called, hy the Arabs, Ras Sem. i^ 



that the Geographers therefore were no other than A. Jen- 

 kinfon and Orteltm. This then appears to be one and the 



lame Story. 



Another ftrange Account, of a pretended Number of Men^ Asiikewife 

 Women and Children, being converted nito Stone, is related 

 by Z)<? la Vega in his Hiftory of the Tncas oiTeru '. But both 

 this and the former are of a modern Date and mere Trifles too, 

 in Comparifon with what is related of the wonderful EfFe£ls, 

 that were occafioned by the Gorgon ?> Head or Medufa. Nei- Jeacf "'■^""'^ 

 ther are the Petrifications themfelves, either in Ras Sem^ 

 Tartary or Teru^ fo copious and extenfive, as what were occa- 

 fioned by her Influence. For here they were vifible oyer a 

 whole Country ; 



paffimque per agros 



Terque vias mdtjfe hominum fimulachra ferarumque 



In filicem ex ipfi mfi coni)erfa Medujd. 



Ovid. Met. lib. 3. 1.718. 

 So much then, concerning the more remarkable Stories that Some ac- 



^ . counts oHm- 



are recorded, by modern and ancient Authors, of whole Groupes^^^ Perfons 



^ . , , . , . ^ being con- 



of Animals, being converted into Stone. Inftances of fingle^^"^'^ '"^° 

 Perfons being metamorphofed, in this manner, are more nu- 

 merous. Thus we read of Lofs Wife, becoming a Pillar of 

 Salt, in the facred Hiftory ; and of Niobe, and others being 

 turned into Stone, in the prophane. Arljlotle, as he is quoted 

 by Laffels \ fpeaks of fome Men, who were found petrified, 

 in a Cave, near Tergamtts : and, Kircher ' tells us, that the 

 wholeSkeletonof a Man, converted into Stone, was preferved 

 in the Ludov'ifmn Palace at Rome. This is probably the fame, 

 that ftill continues to be fliewn, among the Curiofities of that 

 City ; and which I myfelf have Seen. 



Among the Multiplicity of Bones, that have been found in ofthehu- 

 the Caves oi Gibraltar, (which arefuppofed to belong tofuchinTheCaves 

 Perfons, as hid themfelves, upon the Invafion of the Moors^ G,i>rduT, 

 and afterwards periflied with Hunger ;) I have feen feveral, 

 that had received an additional Weight and Subftance, by be- 

 ing pervaded, as it may be imagined, by fome lapidefcentY?i' 



1 Commcntaire Royal ou Hiftoire des TncAs dti Pcrou, par Ganilajfo de U Ve^a. 1. j. 

 c. I. p. 287. 



2 Mid. LaJfelsYoja^e into Italj. Par. 1670. 120. p. i/p. in Villi Ludovifiana. 



3 Ut lupra, 



D pour. 



