NATURAL HISTORY of NORWAY. 189 



is faid to be a powerful remedy againft the ftone." I fhall add to 

 all this, a paflage relating to this fubjecl:, which may be met 

 with under the article Meer-mann, p. 658, in the Univerfal Dic- 

 tionary of Arts and Sciences, publifhed by John Theodore Jablon- 

 &y : " Meer-man, Meer-weib, Meer-minne, that is, Sea -man, Mer- 

 maid, or Siren, called by the Indians Ambifiangulo, otherwife Pe- 

 fiengoni,and by the Portuguefe Pezz Muger, is a Fifh found in the 

 feas, and in fome rivers in the Southern parts of Africa and India, and 

 in the Philipine and Molucca Iflands, /Brafil, North America, and 

 Europe, in the North Sea The length of this Fifh iseightfpans, its 

 head is oval, and the face refembles that of a man. It has an high 

 forehead, little eyes, a flat nofe, and large mouth, but has no chin 

 or ears. It has two arms, which are fhort, but without joints or el- 

 bows, with hands or paws, toeach of which there are four long 

 fingers, (which are not very flexible) connected to each other by a 

 membrane, like that of the foot of a goofe. Their fex is diftinguifh- 

 able by the parts of generation. The females have breafts to 

 fuckle their offspring ; fo that the upper part of their body re- 

 fembles that of the human fpecies, and the lower part that of a 

 Fifh. Their fkin is of a brownifh grey colour,, and their inteftines 

 are like thofe of a hog. Their flefh is as fat as pork, particu- 

 larly the upper parts of their bodies 5 and this is a favourite difh 

 with the Indians, broiled upon a Gridiron. It makes a lamentable 

 cry when drawn out of the water. There is a bone in the head 

 that divides the brain, which the Portuguefe powder, and fay is 

 of great fervice in the ftone and gravel. Accounts of the catchino- 1 

 of thefe Sea or Mer-men in Europe are delivered by Wormius, 

 Guiccardino, Mexia, Seybold, Erafmus, Francifcus, and others." 



Athanafius Kircher gives this defcription of the Pezz-muger, 

 in his third book de Magnete, P. vi. c. i. §. 6, p.. 675. " Capitur 

 certis temporibus anni in mari orientali Indiae, ad infulas Viflayas, 

 quas infulas Piclorum vocant, fub Hifpannorum dominio pifcis 

 quidam uvfyoTropogQog, L e. humana prorfus figura, quem ideo Pezze 

 Muger vocant, ab indigenis Duyor. Caput h'abet rotundum 

 nulla colli intercapedine trunci compaclum, extremae aurium fibrae, 

 quae & auriculae nominantur, ex cartilaginea carne eleganter ve- 

 ftitae, quarum interior pars, ampliffimis forma ta anfradtibus, veram 

 hominis refert aurem, oculos fuis ornatos palpebris, fituque dC 

 colore non pifcis fed hominis judicares. Nafo nonnihil oberrat, 

 malam inter utramque non ufquequaque eminet, fed levi tramite 

 bipartitur, fub eo vero labra magnitudine fpecieque noftris fimil- 

 lima, dentium, non quales infunt pifcium generi ferratilium, fed 

 . planoruni Be candidiffimorum, continua feries. Pectus alba cute 



Part II. C c c con- 



