OF SERPENTS. 41 



King Mithridates ccii'd not fotforid be. 

 He drinking Poifon oft, grew Poifon-jree. 



After King Mithridates was vanquifli'd, Cneia Pompeiiis 

 found in his Clofet the following Receipt, againft Poifon, writ 

 with his own Hand, in this Manner, -viz. 



"TAKE two dry Walnut -kernels, as many Figs, of Rue twenty 

 Leagues, fiamp all tbefe together into one Mafs, with a Grain of Salt. 



Under this Receipt was writ Whoever eats this ConfeSfion 



in the Morning fajlijig, iio Poifon fiall hurt him that Day *. In 

 America, where Lizards are very good, they eat them, and fo 

 large, that one Lizard is enough to fatisfy four Men, 'Tis very 

 probable that they were eaten in Arabia and Jiidea, fince Mofes 

 ranks them among the unclean Creatures -j-. 



Though the Flefli of venemous Creatures be nutrimental, 

 and eaten with a good ReliHi, in many Places, yet it muft be al- 

 low'd our old Hiftoriographers in fome Things hyperbolize upon 

 the Subjedl. Thus Avicenna, the great Arabian Dodlor, and o- 

 thers, fpeak of a young Maid, who v/as fed with the Flefh of 

 poifonous Creatures, from her tender Age ; by which her Breath 

 became venemous to thofe who flood by her. And thus Porus, 

 a certain Indian King, is faid to ufe Poifon every Day, that he 

 might kill others. It is a known Hiftory, adds he, of a yotmg 

 Woman, fed with Poifon, with which the Perfian Kings dellroy'd 

 whom they pleas'd. 



A D D to this another traditional Opinion, viz. that fome parti- 

 cular Perfons have an evil Eye, which afFefts Children and Cattle ; 

 yea, that fome have this unhappy Faculty, tho' at the iame Time 

 void of any ill Delign. This has been an old Tradition, as appears 

 from that of the Poet II . 



O N the Mountains of Ceylon in the Eajl-Indies, are Serpents of 

 fuch vaft Size, that they fwallow young Cattle : Their Flefh is 

 very delicate, and has a moft pleafing Tafte ; therefore is very 

 much eaten. 



G This 



* Pliny's Natural Hlft. Tom. ii. B. 23. f Calmet in verhum Hieronym. 



contra yovinian. lib. ii. || Nefcio quis teyieros ocidus mihi fafcinat agnos. See 



Martin on the Weftern Iflands, p, 122, 123. 



