Chap. IL of the E a s 
in that Ifland, had the Secret of taming them, fatted, and 
afterwards killed and eat them ; which will appear the lefs 
ftrange, when we are told, that Ariftolle relates the lame 
Thing as done in his Time in Egypt a . In the Ifland of 
Ceylon b they are much infefted with Crocodiles, which the 
Portugueze call Lagartos , they are generally about eighteen 
Feet long, and the Inhabitants of that Country report, that 
they have a Stone in their Head, which is a SpeciAck for 
all gravelly Complaints, and is even capable of diffolving 
the Stone. 
The Arabians call this Creature femfa^ the P erf ms 
Nibenk, the Parks Lowi , and the Chinefe Tchen ; they 
all agree, that they are as long-lived as a Man ; and this 
feems to account for their monftrous Size, lince I do not 
Find, that what the Ancients relate of their growing as long 
as they live is difputed by the Moderns ; and that in India 
they fhould be larger than in any other Country, may be 
accounted for from two Caufes, the firft is, the Heat of 
the Climate, which is allowed to have a great Effect on 
fuch kind of Animals the fecond is, the prepofterous 
Reverence fhewn to thefe deftruCtive Creatures in many 
Places, by which they are preferred to a greater Age, and 
confequently arrive at a larger Size than in other Countries, 
where the People have Wifdom and Refolution enough to 
rid themfelves of thefe Montters. 
9. The Ganges ^ and as fome an tient Writers report, the 
River Indus alfo nourifhes in it a Worm or. rather Serpent, 
of a moll Angular kind, considering either its Form or its 
Properties ; its Skin is of a dark blue, from whence it re- 
ceives its Name Cyonoeides ; it is in Lengthffx Cubits : Pliny 
by fome Error fure in the tranfcribing, has Sixty Cubits, and 
is about two Foot round ; it has but one Tooth in each 
Jaw, which is about four Inches long, with which laying 
hold of whatever Animal conies to drink at the River, 
whether Horfe, Cow, Camel or Elephant, it pulls them 
under Water, and there tears to pieces and devours them, 
the Entrails only excepted. 
This dreadful Creature is caught with a Hook hid under 
the Belly of a Sheep or Goat, and the Ufe made of it 
when dead, is to the full as Angular as what is related of 
it while living. The FiShermen after it is caught hang it 
up by the Tail in the open Air, where, by the Heat of the 
Sun, in the Space of three Weeks it confumes into a kind 
of Oyl, which has this Angular Quality, that it takes Fire 
of itfelf if expofed to the Air, and is abfolutely unextin- 
guifliable. It was for this Reafon, that the Emperors of 
PerAa who were Mafters of the Provinces bordering upon 
the River Indus , and the Indian Princes, SucceAors to 
Sandracottus, who were in PolfeAion of the fame Provinces 
after the SucceAors of Alexander quitted their Claim to 
them, referv’d all this Oil for their own Ufe, and employ’d 
it in Time of War to fet the Gates of any City on Fire, 
which they intended to take by Storm d . 
This Serpent appears to have been at leaft as ftrong, and 
at the fame time much more Aerce, than the Crocodile ; 
which, as we have heard, never ventur’d to attack the 
Elephant. The original Writer of this ftrange Story, was 
Ctejias e , who was told it at the P erf an Court, where per- 
haps they had fome fuch Oil brought from the Indies with 
this Fable tack’d to it, to make it efteem’d more valuable ; 
which from numerous Inftanees we have Ihewn, was a com- 
mon ArtiAce of thefe People to fright other Nations from 
making any Expeditions into their Country. The Reader 
may perhaps be furpriz’d at my fuppofing it poAible, that 
there fhould be any fuch Oil ; and therefore I think myfelf 
obligedto mention my Reafon for it: Our Chymifts have aSe- 
eret of making a black Powder which is called Pulvis Infer- 
nalis, that will take Fire by being expos’d to the open Air; 
and therefore, I fee nothing abfurd in admitting, that 
there might be an Oily Compofftion which had the fame 
Quality. It^ is alfo certain, that the Greeks had a kind of 
Wild-Are of the fame Nature, which they employ’d in 
burning the Ships of the Saracens when they block’d up 
the Port of Conji antinopie. 
