should not cease to weep when he seeth how he is overtaken for there is one on high who marks his teares and puts them up into his bottle alwayes pleased to see a sorrowfull bespotted soul baptized in the pearled drops of repentant dew But to proceed Tragelaphus is a kinde of Deer-goat of which Gesner maketh two forts the first whereof hath horns like a Deer the second like a Goat but more crooked and bending backward There is likewise another beast most common in the Northern parts Olaus calleth him the Rangifer he also hath horns like a Deer and on him men use to ride in stead of horses The common Goats are easily known but the Syrian Goats are differing having long flapping eares like a deep-mouthed hound and of these there be two kindes the greater and the lesse Then again there is another Goat called the Rock-goat differing from the rest and as for the Kid it is a young Goat a sucker or one newly taken from the damme The Badger fighteth upon his back and so maketh use both of his teeth and claws the Fox makes no denne but driveth away the Badger out of his by pissing in it Sheep naturally be of a hot disposition weak tender harmlesse and so farre from greedinesse that they will live of lesse food then any other beast of their bignesse They be also pitifull amongst themselves for when they perceive any one of their fellows to be sick and fainting through heat they will stand together and keep away the sunne The rammes and ewes are fit for generation from two yeares of age untill they be ten neither do we finde any thing either in them or without them which is not of some good use and profit And note that the ewes bear their young ones in their bodies an hundred and fiftie dayes and no longer according to the common account I have heard of sheep in some countreys which have yellow fleeces but here with us they be alwayes either black white or of a colour neare to a russet It is strange how in a great flock every lambe should know his own damme and prettie sport is it to see how they will play and skip up and down Howbeit the shepherds finde much trouble in one propertie belonging to these dancing creatures for if one lambe chance to skip into a river or ditch the rest if they be by will suddenly follow and do the like In which they be emblemes of those who will rather strive to do as the most then as the best and yet goodnesse goes not by multitude for the most are commonly the worst neither is a way alwayes to be chosen for the number or quantitie of companions but for the qualitie and better is it to go to heaven with strangers then to hell with our friends Dives therefore would have sent from the dead to have it told his brethren What that the way to happinesse is to follow goodnesse although it be but grex pusillus a small and little flock Mares are said to have their full increase in five yeares but the Horse not till six And there be some who write that an Horse should not be broken or tamed untill two yeares of age and first of all he is to be rubbed and chafed and used with flattering and gentle words his stable should be laid with stone and by little and little he must be used to go upon the stones that his feet might be hardened At the beginning let not him who shall fit or break him be too rough nor wearie him with running but prove and turn him gently on both sides and touch him rather with the stick then spurre They are said not onely to have knowledge of their riders and keepers but also of their generation and descent knowing their sires and dammes in such wise that as Plinie saith they will refuse to couple or engender with them which how true it is the breeders of Horses be the best witnesses They be apt to learn having a greater love to exercise then any other beast Their courage and valour is infinite and being once trained unto it they take an exceeding delight in the warres and will as it were prepare themselves man-like for the same Neither hath it been but sometimes and that not seldome known how they have mourned for the losse or death of their masters and how apt they be to endure labour there is none but knoweth But to know a good Horse and his age these be his marks He should be of one colour excepting some mark or starre to grace him his mane ought to be thick and standing up his loins strong his head short his neck must be erect his eares small according to the proportion of his head a broad breast a mean bellie short hips a large tail and somewhat curled straight legs and equall knees stedfast hoofs and grosse and yet not too big nor too small and in his legs not so much flesh as bone As for his age when he is two yeares old and an half his middle teeth both above and beneath do fall when he is three yeares old he easteth those which be like unto dogs teeth and bringeth forth new before six his upper double teeth do fall and at six he supplieth his want again at seven likewise he hath all equall and from thence some say his teeth begin to be hollow at ten his temples are also hollow his teeth stick out and his brows sometimes wax gray But of this enough The Gulon or Ierf is a beast in the North parts of Suetia Olaus Magnus hath largely described it in the eighteenth book of his Northern historie affirming that it is the most insatiable and devouring creature that is for having killed his prey or found some carcase he feedeth without giving over untill his bellie be so full that it will hold no more but strouteth out and is puffed up like a bag-pipe then to ease himself he thrusteth in between two narrow trees and straineth