Kitabı oku: «Curious Creatures in Zoology», sayfa 14
A very fine piece of casuistry is shown, in “the perplexity of those that eat the flesh of Sea-Calves in Lent,” and it seems to be finally settled that, according to “the men of a more clear judgment, rejecting many Reasons, brought on both sides, do say, and prove, that when the Sea-Calf brings forth on the shore, if the Beast driven by the Hunter, run into the Woods, men must forbear to eat of it in Lent, when flesh is forbidden; but if he run to the Waters, one may fairly eat thereof.”
Gesner, in giving this delineation of a Sea-Horse, openly says that it is the Classical horse, as used by Neptunus; but Olaus Magnus declares that “The Sea Horse, between Britany and Norway, is oft seen to have a head like a horse, and to neigh; but his feet and hoof are cloven like to a Cow’s; and he feeds both on Land, and in the Sea. He is seldome taken, though he grow to be as big as an Ox. He hath a forked Tail like a Fish.
“The Sea-Mouse
“The Sea-Mouse makes a hole in the Earth, and lays her Eggs there, and then covers them with Earth: on the 30th day she digs it open again, and brings her young to the Sea, first blind, and, afterwards, he comes to see.
“The Sea-Hare
“The Sea-Hare is found to be of divers kinds in the Ocean, but so soon as he is caught, onely because he is suspected to be Venemous, how like so ever he is to a Hare, he is let loose again. He hath four Fins behind his Head, two whose motion is all the length of the fish, and they are long, like to a Hare’s ears, and two again, whose motion is from the back, to the depth of the fishes belly, wherewith he raiseth up the weight of his head. This Hare is formidable in the Sea; on the Land he is found to be as timorous and fearful as a hare.”
The Sea-Pig
Again we are indebted to Gesner for the drawing of this Sea Monster. Olaus Magnus, speaking of “The Monstrous Hog of the German Ocean,” says: – “I spake before of a Monstrous Fish found on the Shores of England, with a clear description of his whole body, and every member thereof, which was seen there in the year 1532, and the Inhabitants made a Prey of it. Now I shall revive the memory of that Monstrous Hog that was found afterwards, Anno 1537, in the same German Ocean, and it was a Monster in every part of it. For it had a Hog’s head, and a quarter of a Circle, like the Moon, in the hinder part of its head, four feet like a Dragon’s, two eyes on both sides in his Loyns, and a third in his belly, inclining towards his Navel; behind he had a forked Tail, like to other Fish commonly.”
The Walrus
Of the Walrus, Rosmarus, or Morse, Gesner draws, and Olaus Magnus writes, thus: – “The Norway Coast, toward the more Northern parts, hath a great Fish, as big as Elephants, which are called Morsi, or Rosmari, may be they are (called) so from their sharp biting; for, if they see any man on the Sea-shore, and can catch him, they come suddenly upon him, and rend him with their Teeth, that they will kill him in a trice. Therefore these Fish called Rosmari, or Morsi, have heads fashioned like to an Oxes, and a hairy Skin, and hair growing as thick as straw or corn-reeds, that lye loose very largely. They will raise themselves with their Teeth, as by Ladders to the very tops of Rocks, that they may feed on the Dewie Grasse, or Fresh Water, and role themselves in it, unless in the mean time they fall very fast asleep, and rest upon the Rocks; for then Fishermen make all the haste they can, and begin at the Tail, and part the Skin from the Fat; and unto this that is parted, they put most strong Cords, and fasten them on the rugged rocks or Trees, that are near; then they throw stones at his head, out of a Sling, to raise him, and they compel him to descend, spoiled of the greatest part of his Skin, which is fastned to the Ropes: he being thereby debilitated, fearful, and half dead, he is made a rich prey, especially for his Teeth, that are very pretious amongst the Scythians, the Muscovites, Russians, and Tartars, (as Ivory amongst the Indians,) by reason of its hardness, whiteness, and ponderousnesse. For which Cause, by excellent industry of Artificers they are made fit for handles for Javelins: And this is also testified by Mechovita, an historian of Poland, in his double Sarmatia, and Paulus Jovius after him, relates it by the Relation of one Demetrius, that was sent from the great Duke of Muscovy to Pope Clement the 7th.”
