Chap. II. 
£? certain time there, finilhes its Days. Out of its Flelh 
“ when corrupted, there fprings a kind of Worm, which 
« feeding for fame time on the Remains of this Animal, 
« begins at length to be covered with Feathers ; and when 
“ it becomes ftronger, it carries away the Neft, which con- 
“ tains the ReiiCls of its deceafed Parent, and paffind from 
44 Arabia into Egypt, bears them to the City of Heliopolis. 
“ There in full Day, and in the Sight of a Multitude of 
44 Spectators, it flies to the Altar of the Sun, and having 
44 thereon depofited its Burden, immediately retires. The 
46 Egyptian Priefts having confulted their Annals, and 
44 having from them made an exaCt Computation, find, that 
44 this happens precifely at the Clofe of five hundred 
44 Years.” 
This Fable was not only current in Italy, but in Africa, 
as appears from the Writings of Tertullian q , who makes 
life of this Example with the fame Intention as St. Clement. 
The Ancients, however, differed much about the manner 
in which the Phoenix died. According to the former Ac- 
counts, it expired in die ordinary way ; but a Multitude of 
Writers affirm, that having raifed its Funeral Pile, it fet 
Fire thereto, and fanning that Fire with its Wings, was 
therein con fumed to Allies, out of which Afhes arofe the 
new Phcenix thus confecrated to the Sun r * The Date of 
its Life was a Point no lefs controverted. An Ethiopian 
Prince, in a Letter of his to a Pope, cited by Vojfius, fays, 
that it lives three hundred Years. Herodotus , Milan , Phi- 
lojlratus, and Aurelius Victor, extend the Term of its Life 
to four hundred and forty, or five hundred Years a . Pliny, 
on the Authority of Manilius , as we have feen before, to 
fix hundred and fixty. Martial and Laffiantius to a thou- 
fand but the Arabian , Egyptian, and Rabinical Writers, 
far beyond this, in confequence, as they pretend, of its not 
having tailed the forbidden Fruit *. 
In the midft, however, of thefe Contradictions, and 
though feveral of the ancient Authors freely profefs their 
Sufpicions of the whole Story, yet Tacitus u does not feem 
to queftion the FaCt, but rather to admit, that fuch a Bird 
had been fometimes feen in Egypt •, and another Hiftorian 
fays, that its coming to Rome was confidered as an ill Omen 
by the Augurs, and thought to portend the Death of the 
Emperor Tiberius. Father Martinius , in his Chinefe Atlas'”, 
allures us, that it was feen in China in the Beginning of the 
Reign of Kahoar IV. and that it was thought to come from 
the Indies. All the Circumftances of the Story are fo ap- 
parently fabulous, that it would be lofing time to refute 
them. If the curious Reader has a mind to fee this done 
effectually, he may confult Sir Thomas Browne x , who has 
handled this, as he does every other SubjeCt, with great 
Learning and Capacity ; but I have chofen rather to infill 
on the FaCts reported by ancient Writers, than to enter into 
a Detail of Arguments, which would extend this Article to 
an extravagant Length, and be at the fame time quite befide 
the Purpofe. 
It may not be amifs, however, before we conclude, to 
fay fomewhat of the Origin of this Fable, which fome have 
imagined arofe, or was at lead ftrengthened by the fame 
Word, fignifying in Greek both the Phoenix and the Palm- 
tree y. Thus much is certain indeed, that a Miftake of this 
kind has brought this Bird into the Scriptures, the Autho- 
rity of which can never be brought' to juftify fuch Fables, 
though fome, to Ihew their Learning, are for finding in 
them whatever FaCts or Reafons they have a mind to efta- 
blilh. The true Source, however, of this Notion, lay like 
that of the Gryphon in the Egyptian Hieroglyphicks. It 
was from the Egyptians that Plato and the reft of the An- 
cients borrowed their Notion of the great Year which they 
never fully underftood, and the Reigns of their feveral 
Gods, which have given fo much Trouble to our moll 
learned Chronologers, were in truth no more than the Pe- 
riods of the Planets, that L.to fay, the Spaces of Time in 
which they finilhed, according to the Egyptian Syftem, 
their Revolutions ; and this is the true Caufe why, after all 
Indies. 489 
the Pains that has been taken about them, the Accounts we 
have are almolt as perplexed as ever. 