out backwards that which he hath eaten and so being made emptie returneth again and filleth himself as before and then straineth it out between the two trees and returneth to the carcase to eat again and thus he continueth untill he hath devoured all which being consumed he hunteth after more in this sort continually passing his life Which beast as is worthily * observed is a fit embleme of those riotous and gluttonous men who passe whole dayes and nights in eating and drinking and when they have filled themselves so full that their bodies will hold no more they vomit up what they have taken and then return to their carowsing cups and cheer again as though this onely were their felicitie and end for which the mighty God had made them But let them know that although many live as if they came but into this world to make merry and away ruine will follow riot and
large wide mouth but round This is a cruel fish to the marriners and will sometimes lift up his head above the sail-yard casting up so much water through certain pipes in his forehead that as the foresaid authour witnesseth great and strong ships are either compelled to sink or else are exposed to great and manifest danger Sometimes again by laying his head upon either end of the ship he drowns it by his over-loading weight Some call the Whirl-pool-whales Balaenae But howsoever Balaena is reckoned amongst the whales and is differing from the Prister or Physeter which before I called the Whirl-pool-whale Olaus Magnus speaking of the Balaena saith that it hath no gills but certain Fistulae are in stead thereof placed in the forepart of the head and that it is a fish which shews great love and affection towards her young ones For when they are little being faint and weak she takes them into her mouth to secure them from tempestuous surges and when the tempest is over she spues them again out into the sea A fit embleme this to teach all sorts of parents either in Church Commonwealth or private families to provide for and not destroy those under them as also to secure them from dangers whensoever they arise When this Balaena and her male-whale accompanie together for they increase by copulation they scatter much of their seed in the waters which being found by the marriners is taken and sold as a pretious drugge Some call it Ambra or Ambergreese affirming that it is good contra guttas and against the palsie and resolution of sinews if it be used as an oyntment good also to be drunk down against the falling sicknesse and swounding having also great power of strengthening the inward parts It is commonly white and sometimes counterfeited with the dust of Lignum aloes and the sweet gum Storax sea-mosse and the like but that which is sophisticated may be easily known because it will soon be dissolved like wax whereas that which is without sophistication is more solid lesse easie to be made liquid Thus affirmeth Olaus magnus howbeit others write that Ambergreese is the spawn of the whale But Avioen is perswaded that it grows in the sea and some again onely write that it is cast up on the shore and found cleaving to stones there the fume whereof is good against the falling sicknesse and comfortable to the brain Munster writeth that many in Iseland of the bones and ribbes of the biggest whales make posts and sparres for the building of their houses and how great profit proceedeth from the oyl of the whale no man is ignorant Plinie writeth of a little fish called Musculus which is a great friend to the whale for the whale being big would many times endanger her self between rocks and narrow straits were it not for this little fish which swimmeth as a guide before her Whereupon Du Bartas descants thus A little fish that swimming still before Directs him safe from rock from shelf and shore Much like a childe that loving leads about His aged father when his eyes be out Still wafting him through ev'ry way so right That reft of eyes he seems not reft of sight Which office of that little fish may serve as a fit embleme to teach great ones superiours that they ought not to contemne their inferiours for they are not alwayes able so to subsist of themselves that they never stand in need of their helps who are but mean and base in the eyes of greatnesse there may come a time when the meanest person may do some good and therefore there is no time wherein we ought to scorn such a one how mean soever he be Furthermore as the whale is befriended by the Musculus so also he is as much infested by the Ork for albeit the Ork be lesse then the whale yet it is a nimbler fish and cruell withall having sharp teeth with which as with an admired weapon she cruelly wounds the whale in the belly and then floating into a shallow place endangers the whale to follow after The Sword-fish called Xiphia is little like to any other fish he hath an horrid head like an owl a deep mouth as if it were some immensive pit ougly eyes with a back and a bill like a sword There is also another great fish called Serra or a Saw-fish having an hard copled head with teeth like a saw standing in manner of a combe upon the head of a cock with which the said fish when she wants a prey cutteth the bottome of ships that the men being cast away a prey may be provided by feeding on their carcases The Monoceros or fish with one horn may fitly be called the Sea-unicorn it is a sea-monster having a great horn in his forehead wherewith he is able to pierce through a ship Howbeit his crueltie is much hindered in regard that it hath pleased the Almighty to make him