SECTION V.
As Serpents differ in Kind, so in Size; the Length to which some of them grow is most surprizing. A certain Number is sent out with little Bodies; others are of monstrous Bulk, and capable of making the strongest Efforts against all the Attempts made to destroy them; yea, are strong enough to contend with Elephants, the greatest of Animals, and conquer them. e. gr.
ATTILIUS REGULUS, the Roman General in Africa, is said to encounter a Serpent in that Country, of vast Strength and Stature, near the River Bagrada, 120 Feet long, which he and his Army could not subdue, without discharging all their Engines of War against it; and, when conquered and flea’d, its Skin was conveyed to Rome in Triumph[[19]]. This is the more credible, says Pliny, because, in Italy, we see other Serpents, called Boæ, so large that in the Reign of Claudius, there was one of them killed in the Vatican, within whose Belly was found an Infant whole[[20]].
[19]. Prœlium grands & acre eumque magna totius exercitus conflictatione, balistis atque catapultis diu oppugnatum—Ejusque interfecti longum corium pedes 120. Aul. Gellii Noct. Att. Liber VI. Cap. iii.
[20]. Nat. Hist. B. VIII. Cap. xiv.
Among the Andes in America, are Serpents of prodigious Magnitude, from 25 to 30 Foot long[[21]]. In the Province of Caria, are Serpents ten Yards long, and Ten Hands broad, and their Eyes as large as two small Loaves. In Brasil, are found Serpents 30 Foot long. In Gresham-College, London, is a Snake preserved in Spirits, that is near two Yards long.
[21]. De Le Vega.
In Norway, we read of two Serpents of very large Proportion: One of two hundred Foot long, and lives in Rocks and desolate Mountains, near the Sea, about Bergen; which in Summer-Nights ranges about in quest of Plunder, devouring Lambs, Calves, Swine, and other Animals, that fall in its way. In a calm Sea, it ransacks the Superficies of the Water, and devours the Polypus (i. e. a little Fish of many Feet) and all sorts of Sea-Crabs.——Upon the Approach of a Ship, this Serpent lifts up its Head above Water, and snatches at the Mariners. My Author adds, that it rolls itself round about the Ship, the more effectually to secure its Prey[[22]]. The Representation of this you have in C. Gesner.
[22]. Olaus Magn. B. xxi. c. 27. p. 23. Gesner ex Scalig.
The other Serpent is in the Diocess of Hammer, about fifty Cubits long, by Conjecture. In Bothnia, on the Livonian Sea, we read of monstrous Serpents, with which the Shepherds of that Country were in constant War. Wonderful Things are reported of the large Serpents that infest the Helvetian Mountains. From the Instances above, ’tis evident that the Northern Climates breed Serpents as well as the South; but with this Difference, that they are not so venomous as those in Africa, tho’ Olaus Magnus, Archbishop of Upsal, seems to except the Shrew-Serpent. Ibid.
There are Marine, as well as Land-Dragons, of uncommon Bigness: Some in Ethiopia of 30 Paces long, and in Phrygia ten Paces long.——N. B. A geometrical Pace is five Foot; but if it be the lesser Pace only, viz. the Measure of two Foot and a half, it must be a monstrous Animal[[23]].——In the Reign of Philadelphus, two Live-Dragons were brought from Ethiopia to Alexandria, one 13, the other 14 Cubits long. In the Reign of King Euergetes, they took three Dragons, one seven Cubits, the other nine Cubits long. The third was carefully nursed in the Temple of Esculapius, and no Creature so highly reverenced[[24]].
[23]. Gesner, p. 44.
[24]. Ælian, l. 16. c. 39. p. 957.
On the Pellonæon Hill in Chius, was a Dragon whose hideous Noise filled the Vicinity with Horror and Dread; so terrible, that none durst approach so near as to take its Dimensions. It happened, the Wilderness wherein it lived, took fire in a Storm; and being involved in the Smoke and fire, it perished, and, upon viewing its Bones, ’twas concluded to be of a monstrous Bulk. Ibid.
The Ethiopian Dragons just mentioned, have no proper Name, and are only known by a Periphrasis, viz. Killers of Elephants. The Method is, by winding themselves about the Elephants Legs, and then thrusting their Heads up their Nostrils, sting them, and suck their Blood till they are dead.
ALEXANDER, in his Tour thro’ the Red-Sea, says, he saw Serpents of incredible Magnitude, some about 30 Cubits long[[25]].
