304 Dr Hibbert cw' M History of the Cervus EuryceroSf 



dras; while his equally painful researches, as a cosmographer, 

 obtained for him the additional title of The German Strabo. 



In the volume before us sketches of the chief towns of Eu- 

 rope are interspersed along with maps of its provinces, and gra- 

 phic illustrations of different national manners ; and as these 

 are accompanied by narratives remarkable for their perspicui- 

 ty, Munster has deservedly ranked high among antiquaries. 

 Nor is he less to be commended for the information which he 

 gives of the natural productions of the countries he describes. 

 Several of the animals which he has represented, are drawn 

 with a very laudable exactness, and it is only in such of the 

 remote regions as were imperfectly known to naturalists, that 

 his narratives partake of the popular fables of the times in which 

 he lived. Hence, while speaking of the interior of Africa, he 

 has described, though with little confidence, the men whom our 

 great bard has caused Othello to descant upon, 



_ " whose heads 



Do grow beneath their shoulders ;"•— 



and in giving a picture of the remoter tracts of Scotland, he 

 has not omitted the Orcadian Claik-geese. 



But if an objection lie against the evidence of Munster with 

 respect to regions which were little traversed, (and the same 

 objection lies against every other natural historian of that time), 

 no hesitation whatever of this sort applies to admitting him as 

 a good authority in regard to the productions of a country 

 then so well known as Prussia. Accordingly, in enumerating 

 the animals actually existing in this province in the year ] 550, 

 he has given the figure of a Cervus, corresponding so precisely 

 in the form of his immense and wide horns with those of the 

 fossil Elk of Ireland, that it is impossible to confound him with 

 any other Cervus ; — and that there may remain no doubt what- 

 ever that the same was an inhabitant of the wilds or marshes of 

 Prussia, he adds, " I ordered the misshapen figure of 



THIS ANIMAL TO BE HERE DEPICTED TO THE LIFE, AS WELL 

 AS CAN BE EXPRESSED IN A DELINEATION."" A WOod-CUt ac- 

 cordingly appears in Munster's volume, which is the only good 

 historical record of this animal which I believe to be in exist- 

 ence. An accurate copy of it is given in the present number 



