Chap. I. Commodore R 
■Stinking-badger. He is of the Size of an ordinary Dog, and, 
in his Make, refembles the Ferret. When purfued, either 
by Man or Beall, he retreats but flowly •, and, when the 
Enemy draws near, difcharges from his Belly a Wind fo 
intolerably (linking, that Dogs tear the Ground, and hide 
their Nofes in it, to avoid the Smell. When killed, they 
flink fo abominably, that there is no approaching them j 
but they muft be left to confume where they fell. 
Our Author fays, it would be impoffible for any Man 
to defcribe all the Creatures that are feen in the vaft Foreft's 
of Africa ; becaufe the very Inhabitants acknowledge, that 
they fee every Year new Animals that are utterly unknown 
. to them, for which they affign this Reafon ; that, in the 
f midft of Summer, when the wild Beads are almoft raging 
mad with Third, they refort in Multitudes to the Rivers 
of Salt, of the Elephant , and of St. John , where the Males 
of one Species, mixing with the Females of another, pro- 
duce thefe ftrange Beads that look like a new Species. 
The Hottentots , fubjedt to the Company, frequently carry 
the Skins of thefe Monders to the Governor of the Cape : 
Our Author allures us, that he faw the Skin of one killed 
not long before': It was of the Size of a Calf of fix Months 
old •, there feemed to have been four Eyes in the Flead, 
which refembled that of a Lion ; but the Hair was perfectly 
fmooth and fleek, and of a dark-grey Colour : It had 
Tufks like a Boar, and its fore Legs refembled thofe of 
that Creature, but the hinder Part of it was like a Tyger. 
As for the different forts of Birds in this Country, they 
are in a manner infinite ; and though it is not often ob- 
ferved, that they mingle Species, yet there have been re- 
marked fome .Badards amongd them. The larged and 
the! ftronged Birds are to be found in Africa ; amongd the 
red the Oftrich,, which is looked upon as the bigged of 
all ; they are commonly feven Feet high. The Beak of 
the Odrich is Ihort, and pointed, and his Neck extremely 
long : The Feathers of the Male are white and black only ; 
but thofe of the Female mingled grey, white, and black : 
Thofe of the former are mod edeemed, becaufe their large 
Feathers are better fpread, and their Down much fofter. 
This Bird is prodigioully fwift of Foot, fo that they hunt 
them with Spaniels : They make life of their Wings, not 
to fly, but to affift them in running, efpecially when they 
have the Wind with them.. The common Opinion, that 
they can diged Iron, is abfolutely falfe, and without Founda- 
tion ; they fwallow Pieces of Iron indeed, but it is only to 
bruife the Meat in their Stomachs, as other Birds fwallow 
Stones. There is another Particularity often mentioned 
with regard to this Bird, that is not found true, with re- 
lpeft to thofe in the Neighbourhood of the Cape ; viz. that 
they leave their Eggs uncovered upon the Sand, and take 
no Care of their Young ; whereas, on the contrary, they 
hide their Eggs in the Sand, and are fo tender of their 
Young, that, though they are naturally timorous, yet, if 
one of them is miffing, they become fo furious, that it is 
not fafe to go near them. There are abundance of Eagles 
of all forts about the Cape, which are very bold, and fre- 
quently do a great deal of Mifchief : They are not excef- 
flvely large, and yet are incredibly drong, infomuch that 
they very frequently kill and devour their Cattle as they 
return Home from Work •, and when they have not an Op- 
portunity of attacking an Ox flngly, they come in great 
Flocks, of 60 or ioo at once, and Angle out a Bead, as it 
feeds, among the Flerd ; and, falling upon it all together, 
kill and devour it. There are like wife many other Birds 
of Prey, which are not worth mentioning, becaufe they 
are common in other Countries ; but the following Story 
is extremely remarkable, inafmuch as it relates to a kind 
■of Bird, unknown even in that Country, where the dranged 
Things are fcarce thought Prodiges. 
There was feen, fays our Author, fome Years ago, upon 
Table Mount , a Bird, the Body of which was as big, or 
bigger, than that of a Horfe, covered with grey and black 
Plumage j his Beak was long and crooked, like that of 
an Eagle, and his Talons like thofe of the fame Bird, but 
of a mod dreadful Size he fat upon that Mountain, and 
hovered over it for a long time together ; and the com- 
mon People were, in a manner, perfuaded that it was a 
Griffin. It frequently carried off Sheep and Calves *, and, 
at lad, began to deftroy Cows j upon which. Orders were 
OGGEf El N. 311 
given to dedroy it : It- Was accordingly (hot ", and, the 
Skin being duffed, was fent Home as a Curiofity to the 
Eaft India Company. There has been nothing like this 
Bird feen fince, and the olded People at the Cape do not 
remember to have heard or feen of any thing like it before. 
