CoLENSO. — Mcmorahilia of certain Anhnal Prodigies. 95 



larger than that of a horse, its mouth reaching from ear to 

 ear ; big teeth, large eyes, the holes of the nostrils round, and 

 the skin of a whitish-grey — occasioned perhaps by the dust 

 which it gathered in course of time." 



Vertot goes on to remark, " We shall be less surprised at 

 so extraordinary an incident if we reflect that the Isle of 

 Ehodes was anciently called Ophiusa, from the Greek word 

 o<^t?, which signifies a serpent, from the great number of 

 those reptiles that infested that island. Hyginus, a Greek 

 historian, relates, upon the testimony of Polyzehis, a Ehodian, 

 that a Thessalian, son of Triopas, or of Lapithas according to 

 Diodorus Siculus, having been thrown by a storm on the coast 

 of Ehodes, happily exterminated those mischievous animals ; 

 that Phorbas, among the rest, killed one of them of a pro- 

 digious bigness, which devoured the inhabitants. The learned 

 Bochart pretends that the Phoenicians called the island by the 

 name of Gesirath-Eod— i.e., " the isle of serpents" — Gesirath, 

 according to that author, being a term common to the Phoe- 

 nicians, Syrians, Arabians, and Chaldeans for signifying an 

 island, and Eod, in the Phoenician tongue, signifying a serpent ; 

 so that, joining these two words together, they formed that of 

 Gesirath-Eod, whence the Greeks afterwards made that of 

 Ehodes, which the isle has preserved to this day." 



Then Vertot goes on to relate " a like event which 

 happened in Africa, while Attilius Eegulus commanded the 

 Eoman army there " (given more briefly by me above); and 

 then he remarks, "I do not maintain that there has been no 

 exaggeration in the length of the iVfrican serpent, nor assert 

 everything that is told of the monstrous bulk of the crocodile 

 of Ehodes ; but what appears certain from the historians of 

 that time, from tradition, and even from inscriptions and from 

 authentic monuments, is that Gozon killed a terrible animal, 

 and by that means acquired a great reputation, espe'cially 

 with the people of Ehodes, who looked upon him as their 

 deliverer. 



"The Grand Master, to make him some amends for the 

 mortification he had given him., conferred rich commandries 

 upon him. He took him afterwards to be near his person, 

 and, finding a prudence in him equal to his bravery, he made 

 him at last his lieutenant-general in the government of the 

 island." 



About the year 1346 the Grand Master Helion de Villeneuve 

 died, and the knights met in solemn conclave to elect his 

 successor; and our author states, "The Commander de Gozon 

 was one of the electors. When it came to his turn to give his 

 voice he said, ' When I entered this conclave I made a 

 solemn oath that I would i:iot propose any one but such a 

 knight as I should judge most deserving of this great dignity, 



