PKnies Natural! Hiftorie. 



A in the fca^being Co wide/o large and open^rcadic to receive from heaven above the genital] feeds 

 andcaufesof generation; being fo (oft & pliable, fo proper & fit to yeeld nourifhinentanden- 

 creafe^afTifted alfo by Nature, which is never idkjbut alwaies framing one new creature or other: 

 no marvel] it is if there are found fo many ftrangc and mon'ftroos things as'iliere be.For the feeds 

 and univerfall elements of the world are fainteriacedfundriewaiesjand mingled one within ano- 

 ther,partly by the blowing of the winds,and partly with the rolling and agation of the waves^ in- 

 fomuchasit may truly beefaid, according to the vulgar opinion, that whatsoever is engendred 

 and bred in any part of the world befidesj is to be found in the fea : and many more things in it^ 

 which no where els are to be feene.For there fhall yee meet with fifhes^refem Wing not onely the 

 forme and fhape of land creatures living.but alfb the figure and falliion of many things without 

 B life: there may one fee bunches of grapes/wordsjand fawesjreprefentedjyea^and alfo cowcom- • 

 bcrsjwhich for colour/mell^and tail:, refembleth thofe growing upon the earth. And therefore 

 we need the lefle to wonder^if in fo littlefhcll fifhes as arc cocklesj there be fomewhat landing 

 out like horfe heads. 



Chap, hi, 

 of the monftromfijhes in the Indian fea, 



T He Indian fea brcedeth the moft and the biggefl fifhes that are: among which^the Whales 

 and Whiriepooles called Balaense, take up in length as much as foiire acresorarpensof 

 land : likewife the Prifles are two hundred cubites long; and no marvell, fince Locufts are 

 there to bee found of foure cubites in length : and yeeles within the river Ganges of thirtie foot 

 in length. But the(e monflrous fifhes in the fea^are mofl to be feenc about the middeft of Sum- 

 mer^and when the daies be at the longefl with us.For then by the meanes of whirlewindsjlbrms, 

 windsj and bluflering tempefls whicli come with violence downe from the mountaines and pro- 

 montoriesj the feas are troubled from the very bottome, and turned upfide downe : whereupon 

 the furging billowes thereof^raife thefe monflers out of the deepe.and roll them up to be feene. 

 For in thatmanner fo great a multitude of Tunnies vjere difcovered and arofejthat the wliole ar- 

 mada of V\n^ Alexander the great /eeing them comming like to an armie of enemies in order of 

 battcll,was driven to range &make liead againfl them^^clofe united together: for otherwife^if they 

 D had failed fcattering afunder^there had been no way to efcapejbut overturned they had ben ; with 

 fuch aforce and fway came thefe Tunnies in a skull upon them. And verily, no voice, crie, holla- 

 ing andhouting, no norany blowesandraps affn'ghteth this kind of filli: onely at fomecracke 

 or craihing noife they be terrified : and never are they troubled and difquieted fo much as when 

 they perceive fome huge thing readie to fail upon tliem. 



In the red fea there lieth a great demie Ifland named Cadara, fo farre out into the feajthat it 

 maketh a huge gulfe under the wind^which king Ftolomdtm was twelve daies and twelve niglits a 

 rowing through : for as much as there is no wind at all ufeth to blow there. In this creeke fo clofe 

 and quietjthere be fifh and Whales grow to that bigneffe^that for their very weight and unwel- 

 dinefle of their bodie^they are not able to ftirre. The Admirals and other captaines of the fleet 

 E of theforefaid Alexander the great, made report,That the Gedrofi^a people dwelling upon the 

 river Arbis, ufe to make of fuch fifhes chawes,the dores of their houfes ; alfo that they lay theic 

 bones overthwart from one fide of the houfe to another^in fleed of beamesjoiltsjand rafters to 

 beare up their floores and roufes : and that fome of them were found to be foitie cubites long . ® 



In thole parts there be found in the fea certaine ftrange beafts like fheepe, which goefoorth 

 to landjfeed upon the roots of plants and bearbes^and then returne againe into the fea. Others 

 alfo which are headed like Horfes, Afres,and B uls ; and thofe many times eat downe the ftanding 

 come upon the ground. 



Chap. iiii. 



^ }^Whichhethegreateftfi^esinanjcoaJlof theOcemfea, 



THe biggefl and raoft monflrous creature in the Indifh Ocean, are the Whales called Pri- 

 fiis and Balxna.In the French Ocean there isdifcovered a mightie fifh called Phyfeter^p.a 

 Whirlepoole]rifingupaloftoutof the fea in manner of acolumneorpillar^ higher than 



the 