[25]. Ælian, lib. 17. cap. 1.
We read of monstrous Dragons, particularly two Draconic Monsters mentioned by Alexander’s Ambassadors, seen by them in their Return from the Kingdom of Abisaris, one of 80 Cubits long, the other 140[[26]].
[26]. Strabo, de situ orbis, lib. 15. βιασαρου χωρα Bisari, alias Abisari Regio.
In places adjacent to Batavia, a Dutch Settlement in the East-Indies, we read of Serpents 50 Feet long; and the Skin of one, which was 20 Feet long, that swallowed an Infant, is shewn in Batavia, the Metropolis of the Dutch Empire in the East-Indies. In America also are Serpents of prodigious Bulk, from 25, to 30 Feet long[[27]]; but this Subject will be further considered in the Second Part of this Book.
[27]. Atlas American.
On the other hand, there are Serpents, as remarkably little as the Amphisbæna, Gallic Viper, and some of the Lizards, that are not above four or six Inches long. Most of these Minutillos vary in outward Form.
And here, I can’t but observe that as the Magnitude of some other Animals is very wonderful, so, on the contrary, the Minuteness of some is equally astonishing, if not more so: There are some very little Insects that are conspicuous to the Eye, but more that are invisible without the Help of a Microscope, which is an optical Instrument, that magnifies Objects, and makes them bigger than really they are; it helps to discover minute Particles, of which Bodies are composed, and the curious Contexture of them.
To those who are not used to a rigid mathematic Proof, this may be illustrated by the Smallness of many organized Bodies. There is a Plant called Harts-Tongue, ten thousand Seeds of which hardly make the Bulk of a Pepper-Corn. Now the Cover of the true Body of each Seed, the parenchymous and ligneous Parts of both; the Fibres of those Parts, the Principles of those Fibres, and the homogeneous Particles or Atoms of each Principle, being moderately multiplied one by another, afford a hundred thousand Millions of formed Atoms in the space of a Pepper-Corn, says the learned Dr. Grew[[28]].
[28]. Cosmologia Sacra, B. i. chap. 3.
The same is yet more evident from the Stupendous Smallness of some Animals, especially in the Sperm of smaller Insects; which have been observed by Mr. Leeuwenhoek, to be some Millions of times smaller than a grain Sand. This learned Gentleman has observed more of them in the Spawn of a Cod-fish, than there are People living on the Face of all the Earth at once[[29]].
[29]. Numerum animalculorum ex unius asselli majoris lactibus provenientium, plus decies superare homines in universo terrarum orbe viventes.—Epistola ad Dom. N. Grew, p. 1.
N. B. It is the infinite Number of these little invisible Animals that makes stagnating Waters or Pools appear of so many different Colours, as green, reddish, brown,—according to the several Natures of these little Animals that live therein.
Thus, among Men, we find big and little; Giants and Pygmies: Whether that Disproportion be from meer natural Causes, or by Designation of Providence, I determine not. It is very questionable whether there be a particular Nation of Pygmies; but no doubt is made about the Existence of Dwarfs in many Places as well as Giants. Julia, the Niece of Augustus, had a Dwarf called Canopas, that was about two feet in height. Philippa French, born at Milcomb in Staffordshire, aged about 36, being then married, wanted something of three Feet in height[[30]].
[30]. Dr. Plot’s Natural History.—Oxford 16.
On the other hand, we are not without Instances of Men, that were of a gigantick Stature, after, as well as before the Deluge, as Goliah and the Sons of Anak.
In the Days of Claudius the Emperor, Pliny tells us, that one called Gabara, brought out of Arabia, was nine Feet and nine Inches high: He tells us also, of two others in the days of Augustus Cæsar, Iducio and Secundilla, that were half a Foot taller than Gabara[[31]]. Maximinus the Emperor, was eight Foot and a half in height. But to come near home:
[31]. Nat. Hist. B. vii. cap. 16.
WILLIAM EVANS born in Monmouthshire, and Porter to King Charles I. was two Yards and a half high. Walter Parsons, Porter to King James I. was about the same height. “Some say, William Evans exceeded Walter Parsons two Inches in height, but was far beneath him in proportion of Body. Tho’ he halted a little, and going out squalling with his Feet, yet made a shift to dance in an Antimasque at Court, where he drew Little Jeffrey, the Dwarf, out of his Pocket, first to the Wonder, then to the Laughter of the Spectators[[32]].”
[32]. Fuller’s Worthies of Engl. Monmouthshire, p. 54.