380 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XI V. 



noses, and of a brown colour), tumblers and pouters. By the river a woman 

 had lately been devoured by a crocodile in spite of the Brachmin's pretending 

 to charm them, so that they should do no mischief in their sacred river. 

 " Fish, Oisfcers, Soles and Indian Mackerel the River yields very good, and the 

 Pools and Lakes Store of Wild Fowl ; peculiarly Bracd-geese, Colum and 

 Seeras, species of the former ; in the cold Weather, they shuning the North- 

 ern rigid Blasts, come hither yearly from Mount Caucasus ; what is worth tak- 

 ing notice of, is their Aspera Asteria wound up in a case on both Sides their 

 Breastbone, in manner of a Trumpet, such as our Waits use ; when it is single, 

 it is a Serass, when double a Colum, making a greater Noise than a Bittern, 

 being heard a great while before they can be seen, flying in Armies in the 

 Air." During Fryer's stay at Surat" a Sea Tortoise was brought to the Fort, in 

 Length Six Feet, the contents of his Hut near two Bushels, reckoning only 

 that part with which his Back is shielued, being an huge Shell of a brown 

 Colour ; never to be made transparent as those come from the South Seas are, 

 nor easily to be crackt by any weight ; for Experiment, I and two others got 

 upon it, and the Tortoise unconcerned carried us : its Head is loricated with 

 Scales, the Neck reaching as far us the Hut, soft and undefensible : the fins 

 are four, placed instead of Legs, by which it Crawls as well as Swims ; the 

 belly is covered with a Breast plate called the Callapee, soft and whitish in 

 respect of the Backpiece or Callipet, its tail is short and wreathed like a 

 Serpent ; altogether it is as lovely as a Toad ; it sighs like a woman and weeps 

 like a child ; being taken and turned on its Back, it is Shiftless. I caused it 

 to be opened and examined its heart, which (countary to the opinion of tl e 

 Vulgar) is but one, they affirming it to be three, grounded on this Mistake, 

 the Auricles being larger than in other creatures, equalling almost the 

 Ventricles and whole Body of the Heart, which is bigger in proportion than 

 belongs to such an Animal, being as large as an Ox''s, which might be the reason 

 of its Pusillanimity ; the Veins and Arteries were filled with currents of cold 

 Black Blood ; it participates more of Flesh than of Fish, of a viviparous than 

 oviparous ofi'spring, yet. lays imperfect Eggs without a Crust (only covered 

 with a Membrane, being most Yolk), buried by it in. the Sands, to receive from 

 the Sun's Heat the perfection of their batching (as the eggs of Egypt from 

 Furnaces, or others from Dunghills) : It Spawns them as Fish do, in huge 

 quantities, as much at one time ts will more than fill a Saman's Bonnet 

 (every one being as big as an Hen's Egg). By them aboard Ship they are 

 ordered like buttered Eggs of a Fowl, though nearer akin to a Serpent's, 

 hanging together as those do. 



" For this end they come ashore, and when pursued, cast up with their 

 Claws a Cloud of Sand to blind their Enemies ; when overtaken somg are so 

 big four men can hardly turn them. 



" It is supposed they feed on the Grass or oaz on Land or at the bottom of 

 the Ocean ; and from the Fable of the Three Hearts, springs the Conceit of 

 their Tripartite Community, of fish, and Flesh, and Fowl ; the outward Cover- 



