A supplement to a book entituled Travels, or observations, etc. Wherein some objections, lately made against it [by R. Pococke], are fully considered and answered: with several additional remarks and dissertations / By Thomas Shaw.

Thomas Shaw

Date:: 1746

Credit: A supplement to a book entituled Travels, or observations, etc. Wherein some objections, lately made against it [by R. Pococke], are fully considered and answered: with several additional remarks and dissertations / By Thomas Shaw. Source: Wellcome Collection.

118/148 (page 90)

$one of thefe Birds painted ; which, being different from this, in having red and yellow Feathers, appears to be no other than the Manucodiata or Bird of Paradife: which therefore may be well fufpe&ed to be the very Thcenix of the Ancients. But I fliould rather take That, which is here difplayed, to be theFea- cock, which was a Native of Ethiopia, and brought, with other Animals and Curiofities, from the South Eaft Parts of that Country, to King Solomon. iChron. 9. n. The Tortoife. There is room to conjecture, from a Couple of Tortoifes (O), that are funning Themfelves, upon a Bank of Sand; and from The crab, the like Number of Crabs (P), that are fwimming in the Wa¬ ters; that the inland Parts of thefe Countries, were productive of both thefe Animals. Thecm,y?«, Among the Reptiles, we are entertained with fome few ed. Species of the Serpentine Kind: though, it is fomewhat extra¬ ordinary, that none of them fliould have the Marks and Signa- The Natrix tures of the Certifies, which was fo well known in Egypt. The or Nahhejh. common gnake or Natrix torquata, is called, by the Inhabi¬ tants of thefe Countries, Hannejh\ which, by an eafyTranli- tion and Change of Letters, is of the fame Force and Sound, with the Scripture [tfha] Nahhejh. This, Gen. 3. i. is faid to he more Subtle, than all the other Be a ft s of the Field; which Character, how applicable foever it may be to the whole Genus; yet it appears, in this Text, to be attributed to one particular Species only. The common Snake therefore, the lame with the Natrix, or the Anguis of Efculapius, was the Serpent that beguiled our firft Parent. The AptcKtms Others of this Family (W), are reprefented of an enormous Size: and were intended, perhaps/for that Branch of this Fa¬ mily, which are commonly called a Jxoms by the Greeks, and [d^jd] Tanninim by the facred Writers. The largeft of thefe Dragons (X), has feized upon a Bird, an Ibis, or one at leaft, as it appears to be, of the Crane Kind. If then, the common Fame be true, that the Rattle Snakeand other Serpents, 1 I am abundantly fatisfied, from many witneffes both EngliJJj and Indian, that a Rattle Snake will charm Squirrels and Birds from a Tree into it’s Mouth. Vid. Paul Dudley Efq; his Account of the Rattle Snake. Philof Tranf. N°.37<5. p.292. Dr. Mead on Poyfons. p.82. Others imagine, that the Rattle Snake, by fome Artifice or other, had before bitten them; and as the Poifon might not immediately operate, the Squirrel or Bird might, in the Surprise, betake themfelves to fome neighbouring Tree, from whence they might afterwards fall down dead ; or into the Mouth of the Rattle Snake ; which, fenfible of the mortal Wound that had been given, was impatiently waiting for them. Vid. Le Voyage de VAmerique du P. Labat. & Salm. Mod. Hift. Vol.xxx. have$