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The Crocodile
The largest of the Saurians which we have left us, is the Crocodile; and it formerly had the character of being very deceitful, and, by its weeping, attracted its victims. Sir John Mandeville thus describes them: – “In this land, and many other places of Inde, are many cocodrilles, that is a maner of a long serpent, and on nights they dwell on water, and on dayes they dwell on land and rocks, and they eat not in winter. These serpents sley men, and eate them weeping, and they have no tongue.”
On the contrary, the Crocodile has a tongue, and a very large one too. As to the fable of its weeping, do we not even to this day call sham mourning, “shedding crocodile’s tears?” Spenser, in his “Faerie Queene,” thus alludes to its supposed habits (B. I. c. 5. xviii.): —
“As when a wearie traveller, that strayes
By muddy shore of broad seven-mouthed Nile,
Unweeting of the perillous wandring wayes,
Doth meete a cruell craftie crocodile,
Which in false griefe hyding his harmeful guile,
Doth weepe full sore, and sheddeth tender tears:
The foolish man, that pities all this while
His mourneful plight, is swallowed up unawares,
Forgetfull of his owne, that mindes another’s cares.”
And Shakespeare, from whom we can obtain a quotation on almost anything, makes Othello say (Act iv. sc. 1): —
“O devil, devil!
If that the earth could teem with woman’s tears,
Each drop she falls would prove a crocodile; —
Out of my sight!”
Gesner, and Topsell, in his “Historie of Four-Footed Beastes,” give the accompanying illustration of a hippopotamus eating a crocodile, the original of which, they say, came from the Coliseum at Rome, and was then in the Vatican.
Topsell, in his “History of Serpents,” dwells lovingly, and lengthily, on the crocodile. He says: – “Some have written that the Crocodile runneth away from a man if he winke with his left eye, and looke steadfastly uppon him with his right eye, but if this bee true, it is not to be attributed to the vertue of the right eye, but onely to the rarenesse of sight, which is conspicuous to the Serpent from one eye. The greatest terrour unto Crocodiles, as both Seneca and Pliny affirme, are the inhabitants of the Ile Tentyrus within Nilus, for those people make them runne away with their voyces, and many times pursue and take them in snares. Of these people speaketh Solinus in this manner: – There is a generation of men in the Ile Tentyrus within the waters of Nilus, which are of a most adverse nature to the Crocodile, dwelling also in the same place. And, although their persons or presence be of small stature, yet heerein is theyr courage admired, because at the suddaine sight of a Crocodile, they are no whit daunted; for one of these dare meete and provoke him to runne away. They will also leape into Rivers and swimme after the Crocodile, and, meeting with it, without feare cast themselves uppon the Beasts backe, ryding on him as uppon a horse. And if the Beast lift uppe his head to byte him, when hee gapeth they put into his mouth a wedge, holding it hard at both ends with both their hands, and so, as it were with a bridle, leade, or rather drive, them captives to the Land, where, with theyr noyse, they so terrifie them, that they make them cast uppe the bodies which they had swallowed into theyr bellies; and because of this antypathy in Nature, the Crocodyles dare not come neare to this Iland.
“And Strabo also hath recorded, that at what time crocodiles were brought to Rome, these Tentyrites folowed and drove them. For whom there was a certaine great poole or fish-pond assigned, and walled about, except one passage for the Beast to come out of the water into the sun shine: and when the people came to see them, these Tentyrites, with nettes would draw them to the Land, and put them backe againe into the water at theyr owne pleasure. For they so hooke them by theyr eyes, and bottome of their bellyes, which are their tenderest partes, that, like as horses broken by theyr Ryders, they yeelde unto them, and forget theyr strength in the presence of these theyr Conquerors…
“To conclude this discourse of Crocodiles inclination, even the Egyptians themselves account a Crocodile a savage, and cruell murthering beast, as may appeare by their Hieroglyphicks, for when they will decypher a mad man, they picture a Crocodile, who beeing put from his desired prey by forcible resistance, hee presently rageth against himselfe. And they are often taught by lamentable experience, what fraude and malice to mankind liveth in these beasts; for, when they cover themselves under willowes and greene hollow bankes, till some people come to the waters side to draw and fetch water, and then suddenly, or ever they be aware, they are taken, and drawne into the water.
