49 ° 
into their Affiftance the Relations of the Ancients, that 
without the Aid of fuch clear and explicit Commentaries, as 
we have given, it is limply impoffible to cure the Minds 
of many People of that fort of fuperftitious Credulity which 
thefe kind of Relations naturally induce. And with the 
Refutation of which, we fhould have been forced to inter- 
rupt the Thread of fubfequent V oyages, if we had not once 
for all difpatched the Subjeft in this and the foregoing 
Chapter. 
14. The Pelican is a very lingular Bird, concerning 
which the Ancients have written largely, and yet there 
have been very great Difputes among the Moderns as to 
the Bird which they have defcribed, the Reafon of which, 
as well as of the Fables current about this Creature, will 
quickly appear. Arifiotle e and Milan f call it by the fame 
Name, viz. Pelican, or Pelecan ; but Pliny defcribes it 
under the Name of Onocrotalus s, yet their Accounts agree 
fo exaftly, that there feems to be no Reafon to doubt they 
meant one and the fame Bird. The Author laft mentioned 
tells us there is but one thing remarkable in this Creature, 
which is, that it has a falfe Stomach, into which it fwallows 
its Prey when firft: taken, and throws it out again from 
thence in order to feed upon it. 
There are fome of thefe Birds that live moftly on Land, 
and others that refort conftantly to the Waters ; yet the 
Figure of both is the fame. There were feveral of them 
kept for many Years in France, and in the Memoirs of the 
Royal Academy of Sciences, we have a very diftindt Ac- 
count of them. According to their Defcription the Pelican 
is five Foot high from the Beak to its Feet, the Wings 
when extended eleven Feet from one Extremity to the 
other. Their Beak about fourteen Inches in Length, and 
an Inch and an half broad at the End, its Legs fifteen 
Inches, the longeft of its Claws four Inches and a half, the 
Length of its Neck about ten Inches h . 
There is fcarce any Bird except the Eagle of fo great 
Strength as the Pelican, which is alio a Bird of Prey, and 
Hies to a great Eleight. Culmanus, in a Letter of his to 
Gefner the famous Naturalift 1 ', tells us of a tame Pelican 
that foared fo high as to appear in the Air no bigger' than 
a Swallow, and which having for a long time attended the 
Army of the Emperor Maximilian , that Prince ordered it to 
be maintained, and allowed for that Purpofe four Crowns a 
Day, which Bird lived in Germany fourfcore Years. This 
Fadt is the more credible, becaufe in the Menagery of Lewis 
XIV. there were many Pelicans, and it was obferved, that 
they were the only kind of Birds of which there died not one 
in the Space of twelve Years. Two of them were by Order 
of that Prince difledled at Paris. The firft was intirely 
covered with white Feathers, except the Wings in which 
there were fome black, and others brown ; and in the Fea- 
thers on the Body there was a little Mixture of red. The 
other was altogether of a Flefh Colour, without any Mix- 
ture of black or of white Feathers. Some of the reft of the 
Pelicans in the Menagery were all over grey, except the 
Extremity of their Wings, which was white. Some had 
a large Tuft of Feathers behind the Head, and fome wanted 
that Tuft, fo that it may be affirmed there are few Birds 
more differently feathered than this. 
But there is one Mark which fufficiently diftinguiffies 
this Bird from all others : It has under its Beak a large 
Bag which is quite naked, and hangs down on its Neck. 
In this Pouch it keeps its Food till it is properly prepared 
for Digeftion, and then if there be nothing hard or undif- 
folved, it fwallows the whole at once •, but if there be, it 
difcharges it, and picks out what is eafieft: for Digeftion. 
/ irijlotle k had obferved this long ago ; for he tells us, that 
the Water Pelican was wont to lwallow Shell-fiffi, keeping 
them in her Stomach till they opened, and then threw them 
up and picked out the Fiffi. Milan 1 fays the fame thing, 
which fufficiently proves that we are not miftaken as to this 
Bird, but that the Pelican known to us is the very fame 
Creature which is defcribed by the Ancients. 
The old Fathers of the Chriftian Church exceeded the 
Greeks themfelves in the Fables they reported upon this Sub- 
Book I. 