The true Story of the Phoenix, though applied by the 
Chriftian Fathers to the RefurreClion, was by the ancient 
Egyptians underftood of another fort of RefurreClion ; for 
they conceived, that when the great Year of all was accom- 
plilhed, the Univerfe was to be dellroyed by Fire, and a 
new Syftem arife out of the Ruins of the old. This I con- 
ceive they borrowed from the Indians ; at leaft thus much 
is certain, that this was, and Hill is, a Principle of their Phi- 
lofophy, which, as the learned Dr. Burnet z of the Charter- 
houfe well obferves, they explained by another Symbol, viz. 
that of a Spider, which after fpinning various Webs, re- 
fumes them again all into himfelf, and re-produces the fame 
Matter under other Forms ; and thus Philofophical Simi- 
litudes, which imperfeCtly expreffed what Reafon could 
fcarce comprehend, came by the Miftakes of vulgar Minds 
to corrupt natural Philofophy, by introducing imaginary 
Creatures, which never had, or could have, Exiftence 
according to the Laws of Nature. 
13. After the Fable qf the Phoenix had been rejeCled by 
almoft all the Learned, it was again in fome meafure re- 
fumed by the great Julius Cafar Scaliger a , a Man, whofe 
Eminence in all kind of Learning gave him fo high a Re- 
putation in the W orld, that his Opinions were received as 
a kind of Oracles. ITe thought that the Accounts given 
of a certain Bird found in the Southern Countries of the 
Indies , called Semenda , or Semendal , had fome Relation 
to the Phoenix, and that confequently all that had been ad- 
vanced in relation to this Bird was not abfolutely falfe and 
fictitious. 
In order to judge the better of this, it will be requifite to 
enter into the Defcription of this laft mentioned Bird, and fee 
how far it accords with that of the Phoenix. The Semendal 
is faid to have a Triple Bill, or three Bills raifed one over 
another, by the Help of which, when fhe is near her Death, 
Hie makes a molt delightful Flarmony. Then forming a 
Pile of odoriferous Wood, fhe fets Fire thereto, and fan- 
ning it with her Wings, fuffers herfelf to be confumed to 
Afhes, out of which a Worm is produced that afterwards 
changes into the fame kind of Fowl \ 
This is vifibly nothing more than the old Fable a little 
varied, and yet it is true enough, that there is in the Ifland 
of Java, and in the Spice Elands belonging to the Hutch , 
a kind of Bird that has two Bills, and therefore is called by 
the Inhabitants the Double Bill ; but as to its flinging, I find no 
Evidence to that Point. As it is a Native of the Moluc- 
cas, it is very probable that it may make its Neft of Spices ; 
but that it confumes itfelf therein there is no good Tefti- 
mony to prove, notwithftanding what the Angle Traveller, 
on whofe Relation the original FaCt is grounded, has ad- 
vanced c . 
It may indeed be alledged, that fome Eaftern Writers 
have countenanced this Notion by their Relations d ; but 
then we know that fuch Accounts as thefe are liable to great 
Sufpicions, and efpecially to that of giving an Air of Mat- 
ter of FaCt to Parables. On the whole therefore, there is 
juft as little Reafon to credit the modern Story of the Se- 
mandal, as to yield any Belief to what the Ancients have 
related concerning the Phoenix, or to exprefs the thing 
plainly, and in few Words, they are both Fables equally 
deftitute of Foundation. It is very hard to difcover the 
Motive why even the greateft Men are unwilling to give 
up Authority, when it is diredly contrary not only to Rea- 
fon, but the Laws of Nature ; and yet that this is frequently 
the Cafe, many Inftances might be brought to prove, but 
this before us is more than fufficient ; and therefore I Ihaft 
trouble the Reader no farther upon this SubjeCt. 
What has been already faid was neceffary to Ihew, that 
no Pains have been fpared to examine thefe Points, and to 
fet the Truth in a fair Light, which was thought the more 
requifite, becaufe moft Writers of Voyages are fo much in- 
clined to report ftrange and wonderful things, and to call 
of the East 
; 1 D pf e f urrea - Carn - cap -Mi. p 387. * See this Matter largely difcuffed in Father Hardouin's Annotations upon Pliny. s VofRus de 
£ .T m , ca P 99 - 1 Bochart. Hieroz. p. 1 1. lib. vi . cap, q. " Annul, lib. vi. cap. 28. w Atlas Simn. p. 384. * Vulgar Errors, 
•took m Lhap xn. r Bochart. Hieroz ubi fupra. The Greek Word is 4 >omf, it occurs in Job xxix. 18. as aifo in the Pfalms. * Arch elog. 
fhiv L 3 j v.- Exercit - 22 3 . b Cardan, de Jubt Hit. lib. x e navigat. Nicolai Contii a Poggio data . c Sir Thomas Brown afferts, 
that he had himiejf feen .ome of the Bills or Beaks of thefe wonderful Birds, yet he declares againft the Notion of the Phcenix. Vulgar Errors, 
ill. c. 12. d Apud Bochart. Hieroz. p. 823.- 6 * 
Numb, XXXIV. 
into 