“And also, for this purpose, because he knoweth that he is not able to overtake a man in his course or chase, he taketh a great deale of water in his mouth, and casteth it in the pathwaies, so that when they endeavour to run from the crocodile, they fall downe in the slippery path, and are overtaken and destroyed by him. The common proverbe also, Crocodili lachrimæ, the Crocodile’s teares, justifieth the treacherous nature of this beast, for there are not many bruite beasts that can weepe, but such is the nature of the Crocodile, that to get a man within his danger, he will sob, sigh, and weepe, as though he were in extremitie, but suddenly he destroyeth him. Others say, that the Crocodile weepeth after he hath devoured a man…
“Seeing the friendes of it are so few, the enemies of it must needes be many, and therefore require a more large catalogue or story. In the first ranke whereof commeth (as worthy the first place), the Ichneumon or Pharaoh’s Mouse, who rageth against their egges and their persons; for it is certaine that it hunteth with all sagacity of sense to find out theyr nests, and having found them, it spoyleth, scattereth, breaketh, and emptieth all theyr egs. They also watch the old ones a sleepe, and finding their mouths open against the beames of the Sunne, suddenly enter into them, and, being small, creepe downe theyr vast and large throates before they be aware, and then, putting the Crocodile to exquisite and intollerable torment, by eating their guttes asunder, and so their soft bellies, while the Crocodile tumbleth to and fro sighing and weeping, now in the depth of water, now on the Land, never resting till strength of nature fayleth. For the incessant gnawing of the Ichneumon so provoketh her to seek her rest, in the unrest of every part, herbe, element, throwes, throbs, rowlings, tossings, mournings, but all in vaine, for the enemy within her breatheth through her breath, and sporteth herselfe in the consumption of those vitall parts, which wast and weare away by yeelding to her unpacificable teeth, one after the other, till shee that crept in by stealth at the mouth, like a puny theefe, come out at the belly like a conquerour, thorough a passage opened by her owne labour and industry…
“The medicines arising out of it are also many. The first place belongeth to the Caule, which hath moe benefits or vertues in it, than can be expressed. The bloud of a Crocodile is held profitable for many thinges, and among other, it is thought to cure the bitings of any Serpent. Also by annoynting the eyes, it cureth both the dregs, or spots of blood in them, and also restoreth soundnesse and clearenesse to the sight, taking away all dulnesse, or deadnesse from the eyes. And it is said, that if a man take the liquor which commeth from a piece of a Crocodyle fryed, and annoynte therewithall his wound or harmed part, that then he shall bee presently rid of all paine and torment. The skinne both of the Land and Water Crocodile dryed into powder, and the same powder, with Vineger or Oyle, layd upon a part or member of the body, to be seared, cut off or lanced, taketh away all sense and feeling of paine from the instrument in the action.
“All the Ægytians doe with the fat or sewet of a Crocodile, (is to) annoynt all them that be sick of Feavers, for it hath the same operation which the fat of a Sea-dogge, or Dog-fish hath, and, if those parts of men and beasts which are hurt and wounded with Crocodile’s teeth, be annoynted with this fat, it also cureth them. Being concocted with Water and Vineger, and so rowled uppe and downe in the mouth, it cureth the tooth-ache: and also it is outwardly applyed agaynst the byting of Flyes, Spyders, Wormes, and such like, for this cause, as also because it is thought to cure Wennes, bunches in the flesh, and olde woundes. It is solde deare, and held pretious in Alcair, (Cairo.) Scaliger writeth that it cureth the Gangren. The Canyne teeth which are hollow, filled with Frankinsence, and tyed to a man or woman, which hath the toothach, cureth them, if the party know not of the carrying them about: And so they write, that if the little stones which are in their belly be taken forth and so used, they work the same effect against Feavers. The dung is profitable against the falling off of the hayre, and many such other things.”