very slow in motion whereby those who fear him have advantage given them to flie away The Sea-elephant is a fish which often goes on shore and sleeps in the rocks hanging by his two Elephant-like teeth but both they and his bodie are farre bigger then the land-elephant and being espied by men at sea they call to others on the shore by whose help using nets and gins and other instruments for that purpose they together invelope his bodie and then suddenly assaulting and awaking him he leaps with a violent rush as if he would leap into the sea but being hampered and entangled by the fishers engines he cannot he is compelled therefore to yeeld himself to their mercie who having killed him do first skin him then take out his fat and of his skinne they make thongs which are sold for a great price as being very strong and such as will never rot Olaus magnus commendeth his teeth above the other parts of his bodie Lib. 21. This fish thus sleeping and caught suddenly may be as a fit embleme of those men who coming out of their right way do fall asleep in sinne and at last when death awakes them they think to go to heaven or leap into the wayes of godlinesse but then it is too late for they are taken as surely and as suddenly as was that fool in the Gospell who thought he had goods laid up for many yeares The Crocodile seeing it lives in the waters as well or rather then on land I reckon among the fishes They be commonly found about the river Nilus in Egypt and Ganges in India and as Munster writeth in his cosmographie it waxeth of a little thing to a very great beast For his egges are much like unto goose egges but the young which cometh of them taketh increase to 16 or 18 cubits in length He liveth almost as long as a man his back is hard and full of scales he wants a tongue but hath
and fighteth with every kinde of beast saving the lion and elephant he diggeth up gold in desert places and giveth repulse to those that come neare him But as I said some doubt whether there be any such creature or no which for my part shall be left to every mans libertie The Ostrich is compounded as it were of a bird and a beast and is especially found in Africa he is partly like a camell in his long legs and feet partly like a sparrow in his head and bill though much greater Some say his head is covered with small hairs his eyes be grosse and black his neck is long and as I said his bill is short and sharp like a sparrows bill and his feet hath as it were a bipartite hoof He is said to exceed the height of a man on horseback and as for his wings they help him little howbeit we make much use of his feathers as is well known And in one thing he is like the woodcock for hiding his head he never fears his bodie Job speaketh that he is forgetfull for when this bird hath laid her egges which she hides in the sand and are hatched by the sunne she forgetteth them untill the young come forth and then the males are forced to feed and cherish them So have I seen many mothers refusing to nurse their children and if they could would have others likewise bear them but putting them forth I beleeve many perish for want of care and due attendance for it is not possible that a nurse should have that tender affection which belongs to a mother and many times with the nurses milk the children suck the nurses vices Necessitie therefore and a prudent choice should seek out nurses as we see it Gen. 21. 7. Moreover it is said that this bird is of such strong digestion that she will eat iron and when she seeth that she cannot avoid taking she casteth stones with her claws against her followers by which she often hurteth them Ibis is a tall strong bird having a bill of great length he doth exceeding much good in destroying serpents These birds live in Egypt and the serpents brought out of Lybia thither by the Southern winde are killed by them Plin. lib. 10. cap. 28. See also afterwards in the Stork The Kite is well known she is a fowl which flieth softly untill she espie her prey she hath quick eyes will flie high into the aire in hot cleare weather and by the turning of her tail she directs her bodie even as a great lazie ship is ordered by the helm Aristotle observes that all such fowls as have talons cannot devoure any meat but flesh and if any other food be thrust into their mouthes they cannot eat it There is great enmitie between the kite and the raven it being an usuall thing for the kite to robbe the raven as being better in talons and flying So have I seen the gripers and catchpoles of this world destroy one another the lesse mightie alwayes devoured by the stronger and more potent And me thinks the kites feeding upon carrion is a fit embleme of the envious person who rejoyceth in the fall of others for there be many in the world who care not what men fall so they may rise building their own houses out of the bloud and ruine of others Howbeit it is observed by Aristotle that the kite being a ravenous bird bringeth forth but two young ones at a time wherein nature hath been very provident and carefull to suffer such ravenous fowls to increase no faster And so saith one it is commonly seen in the world that many rich cormorants or corn-vorants rather are either childlesse and have no children or else they abound not in many and yet we can see no end of their scraping pinching and oppressing There is one alone saith Solomon and there is not a second which hath neither sonne nor brother and yet there is no end of all his travell Eccles. 4. 