Chap. II. of the E a s 
way is to avoid all hafty Decifions, and to wait till new 
'Enquiries afford us new Lights. But it is now Time to 
proceed to the Accounts which thefe Writers have given 
us of the other Animals of the Indies , that live either in 
the Water or the Air ; and in regard to them as well as 
tothe Land-Animals, we fhall confine ourfelves only to a 
few of the moft remarkable ; and, even with refped to 
r Indie s. 479 
them, fet down nothing more than what feems moft 
ftriking and worthy of Notice ; which Method, if we did 
not purfue, each of thefe Sections might be very eafily 
fwelled into a Volume *, fo that, if any think them rather 
too much extended, I flatter myfelf they will alter their . 
Opinion, when they confider how much is omitted, in order 
to bring only the capital Points within Bounds. 
SECTION XIV. 
An Account of the mofi remarkable Fish and Fowl in the Eaft -IadieSj as defer i bed by 
ancient and modern Authors , with proper Obfervations and Remarks . 
I. The Notions of the Ancients with regard to federal Kind of Whale s, Sea-elephants, and other Fijh of 
enormous Size in the Indian Ocean , with a particular Account of the Hound-fijh. 2. An exact Defer ip - 
tion of the River-cow , with the Reafon why the Teeth of this amphibious Animal are preferred to Ivory . 
3. The fabulous Accounts of the Dolphin examined , with a fngular Relation from /Elian on that Suhjedl. 
4. Of the Purpura , or Purple-ffh ; the Hiftory of the famous Die made from this Fijh by the Tyrians p 
and an Enquiry into the Caufes oj our lofng this Secret . 5, The P earl-f faery in the Indies, deferibed 
from ancient and modern Authors ; with many Remarks upon that SubjeSl. 6. Of the Flying-fjh in the 
Indies, from ancient Writers , compared with Martinius’i Account of a Flying-fjh in China, and the 
Tobiwo in Japan. 7. The feveral kind of Tortoifes in the Indies, their extraordinary Size, the Ufes and 
Value oj' their Shells . 8. The Crocodile deferibed by ancient Authors ; the vaft Size of thefe Creatures 
in the Indies, and many curious Pafages relating to them , drawn from Works of modern Travellers « 
9. Of the CyonGeides, or Blue-worm in the Ganges, a kind of Serpent that feems to be unknown to the 
Moderns. 10. The Indian -Eagle deferibed', an Account of all the remarkable Properties oj that Bird, 
and a diftinB Relation oj'what is faid as to the Aetitcs, or Stone found in the Nfcfs of Eagles, and its 
Virtues, n.- A Defcription and fuccinB Hiftory of the Of rich, in which many Errors relating to that 
Bird are corrected, and the Caufes of them explained. 12. Of the Pelican , the fngular Qualities of this 
Creature, and the many Fables that have been invented concerning it. 13. The Hifory of the Phoenix , 
from the Writers of Antiquity ; the Fables on this SubjeB examined, and the true State of the Hjuefion 
explained. 14. Of the Semendal, or Scaligers Phoenix, a Bird really found in the Indies. 15. An 
accurate Defcription oj' the Cafoar , one of the largef and mof extraordinary Fowls in the Indies, and 
which feems to have been unknown to the Ancients. 16. Of fome other remarkable Birds mentioned by 
Eaflern Writers, or in the Relations of modern Travellers. ij. Mifcellaneous Obfervations and Remarks 
on , the foregoing Defcriptions , tending to the farther Illuf ration of the Subject. 
i.T T feems to have been an eftabliflied Opinion among 
j[ the Ancients, that, of all the Elements,Water breeds 
the moft, the largeft, and the greateft Variety of living 
Creatures •, or, at leaft, was inhabited by fuch, and of all 
Seas, or Collections of Salt-water, that which wafhed this 
Shore of the Indies , was held to be the moft fruitful in large 
Fifh, and thofe too of the greateft Size in their refpeftive 
kinds. We have already mentioned, in the Circumna- 
vigation of Nearchus , how the Fleet of Alexander the 
Great was alarmed by a ShOal of Porpuffes, and what 
mighty Whales were feen by them in thofe Seas. Pliny 
carries the Matter much farther ; he talks of Whales in 
the Indian Sea, that covered four Acres of Land; and 
mentions a leffer kind, called Prijles , which in all Proba- 
bility, were a Sort of Fin-fifh, two hundred Cubits, or 
three hundred Feet in Length ; and at this, fays he, 
we need not wonder, fince, in that Country, even the 
Locufts are four Cubits in Length ; and that there are 
Eels in the River Ganges that meafure thirty Feet. He 
farther obferves, that, in the Red-fea, there is a Pininfula, 
called Cadara , which runs far out into the Sea, and makes 
thereby a Bay fo commodious, and fo well covered from 
all Winds, that the Fifh lie there as quiet and as ftill 
as in a Mill-pond ; and there, fays he, are bred thofe 
Whales of an enormous Size, which, fometimes ventur- 
ing out to Sea are caught by Storms, efpecially about the 
Dog-days, and thrown on the oppofite Coaft of Perjia , 
where the People eat the Flelh, and build themfelves 
Cabins of the Bones, as we have, long ago, heard from 
Nearchus , whofe Voyage on that Coaft, feems to be the 
beft Account that even in the Days of Pliny they had 
of thofe Seas 3 . " 
In the Ganges there were Fifh refembling Dolphins in 
Shape, called PJataniftae, which were more than twenty 
Feet long ; and thefe I take to have been a kind of Stur- 
geon ; but what moft affionifhed them was, the Reports 
they had, that in the Indian Ocean there were Fifh refem- 
bling all kinds of Land-animals ; and of thefe they men- 
tion particularly the Sea-elephant, which they held to be 
five Times as large as the Creature from which it borrowed 
its Name, and of thefe they had not bare Reports only, 
but fome of them had been feen and meafured. As for 
Sea-lions, Sea-dogs, and Calves, they were common in 
thofe Seas, and though extremely terrible in their Defcrip- 
tions, yet appear plainly to have been nothing more than 
different Species of the Seal, as I take the Sea-lions in the 
Weft- Indies to be. But of thefe, that which feems to 
have been the moft dangerous was the Sea-hare ; which 
Creature, Pliny affirms, was in the Mediterranean, a mere 
Lump, or very ill-ffiaped Fifh ; but, in the Indian-Szas, 
he allures us, that it was very like the Land-hare, and of 
a Nature fo venomous, that the very Touch of it caufed 
Sicknefs at the Stomach, ftrong Vomitings, and other 
deadly Symptoms b . 
What is related of the Hound-fiffi, or Sea-dog, feems 
very fabulous ; and, one would imagine, was invented by 
the Pearl-fiftiers, in order to fet the higher Price upon 
their Commodities. It is affirmed of thefe Monfters, that 
they attack the Divers when under Water, who are forced 
to keep them off with long Poles, at the Head of which 
are Spears, or fharp Points. The fafeft Way, as they 
found, by Experience, was, to attack thefe Animals firff, 
for this jftruck a Terror into them, and kept them at a 
Diftance ; but the Danger was not then over, fince, 
when 
a Nat. Hijl. lib , ix. h Tlin. lib . ix. jElian, lib, xvi. 
K 
3 ; 
