4§8 5 ne Difcovery 3 Settlement^ and Commerce Book L 
Food is digefted, that is by melting and diffolving them into 
a Liquid y whereas Experience ffiews us, that this Operation 
is performed in the Stomach of the Oftrich in the fame 
Manner as it would be performed out of it, if Pieces of 
Copper were to be rubbed and bruifed with a Mixture of 
acid Herbs, and by the Help of rough Bodies. It is, 
therefore, highly probable, that the Oftrich, being a vora- 
cious Animal, has occafion to fwallow hard Things to 
affift in bruifing and confuming its Food, and that abufthg 
this Inftindt of Nature, it fwallows Iron and Copper, 
which, inftead of anfwering that Intention, becomes poi- 
fonous, and turns to the Deftrudtoin of the Animal. This 
feems to be put quite out of Difpute, by a Facft which 
has been attefted by thofe who have the Care of the 
Menagerie at Verfailles , who affirm , that when the 
Oftriches kept there, have fwallowed confiderable Quan- 
tities of Copper and Iron, they have died foon after y and 
therefore they have had Orders given them to hinder Peo- 
ple from throwing Nails or Pieces of Copper to thefe 
Birds s . 
The hot Conftitution of this Creature, may be very 
well fuppofed to contribute not a little to its Fruitfulnefs. 
The Oftrich lays, generally fpeaking, Four-fcore Eggs in 
a fhort Space of Time, each of them weighing twelve 
or fifteen Pounds, fo that one is fuffieient to ferve fix or 
feven People for a Meal K The Shell of thefe Eggs is 
very near as hard as a Stone, fo that it cannot be for fear 
of breaking them, that the Oftrich abandons them, and 
leaves them to be hatched by the Heat of the Sun, as the 
common Opinion is y but either from Forgetfulnefs, as 
fhe lays every Egg in a different Place, or from a certain 
kind of Inftinft, which is therefore made a very proper 
Symbol of Cruelty ‘ y not that it is really fo in itfelf, 
becaufe the young Oftriches do not ftand in Need of their 
Parents Care : But that it appears fo in the Eyes of Men y 
and by Comparifon with the Tendernefs of other Ani- 
mals, and of other Fowls efpecially. 
The Faff, upon which this Observation is grounded, 
is fufficiently made out by the Multitude of Oftriches that 
are feen in thofe Countries where they inhabit. Such as 
feveral Iflands in the Eafi-Indies , a great Part of Arabia , 
Syria , Africa , and South- America , in all which Countries 
there are large Deferts, in which they multiply exceed- 
ingly. 
The Arabians are faid to be fo credulous, that, as an emi- 
nent Traveller informs us, they are content to believe that 
the Oftriches hatch their Young by looking at them. I 
will give the Reader the Story in his own Words. 44 We 
44 read, fays he, in an old Arabian Manufcript, that when 
44 this Fowl would hatch her Eggs, ffie does not cover 
44 them as other Fowls do, but both the Male and Female 
44 contribute to hatch them by the Efficacy of their Looks 
44 only y and, therefore, when one has Occafion to go 
to look for Food , it advertifes its Companion by 
44 its Cry, and the other never ftirs during its Ab- 
44 fence, but remains with its Eyes fixed upon the Eggs, 
till the Return of its Mate, and then goes, in its Turn 
46 to look for Food : And this Care of theirs is fo ne- 
ceffary, that it cannot be fufpended for a Moment, 
u for if it ffiould, their Eggs would immediately be- 
64 come addle V s 
This Story, no doubt, is fabulous y but why do I fay 
fo, when, at the Bottom, the Arabians believe no more 
of it than we do ? In reality, it is no more than a para- 
bolical Fidtion, to exprefs the perpetual Attention of 
Providence, in which the Egg reprefents the Univerfe, 
and the parental Infpedtion of the Oftrich, the continual 
Interpofition of the Father of all Things for its Pre- 
fervation. Thus, in the Letter, this Story is idle and 
fooliffi, and fo are moft Fables y but the Interpretation 
or Moral is noble and juft. 
