Immortal Animals . 
465 
viii. p. 66) gave the name of some brutes, endowed with 
immortality, that are sometimes referred to in medieval 
literature :— 
“ Mahomet allows that into paradise will he admitted Abraham’s 
calf, Jonah’s whale, Solomon’s ant, Ishmael’s ram, and Moses’s ox, to 
these will he added Mahomet’s dove, the Queen of Sheba’s ass, the 
Prophet Salech’s camel, and Bellds’ cuckoo.” 
The writer asked for some particulars of these highly 
favoured beasts, but did not receive much information. 
One gentlemen wrote:— 
“ By Ishmael’s ram is meant 4 a noble victim,’ (. Koran , surat 
xxxvii. p. 369, Sale,) the same which Abel sacrificed, and which was 
sent to Abraham out of paradise when he offered his son. I can find 
nothing on the subject of Moses’s ox, nor of the Queen of Sheba’s 
(Balkis’s) ass. Neither can I find anything of her cuckoo ; although 
the lapwing conveyed messages between her and Solomon.” (Page 
115.) 
To this list of immortal beasts the dog of the Seven 
Sleepers may be added. 
In the play by Wilkins, The Miseries of Inf or eel 
Marriage, published 1607, we find money- ^ 
lenders compared to “ Mantichoras, monstrous 
beasts, enemies to mankind, that have double rows of teeth 
in their mouths. They are usurers, they come yawning 
for money.” 
Topsell obligingly favours us with a description and a 
drawing of this formidable creature. Unfortunately this 
author does not give his authority for the portraits he 
introduces into his work of the various animals. His 
picture of the mantichor certainly does such credit to the 
imaginative powers of the artist that it is a pity his name 
is withheld. A facsimile reprint of this drawing forms 
the frontispiece of the present volume. The description 
runs as follows :•— 
“ This beast, or rather monster, as Ctesias write th, is bred among 
the Indians, having a treble rowe of teeth beneath and above, whose 
2 H 