The Basilisk and Cockatrice
Aldrovandus portrays the Basilisk with eight legs. Topsell says it is the same as the Cockatrice, depicts it as a crowned serpent, and says: – “This Beast is called by the Græcian Baziliscos, and by the Latine, Regulus, because he seemeth to be the King of Serpents, not for his magnitude or greatnesse: For there are many Serpents bigger than he, as there be many foure-footed Beastes bigger than the Lyon, but, because of his stately pace, and magnanimious mind: for hee creepeth not on the earth like other Serpents, but goeth halfe upright, for which occasion all other Serpentes avoyde his sight. And it seemeth nature hath ordayned him for that purpose; for, besides the strength of his poyson, which is uncurable, he hath a certain combe or Corronet uppon his head, as shall be shewed in due place.”
Pliny thus describes “The Serpents called Basilisks. There is the same power39 also in the serpent called the Basilisk. It is produced in the province of Cyrene, being not more than twelve fingers in length. It has a white spot on the head, strongly resembling a sort of diadem. When it hisses, all the other serpents fly from it: and it does not advance its body, like the others, by a succession of folds, but moves along upright and erect upon the middle. It destroys all shrubs, not only by its contact, but even those that it has breathed upon; it burns up all the grass too, and breaks the stones, so tremendous is its noxious influence. It was formerly a general belief that if a man on horseback killed one of these animals with a spear, the poison would run up the weapon and kill, not only the rider, but the horse as well. To this dreadful monster the effluvium of the weasel is fatal, a thing which has been tried with success, for kings have often desired to see its body when killed; so true is it that it has pleased Nature that there should be nothing without its antidote. The animal is thrown into the hole of the basilisk, which is easily known from the soil around it being infected. The weasel destroys the basilisk by its odour, but dies itself in this struggle of nature against its own self.”
Du Bartas says: —
“What shield of Ajax could avoid their death
By th’ Basilisk whose pestilentiall breath
Doth pearce firm Marble, and whose banefull eye
Wounds with a glance, so that the wounded dye.”
The origin of the Cockatrice is, to say the least, peculiar: – “There is some question amongest Writers, about the generation of this Serpent: for some, (and those very many and learned,) affirme him to be brought forth of a Cockes egge. For they say that when a Cocke groweth old, he layeth a certaine egge without any shell, instead whereof it is covered with a very thicke skinne, which is able to withstand the greatest force of an easie blow or fall. They say, moreover, that this Egge is layd onely in the Summer time, about the beginning of the Dogge-dayes, being not so long as a Hens Egge, but round and orbiculer: Sometimes of a Foxie, sometimes of a yellowish muddy colour, which Egge is generated of the putrified seed of the Cocke, and afterward sat upon by a Snake or a Toad, bringeth forth the Cockatrice, being halfe a foot in length, the hinder part like a Snake, the former part like a Cocke, because of a treble combe on his forehead.
