“But what our eyes haue seene, and hands haue touched, we shall [[81]]declare. There is a small island in Lancashire called the Pile of Foulders, wherein are found the broken pieces of old and bruised ships, some whereof haue been cast thither by shipwracke, and also the trunks and bodies with the branches of old and rotten trees, cast vp there likewise; whereon is found a certaine spume or froth that in time breedeth vnto certaine shels, in shape like those of the muskle, but sharper pointed, and of a whitish colour; wherein is contained a thing in forme like a lace of silke finely wouen as it were together, of a whitish colour, one end whereof is fastned vnto the inside of the shell, euen as the fish of oisters and muskles are; the other end is made fast vnto the belly of a rude masse or lumpe, which in time commeth to the shape and forme of a bird: when it is perfectly formed the shell gapeth open, and the first thing that appeareth is the foresaid lace or string; next come the legs of the bird hanging out, and as it groweth greater it openeth the shell by degrees, til at length it is all come forth, and hangeth onely by the bill; in short space after it commeth to full maturitie, and falleth into the sea, where it gathereth feathers, and groweth to a fowle bigger than a mallard, and lesser than a goose, hauing blacke legs and bill or beake, and feathers blacke and white, spotted in such manner as is our mag-pie, called in some places a pie-annet, which the people of Lancashire call by no other name than a tree-goose: which place aforesaid, and all those parts adioyning, do so much abound therewith, that one of the best is bought for three pence. For the truth hereof, if any doubt, may it please them to repaire vnto me, and I shall satisfie them by the testimonie of good witnesses.
“Moreouer, it should seeme that there is another sort hereof; the historie of which is true, and of mine owne knowledge: for trauelling vpon the shore of our English coast betweene Douer and Rumney, I found the trunke of an old rotten tree, which (with some helpe that I procured by fishermens wiues that were there attending their husbands returne from the sea) we drew out of the water vpon dry land: vpon this rotten tree I found growing many thousands of long crimson bladders, in shape like vnto puddings newly filled, before they be sodden, which were [[82]]very cleere and shining; at the nether end whereof did grow a shell fish, fashioned somewhat like a small muskle, but much whiter, resembling a shell fish that groweth vpon the rocks about Garnsey and Garsey, called a lympit: many of these shells I brought with me to London, which after I had opened I found in them liuing things without forme or shape; in others which were neerer come to ripenes I found liuing things that were very naked, in shape like a bird: in others, the birds couered with soft downe, the shell halfe open, and the bird ready to fall out, which no doubt were the fowles called barnakles. I dare not absolutely auouch euery circumstance of the first part of this history, concerning the tree that beareth those buds aforesaid, but will leaue it to a further consideration; howbeit that which I haue seene with mine eyes, and handled with mine hands, I dare confidently auouch, and boldly put downe for veritie. Now if any will obiect, that this tree which I saw might be one of those before mentioned, which either by the waues of the sea or some violent wind had been ouerturned, as many other trees are; or that any trees falling into those seas about the Orchades, will of themselves beare the like fowles, by reason of those seas and waters, these being so probable coniectures, and likely to be true, I may not without preiudice gainesay, or indeauor to confute.”—(2nd edit.) p. 1588.
Difficult as it is to understand how a man of Gerard’s genius and information could have been thus deceived, the perfect sincerity of his belief is not to be doubted. Seeing, then, how deep rooted this popular error must have been, it was no small merit of William Barentz and his companions that they should have been mainly instrumental in disabusing the public mind on the subject. That they were so, and that at the time they enjoyed the credit of being so, is manifest from the following note on the foregoing passage, made by Thomas Johnson, the editor of the second edition of the Herball, published in 1633:—
“The barnakles, whose fabulous breed my author here sets downe, and diuers others haue also deliuered, were found by some Hollanders to haue another originall, and that by egges, as other birds haue: for they in their third voyage to find out the north-east passage to China and the Molucco’s, about the eightieth degree and eleuen minutes of northerly latitude, found two little islands, in the one of which they found aboundance of these geese sitting vpon their egges, of which they got one goose, and tooke away sixty egges, etc. Vide Pontani, Rerum et vrb. Amstelodam. Hist., lib. 2, cap. 22.”
Parkinson, too, in his Theatrum Botanicum, published in 1640 (p. 1306), gives our Dutch navigators full credit for having confuted “this admirable tale of untruth”. [↑]
[61] Chart. The original has, however, nothing about any “card”, but says noch noyt dat land op die plaets bekent is geweest—nor was that land ever known on the spot (that is to say, from personal observation). [↑]
[62] This remark, which has previously been made by the author in page 5, is not founded on fact, inasmuch as reindeer do exist in Novaya Zemlya, as is there shown in note 2. In addition to the authorities cited in that place, may be given that of Rosmuislov, who passed the winter of 1768–9 to the northward of 73° N. lat., and saw there large herds of wild reindeer.—Lütke, p. 77. [↑]
[64] De selfde getogen van de genomen hooghde. This is erroneous. It should be “from which subtracted the height aforesaid”. [↑]