Although Olaus Magnus is very circumstantial in his detail as to the intense somnolence, and brutal flaying alive of the “thereby debilitated” Walrus, I can find no confirmation of either, in any other account – on the contrary, in “A Briefe Note of the Morse and the use thereof,” published in Hakluyt, it is described as very wakeful and vigilant, and certainly not an animal likely to have salt put on its tail after Magnus’s manner: —
“In the voyage of Jacques Carthier, wherein he discovered the Gulfe of S. Laurance, and the said Isle of Ramea in the yeere 1534, he met with these beastes, as he witnesseth in these words: About the said island are very great beasts as great as oxen, which have two great teeth in their mouthes like unto elephant’s teeth, and live in the Sea. Wee sawe one of them sleeping upon the banks of the water, and, thinking to take it, we went to it with our boates, but so soon as he heard us, he cast himselfe into the sea. Touching these beasts which Jacques Carthier saith to be as big as oxen, and to have teeth in their mouthes like elephants teeth; true it is that they are called in Latine Boves marini or Vaccæ marinæ, and in the Russian tongue morsses, the hides whereof I have seene as big as any ox hide, and being dressed, I have yet a piece of one thicker than any two oxe, or bul’s hides in England.
“The leather dressers take them to be excellent good to make light targets against the arrowes of the savages; and I hold them farre better than the light leather targets which the Moores use in Barbarie against arrowes and lances, whereof I have seene divers in her Majesties stately armourie in the Toure of London. The teeth of the sayd fishes, whereof I have seene a dry flat full at once, are a foote and sometimes more in length; and have been sold in England to the combe and knife makers at 8 groats and 3 shillings the pound weight, whereas the best ivory is solde for halfe the money; the graine of the bone is somewhat more yellow than the ivorie. One Mr. Alexander Woodson of Bristoll, my old friend, an excellent mathematician and skilful phisitian, shewed me one of these beasts teeth which were brought from the Isle of Ramea in the first prize, which was half a yard long, or very little lesse: and assured mee that he had made tryall of it in ministering medicine to his patients, and had found it as sovereigne against poyson as any unicorne’s horne.”
The Ziphius
This Voracious Animal, whose size may be imagined by comparison with the Seal it is devouring, is thus described by Magnus: – “Because this Beast is conversant in the Northern Waters, it is deservedly to be joined with other monstrous Creatures. The Swordfish is like no other, but in something it is like a Whale. He hath as ugly a head as an Owl: his mouth is wondrous deep, as a vast pit, whereby he terrifies and drives away those that look into it. His Eyes are horrible, his Back Wedge-fashion, or elevated like a Sword; his snout is pointed. These often enter upon the Northern Coasts as Thieves and hurtful Guests, that are always doing mischief to ships they meet, by boring holes in them, and sinking them.
“The Saw Fish
“The Saw fish is also a beast of the Sea; the body is huge great, the head hath a crest, and is hard and dented like to a Saw. It will swim under ships and cut them, that the Water may come in, and he may feed on the men when the ship is drowned.”
The Orca
is probably the Thresher whale. Pliny thus describes it: – “The Balæna (whale of some sort) penetrates to our seas even. It is said that they are not to be seen in the ocean of Gades (Bay of Cadiz) before the winter solstice, and that at periodical seasons they retire and conceal themselves in some calm capacious bay, in which they take a delight in bringing forth. This fact, however, is known to the Orca, an animal which is particularly hostile to the Balæna, and the form of which cannot be in any way accurately described, but as an enormous mass of flesh, armed with teeth. This animal attacks the Balæna in its place of retirement, and with its teeth tears its young, or else attacks the females which have just brought forth, and, indeed, while they are still pregnant; and, as they rush upon them, it pierces them just as though they had been attacked by the beak of a Liburnian Galley. The female Balænæ, devoid of all flexibility, without energy to defend themselves, and overburdened by their own weight; weakened, too, by gestation, or else the pains of recent parturition, are well aware that their only resource is to take flight in the open sea, and to range over the whole face of the ocean; while the Orcæ, on the other hand, do all in their power to meet them in their flight, throw themselves in their way, and kill them either cooped up in a narrow passage, or else drive them on a shoal, or dash them to pieces against the rocks. When these battles are witnessed, it appears just as though the sea were infuriate against itself; not a breath of wind is there to be felt in the bay, and yet the waves, by their pantings and their repeated blows, are heaved aloft in a way which no whirlwind could effect.
