A CONFERENCE BETWIXT 



of sheep upon a bridge. And lastly, for I would not tire your 

 patience, one of no less authority than Josephus, that learned 

 Jew, tells us of a river in Judea, that runs swiftly all the six 

 days of the week, and stands still and rests all their Sabbath. 



But I will lay aside my discourse of rivers, and tell you 

 some things of the monsters, or fish, call them what you will, 

 that they breed and feed in them. Pliny the Philosopher says, 

 in the Third Chapter of his Ninth Book, that in the Indian Sea, 

 the fish called the Balcena or Whirlpool is so long and broad, 

 as to take up more in length and breadth than two acres of 

 ground, and of other fish of two hundred cubits long ; and that 

 in the river Ganges, there be Eels of thirty foot long. He says 

 there, that these monsters appear in that sea only, when the 

 tempestuous winds oppose the torrents of waters falling from 

 the rocks into it, and so turning what lay at the bottom to be 

 seen on the water's top. And he says, that the people of Cadara, 

 an island near this place, make the timber for their houses of 

 those fish-bones. He there tells us, that there are sometimes 

 a thousand of these great Eels found wrapped, or interwoven 

 together. He tells us there, that it appears that Dolphins love 

 music, and will come, when called for, by some men or boys, 

 that know and used to feed them, and that they can swim as 

 swift as an arrow can be shot out of a bow, and much of this 

 is spoken concerning the Dolphin, and other fish, as may be 

 found also in learned Dr. Casaubon's ' Discourse of Credulity and 

 Incredulity,' printed by him about the year 1670. 



I know, we islanders are averse to the belief of these 

 wonders ; but, there be so many strange creatures to be now 

 seen, many collected by John Tradescant, and others added by 

 my friend Elias Ashmole, Esq. ; who now keeps them carefully 

 and methodically at his house near to Lambeth near London, 

 as may get some belief of some of the other wonders I men- 

 tioned. I will tell you some of the wonders that you may now 

 see, and not till then believe, unless you think fit. 



You may there see the Hog-fish, the Dog-fish, the Dolphin, 

 the Coney -fish, the Parrot -fish, the Shark, the Poison -fish, 

 Sword-fish, and not only other incredible fish ; but you may 

 there see the Salamander, several sorts of Barnacles, of Solan 

 Geese, the Bird of Paradise, such sorts of Snakes, and such 

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