476 The Difcovery, Settlement, and Commerce Book!. 
It lias either Wings, or fomething like them, that is to 
fay, a Membrane refembling that which the Bats fly with. 
The Colour of the Body is a dark brown, or black ; but 
the Breaft is of a bright red, or, as feme fay, purple *. 
This Creature was confecrated to Apollo, and fattened to 
the Chariot of the Sun, becaufe among its other Angular 
Properties, it was held, that the Gryphon could fteadily 
look upon the Sun in its full Splendor. It was fuppofed to 
inhabit the Woods and Mountains, where the Ancients 
imagined it difeovered and guarded the Gold Mines *, but 
they do not tell us to what Ufes it converted this Metal, 
or why departing from the Tnftimft of Beafts it (hared in the 
Follies of Men. It is alfo affirmed, that this Animal was 
one of the fierceft and moft cruel, fearing no other Ene- 
mies than the Lion, the Tyger, and the Elephant, over 
which alfo it fometimes triumphed. The Indians , when- 
ever they attacked it, went in conflderable Bodies, and 
generally in a Moon-light Night, in hopes of finding it 
afleep, which, however, they rarely did, and were forced 
to buy the Treafures, guarded by the Gryphon, at the 
Expence of their Blood. The Watchfulnefs of this Ani- 
mal was one of its mod remarkable Qualities ; and in alj 
the Fables that are related concerning it, it is a Circumftance 
always thrown in, that the Gryphon feldom or ever deeps 
If there had been any fuch Creature, it fell undoubtedly 
under our Cognizance, becaufe the Ancients affirm that 
they are no where elfe to be met with but in the Northern 
Part of the Indies , which however does not agree extremely 
well with the Talk they affign them of guarding the Gold 
Mines, becaufe in truth there are no fuch Mines there. It 
muft however be acknowledged, that fome of the Ancients 
themfelves have given us plainly to underftand, that they 
looked upon all that had been faid of the Gryphon as mere 
Fables ; but whence thofe Fables arofe, or why they were 
invented, is a Queftion, that the Reader from the Scope 
of this Work, which is to leave nothing unexplained, may 
expect (hould be anfwered. 
On this Head I mutt; fay, that I take the Origin of it to 
have been an Egyptian Hieroglyphick, and my Reafon for 
it is, becaufe taken in this Light, it has a Meaning, and 
otherwife none. In this Senfe then the Gryphon was 
a Figure invented, which fignifies the Power of the Sun in 
the Sign of the Lion ; and hence proceeded the Notion 
that the Gryphons guarded the Mines of Gold, becaufe 
according to the old Doblrines of the Egyptian Chemiftry, 
the Sun in this Sign had an extraordinary Operation in that 
Refpebt ; and hence alfo fome of the old Alchymifts, or at 
Jeaft fome Writers as are impofed on us under ancient 
Names make ufe of the Gryphon, and fome other fuch- 
Jike imaginary Creatures for the better veiling of their Se- 
crets •, but when the Greeks firft faw thefe Figures without 
being let into their Meaning, they took them, as it was 
natural enough for them to do, for the Reprefentations of 
real Animals, and the Indies being the Place where the 
moft extraordinary Creatures they were acquainted with 
refided, they took the Liberty of fuppofing that the Gry- 
phons came from thence, and from the Northern Indies , 
becaufe there were more wild Beafts there than any where 
elfe. 
This I take to be the true Account of the Rife of this 
Notion, which afterwards came to be employed fymbolli- 
tally, of which Sir Thomas Brown r has given us a very 
rational Account. It doth well make out, fays he, the 
Properties of a Guardian, the Ears, implying Attention ; the 
Wings, Celerity ; in Execution the Lion like Shape, Cou- 
rage and Audacity, the hooked Bill, Refervance and Tena- 
city. It is alfo an Emblem of Valour and Magnanimity,' 
as being compounded of the Eagle and Lion, the nobleft 
Animals in their refpedtive kinds ; and fo it is applicable 
to Princes, Generals, Prefldents, and all in chief Autho- 
rity, which is the Reafon that the Heralds laid hold of it, 
and we fee it borne in the Coats of Arms of the nobleft 
Families in Europe . 
In taking leave of this Subjecft, it will be proper for me 
to obferve, that the Gryphons mentioned in Scripture « are 
no more than a kind of Eagle, and not the imaginary 
Gryphon ; and therefore in our Tranflation, it is very well 
rendered after Tremellius , as I conceive, the Offifra^e 
which is, properly fpeaking, the Sea-Eagle. 