8. The Raven also is a fowl given to rapacitie and devouring of flesh great of bodie slow in slight sharp in sight frequenting much the countreys of Italie Spain Egypt and about the Alps. But this saith Munster is to be understood of the great kinde of ravens This fowl doth greatly above all others covet mens carcases and as some think by a singular instinct and naturall gift it hath understanding of mans death presaging it a few dayes before But whether that be true or not this is certain that it haunteth places of battell with solitarie ruines and like to the young eagles it picketh out the eye of a dead corps first of all because as some suppose he seeth his own image in the clearnesse of the eye and so like coveteth the like The fox and this bird are very friendly but both at enmitie with the hawk that being the chiefest cause of their familiaritie And so have I seen one man love another the better for hating him whom he abhorreth or one like the fox will sometimes plot anothers ruine that the other like the raven may prey upon him Munster telleth us that the skinne of a raven well tewed and dressed with the feathers on it is exceeding good to be laid to a weak and sickly stomack for it greatly helps digestion And again she is noted for an unkinde bird to her young ones * expelling them out of their nest before their full and compleat time leaving them to their selves before they are able to shift and so crying for food God by his providence provideth for them whereupon it is said that the young ravens crie unto God or which feedeth the young ravens that call upon him Psal. 147. 9. And in this act these and the like birds are emblemes of such as want naturall affection And indeed the young ones afterwards prove as cruell to their dammes for when they be old and have their bills overgrown they die of famine not sharpning their bills again by beating them on a stone as the eagle doth * neither will their young ones help them but rather sometimes set upon them when they are not able to resist It is not good therefore to use children too harshly in their minoritie lest when Senes come to be Pueri again they finde as little favour at their hands as they shewed before And of this parents masters tutours and guardians should be carefull learning their lesson from these unnaturall birds But more I may spare to adde for the well affected are also well instructed to put a difference between foolish cockering and cruell handling knowing with Solomon that Where the rod is spared the childe is spoiled and with Paul confessing likewise that they ought not to be bitter to them lest thereby they provoke them to wrath Ephes. 6. 4. Moreover let it be observed that some authours affirm there is also the raven of the sea which is like in
Some have written that it is a bird without legs but Mr. Purchas in two severall places alledgeth the testimonie of one Pigafetta who witnesseth that it is a bird having two feet as well as other birds but as soon as they be taken they are cut off with a great part of their body where of a little is left with the head and neck which being hardened and dryed in the sunne seem to be so bred And other authours witnesse that there was one of them sold to the Emperour in the yeare 1605 which had legs on it Cardan likewise mentions this bird but seeing his report is differing from our modern writers and travellers I forbear to rehearse it Howbeit they who reade Gesner shall see it in his third book of birds together with a figure of this fowl But out of Asia look yet once again into America and then you shall see as strange a winged creature as any we have heard of yet I mean the New Spains Cucuios which whether I may call it bird or beetle I cannot tell He is very little and of the thicknesse of a mans thumbe or there abouts but amongst the works of God he is a most admirable wonder For he carrieth foure lights with him which shine in the night two in the seat of his eyes and two which he sheweth when he openeth his wings And as for his wings he hath two very strong and hard under which he hath two other little wings very thin which appeare not but when he extendeth his other to fly The Indians use them in stead of candles and saith my authour if a man tie five or six of them together they yeeld as much light as a torch And loe just now as if it were by the light of this creature me thinks I see the painfull and industrious Bees fly flocking to their hives These be those winged workmen which whether their profit or admiration be greater I am scarce able to say For they do not onely busily bestirre themselves to gather hony which is very usefull in the life of man but they do work it up in most strange manner and keep it in their waxen cells so rarely built that all the men which the world affords are not able to do the like Neither is this all for they live so as they may be true patterns of needfull government keeping themselves under the subjection of a king and order of laws They may well be likewise said to have the soveraignty and preeminence above all others of this kinde because the rest come farre short of their perfections It is a creature having foure wings and bloudlesse the onely crafts-master of hony Their eyes are somewhat of a horny substance hid deep in their bodies as is also their sting which when they lose they die Vitam in vulnere ponunt because their sting and entrails come away together They want neither tongue nor teeth and out of their short feet or stumps there grow forth as it were two fingers wherein they carry a littlestone for the poysing their bodies in stormy windie tempestuous