t Indies. 4 8§ 
It is certain, that none of our modern Travellers men” 
tioo any Thing, that has the leaft Relation to this cxtraor- 
dinary Creature ; but in all Probability, the Accounts given 
us by thefe ancient Writers, took Rife from fome of thole 
Water-Serpents that are common in the Months of mfoft 
Rivers in the Indies , of which we have fpoken before 
under the Head of Dragons, and of thefe great Numbers 
are brought down into the Sea on the Coaft of China , as 
they are alfo by the Rivers that run thro’ the e i terra Auftra - 
liSj or die Soul hern - Continent , as we offend d before in 
the Account given of Captain Abelfafmanh Voyage for the' 
Difcovery of that Country ; and if there be anf Probabi- 
lity in the Arguments drawn by Philofiratus , of the Like- 
nets of ^Ethiopia to the Indies , from the Relemblance be- 
tween the Nile and the Indus , we might from hence infer, 
that there is a like Correfpondence between the Climates 
of the Southern-Continent and the Indies , 
The fame Philoftratus f , differs from other Writers as to 
this Serpent in federal Circumftances 5 ftrft, he fays, it is 
found in the River Hyphafes , next, he affirms it to be 
white ; and laftly, he fays nothing of its Teeth or of its 
Fiercenefs. St. Ambrofe % mentions another very Angular 
Worm in the Ganges , which he fays looks at Arft like a 
long Pipe, with the Horns of the Animal appearing at 
one End ; then it changes to a Sort of Worm, rolls itfelf 
up foon after in a Ball or Cafe, like that of the Silk-Worm, 
and when it comes out from thence, puts on the Appear- 
ance of a Butterffy. Fie adds, that from the Ball they 
draw a kind of Silk, of which are made the Aneft Stuffs in 
the Country ; but, this too, if any fuch Creature there be, 
is not known to the Moderns, which is the more extraor- 
dinary, becaufe it is generally believed that we are much 
better acquainted with the Manufactures of the Indies , 
than the Ancients ; fo that upon the whole, I am apt to 
fufpeCt, that this is no more than a miftaken or erroneous 
Account of the Silk- Worm. 
It cannot, however, be amifs, to preferve all thefe Re- 
lations, becaufe however improbable or even incredible, 
they may appear, yet it is not impoAible, that there may 
be fomething of Truth at the bottom, even of the inoft 
extravagant Relations. This at leaft is certain, that for 
many Ages the Indians concealed not only the Sources of 
their Riches, but the Secret of their Manufactures, and 
efpecially that of Silk, as we (hall have Qccafion to (hew at 
large ; and it is no lefs certain, that in order to conceal 
them, they invented a Multitude of Fables, with which 
for a long Time they impofed upon the World. One 
would fulpeCt that fomething of this Spirit remains (till 
among the Chinefe , from the improbable Accounts that 
are given us by the MiAionaries, ' of that Country, and 
every thing in it ; but more of this in its proper Place ; at 
prefent, we have done with the Animals that inhabit the 
Water, and are next to examine the Volatiles of the 
■Indies. 
10. The Eagle is generally conficlered by all Natufalifts, 
as the King of Birds , which Title is fuppofed to have been 
beftowed on this Creature for its fuperior Strength ; for the 
natural Terror that it ftrikes into the whole feather’d Race, 
and for the Boldnefs of its Flight in which it foars higher 
than any Bird whatever h . It was very poAibly, the Confi- 
deration of thefe Properties, that induced C. Marius when a 
fecond Time Conful, in the Year after the Building of 
Rome 650, and the Year before Cbrift 103, to fupprcfs the 
Figures of the Wolf, the Minotaur, the Horfe, and the 
wild Boar, which hitherto (as well as the Eagle) had been 
borne on the Roman Enfigns, in Order to fubftitute the 
Figure of the Eagle, with her Wings half difplay’d in their 
Stead, as an Emblem more AgniAcant than any, or than 
all the former, and more capable of exciting the Ardour, 
Courage, and Emulation of the Soldiers, than any that 
could be deviled ; and this Alteration of his was fufficiently 
juftiffed by the Event h 1 
Pliny diftinguiAies fix kind of Eagles, among which 
however, he allows only one to be the true Royal Eagle, 
.. Hif. Animal Lib. lx. chap.- I . b Gafpar Baideus’s Defolptlon of the Ifland of Ceylon, chap. 3. c .Milan Lib. v. chap'. 3. d Idem 
U * Ar * l* Edicts N°, 27. i In Vit. Apollon. Lib. 3. cap. 1. g Hexameron Lib. v. cap 23. b Arifiot. de Hijf. Animal, lib. ix. P lifts. 
WK 1 tf* ^ X ‘ ca I' 4 * Mhan. de Animal, lib. ii. Horat. lib. iv. Od. 3. Natal. Com, Mytholog. lib. i. p, 85. 1 Plin. Hiji, Nat. lib. x. cap. 4. 
,. f r ® “ e ohferv-es that feldkrai or never, any Corps of Roman Troops encamped with fewer than two Eagles. Bat Arifismnes had long before 
~ !S 0rne an Eagle on his Buckler , as we are informed by Paufanias. lib, iv, p . 3 1 sy. ( 
Numb. 33 . 6 H of 