“An Orca has been seen even in the port of Ostia, where it was attacked by the Emperor Claudius. It was while he was constructing the harbour there that this orca came, attracted by some hides, which, having been brought from Gaul, had happened to fall overboard there. By feeding upon these for several days it had quite glutted itself, having made for itself a channel in the shoaly water. Here, however, the sand was thrown up by the action of the wind to such an extent that the creature found it quite impossible to turn round; and while in the act of pursuing its prey, it was propelled by the waves towards the shore, so that its back came to be perceived above the level of the water, very much resembling in appearance the keel of a vessel turned bottom upwards. Upon this, Cæsar ordered a number of nets to be extended at the mouth of the harbour, from shore to shore, while he himself went there with the Prætorian Cohorts, and so afforded a spectacle to the Roman people; for boats assailed the monster, while the soldiers on board showered lances upon it. I, myself, saw one of the boats sunk by the water which the animal, as it respired, showered down upon it.”
Olaus Magnus thus writes “Of the fight between the Whale and the Orca. A Whale is a very great fish, about one hundred, or three hundred foot long, and the body is of a vast magnitude, yet the Orca, which is smaller in quantity, but more nimble to assault, and cruel to come on, is his deadly Enemy. An Orca is like a Hull turned inwards outward; a Beast with fierce Teeth, with which, as with the Stern of a Ship, he rends the Whale’s Guts, and tears its Calve’s body open, or he quickly runs and drives him up and down with his prickly back, that he makes him run to Fords and Shores. But the Whale, that cannot turn its huge body, not knowing how to resist the wily Orca, puts all its hopes in flight; yet that flight is weak, because this sluggish Beast, burdned by its own weight, wants one to guide her, to fly to the Foords, to escape the dangers.”
The Dolphin
Pliny says: – “The Dolphin is an animal not only friendly to man, but a lover of music as well; he is charmed by melodious concerts, and more especially by the notes of the water organ. He does not dread man, as though a stranger to him, but comes to meet ships, leaps and bounds to and fro, vies with them in swiftness, and passes them even when in full sail.
“In the reign of the late Emperor Augustus, a dolphin which had been carried to the Lucrine Lake, conceived a most wonderful affection for the child of a certain poor man, who was in the habit of going that way from Baiæ to Puteoli to school, and who used to stop there in the middle of the day, call him by his name of Simo, and would often entice him to the banks of the lake with pieces of bread which he carried for the purpose. At whatever hour of the day he might happen to be called by the boy, and although hidden and out of sight at the bottom of the water, he would instantly fly to the surface, and after feeding from his hand, would present his back for him to mount, taking care to conceal the spiny projection of his fins in their sheath, as it were; and so, sportively taking him up on his back, he would carry him over a wide expanse of sea to the school at Puteoli, and in a similar manner bring him back again. This happened for several years, until, at last, the boy happened to fall ill of some malady, and died. The Dolphin, however, still came to the same spot as usual, with a sorrowful air, and manifesting every sign of deep affliction, until at last, a thing of which no one felt the slightest doubt, he died purely of sorrow and regret.
“Within these few years also, another at Hippo Diarrhytus, on the coast of Africa, in a similar manner used to receive his food from the hands of various persons, present himself for their caresses, sport about among the swimmers, and carry them on his back. On being rubbed with unguents by Flavianus, the then pro-consul of Africa, he was lulled to sleep, as it appeared, by the sensation of an odour so new to him, and floated about just as though he had been dead. For some months after this, he carefully avoided all intercourse with man, just as if he had received some affront or other; but, at the end of that time, he returned, and afforded just the same wonderful scenes as before. At last, the vexations that were caused them by having to entertain so many influential men who came to see this sight, compelled the people of Hippo to put the animal to death…
“Hegesidemus has also informed us, that, in the city of Iasus (the island and city of Caria), there was another boy also, Hermias by name, who in a similar manner used to traverse the sea on a dolphin’s back, but that, on one occasion, a tempest suddenly arising, he lost his life, and was brought back dead: upon which, the dolphin, who thus admitted that he had been the cause of his death, would not return to the sea, but lay down upon dry land and there expired.”
Du Bartas gives us a new trait in the Dolphin’s character: —
“Even as the Dolphins do themselves expose,
For their live fellows, and beneath the waves
Cover their dead ones under sandy graves.”
The Narwhal,
generally called the Monoceros or Sea Unicorn, is thus shown in one place, by Gesner; and, rough though it is, it is far more like the Narwhal’s horn than is the other, also, in his work, of a Sea Rhinoceros or Narwhal engaged in combat with an outrageous-sized Lobster, or Kraken, I know not which; for, as we shall presently see, the Kraken is represented as a Crayfish or Lobster. It was the long twisted horn of the Narwhal which did duty for ages as the horn of the fabled Unicorn, a gift worthy to be presented by an Emperor to an Emperor.