The Ethiopians eat the Eggs of this Bird, and efteem 
them the moft exquifite Food that can be, and the com- 
mon People eat the Fleffi of the Oftrich in all Countries 
where they are found i though it is admitted, that it 
is dry, and very indifferent •, but there muft, probably, 
have been fomething very exquifite in the Reliffi of 
its Brains, fmce the Emperor Heliogabalus caufed feveral 
Plates filled with this Sort of Food to be ferved at one of 
the Entertainments that he gave to the Nobility of Rome \ 
of which it was common for him to ranfack the whole 
Empire for Dainties. We learn alfo from Ailian that 
to the Time in which he wrote, the Indian Princes efteemed 
the Brains of the Oftrich, one of the greateft Delicacies 
their Country produced, 
12. The Phoenix is the Theme on which the Greek 
Writers feem to have exhaufted their Eloquence y and 
that with fo good Sticcefs, as, in fome meafure, to have 
impofed on the wifeft of the Latin Writers. The Au- 
thor of this Fi&ion, at leaft, as high as we are able to 
trace it, was Herodotus n y and yet he does not deferve 
to be treated as a fabulous Writer, for what he has left 
us upon this Subject, fince he acknowledges fairly, that he 
knew nothing more of this Bird than from Report and 
from Picture. On his Authority, however, the Story was 
fo often repeated, that, by Degrees, it gained Credit with 
the learned as well as the Vulgar, infoffiuch that Pliny * 
gives us a long and plaufible Account of 'it. 
The Birds of India , fays he, are moft of them of 
<s different Colours, and fuch as a Man can hardly de- 
“ feribe. But the is the moft noble of all y neither 
<c know I whether it be a Fable or a Truth, that there is 
<c but one in the World, and that but rarely feen. It 
“ is faid to be of the Size of an Eagle, its Neck as 
tc refulgent as Gold, the Body of a deep Purple, the 
“ Tail compofed of blue Feathers, mixed with red, the 
“ Head adorned with a beautiful Tuft of different Co- 
<c lours. Manilius , a noble Roman Senator, diftinguiffied 
“ by his Excellence in every kind of Learning, was the 
“ firft who wrote at large of this Angular Bird y and by 
<c him it is reported, that the Phoenix is never feen to 
ce eat : That, in Arabia , this Bird is held facred to the 
“ Suny that he lives Six hundred and fixty Years, and 
tc that finding himfelf old and beginning to decay, he 
tc builds himfelf a Neft with the Twigs of Caffia y and 
cs having filled that Neft with Frankincenfe and other 
“ Aromatics, he therein expires. But from his Bones and 
te Marrow is produced a little Worm, which, in Time, 
“ becomes a young Phoenix y and the firft Thing it does, 
“ is to celebrate the Funeral of its Parent, by transfer- 
“ ring the whole Neft to the City of the Sun, which is 
44 near Panchaia, and leaving it there upon the Altar. The 
44 fame Manilius reports, that the great Year agrees ex- 
44 aftly with the Term of this Bird’s Life, when the hea- 
44 venly Bodies return to their firft Points, and the Sea- 
44 fons revolve again in their former Order, this Year 
44 commencing at Noon, when the Sun enters the Sign 
44 Aries. According to his Computation, therefore, this 
44 great Year began when P. Licinius , and M. Cornelius 
44 were Confuls y but Cornelius Valerianus writes, that 
44 Rhiintius Plautius , and Sextus Papinius , being Confuls, 
44 the Phoenix appeared in Egypt. It is alfo faid, that this 
“ Bird was brought to Rome when Claudius was Cenfor, 
44 that is, in the Year of the City Eight-hundred, and was 
44 openly ffiewn in a full Affembly, as the publick Re- 
44 cords atteft , but in this refpeef falfely, nobody at 
44 this Time doubts.” 
Such is the Account given us by Pliny y yet in fuch 
general Eftimation was this Story grown, that Pope Cle- 
ment p in his Epiftle to the Corinthians , written in the 
Name of the Church ol Rome, makes ufe of this Hiftory 
of the Phoenix to prove to them the Poffibility of the Re~ 
furredtion y the Paffage is very curious, and therefore I fhall 
tranferibe it for the Entertainment of the Reader. 44 Let 
44 us, fays he, conftder that Prodigy which happens in the 
44 Eaft, where they behold a certain Bird called the Phoenix, 
44 which is the fingle Bird of its Species. This Animal 
44 lives five hundred Years, and when it perceives its End 
44 approaching, it makes a Neft of Myrrh, Iricenfe, and 
44 other Aromatics, in which it feats itfelf, and after a 
S Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Sciences, as before cited, h Allan, lib. ii, cap. 27. and all the modern Travellers thro’ Countries 
where this Bird is common. 1 Bochart . Hieroz. p. 1. lib. L cap. 3. Lamentations of Jeremiah iv. 3. “ The Daughter of my People is be- 
come cruel, likethe Oftrich in the Wildernefs. k P. Vanjlebe, Relat. tP Egypt e, p. 103. J Lampridius in Holiogabalo. ® De Animal, 
iib.xof, cep, 13. * Lib , ii Sofia. Pohhifi. cap. 33, ® Nat. Hijl* lib. x. cap. z. ? S, Clem. Epift. i. N. 25. 
j, ' certain 
