NATURAL HISTORY of NORWAY. 18c. 



is faid to be a powerful remedy againft the ftone." I mail 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- 

 lky : " 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 Fifti is eight fpans, 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, to each 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 lex 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 ikin is of a brownifh grey colour, and their interlines 

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

 larly the upper parts of their bodies ; 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 catching 

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

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



Athanalius Kircher gives this defcriptiun uf the Pezz-muger, 

 in his third book de Magnete, P. vi. c. i. §. 6, p. 6*75. " Capitur 

 certis temporibus anni in mari orientali Indite, ad infulas Viffayas, 

 quas infulas Piflorum vocant, fub Hifpannorum dominio pifcis 

 quidam uvfyuTropogpog, i. e. humana prorfus figura, quern ideo Pezze 

 Muger vocant, ab indigenis Duyor. Caput habet rotundum 

 nulla colli intercapedine trunci compaclum, extremse aurium fibrse, 

 quse & auriculas nominantur, ex cartilaginea carne eleganter ve- 

 ftitse, quarum interior pars, ampliffimis formata anfraclibus, veram 

 hominis refer t aurem, oculos fuis ornatos palpebris, fi tuque & 

 colore non pifcis fed hominis judicares. Nafo nonnihil oberrat, 

 malam inter utramque non ufquequaque emmet, fed levi tramite 

 bipartitur, fub eo vero labra magnitudine fpecieque noftris iimil- 

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

 planonrm Be candidiffimorum, continua feries. Peftus alba cute 



Part II. C c c con- 