There is fo drong a Prejudice againd whatever appears 
marvellous in the Relation of Travellers, and they are fo 
often fufpedted, either of feigning what they never faw, or 
of exaggerating what they have really feen, that it is dan- 
gerous for a Man to report Things much out of the Road 
of common Obfervation : Yet, when Fads are fo well at- 
teded as this is, a Traveller is certainly judified in relating 
them. Our Author does not fay, that he faw the Skin of 
this mondrous Bird, but he had the Relation from Perfons 
of Credit at the Cape •, and the Circumdance of the Skin 
being fent Home to Holland , is fo drong a Confirmation of 
the Truth of what was reported, that, I mud confefs, I 
think the Fad far from being incredible. 
Africa has been always famous for its Serpents •, and of 
thefe there are fuch Numbers in the Neighbourhood of the 
Cape, that many of them are without Name : They are 
mod of them extremely venomous , and the Inhabitants 
would differ by them much more than they do, if they had 
not a fpecific Remedy for their Bites, that is not known in 
Europe. This is the Serpent-done^ which is allowed to be 
faditious, and is brought hither from the Eaft Indies , where 
the Brachmans, or, as fome call them, the Bramins, have 
the Secret of compofing them, which they conceal fo in- 
dudrioufly, that hitherto no European has been able to dif- 
cover them : It is of the Bignefs of a Bean ; in the Middle 
it is white, but the Outfide is of a fine Sky-blue. The 
Method of ufing it is this : When a Perfon is bit by any 
kind of Serpent, this Stone is applied to the Wound, not 
by a Bandage, or by placing any Plaifter over it, but barely 
holding it till it fattens of itfelf, which it will foon do, and 
then flicks faff: : The Part immediately begins to fwell, 
and becomes inflamed , and the Stone itfelf alfo fwells, till 
it is fo full of the Venom, that it drops off : It is then put 
into warm Milk, where it foon purges itfelf, and refumes 
its natural Colour : It is then applied again to the Wound, 
where it flicks till it is full a fecond time, and fo on, till all 
the Venom is exhaufled, on which a Cure immediately en- 
fues. There is fomething extremely wonderful in this ; 
and yet the Truth of the Fadt is known to all the Inhabit- 
ants of the Cape, and confirmed by the Teflimony of 
Writers of unqueflionable Credit. There are fome who 
pretend to have difeovered the Ingredients of which this 
Stone is compofed •, but the Account they give is very far 
from being fatisfadlory ; becaufe they make the Bafis of 
the Remedy to confifl of a Stone taken out of a Serpent’s 
Head, which, hitherto, the ableft Anatomifls have not been 
able to find. The true Stone is very commonly met with 
in the Eaft Indies , where the Dutch call them Slang Jleenen, 
and the Englifh Snake-flones. 
All the Mountains of this vaft Country are full of Mi- 
nerals, and of Cryflal , they contain likewife Things of 
much greater Value, if they could be come at ; but the 
Natives are fo much afraid of being made Slaves in the 
Mines, that they take all imaginable Pains to conceal them. 
There is, particularly, a Mountain which lies at the Di« 
flance of 500 Leagues from the Cape, that is very famous 
for the Metals fuppofed to be contained in it , this is called 
the Copper Mountain , from the great Quantity of Copper 
found in it, which is faid to be mingled with Gold. Some 
Europeans took it into their Heads to follow fome of the 
Natives of the Country, who were fufpedted of going to 
that Mountain in order to gather Gold. The Scheme had 
an Air of Probability in it *, and, if it could have been as 
eafily executed, as it was well contrived, it might have 
produced a very valuable Difcovery ; but, as it fell out, 
they paid very dear for their Curiofity, fince the Hotten- 
tots no fooner difeovered their Defign, than they fell upon 
them, and maffacred them all, which put an End to their 
Inquiries ever fince. The Company are fo tender with re- 
fpedt to their Subjedts, and fo unwilling to rifque a Revolt 
in this Part of their Dominions, that they have even neg- 
ledted a Gold Mine much nearer the Cape, the Marcafites 
of which gave great Hopes of its holding a great deal of 
Metal. It is not, however, impofiible that there may be 
another 
