Well known to many, was a Green-land Doe
The proverb old is here fulfill’d in me,
That every like is not the same you see.
And for their height since I came into England I have read Dr. Scroderns his Chymical dispensatory translated into English by Dr. Rowland, where he writes that when he lived in Finland under Gustavus Horn, he saw an Elke that was killed and presented to Gustavus his Mother, seventeen spans high. Law you now Sirs of the Gibing crue, if you have any skill in mensuration, tell me what difference there is between Seventeen spans and twelve foot. There are certain transcendentia in every Creature, which are the indelible Characters of God, and which discover God; There’s a prudential for you, as John Rhodes the Fisherman used to say to his mate, Kitt Lux. But to go on with the Moose; they are accounted a kind of Deer, and have three Calves at a time, which they hide a mile asunder too, as other Deer do, their skins make excellent Coats for Martial men, their sinews which are as [p. 90.] big as a mans finger are of perdurable toughness and much used by the Indians, the bone that growes upon their heart is an excellent Cordial, their bloud is as thick as an Asses or Bulls who have the thickest bloud of all others, a man the thinnest. To what age they live I know not, certainly a long time in their proper climate. Some particular living Creatures cannot live in every particular place or region, especially with the same joy and felicity as it did where it was first bred, for the certain agreement of nature that is between the place and the thing bred in that place: As appeareth by Elephants, which being translated and brought out of the Second or Third Climate, though they may live, yet will they never ingender or bring forth young. So for plants, Birds, &c. Of both these Creatures, some few there have been brought into England, but did not long continue. Sir R. Baker in his Chronicle tells us of an Elephant in Henry the Thirds Raign, which he saith was the first that was ever seen there, which as it seems is an error, unless he restrain it to the Norman’s time. For Mr. Speed writeth that Claudius Drusius Emperour of Rome brought in the first in his Army; the bones of which digg’d up since are taken for Gyants bones. As for the Moose the first that was seen in England, [p. 91.] was in King Charles the First Raign; thus much for these magnals amongst the Creatures of God to be wondered at, the next beast to be mentioned is
The Maurouse, which is somewhat like a Moose, but his horns are but small, and himself about the size of a Stag, these are the Deer that the flat-footed Wolves hunt after.
The Maccarib is a Creature not found that ever I heard yet, but upon Cape-Sable near to the French plantations.
The Bear when he goes to mate is a terrible Creature, they bring forth their Cubs in March, hunted with doggs they take a Tree where they shoot them, when he is fat he is excellent Venison, which is in Acorn time, and in winter, but then there is none dares to attempt to kill him but the Indian. He makes his Denn amongst thick Bushes, thrusting in here and there store of Moss, which being covered with snow and melting in the day time with heat of the Sun, in the night is frozen into a thick coat of Ice; the mouth of his Den is very narrow, here they lye single, never two in a Den all winter. The Indian as soon as he finds them, creeps in upon all four, seizes with his left hand upon the neck of the sleeping Bear, drags him to the mouth of [p. 92.] the Den, where with a club or small hatchet in his right hand he knocks out his brains before he can open his eyes to see his enemy. But sometimes they are too quick for the Indians, as one amongst them called black Robin lighting upon a male Bear had a piece of his buttock torn off before he could fetch his blow: their grease is very soveraign. One Mr. Purchase cured himself of the Sciatica with Bears-greefe, keeping some of it continually in his groine. It is good too for swell’d Cheeks upon cold, for Rupture of the hands in winter, for limbs taken suddenly with Sciatica, Gout, or other diseases that cannot stand upright nor go, bed-rid; it must be well chaft in, and the same cloth laid on still; it prevents the shedding of the hair occasioned by the coldness of winters weather; and the yard of a Bear which as a Doggs or Foxes is bonie, is good for to expell Gravel out of the kidneys and bladder, as I was there told by one Mr. Abraham Philater a Jersey-man.
The Beaver or Pound-dog is an Amphibious Creature, lives upon the land as well as in the water. I suppose they feed upon fish, but am sure that the Bark of Trees is also their food; there is an old proverbial saying, sic me jubes quotidie, ut fiber salicem: you love me as the Beaver doth the willow; [p. 93.] who eateth the Bark and killeth the Tree. They will be tame, witness the Beaver that not long since was kept at Boston in the Massachusets-Bay, and would run up and down the streets, returning home without a call. Their skins are highly valued, and their stones are good for the palsie, trembling, and numbness of the hands, boiling of them in Oyl of Spike, and anointing the sinews in the neck. If you take of Castorium two drams, of womans hair one dram, and with a little Rozen of the Pine-Tree, make it up into pills as big as Filberts and perfume a woman in a fit of the mother with one at a time laid upon coals under her nostrils, it will recover her out of her fit. The grease of a Beaver is good for the Nerves, Convulsions, Epilepsies, Apoplexies &c. The tail as I have said in another Treatise, is very fat and of a masculine vertue, as good as Eringo’s or Satyrion-Roots.
The Otter or River-Dog is Amphibious too, he hunteth for his kind in the spring, and bringeth forth his whelps as the Beaver doth, they are generally black, and very numerous, they are hunted in England from Shrovetide untill Midsummer, but in New-England they take them when they can. The skin of an Otter is worth Ten Shillings, [p. 94.] and the Gloves made thereof are the best fortification for the hands against wet weather that can be thought of, the furr is excellent for muffs, and is almost as dear as Beaver, the grease of an Otter will make fish turn up their bellies, and is of rare use for many things.
The Hare, I have no more to write of them than that they kindle in hollow Trees. What else concerns him, or any of the fore-mentioned Creatures you have in my New-Englands rarities, to which I refer you.