weather it being a great means to keep them from blowing away and losing their home Neither can it be denied but that by nature they are much different for some saith one are more domesticall and tamâ—… and others again are altogether wilde uplandish and agrestiall Those former are much delighted with the familiar friendship custome company of men but the other can in no wise brook or endure them therefore they keep their trade of hony-making in old trees caves and such like other holes As for their breathing I do not beleeve it howbeit they may pant move or stirre as the heart or brain doth and by transpiration be comforted and made lively for they be much refreshed by the aire which passeth through their divided places insomuch that they alwayes use great diligence and care to preserve them from being stopped for as soon as they be stopped in those passages they die as we see if at any time they chance to fall into oyl or the like liquour which may stop their pores Some make three kings amongst them differing in colour as black red and divers-coloured but perhaps there is rather one king in a companie the other like kings may be esteemed as viceroyes In their breeding they actually couple together after which they lay egs sitting upon them for the space of five and fourtie dayes then do they hatch their young ones which at the first come forth much like to white worms except the king who onely is said to be hatched with wings And sometimes there is a kinde of Bee bred out of putrefaction as authours write A rotten horse breedeth Wasps a dead calf Bees if the West winde blow from an asse proceed Humble-bees of a mule Hornets c. And whether the Bees in Sampsons dead Lion were bred any where else no man knoweth They have a Commonweal and are governed by a king as before was mentioned and him they reverence and honour being alwayes readie to do according to his pleasure He is of bodie farre bigger then the hony Bees hath shorter wings but a brighter and more goodly head then they There is alwayes excellent discipline and very good government among them for at the mouthes of the hives there be some which stand like warders placed at the gates of a castle to see who goes in and out And having rested quietly all night there is one which with a humming noise doth call them up whereupon they prepare to fly abroad about their businesse but if they make no haste to look out or go not farre from home it is a certain signe of no good weather When they be busie at their work the Bees which go abroad return home with laden thighs full of the substance of the flowers and this especially is said to be an office of the younger Bees for some of the other do onely earrie water and the elder ones remaining at home do busily lay up carefully dispose and curiously dresse what the other bring in Such as be sluggish among them are diligently observed and bitterly punished and as for the drones they are supposed by some to be the female Bees which they drive out of their hives when breeding time is past and therefore they do ill who use to kill the drones before Others again think that the female Bee is no drone but rather bred among the Bees and being idle and unapt for work is driven away either in the busiest time or time of dearth And yet perhaps it may be the female which having done as much as can be naturally required from her must not think much to be driven away but leave her room to a succeding generation I said before that in the morning there is one among them which calls them up and so in like manner at night they leave their buzzing by degrees at last hearing as
Dragon and powerfully defendeth the helplesse man who is not able to defend himself So ought it to be chiefly amongst great men and those who are mightie they should not injure strangers and travellers as many do when they come into their territories but rather by themselves or theirs they should direct and succour them from the hurts and harms of evil men The Rhinoceros is a beast every way admirable both for the outward shape quantitie and greatnesse and also for the inward courage disposition and mildenesse For this beast is next to the Elephant every way as strange and in a manner exceeding him unlesse it be in his quantitie or height of stature for although he may be as long or perhaps longer then an Elephant yet he is not so tall neither are his legges so long and for the length it must be a large Rhinoceros which can measure with the Elephant for ordinarily the Elephant exceedeth according to the testimonie of Strabo alledged by Mr Topsell In the kingdome of Bengala great numbers of these beasts may be found their colour is like the rinde or bark of a box-tree their skinne upon the upper part is all wrinkled and of such firmnesle and hardnesse that no dart is able to pierce it and being wrinkled it appeareth as if they were armed with shields or set over with scales which go also down along their legs to the very hoofs which are parted into foure distinct claws Moreover upon the nose of this beast there groweth a hard and sharp horn crooking a little towards the crown of his head but not so high it is flat and not round and so sharp and strong that it will pierce through things of exceeding hardnesse and from hence it is that he is called a Rhinoceros in the Greek by which word is signified a Nose-horned beast He is headed somewhat like to a wilde Boar and hath again another horn growing upon his withers but it is a small one The manner of his fight with the Elephant I have alreadie mentioned