perceiued Othersome of them be reddish and blackish but of that sort there be but a very few There is also at this day among vs a new kinde of Dog brought out of France for we Englishmen are marueilous greedy gaping gluttons after nouelties and couetous cormorants of thinges that be seldome rare strange and hard to get And they be speckled al ouer with white and black which mingled colours incline to a marble blew which beautifieth their skins and affoordeth a seemely show of comlinesse These are called French dogs as is aboue declared already The Dog called the Setter in Latine Index ANother sort of Dogs be there seruiceable for fowling making no noise either with foot or with tongue whiles they follow the game These attend diligently vpon their maister frame their conditions to such becks motions gestures as it shal please him to exhibite and make either going forward drawing backward inclining
to the right hand or yealding toward the left In making mencion of fowles my meaning is of the Patridge and the Qâ—aile when he hath found the bird he keepeth sure and fast silence he stâ—ieth his steps and wil proceede no further and with a close couert watching eie layeth his belly to the ground and so creepeth forward like a worme When he approcheth neere to the place where the bird is he lies him down and with a marke of his pawes betrayeth the place of the birds last abode wherby it is supposed that this kind of dog is called Index Setter being indeede a name most consonant agreeable to his quality The place being knowne by the meanes of the Dog the fowler immediatly openeth and spreedeth his net intending to take them which being done the dog at the customed becke or vsuall signe of his Maister riseth vp by and by and draweth neerer to the fowle that by his presence they might be the authors of their own insnaring and be ready intangled in the prepared net which cunning and artificiall indeuor in a dog being a creature domesticall or houshold seruant brought vp at home with offals of the â—rencher and fragments of victuals is not so much to be marueiled at seeing that a Hare being a wild and skippish beast was seene in England to the astonishment of the beholders in the yeare of our Lorde God 1564. not only dauncing in measure but playing with his former feete vpon a tabberet and obseruing iust number of strokes as a practitioner in that Art besides that nipping and pinching a dog with his teeth and clawes and cruelly thumping him with the force of his feete This is no trumpery tale nor trifle toy as I imagine and therefore not vnworthy to be reported for I recken it a requital of my trauaile not to drowne in the seas of silence any speciall thing wherein the prouidence and effectuall working of nature is to be pondered Of the Dog called the water Spaniell or finder in Latine Aquaticus seu Inquisitor THat kind of dog whose seruice is required in fowling vpon the water partly through a naturall towardnes and partly by diligent teaching is indued with that property This sorte is somewhat big and of a measurable greatnes hauing long rough and curled haire not obtained by extraordinary trades but giuen by natures appointment yet neuerthelesse friend Gesner I haue described and set him out in this manner namely powled and notted from the shoulders to the hindermost legs and to the end of his taile which I did for vse and customs cause that being as it were made somewhat bare and naked by shearing off such superfluity of haire they might atchiue the more lightnesse and swiftnes and be lesse hindred in swimming so troublesome and needelesse a burthen being shaken off This kind of dog is properly called Aquaticus a water spaniel because he frequenteth and hath vsuall recourse to the water where al his game lyeth namely water fowles which are taken by the help and seruice of them in their kind And principally ducks and drakes whereupon he is likewise named a dog for the duck because in that quality he is excellent With these Dogs also we fetch out of the water such fowle as be stounge to death by any venemous Worme we vse them also to bring vs our boultes and arrowes out of the Water missing our marke whereat we directed our leuell which otherwise we should hardly recouer and oftentimes they restore to vs our shaftes which wee thought neuer to see touch or handle againe after they were lost for which circumstaunces they are called Inquisâ—tores searchers and finders Although the Ducke otherwhiles notably deceiueth both the Dog and the Maister by dyuing vnder the Water and also by naturall subtilty for iâ— any man shall approch to the place where they builde breede and sit the hennes goe out of their neasts offering themselues voluntarily to the handes as it were of such as drawe neere their neastes And a certaine weakenesse of their Wings pretended and infirmity of their feet dissembled they goe slowly and so leasurely that to a mans thinking it were no maisteries to take them By which deceiptfull tricke they doe as it were entise and allure men to follow them til they be drawn a long distance from their nestes which being compassed by their prouident cunning or cunning prouidence they cutte of all inconueniences which might grow of their returne by vsing many careful and curious caueats least their often hunting bewray the place where the young duklings be hatched Great therefore is their desire and earnest is their study to take heede not only to their brood but also to themselus For when they haue an inkling that they are espied they hide themselues vnder turfes or sedges wherewith they couer and shroud themselues so closely and so craftely that notwithstanding the place where they lurk be found and prefectly perceiued there they will harbor without harme except the water spaniel by quick smelling discouer their deceiptes Of the Dogge called the Fisher in Latine Canis Piscator THe Dog called the fisher whereof Hector Boethus writeth which seeketh for fish by smelling among rockes and stones assuredly I know none of that kind in England neither haue I receiued by report that there is any such albeit I haue beene diligent and busie in demaunding the question as well of fishermen as also of hunts-men in that behalfe being carefull and earnest to learne and vnderstand of them if any such were except you hold opinion that the Beauer or Otter is a fish as many haue beleeued and according to their beleefe affirmed as the bird Pupine is thought to be a fish and so accounted But that kinde of Dog which followeth the fish to apprehend and take it if there be any of that disposition and property whether they do this thing for the game of hunting or for the heate of hunger as other Dogs doe which rather then they will be famished for want of foode couet the carcases of carrion and putrified flesh When I am fully resolued and disburthened of this doubt I will send you certificate in writing In the meane season I am not ignorant of that both Aelianus and Aelius call the Beauer kunapotamion a water dog or a Dog-fish I know likewise thus much more that the Beauer doth participate this propertie with the dog namely that when fishes be scarce they leaue the water and range vp and downe the land making an insatiable slaughter of young lambes vntill their paunches be replenished and when they haue fed themselues full of flesh then returne they to the water from whence they came But albeit so much be granted that this Beauer is a Dog yet it is to be noted that we recken it not in the beadrow of English Dogs as we haue done the rest The sea Calfe in like manner which our contry men for breuity sake cal a Seele other more largely name a Sea