This sketch of Gesner’s, he describes as a one-horned monster with a sharp nose, devouring a Gambarus. Olaus Magnus dismisses the Narwhal very curtly: – “The Unicorn is a Sea Beast, having in his forehead a very great Horn, wherewith he can penetrate, and destroy the ships in his way, and drown multitudes of men. But divine goodnesse hath provided for the safety of Marriners herein; for, though he be a very fierce Creature, yet is he very slow, that such as fear his coming may fly from him.”
The earlier voyagers who really saw the Narwhal, fairly accurately described it; as Baffin, whose name is so familiar to us by the bay called after him: – “As for the Sea Unicorne, it being a great fish, having a long horn or bone growing forth of his forehead or nostrill, such as Sir Martin Frobisher, in his second voyage found one, in divers places we saw them, which, if the horne be of any good value, no doubt but many of them may be killed;” and Frobisher, as reported in Hakluyt, says: – “On this west shore we found a dead fish floating, which had in his nose a horne streight, and torquet, (twisted) of length two yards lacking two ynches. Being broken in the top, here we might perceive it hollow, into the which some of our sailors, putting spiders, they presently died. I saw not the triall hereof, but it was reported unto me of a truth; by the vertue thereof we supposed it to be the Sea Unicorne.”
The Swamfisck
The accompanying illustration, though heading the chapter in Olaus Magnus regarding the Swamfisck and other fish, does not at all seem to elucidate the text: – “The Variety of these Fish, or rather Monsters, is here set down, because of their admirable form, and many properties of Nature, as they often come to the Norway Shores amongst other Creatures, and they are catcht for their Fat, which they have in great plenty and abundance. For the Fisher-men purge it, by boyling it like flesh, on the fire, and they sell it to anoint leather, or for Oyl to burn in Lamps, to continue light, when it is perpetual darkness. Wherefore the first Monster that comes, is of a round form, in Norway called Swamfisck, the greatest glutton of all other Sea-Monsters. For he is scarce satisfied, though he eat continually. He is said to have no distinct stomach; and so what he eats turns into the thickness of his body, that he appears nothing else than one Lump of Conjoyned Fat. He dilates and extends himself beyond measure, and when he can be extended no more, he easily casts out fishes by his mouth because he wants a neck as other fishes do. His mouth and belly are continued one to the other. But this Creature is so thick, that when there is danger, he can, (like the Hedg-Hog) re-double his flesh, fat and skin, and contract and cover himself; nor doth he that but to his own loss, because fearing Beasts that are his Enemies, he will not open himself when he is oppressed with hunger, but lives by feeding on his own flesh, choosing rather to be consumed in part by himself, than to be totally devoured by Wild Beasts. If the danger be past, he will try to save himself.
“The Sahab
“There is also another Sea-Monster, called Sahab, which hath small feet in respect of its great body, but he hath one long one, which he useth in place of a hand to defend all his parts; and with that he puts meat into his mouth, and digs up grass. His feet are almost gristly, and made like the feet of a Cow or Calf. This Creature swimming in the water, breathes, and when he sends forth his breath, it returns into the Ayr, and he casts Water aloft, as Dolphins and Whales do.
“The Circhos
“There is also another Monster like to that, called Circhos, which hath a crusty and soft Skin, partly black, partly red, and hath two cloven places in his Foot, that serve for to make three Toes. The right foot of this Animal is very small, but the left is great and long; and, therefore, when he walks all his body leans on the left side, and he draws his right foot after him: When the Ayr is calm he walketh, but when the Wind is high, and the Sky cloudy, he applies himself to the Rocks, and rests unmoved, and sticks fast, that he can scarce be pulled off. The nature of this is wonderful enough: which in calm Weather is sound, and in stormy Weather is sick.”
The Northern Naturalists did not enjoy the monopoly of curious fish, for Zahn gives us a very graphic picture of the different sides of two small fish captured in Denmark and Norway (i. e., presumably in some northern region) with curious letters marked on them. He does not attempt to elucidate the writing; and as it is of no known language, we may charitably put it down to the original “Volapük.” He also favours us with the effigies of a curious fish found in Silesia in 1609, also ornamented with an inscription in an unknown tongue.
He also supplies us with the portrait of a pike, which was daintily marked with a cross on its side and a star on its forehead.