]e<ff ; they had heard that the Pelican fed her young ones 
out of this Pouch, or falfe Stomach ; and this being told 
them either imperfedtly, or with Addition of fome fabulous 
Circumftances, they from thence framed a Parable or Simi- 
litude between this and the moil folemn Myftery in the 
Chriftian Religion •, and to render it the more apt, they 
devifed new Circumftances, and iniarged every Part of the 
Story to make it anfwer their Intention the better. The 
Tale then ran thus •, that the Female Pelican killed her 
young ones by careffing them too much with her Beak, 
and then mourned over them for three Days, till the Male 
Pelican becoming ftill more fenfible, tore his Breaft: open 
with his Beak, and by the Effufion of his own Blood, re- 
ftored the young Pelicans to Life ■ This, without Quef- 
tion, is very wild and extravagant, and has nothing to 
countenance it in the Works of any of the Naturalifts ; 
whence the learned Voffms n very juftly concludes, that thefe 
Stories were invented by fuch as were in Love with the Al~ 
lufions and Hieroglyphicks. 
We find in the Writings of a very learned German Au- 
thor, whofe Name is John-George Volkamer °, that he faw 
at the Fair of Leyden a Pelican, which the Man who kept 
it affirmed to have been in his Cuftody upwards of fifty 
Years. It was much larger and ftronger than an Eagle, 
but otherwife very like it both in Size and in the Colour of 
its Feathers, except that from its Head to its Wings it was 
grown quite white through Age *, he allures us, that of all 
Birds it lives the longeft, that it renews its Feathers like 
the Eagle, and that it often furvives to upwards of an 
hundred. He adds, that its falfe Stomach, which hangs 
upon its Neck, is big enough to admit ones Hand, and 
that he actually thruft his own into the Pouch of the Peli- 
can, where he felt the Food it had taken half dilfolved, 
and fo hot, that he was not able to endure it. He tells us 
likewife, that from thence it feeds its young ones. The 
Ancients having long ago obferved the fame thing, this, 
as I obferved, gave the firft Rife to the Stories which have 
been told of this Bird’s feeding its young ones with its 
Blood : Yet in Fa< 5 t there is nothing extraordinary in this, 
fince the fame thing has been obferved of very many, and 
perhaps might be obferved of molt Birds who fill their 
Gizzards full of whatever they meet with when their Fe- 
males are hatching, and difgorge it again for the Support 
of the Hen and her Brood. 
It is therefore through want of Attention to the Animals 
in our own Country, that we are fo much ftruck with the 
Singularities reported by Travellers of the Animals in other 
Countries, for without doubt, if we examined carefully what 
paffes every Day under our Eyes, we fhould not only be 
lefs apt to be furprized at fuch Relations, but be alfo better 
able to judge how far they ought or oughtnot to be believed. 
It is in this Refpedt that the Study of natural Hiftory is 
exceedingly ufeful not only by guarding us againfl: Credu- 
lity, but enabling us to correct the confufed and difcordant 
Accounts given us by fuch as from a fuperficial View of 
Foreign Creatures venture to defcribe them, and often add 
ftich Circumftances from Hearfay as are not to be depended 
upon, but out of which an intelligent Naturalift: will be able 
notwithftancling to pick the Truth. 
15. All who have vifited the molt Southern Hands of 
the Indies , particularly Sumatra Banda , and the reft; of 
the Moluccas , agree in relating fome extraordinary Parti- 
culars of a very large Bird, common in thofe Hands, and 
of which it does not appear that the Ancients had any 
Knowledge. This Bird the Natives call Emeu , but the 
Dutch ufually diftinguifti it by the Name of the Cafoar. \ 
This Creature is thus defcribed by Mr. John Nieuhoff, a 
Dutch Traveller p , very juftly efteemed for the Fidelity 
and his Exadtnefs of his Relations, and therefore I final! 
fet down his Defcription in his own Words. 
“ This Bird, fays he, carries his Head very upright, 
cc and then it is about five Foot from the Ground ; the :j 
“ Length of his Body, from the Breaft: to the Tail, is 1 
“ about three, or perhaps a little more. The Head ap~ ' 
tc pears fmaller in Proportion than the Body, and is very i 
The Difcovery, Settlement, and Commerce 
* De Hijl. Animal . lib. ix. c. 10. f De Animal, lib. iii. cap. 20. g Hijl , Nat. lib. X. c . 47. h Memoirs de P Acad. Tom. iii. . 
f. iii. i Gefner. Ornitbolog. lib. iii. k Hi ft, Animal, lib. ix. c. IO. 1 De Animal, lib. iii. c. 20. ra Phyfiolog. Epipban. . 
eap- 8. Aug. in Pfalm ci. If.dor. Origin . lib, xii. c. 7. if Alii. n De Jdolat. lib. iii. c, 84. 0 Ephem. flat. Decad . iii. An, iv. 
$. 247. p Travels through India. 
“ ftnooth, ,1 
1 