“But the vulger opinion of Europe is, that the Egge is nourished by a Toad, and not by a Snake; howbeit, in better experience it is found that the Cocke doth sit on that egge himselfe: whereof Levinus Lemnius in his twelfth booke of the hidden miracles of nature, hath this discourse, in the fourth chapter thereof. There happened (saith he) within our memory in the Citty Pirizæa, that there were two old Cockes which had layd Egges, but they could not, with clubs and staves drive them from the Egges, untill they were forced to breake the egges in sunder, and strangle the Cockes…
“There be many grave humaine Writers, whose authority is irrefragable, affirming not onely that there be cockatrices, but also that they infect the ayre, and kill with their sight. And Mercuriall affirmeth, that when he was with Maximilian the Emperour, hee saw the carkase of a cockatrice, reserved in his treasury among his undoubted monuments… Wee doe read that in Rome, in the dayes of Pope Leo the fourth (847 to 855), there was a cockatrice found in a Vault of a Church or Chappell, dedicated to Saint Lucea, whose pestiferous breath hadde infected the Ayre round about, whereby great mortality followed in Rome: but how the said Cockatrice came thither, it was never knowne. It is most probable that it was created, and sent of God for the punnishment of the Citty, which I do the more easily beleeve, because Segonius and Julius Scaliger do affirme, that the sayd pestiferous beast was killed by the prayers of the said Leo the fourth…
“The eyes of the Cockatrice are redde, or somewhat inclyning to blacknesse; the skin and carkase of this beast have beene accounted precious, for wee doe read that the Pergameni did buy but certaine peeces of a Cockatrice, and gave for it two pound and a halfe of Sylver: and because there is an opinion that no Byrd, Spyder, or venomous Beast will endure the sight of this Serpent, they did hang uppe the skinne thereof stuffed, in the Temples of Apollo and Diana, in a certaine thinne Net made of Gold; and therefore it is sayde, that never any Swallow, Spider, or other Serpent durst come within those Temples; And not onely the skinne or the sight of the Cockatrice worketh this effect, but also the flesh thereof, being rubbed uppon the pavement, postes, or Walles of any House. And moreover, if Silver bee rubbed over with the powder of the Cockatrices flesh, it is likewise sayde that it giveth it a tincture like unto Golde: and, besides these qualities, I remember not any other in the flesh or skinne of this serpent…
“We read also that many times in Affrica, the Mules fall downe dead for thirst, or else lye dead on the ground for some other causes, unto whose Carkase innumerable troupes of Serpentes gather themselves to feede there uppon; but when the Bazeliske windeth the sayd dead body, he giveth forth his voyce: at the first hearing whereof, all the Serpents hide themselves in the neare adjoyning sandes, or else runne into theyr holes, not daring to come forth againe, untill the Cockatrice have well dyned and satisfied himselfe. At which time he giveth another signall by his voyce of his departure: then come they forth, but never dare meddle with the remnants of the dead beast, but go away to seeke some other prey. And if it happen that any other pestiferous beast cometh unto the waters to drinke neare the place wherein the Cockatrice is lodged, so soone as he perceiveth the presence thereof, although it be not heard nor seene, yet it departeth back againe, without drinking, neglecting his owne nutriment, to save itselfe from further danger: whereupon Lucanus saith,
– Late sibi submovet omne
Vulgus, et in vacua regnat Basiliscus arena.
Which may be thus englished;
He makes the vulgar farre from him to stand,
While Cockatrice alone raignes on the sand.
“Now we are to intreate of the poyson of this serpent, for it is a hot and a venemous poyson, infecting the Ayre round about, so as no other Creature can live neare him, for it killeth, not onely by his hissing, and by his sight, (as is sayd of the Gorgons) but also by his touching, both immediately, and mediately; that is to say, not onely when a man toucheth the body it selfe, but also by touching a Weapon wherewith the body was slayne, or any other dead beast slaine by it, and there is a common fame, that a Horseman taking a Speare in his hand, which had beene thrust through a Cockatrice, did not onely draw the poyson of it unto his owne body, and so dyed, but also killed his horse thereby.”
The Salamander
Many writers have essayed this fabled creature, but almost all have approached the subject with diffidence, as if not quite sure of the absolute entity of the animal. Thus, Aristotle does not speak of it authoritatively: – “And the Salamander shews that it is possible for some animal substances to exist in the fire, for they say that fire is extinguished when this animal walks over it.” Pliny, on Salamanders, writes: – “We find it stated by many authors, that a serpent is produced from the spinal marrow of a man. Many creatures, in fact, among the quadrupeds even, have a secret, and mysterious origin.
“Thus, for instance, the salamander, an animal like a lizard in shape, and with a body starred all over, never comes out except during heavy showers, and disappears the moment it becomes fine. This animal is so intensely cold as to extinguish fire by its contact, in the same way that ice doth. It spits forth a milky matter from its mouth; and whatever part of the human body is touched with this, all the hair falls off, and the part assumes the appearance of leprosy… The wild boar of Pamphylia, and the mountainous parts of Cilicia, after having devoured a Salamander, will become poisonous to those who eat its flesh; and yet the danger is quite imperceptible by reason of any peculiarity in the smell and taste. The Salamander, too, will poison either water or wine in which it happens to be drowned; and, what is more, if it has only drunk thereof, the liquid becomes poisonous.”
