40 A NATURAL HISTORY 



The Cifxtdatores, or Dealers In Serpents, devour'd at their 

 Tables even their Heads, and pour'd the Gall into their Cups 

 when they drank, laughing at their Neighbours Timidity, who 

 transform their Imaginations into Bug-bears. 



The Inhabitants of Mount Atbos, between Macedonia and 

 'Thracia^ are called Macrobii, that is Long-livers, or long-liv'd j 

 and their Longevity is attributed to their feeding on Viper's Flefh, 

 which is a moft elegant Nutritive *. 



The Ethiopians are number'd among thofe who feed upon 

 Serpents, as one valuable Branch of their Suftenance. 



I N the Kingdom oi Congo in Africa^ the Negroes roaft the Ad- 

 ders, and not only greedily feed upon them, but efleem them as 

 a mofh delicious Food -f*. 



S T. HELENA^ one of the African Iflands, abounds with Ser- 

 pents which the Dutch eat as a greater Dainty than Eels J. We read 

 of a Man who liv'd at Colonia Agrippina in Germany^ that fed up- 

 on Spiders, as the moft delicate Dida. N, B, This Cologne is 



called Agrippina from Agrippina the Mother of Nero (who poi- 

 fon'd Claudius her own Husband, to make Nero her Son Emperor) 

 and would have the Town honoured with a Roman Colony, as 

 being the Place of her Birth ||. 



I N Cuba, an American liland, they were pefter'd with many 

 forts of Serpents, not fo much from the ill Condition of the Soil, 

 as by an old fuperftitious Whim of the Savages, who in former 

 Times were not fuffered to kill them, (this being a royal Game, 

 and a nice Dilli referved for the Higher Powers) and were not able 

 afterwards to deftroy them, when it would have been fuff^red **. 



The Kalmuck Tartars feed very much upon Snakes, Adders 



and Foxes The Syrians eat Crocodiles, which live on the Land 



only. 



MITHRIDA7E, formerly one of the Capital Medicines in 

 the Shops, has the Name from the Inventor, viz. Mithridates 

 King of Pontus, who being overcome by Pompey, would have 

 poifon'd himfelf ; but no Poifon would work upon him, having 

 accuftom'd himfelf to eat Poifon 5 thus defcribed in an old Do^- 

 grel Rhyme, viz. 



King 



* C. Geffier, p. -(>. f Vurchas Pilgrim, Part ii. 1. 7. % ^^^- ^fri<:- V- 741- 



II Tacitush hwai)\sj Vol. i. B. iv. ** Heylin's Cofmographyj B. iv. P. 151. 