But too much space would be taken up if I were to recount all the piscine marvels that he relates.
Aristotle mentions that fish do not thrive in cold weather, and he says that those which have a stone in their head, as the chromis, labrax, sciæna, and phagrus, suffer most in the winter; for the refrigeration of the stone causes them to freeze, and be driven on shore.
Sir John Mandeville, speaking of the kingdom of Talonach, says: – “And that land hath a marvayle that is in no other land, for all maner of fyshes of the sea cometh there once a yeare, one after the other, and lyeth him neere the lande, sometime on the lande, and so lye three dayes, and men of that lande come thither and take of them what he will, and then goe these fyshes awaye, and another sort commeth, and lyeth also three dayes and men take of them, and do thus all maner of fyshes tyll all have been there, and menne have taken what they wyll. And men wot not the cause why it is so. But they of that Countrey saye, that those fyshes come so thyther to do worship to theyr king, for they say he is the most worthiest king of the worlde, for he hath so many wives, and geateth so many children of them.” (See next page.)
I know of no other fish of such an accomodating nature, except it be those of whom Ser Marco Polo speaks, when writing of Armenia: – “There is in this Country a certain Convent of Nuns called St. Leonard’s about which I have to tell you a very wonderful circumstance. Near the church in question there is a great lake at the foot of a mountain, and in this lake are found no fish, great or small, throughout the year till Lent come. On the first day of Lent they find in it the finest fish in the world, and great store, too, thereof; and these continue to be found till Easter Eve. After that they are found no more till Lent come round again; and so ’tis every year. ’Tis really a passing great miracle!”
Edward Webbe, “Master Gunner,” whose travels were printed in 1590, informs us that in the “Land of Siria there is a River having great store of fish like unto Samon-trouts, but no Jew can catch them, though either Christian and Turk shall catch them in abundance, with great ease.”
Pliny has some curious natural phenomena to tell us about, of showers of Milk, Blood, Flesh, Iron, and Wool; nay, he even says that, the year of this woolly shower, when Titus Annius Milo was pleading his own cause, there fell a shower of baked tiles!
After this we can swallow Olaus Magnus’s story of a rain of fishes very comfortably, especially as he supplements it with showers of frogs and worms.
He gives a curious story of the black river at the New Fort in Finland: – “There is a Fort in the utmost parts of Finland that is under the Pole, and it belongs to the Kingdom of Sweden, and it is called the New-Fort, because it was wonderfull cunningly built, and fortified by Nature and Art; for it is placed on a round Mountain, having but one entrance and outlet toward the West; and that by a ship that is tyed with great Iron Chains, which by strong labour and benefit of Wheels, by reason of the force of the Waters, is drawn to one part of the River by night, by keepers appointed by the King of Sweden, or such as farm it. A vast river runs by this Castle, whose depth cannot be found; it ariseth from the White Lake, and falls down by degrees: at the bottome it is black, especially round this Castle, where it breeds and holds none but black Fish, but of no ill taste, as are Salmons, Trouts, Perch, Pikes, and other soft Fish. It produceth also the Fish Trebius, that is black in Summer, and white in Winter, who, as Albertus saith, grows lean in the Sea; but when he is a foot long, he is five fingers fat: This, seasoned with Salt, will draw Gold out of the deepest waters that it is fallen in, and make it flote from the bottome. At last, it makes the black Lake passing by Viburgum, as Nilus makes a black River, where he dischargeth himself.
“When the Image of a Harper, playing, as it were, upon his Harp, in the middle of the Waters above them appears, it signifies some ill Omen, that the Governor of the Fort, or Captain shall suddenly be slain, or that the negligent and sleepy Watchman shall be thrown headlong from the high walls, and die by Martial Law. Also this water is never free from Ghosts and Visions that appear at all times; and a man may hear Pipes sound, and Cymbals tinkle, to the shore.”
Aristotle mentions a fish called the Meryx that chewed the cud, and Pliny speaks of the Scarus, which, he says, “at the present day is the only fish that is said to ruminate, and feed on grass, and not on other fish.” But he seems to have forgotten that in a previous place in the same book, he speaks of a large peninsula in the Red Sea, on the southern coast of Arabia, called Cadara, where “the sea monsters, just like so many cattle, were in the habit of coming on shore, and after feeding on the roots of shrubs, they would return; some of them, which had the heads of horses, asses, and bulls, found a pasture in the crops of grain.”