This idea of an animal supporting life in the fire is not confined to the Salamander alone, for both Aristotle and Pliny aver that there is a fly which possesses this accomplishment. Says the former: – “In Cyprus, when the manufacturers of the stone called chalcitis burn it for many days in the fire, a winged creature something larger than a great fly is seen walking and leaping in the fire: these creatures perish when taken from the fire.” And the latter: – “That element, also, which is so destructive to matter, produces certain animals; for in the copper-smelting furnaces of Cyprus, in the very midst of the fire, there is to be seen, flying about, a four-footed animal with wings, the size of a large fly: this creature, called the ‘pyrallis,’ and by some the ‘pyrausta.’ So long as it remains in the fire it will live, but if it comes out, and flies a little distance from it, it will instantly die.”
Ser Marco Polo thoroughly pooh-poohs the idea of the Salamander, and says it is Asbestos. Speaking of the Province of Chingintalas, he says: – “And you must know that in the same mountain there is a vein of the substance of which Salamander is made. For the real truth is that the Salamander is no beast, as they allege in our part of the world, but is a substance found in the earth; and I will tell you about it.
“Everybody must be aware that it can be no animal’s nature to live in fire, seeing that every animal is composed of all the four elements. Now, I, Marco Polo, had a Turkish acquaintance of the name of Zurficar, and he was a very clever fellow, and this Turk related to Messer Marco Polo how he had lived three years in that region on behalf of the Great Kaan, in order to procure those Salamanders for him. He said that the way they got them was by digging in that mountain till they found a certain vein. The substance of this vein was then taken and crushed, and, when so treated, it divides, as it were, into fibres of wool, which they set forth to dry. When dry, these fibres were pounded in a great copper mortar, and then washed, so as to remove all the earth, and to leave only the fibres, like fibres of wool. These were then spun, and made into napkins. When first made, these napkins are not very white, but by putting them in the fire for a while they come out as white as snow. And so again, whenever they become dirty they are bleached by being put in the fire.
“Now this, and nought else, is the truth about the Salamander, and the people of the country all say the same. Any other account of the matter is fabulous nonsense. And I may add that they have, at Rome, a napkin out of this stuff, which the Grand Kaan sent to the Pope, to make a wrapper, for the Holy Sudarium of Jesus Christ.”
That extremely truthful person, Benvenuto Cellini, in his thoroughly veracious autobiography, tells us the following Snake Story:– “When I was about five years old, my father happened to be in a basement-chamber of our house, where they had been washing, and where a good fire of oak-logs was still burning; he had a viol in his hand, and was playing and singing alone beside the fire.
“The weather was very cold. Happening to look into the fire, he spied in the middle of those most burning flames a little creature like a lizard, which was sporting in the core of the intensest coals. Becoming instantly aware of what the thing was, he had my sister and me called, and, pointing it out to us children, gave me a great box on the ears, which caused me to howl and weep with all my might. Then he pacified me good-humouredly, and spoke as follows: ‘My dear little boy, I am not striking you for any wrong that you have done, but only to make you remember that that lizard which you see in the fire is a salamander, a creature which has never been seen before, by any one of whom we have credible information.’ So saying, he kissed me, and gave me some pieces of money.”
Even Topsell is half-hearted about its fire-resisting qualities, giving no modern instances, and only, for it, quoting old authors. According to his account, and to the picture which I have taken from him, the Salamander is not a prepossessing-looking animal: – “The Salamander is also foure-footed like a Lyzard, and all the body over it is set with spots of blacke and yellow, yet is the sight of it abhominable, and fearefull to man. The head of it is great, and sometimes they have yellowish bellyes and tayles, and sometimes earthy.”
He also says its bite is not only poisonous, but incurable, and that it poisons all it touches.
