74 CURIOUS CREATURES. 



both sides to his eares, and the head and face of a female 

 like unto a Badgers. It is also called Martiora, which in 

 the Parsian tongue, signifieth a devourer of men." 



Du Bartas, in " His First Week, or the Birth of the 

 World," mentions our friend as being created : 



" Then th' Vnicorn, th' Hyana tearing tombs, 

 Swift Manticlwr*, and Nubian Cephas comes ; 

 Of which last three, each hath, (as heer they stand) 

 Man's voice, Man's visage, Man like foot and hand." 



It is mentioned by other writers but I have a theory 

 of my own about it, and that is, that it is only an 

 idealised laughing hyaena. 



THE LAMIA. 



The Lamiae are mythological and were monsters 

 of Africa, with the face and breast of a woman, the 

 rest of the body like that of a serpent ; they allured 

 strangers, that they might devour them ; and though not 

 endowed with the faculty of speech, their hissings were 

 pleasing. Some believed them to be evil spirits, who, in 

 the form of beautiful women, enticed young children, 

 and devoured them ; according to some, the fable of 

 the Lamiae is derived from the amours of Jupiter 

 with a beautiful woman, Lamia, whom Juno rendered 

 deformed, and whose children she destroyed ; Lamia 

 became insane, and so desperate, that she ate up all the 

 children which came in her way. 



Topsell, before entering upon the natural history of 

 the Lamia, as an animal, tells the following story of it 

 as a mythological being: "It is reported of Menippns 

 the Lycian, that he fell in love with a strange woman, 



