the chimæra, and other monsters engraved upon the monuments of Egypt, and on the temples of Persiaa, India, Ethiopia, Arabia, and many parts of China, Japan, Mexico, and Peru. Of the latter we may, in the first instance, allude to the behemoth, the leviathan, the flying serpent, the roc, and the unicorn. The existence of these has been doubted for many ages; yet surely with no sufficient reason. The behemoth was, doubtless, a species of hippopotamos; and the leviathan d codile, the head of a lizard, the vertebræ of a fish, and the breast-bone of that paradoxical animal of New Holland, the Ornithorhynchus." The plesio-saurus, also, is described as having had a lizard's head, with crocodile teeth, set on a serpent-like or rather swan-like neck of great length (the vertebræ being about thirty-three), a trunk and tail with the proportions of those of an ordinary quadruped, the ribs of a cameleon, and the paddles of a whale. What a mass of fable would have descended to us, had the ancients known the bonassus of the Apalachian mountains! This animal has horns resembling those of an antelope; the head and eye of an elephant; the beard of a goat; the foreparts of a bison; the hind parts of a lion. It has a flowing mane; is cloven-footed; and chews the cud. It is active, strong, and savage; but it is said to emit no sound, even when irritated. The Mahometans believe, that one of the great signs of the last day will be the appearance upon earth of a beast, composed of various others :—the head of a bull, the eyes of a hog, the ears of an elephant, &c. Ducks have certainly been known to be impregnated by toads. There are two instances on record. One as occurring at Thorne's Lane, near Wakefield; and another at a village near Grantham.-Vid. Literary Panorama,1807, p.1083. a As the martichore; having the tail of a scorpion, the body of a lion, and the head of a wren. b Imaginary animals are not undreamt of in the Highlands of Scotland. Of these one of the most remarkable is the water-bull. Dr. Maccullough thus describes it :-" This animal is supposed to reside in several of the lakes, in Loch Rannoch and Loch Awe, for example; combining powers and properties, worthy of the pen of Spenser. He is occasionally angled for with a sheep, made fast to a cable, secured round an oak; but as yet no tackle has been found sufficiently strong to hold him."-Descr. West. Islands of Scot. vol. ii. p. 185. © Job xl. v. 15. 4 Job xli. v. 1.—Some have supposed the leviathan to be the great sea-serpent. Isaiah says, that "the Lord shall punish leviathan, that piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon, that is in the sea.”—Ch. xxvii. v. 1. The sea-serpent has been seen on the coast of Norway, on that of Coll, among the Orkney Islands, and on the coast of North crocodile whale. That flying serpents once existed there surely can be little doubt, since they are mentioned by Isaiah, Pliny, and Marcellinus: while Herodotus expressly states, that he saw the bones of winged serpents on a plain in Africa; and Aristotle, in his first book of Animals, speaks of them as existing in Ethiopia. Strabo, Ælian®, and Pausanias, also allude to them. "I have never seen winged serpents," says Pausanias; "but I believe in their existence, because a Phrygian once brought a scorpion into Ionia, which had wings, similar to those of a locust f.” Eschylus has a fine passage in his description of Clytemnestra's dream. She fancied she had given a dragon birth. Eschylus-The Choephora.-Potter. America. The authorities for the existence of this animal on the Norwegian coast are De Ferry of Bergen ; Olaus Magnus, lib. xxi. c. 27.; Ramus, Descript. Norway; Happelius, Mundus Mirabilis; Peter Undalinus, cap. vii.; Pontoppidan, vol. ii. p. 203. Milton, also, alludes to it. B. i. 1. 201. a These are now extinct in the Mediterranean. In a few years, perhaps, whales will be extinct on the east coast of Greenland; for it is even now nearly exhausted of fish, as the Bay of Biscay was, some few centuries ago. b Ch. xiv. v. 29. Ch. xxx. v. 6. d Lib. xv. He mentions also two animals, alluded to by no other author; the Dictyes and Boryes. e Lib. xyi. c. 42. f Lib. ix. 21. Pausanias also says, that Ctesias mentioned, in his "History of the Indians," an animal called martiora. It had a triple row of teeth in one of its jaws, and stung by the extremity of its tail, and hurled its stings, like arrows, at a distance. Pausanias is incredulous, however, in regard to the existence of such a creation. He mentions, also, an animal, called the alce, found in Gaul, between a stag and a camel (c. 41); and bulls, existing in Ethiopia, having horns growing out of their nostrils. Lib. v. c. xii. That serpents with two heads have existed, also, is not to be denied. In the Museum of the Asiatic Society at Calcutta, there is a serpent with two heads, brought from Nepaul: and a letter from Charleston states, that there was killed, in the town of Ogden, a large snake, containing 106 live snakes; one of which had two complete heads and necks, with one body: another had The Dodo is extincta. That the Roc once existed is rendered probable by the circumstance of Mr. Henderson having found in Siberia the claws of a bird, which measured a yard in length: and he was assured by the Yakuts, that skeletons and feathers of this bird were often seen in their hunting excursions. The quills, it is said, are of a size so large, that they will admit a man's arm into their interior... с Cæsar speaks of several animals, existing in his time in the Hercynian forest; no longer known :-viz. bulls, resembling stags, with only one horn, rising in the middle of the forehead, dividing at the top into several large branches :— two heads, with one neck and body; a third had one and a half heads, with one neck and two bodies: all of which were as sprightly and active as the others. 2 Several pictures of this extraordinary bird still remain.