and as for his horn teeth flesh bloud claws whatsoever he hath without and within his bodie it is good against poyson and as authours write is much accounted of throughout all India The reason of which vertue is thought to proceed from the soveraigne powers which are in those herbs that Bengala yeeldeth for in other places they are nothing so precious Some have thought this to be the right Unicorn but of that fancie see more as followeth Monoceros is a beast with one horn called therefore by the name of an Unicorn and albeit there be many horned beasts which may improperly be called Unicorns yet that which is the right Unicorn indeed is like unto a colt of two yeares a half old which hath naturally but one horn and that a very rich one which groweth out of the middle of his forehead being a horn of such vertue as is in no beasts horn besides which whilest some have gone about to denie they have secretly blinded the eyes of the world from their full view of the greatnesse of Gods great works For were it not said that the horn were excellent and of surpassing power I perswade my self it would never be doubted whether there were an Unicorn or no. But that there is such a peculiar beast the Scripture both in Deuteronomie Isaiah Job and the book of Psalmes doth bear us witnesse In all which places how do Expositours translate the originall word but thus Unicornis or Monoceros which in English is an Unicorn And again it is the testimonie of Ludovicus Vertomannus alledged by Gesner Topsell and others that he himself saw a couple of the true Unicorns at Mecha in Arabia one whereof had a horn of three cubits being of the bignesse of a colt two yeares and an half old the other was much lesse and his horn shorter about a spanne long for he was but young and both these were sent to the Sultan of Mecha for a rare present by the King of Ethiopia who ever desireth to be in league with the said Sultan thinking nothing too deare to maintain his amitie And certainly he could not send him a gift more welcome especially this being a beast so rare and seldome seen which may be in regard that it is a creature delighting in nothing more then in a remote and solitarie life The colour of these thus sent was like a weasel-coloured Horse the head like the head of a Hart the neck not very long and the mane growing all on one side their legges slender and lean like the legs of an hinde the hoofs on the forefeet cloven and the hinder legges somewhat shaggie The nearest of any beast better known is the Indian Asse and Indian Horse excepting that their hoofs are whole and not cloven and their colour somewhat differing for there is a horn grows out between their two eyes like to the true Unicorn By which it appeareth that of Unicorns there is one principall kinde onely the rest are lesse principall and subordinate to him whose horn is the strongest sharpest and of the greatest vertue For in granting more kindes then one I do not understand every beast with one horn but onely such Monocerots as have in their horns vertue against poison like unto those horses of India mentioned but even now and of which Mr Topsell writeth that they have Harts heads and one horn of which their Kings and Princes make cups to drink their drink against poison finding a great preservative to be in the said horn Munster saith that the King of Ethiopia hath some store of these beasts and Mr Topsell nameth two kingdomes in India the one called Niem the other Lamber which be likewise stored with them Moreover concerning the horn it is neither light nor hollow nor yet smooth like other horns but hard as iron rough as any file revolved into many plaits sharper then any dart straight and not crooked and every where black except at the top or point It hath many soveraigne vertues and with an admirable dexteritie expelleth poison insomuch that being put upon a table furnished with many junkets and banqueting dishes it will quickly descrie whether there be any poison or venime amongst them for if there be then presently the horn is covered with a kinde of sweat or dew And as it is reported when this beast cometh to drink he first dippeth his horn in the water that thereby he may drive away the poison when venimous beasts have drunk before him And again I finde it recorded that the Indian and Ethiopian hunters catch of those Unicorns which be in their countrey after this manner They take a goodly strong and beautifull young man whom they clothe in the apparell of a woman besetting him with divers flowers and odoriferous spices setting him where the Unicorns use to come and when they see this young man whom they take to be a woman they
farre more swift And as for the Cameleopardus he is begotten by a mixt generation between the Camel and Leopard or Panther The Hyaena as it is described by Plinie is a beast whose neck hath no joynt and therefore he stirres not his neck but with bending about his whole body He will imitate humane voice and drawing neare to the sheep-coats having heard the name of some of the shepherds he will call him and when he comes devoure him His eyes have many colours and the touch of his shadow makes a dog not able to bark And as the Magicians would make us beleeve this beast hath the power of incantation they therefore tell many strange things which they be able to do Neither is this any other then the common or vulgar Hyaena which is likewise called Lupus vespertinus a wolf of the night being in quantitie of body very like a Wolf but much more rough in his hair and bristled all along his back like