23. There is no Creature of which the Ancients have 
talked more than of the Cameleon, and perhaps, of all the 
Animals they have mentioned, there is not one of which 
they have reported more Abfurdities, or ffiewn a lefs Re- 
gard to Truth. In all Probability, they were originally 
milled by the Reports of the Indians themfelves, who 
have always been inclined to exaggerate, and have ffiewn 
lefs Care in examining the real Nature of Creatures than 
in framing fuch Stories of them »as might beft fuit their 
Parables and iEnigmas. It muft, however, be allowed, 
that the Ancients are not all alike faulty in this refpetft, 
either in believing the Dreams of others, or reporting their 
own ; for though Pliny and Solinus f pofitively affirm, that 
the Cameleon lives wholly on Air ; yet Arijlotle u , who 
went before them, and has written largely upon the Sub- 
je6t, fays not a (ingle Word of this fupernatural Quality, 
Indeed, it is wonderful, that ever this Opinion prevailed 
at all, becaufe the very Formation of the Animal plainly 
refutes it, as is very well obferved by the learned Sir Tho- 
mas Brown 
The Word Cameleon, in Greek fignifies a little Lion \ 
and this Name muft have been given it from fome Re- 
femblance it had to that Animal, not furely in its Figure, 
for therein it approaches the Crocodile, but rather from 
its Vigilance in catching its Prey, a Notion irreconcilable 
to its living upon Air. It is for this Purpofe certainly, I 
mean of catching its Prey, that it has a long (harp 
Tongue, which it can thruft out to a Length equal to 
one Third of its Body ; and though very (low in its Mo- 
tion, yet it manages this Member with extraordinary Agi- 
lity ; and therefore, from the eftabliffied Law of Nature, 
we may prefume: that its Tongue is of extraordinary Ufe, 
and as we cannot conceive that it ffiould be of any Ufe 
with refpedt to drawing in the Air, which might be done 
without, it naturally leads us to believe that it ferves to 
Furniffi the Animal with other Food. In the next Place,, 
it hath very remarkable Teeth, which is another Indica- 
tion of its living on Prey ; and what feems to put it be-r 
yond all Doubt, is, the Formation of its Stomach and 
Guts; to which we may add its voiding Excrement, a 
Faft admitted by Pliny \ though manifeftly deftruflive 
of his own Opinion. 
It is no Wonder, therefore, that this Notion was foon 
exploded, or that we find Augujtine , Stobceus, Forums 
Licetus , and many other great Men, oppofing themfelves 
to this popular Sentiment. But Bellonius pofitively affirms, 
that it feeds on Flies, Caterpillars, Beetles, and other In- 
fers, and that from the beft Reafon in the World ; be- 
caufe, upon Diflection, he found thefe Animals in their 
Bellies r ; to which we may add what other learned 
Writers have affirmed as to its drinking Water, and de- 
lighting to catch Meal-worms. We will therefore quit 
the Ancients, as infufficient Guides in this refped, and 
have Recourfe to the Moderns, by whom this Angular 
Animal has been very fully and faithfully deferibed. 
The Cameleon then, according to their Account, re- 
fembles a large Lizard, except that it has two great wide 
Ears, which lie pretty far back upon its Neck. It lives 
commonly in the Clifts of Rocks, or in Holes of a Wall. 
It has four Feet and five Claws upon each Foot, which 
ferve for its perching upon the Branches of Trees or 
Shrubs, where it likewife fecures its Station, by twitting 
its Tail round them. Its Motion on the Ground is as flow as 
that of a Tortoife, but upon Trees it moves from Branch 
to Branch with great Agility z . The largeft of thefe Ani- 
mals are about eleven or twelve Inches in Length from 
the Head to the Extremity of the Tail, and about three 
P Ctefids in India's cap. 13, Herodot. lib. 'in. Plin. lib.vi. Philofi. lib. iii. JElian. lib. iv. Photius Codice 72. Servius in Eclog.vui. 
s Ctefms , Pliny, Philofi, ubifupra. r Vulgar Errors, lib. iii. cap. ii. s Leviticus xi. 13. Where among the prohibited Fowls are reck- 
oned the Eagle, the Oflifrage, and the Olpray. It is however to be obferved, that the Word Gryphon came firft in from the Greek Tranflation of 
the Septuagint, and therefore whether the Qflifrage be, ftriftly fpeaking, that kind of Eagle which the Greeks called a Gryphon, is a Queftion that 
has nothing to do with the Veracity of the facred Text ; for Mofes undoubtedly forbad the Hebrews fome Fowl that was well known and common 
in their Country, nor is it of any Importance to us whether we know exactly what Bird it was, or not. . 1 Plin. Nat. Hiji. lib. xi. cap. 37. 
Solinus . a Hiji. Anim. lib. ii. w Vulgar Errors, Book 3d, Chap. 21, * Plin. Nat, Hifi. lib . xi. cap. 3 7. Y Commgnt. in Qceh 
Lucan. z Mem . del Acad. Tom. iii. part i. p- 53. 
I 
laches 