-Vid. Clusius' Exoticorum, lib. v. 1605; Herbert's Travels in 1634; Bontius' work on the Natural and Medical History of the East Indies; and Willoughby's Ornithology. It is supposed to have been a native of the Mauritius. Herbert gives the following account of it :-" The dodo comes first to our description, here, and in Dygarrois; (and no where else, that ever I could see or heare of, is generated the dodo.) (A Portuguize name it is, and has reference to her simplenes,) a bird which for shape and rareness might be called a Phænix (wer't in Arabia ;) her body is round and extreame fat, her slow pace begets that corpulencie; few of them weigh lesse than fifty pound: better to the eye than the stomack: greasie appetites might perhaps commend them, but to the indifferently curious nourishment, but prove offensive. Let's take her picture: her visage darts forth melancholy, as sensible of nature's injurie in framing so great and massie a body to be directed by such small and complementall wings, as are unable to hoise her from the ground, serving only to prove her a bird; which otherwise might be doubted of: her head is variously drest, the one halfe hooded with downy blackish feathers; the other, perfectly naked; of a whitish hue, as if a transparent lawne had covered it: her bill is very howked and bends downwards, the thrill or breathing place is in the midst of it; from which part to the end, the colour is a light greene mixt with a pale yellow; her eyes be round and small, and bright as diamonds; her cloathing is of finest downe, such as you see in goslins: her trayne is (like a China beard) of three or four short feathers; her legs thick, and black, and strong; her tallons or pounces sharp, her stomack fiery hot, so as stones and iron are easily digested in it; in that and shape, not a little resembling the Africk Oestriches: but so much, as for their more certain difference I dare to give thee (with two others) her representation." b Philosoph. Mag. vol. lv. p. 75. De Bell. Gall. vi. 25. с wild asses, shaped and spotted like goats; but larger; without horns, or joints in the legs; that never lay down to sleep, nor could raise themselves, if overthrown. Diocles, as quoted by Pliny, describes the Nemæan lion as having been green; Solinus says, that red lions were frequent in Armenia; and Mondavilla (quoted by Aldrovandus) speaks of white ones existing in the island of Scilla. Appian, in his work on 66 Hunting," says black lions were common in Ethiopia. Thus, Bargæus, (lib. iii.) Non illis fulvo spectantur terga colore, Appian speaks, also, of black lions with yellow mouths. He says, he had seen them; and their existence is attested by Ælian, who says, also, that lions existed in Lybia, which had their sides tinctured with blue spots. Paulus Venetus, also, says, that he saw lions among the Tartars, some of which were part black and part red; and others striped with black and white. Even Gesner speaks of black lions having been common in the interior of Africa b. The unicorn still exists in the interior of Thibet. It is there called the one-horned tso-po. Its hoofs are divided, it is about twelve or thirteen hands high; it is extremely wild and fierce, yet associating in large herds. Its tail is shaped like that of a boar; and its horn, which is curved, grows out of its forehead. It is seldom caught alive; but the Tartars frequently shoot it, and use its flesh for food. An account of a Var. Hist. xii. 7. b"Leones nigros," says he, " IN INTIMA AFRICA."-Inspector, No. 107. c Quarterly Review, No. xlvii. p. 120, 1.-Ancient writers mention three animals, with horns growing out of the middle of the forehead. The cartazonon *, or wild Indian ass; the African oryxt; and the monoceros ‡. *Solid hoof. + Cloven hoof; tall as a rhinoceros, and form like that of a deer. mentions some with four horns. Divided feet. Elian the existence of this animal was communicated by Major Lattar, commander of the territories of the rajah of Sikkim in the mountainous country east of Nepaul, to General Nicol, who transmitted the account to the Marquis of Hastings 2. Of extinct animals, the remains of which have been found in various parts of the globe, Cuvier reckons forty-nine species of quadrupeds; of which twenty-seven are referrible to seven new genera :-the others to known ones. Of these are ،، a tapir as large as an elephant; a species of sloth, as large as a rhinoceros; and a minotaur, possessing the magnitude of a crocodile." For a more particular account of these antediluvian animals, the reader is referred to the works of Cuvier and Buckland, as affording curious data in respect to the evidence, they present, of an order of things, previous to the one now prevailing on the surface of the globe. In regard to the mammoth, remains of which are found in various countries, at wide distances from each other, it may be proper to remark, that Fischer discovered the skull of one, near Moscow, which measured five feet in length; and that one has been found in a state of great preservation by a Tungus chief at Schoumachoff, on the borders of the Frozen Ocean, imbedded in ice, where it must have remained a vast multitude of years. It still retained its flesh, its skin, and a Webbe says, in his Travels, A. D. 1590:-"I have seene in a place like a parke, adjoyning unto Prester John's court, three score and seventeene unicornes and oliphants, all alive at one time, and they were so tame, that I have played with theme as one would playe with young lambes." For the unicorn of Africa, see Campbell's Journey into Southern Africa, and Missionary Sketches, No. xv. This animal is larger than the rhinoceros, and answers better with that, mentioned in Job; where it is associated with strength, untameableness, and ferocity.-Vid. ch. 39. Perhaps this animal is the same as that, mentioned by Aristotle, Appian, Pliny, Juvenal, and Martial, under the name of Oryx. I have not, however, had sufficient leisure to examine how they agree. Conrad Gesner speaks of a large unicorn's horn, presented to the king of France, and valued at 80,000 ducats. What this could be I have no information, on which to form a conjecture. |