soo APPENDIX. 



modioufly killing thefe creatures, and this M. Ludolf re- 

 commends as a difcovery. And Jerome Lobo, among the 

 reft of his fables, has fome on this fubject likewife. A cold 

 and rainy country can never be a habitation for vipers. 

 We fee, on the contrary, that their favourite choice are de- 

 ferts and burning fand, without verdure, and without any 

 moifture whatever. 



The very learned, though too credulous, Profper Alpinus, 

 fays, that many have allured him, that near the lakes conti- 

 guous to the fources of theNilethere is a number of bafilifcs, 

 about a palm in length, and the thicknefs of a middle fin- 

 ger; that they have two large fcales, which they ufe as wings, 

 and crefts and combs upon their head, from which they are 

 called Bafilifci or Reguli, that is, crowned, crefted, or kingly 

 fetpents ; and he fays that no perfonn ca approach thefe 

 lakes without being deftroyed by thefe crefted fnakes. 



With all fubmiffion to this naturalilVs relation, I mould 

 imagine he could not have heard the description of thefe 

 lakes from many travellers, if all thofe that approached them 

 were killed by the bafilifcs. I mail only anfwer for this, 

 that having examined the Lake Gooderoo, thofe of Court 

 Ohha, and Tzana, the only lakes near the fources of the 

 Nile, I never yet faw one ferpent there, whether crowned or 

 uncrowned, nor did I ever hear of any, and therefore believe 

 this account as fabulous as that of the Acontia and other 

 animals he fpeaks of in this whole chapter *. The bafi- 

 lifc is a fpecies of ferpent, frequently made mention of in 



icripture, 



* Profp. Alpin. lib. iv. cap. 4. 