a horses mane the middle whereof is somewhat crooked His colour is yellowish but speckled on the sides with blew spots The second kinde is called Papio or Dabuh bigger and rougher then the former with feet something like to a mans hand They breed much about Cesarea and their custome is being gathered together for one of them to go before his company singing and howling and all the rest answering him with a kinde of correspondent tune whose voices are so shrill and sounding that although they be remote and farre off men may heare them as if they were hard by and when one of them is slain the residue flock about his carcase howling as if they should make funerall lamentations for the dead They sometimes being compelled by hunger will search into the silent graves of dead men The third kinde is the Corcuta and this happeneth when the Lionesse and the Hyaena do ingender together The fourth is Mantichora he is bred among the Indians having a treble row of teeth beneath and above with a broad face fashioned like to the face of a man a beard both on his chin and upper lip his eyes are gray and his colour red and in the shape of his body and legs like to a Lion His tail is long and slender armed at the end with sharp quils with which he woundeth the hunters when they set upon him and this is strange that the quils being darted off do presently grow again And as for his chief delight it is to eat mans flesh The Zebra is a beast which amongst all creatures both for beautie and comelinesse is admirably pleasing He resembles a horse of exquisite composition but not altogether so swift all overlaid with partie-coloured laces and gards from head to tail In Africa they abound and live in great herds together In the countrey of Sardinia there is a certain beast which they call Muflo the like whereof as some affirm is not in all Europe It hath a skinne and hairs like unto a Deer or Hart crooked horns like unto a Ramme which bend backward about the eares In bignesse he may be compared to a Buck he feedeth onely upon grasse and herbs and keepeth most about mountains is very swift in running and his flesh is very good to be eaten In Virginia there is a beast called Ovassom which hath a head like a Swine a tail like a Rat as big as a Cat and hath under his belly a bag wherein they carrie their young Purch Moreover I finde in the said authour that their Dogs in that countrey bark not their Wolves are not much bigger then our Foxes and their Foxes like our silver-haired Conies and of a differing smell from ours The Wolf is a ravenous and devouring beast and rightly surnamed Spoil-park and those of the common sort have grizled hairs being white under the belly a great head and armed with big and long teeth sparkling eyes and short prickt eares and for his feet they be something like to the feet of a Lion He is therefore called Lupus from Leopes quia pedem quasi pedes Leonis habet Where these creatures live the people are much infested with them they will sometimes steal from their folds abroad and sometimes do them mischief at home When they come to the sheep-folds they observe which way the winde bloweth and then they come marching against it that thereby they may the better deceive the shepherd and his dogs And when they prey upon Goats they hide themselves under the leaves of trees that they may the more easily obtain their desire When they catch little children it is said that they will play with them for a while as the cat playes with the mouse and at the last devoure them Plinie and Olaus Magnus write that Egypt and Africa bring forth but small Wolves in respect of those which are in the Northern parts of the world and as the Elephant is impatient of cold so these beasts do as much detest heat And again there be certain mountains which part the kingdomes of Swetia and Norway upon which live whole herds of white Wolves Some say that if the heart of a Wolf be kept dry it will render a most fragrant or sweet smell and in the bladder of a Wolf is a certain stone of a saffron or hony colour which inwardly containeth as it were certain weak shining starres But this me thinks is strange The Ravens are in perpetuall enmitie with Wolves and the antipathie of their natures is so violent that if a Raven eat of the carcase of a beast which the Wolf hath either killed or formerly tasted of she presently dieth and again it is reported that when a Wolf espieth a single passenger travelling by the way if he thinks himself not able to set upon him he will make such a piteous howling that his companions suddenly come to help him Romulus and Remus were said to be nursed by a she-Wolf but Lupa signifying a devouring Harlot may rather be applyed to Laurentia the wife of Faustulus who had played the harlot with certain shepherds Wolves have no societie but with beasts of their own kinde and above all creatures they and dogs are most subject to madnesse the reason of which is because their bodies are cholerick and their brains increase and decrease with the moon And as for their severall kindes see more in Gesner Topsell Olaus Magnus and such others Vulpes the Fox is a subtill craftie creature They differ in colour according to the climate wherein they be bred and sometimes also in quantitie The urine of this beast falling upon any herb or grasse drieth it up and causeth it to wither His fat or grease is good against the cramp or gout and so also is his skinne if it be wrapped about the grieved place testified by Olaus Magnus in the eighteenth book of his Northern historie Moreover concerning