[a] Benigna circa hoc Natura, innocua & esculenta animalia fœcunda generavit. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 55.
[] Captain J. Strong gave me this Account, together with a Quill-Feather of the Cuntur or Condor of Peru. On the Coast of Chili, they met with this Bird in about 33° S. Lat. not far from Mocha, an Island in the South-Sea,——they shot it sitting on a Cliff, by the Sea-side; that it was 16 Feet from Wing to Wing extended; that the Spanish Inhabitants told them they were afraid of these Birds, lest they should prey upon their Children. And the Feather he gave me (saith the Doctor) is 2 Feet, 4 Inches long; the Quill-part 5¾ Inches long, and 1½ Inch about in the largest Part. It weighed 3 dr. 17½ gr. and is of a dark brown Colour. Dr. Sloane in Phil. Trans. Nᵒ. 208.
To this Account, the Doctor, (in a Letter to Mr. Ray, March 31, 1694, with other Papers of Mr. Ray’s, in my Hands,) adds the Testimony of Jos. Acosta, l. 4. c. 7. and Garcilass. de la Vega, who l. 8. c. 19. saith, There are other Fowls, call’d Cuntur, and by the Spaniards corruptly Condor. Many of these Fowls having been kill’d by the Spaniards, had their Proportion taken, and from End to End of their Wings measured 15 or 16 Feet.——Nature, to temper and allay their Fierceness, deny’d them the Talons which are given to the Eagle; their Feet being tipp’d with Claws like a Hen: However, their Beak is strong enough to tear off the Hide, and rip up the Bowels of an Ox. Two of them will attempt a Cow or Bull, and devour him: And it hath often happened, that one of then alone hath assaulted Boys of ten or twelve Years of Age, and eaten them. Their Colour is black and white, like a Magpie. It is well there are but few of them; for if they were many, they would very much destroy the Cattle. They have on the forepart of their Heads, a Comb, not pointed like that of a Cock; but rather even, in the Form of a Razor. When they come to alight from the Air, they make such an humming Noise, with the fluttering of their Wings, as is enough to astonish, or make a Man deaf.
[c] Eccles. i. 4.
[d] The Divine Providence doth not only appear in the Longævity of Man, immediately after the Creation and Flood; but also in their different Longævity at those two Times. Immediately after the Creation, when the World was to be peopled by one Man, and one Woman, the Age of the greatest Part of those on Record, was 900 Years, and upwards. But after the Flood, when there were three Persons by whom the World was to be peopled, none of those Patriarchs, except Shem, arriv’d to the Age of 500; and only the three first of Shem’s Line, viz. Arphaxad, Salah, and Eber, came near that Age; which was in the first Century after the Flood. But in the second Century, we do not find any reached the Age of 240. And in the third Century, (about the latter End of which Abraham was born,) none, except Terah, arriv’d to 200 Years: By which Time the World was so well peopled, (that Part of it, at least where Abraham dwelt,) that they had built Cities, and began to be cantoned into distinct Nations and Societies, under their respective Kings; so that they were able to wage War, four Kings against five, Gen. xiv. Nay, if the Accounts of Anian, Berosus, Manetho, and others, yea, Africanus be to be credited; the World was so well peopled, even before the Times we speak of, as to afford sufficient Numbers for the great Kingdoms of Assyria, Ægypt, Persia, &c. But learned Men generally, with great Reason, reject these as legendary Accounts. If the Reader hath a Mind to see a Computation of the Increase of Mankind, in the three first Centuries after the Flood, he may find two different Ones of the most learned Archbishop Usher, and Petavius; together with a Refutation of the so early Beginning of the Assyrian Monarchy; as also Reasons for placing Abraham near 1000 Years after the Flood, in our most learned Bishop Stillingfleet’s Orig. Sacr. Book III. Chap. 4. §. 9.
[e] That the common Age of Man hath been the same in all Ages since the World was peopled, is manifest from prophane, as well as sacred History. To pass by others: Plato lived to the Age of 81, and was accounted an old Man. And those which Pliny reckons up, l. 7. c. 48. as rare Examples of long Life, may for the most Part be match’d by our modern Histories; especially such as Pliny himself gave Credit unto. Dr. Plot hath given us divers Instances in his History of Oxfordshire, c. 2. §. 3. and c. 8. §. 54. and History of Staffordshire, c. 8. §. 91, &c. Among others, one is of twelve Tenants of Mr. Biddulph’s, that together made 1000 Years of Age. But the most considerable Examples of aged Persons among us, is of old Parre of Shropshire, who lived 152 Years 9 Months, according to the learned Dr. Harvey’s Account; and Henry Jenkins of Yorkshire, who lived 169 Years, according to the Account of my learned and ingenious Friend Dr. Tancred Robinson; of both which, with others, see Lowth. Abridg. Phil. Trans. V. 3. p. 306. The great Age of Parre of Shropshire, minds me of an Observation of the Reverend Mr. Plaxton, that in his two Parishes of Kinardsey and Donington in Shropshire, every sixth Soul was 60 Years of Age, or upwards, Phil. Trans. Nᵒ. 310.
And if we step farther North into Scotland, we shall find divers recorded for their great Age: Of which I shall present the Reader with only one modern Example of one Laurence, who married a Wife after he was 100 Years of Age, and would go out to Sea a Fishing in his little Boat, when he was 140 Years old; and is lately dead of no other Distemper but mere old Age, saith Sir Rob. Sibbald, Prodr. Hist. Nat. Scot. p. 44. and l. 3. p. 4.
As for Foreigners, the Examples would be endless; and therefore that of Joh. Ottele shall suffice, who was as famous for his Beard, as for being 115 Years of Age. He was but two Brabant Ells ³⁄₉ high; and his long grey Beard was one Ell ¼ long. His Picture and Account may be seen in Ephem. Germ. T. 3. Obs. 163.
As for the Story Roger Bacon tells, of one that lived 900 Years by the Help of a certain Medicine, and many other such Stories, I look upon them as fabulous. And no better is that of the Wandring Jew, named Joh. Buttadæus, said to have been present at our Saviour’s Crucifixion; although very serious Stories are told of his being seen at Antwerp, and in France, about the Middle of the last Century but one; and before in Ann. 1542, conversed with by Paul of Eitsen, Bishop of Sleswick; and before that, viz. in 1228, seen and convers’d with by an Armenian Archbishop’s Gentleman; and by others at other Times.
If the Reader hath a Mind to see more Examples, he may meet with some of all Ages, in the learned Hakewill’s Apol. p. 181. where he will also find that learned Author’s Opinion of the Causes of the Brevity and Length of humane Life. The Brevity thereof he attributeth to a too tender Education, sucking strange Nurses, too hasty Marriages; but above all, to Luxury, high Sauces, strong Liquors, &c. The Longævity of the Ancients he ascribes to Temperance in Meat and Drink, anointing the Body, the Use of Saffron and Honey, warm Clothes, lesser Doors and Windows, less Physick and more Exercise.