A compleat history of the most remarkable providences both of judgment and mercy, which have hapned in this present age extracted from the best writers, the author's own observations, and the numerous relations sent him from divers parts of the three kingdoms : to which is added, whatever is curious in the works of nature and art / the whole digested into one volume, under proper heads, being a work set on foot thirty years ago, by the Reverend Mr. Pool, author of the Synopsis criticorum ; and since undertaken and finish'd, by William Turner...

CHAP. XXXIX. Strange Fish.

I remember, when I was a little Boy, and went first a Angling, I brought home two or three small Dace and Breams, with no little Joy, and a secret promise of Applause to my self, for my Success in the Game; but my Mother with some Indignation, refused to give her consent fro the Dressing of them, I have not served my Reader so here; No, the Watry Element is so stored with such abundance of these Animals, and the Sea takes up so great a part of this lower World, that I have passed by all the common Species, and present my Reader with the Huge Leviathan, the Loving Dolphin, the great Manaty, and others, strange and admirable for some Property or other, that I promise my self, my Reader will not serve me now, as my Mother did then.

1. The Whale is the greatest and chief of all Fishes. That Whale taken in the Scheld, 10 Miles from Antwerp. Anno 1677, was of a blackish blue colour, he had a Snout on his Head, where∣with he belch'd up Water, with great force; he was 58 foot long, 16 foot high, his Tail was 14 foot broad; from his Eye to the tip of his Nose, 16 foot; his lower Chap 6 foot, of each side, armed with 25 Teeth, and there were as many holes in the Upper Chap, where Teeth had been, the longest of his Teeth 6 Thumbs long. A Whale taken at Sceveling, near the Hague, was 60 foot long. Johnston. Class. 9. cap. 3. p. 290. In the 6th year of Queen Elizabeth, in the Month of December, at Grimsby in Lincolnshire, was driven on shoar, a Monstrous Fish, in length 19 Yards, his Tail 15 foot broad, and 6 yards between the Eyes; 12 Men stood upright in his Mouth, to get out the Oyl. In the 17th Year, a vast Whale was cast upon Thanet Isle in Kent, 20 Ells long, and 13 foot broad, from the Belly to the Back-bone, and 11 foot between the Eyes; one of his Eyes being taken out of his Head, was more then 2 Cart with 6 Horses could draw; the Oyl being boiled out of his Head was Parmacittee. Bakers Chron.

The ordinary Dimension of the Whale is 36 Cubits in length, and 8 in thickness; yet Nearchus in Arianus, is said to have measured one in the Indian Seas, 50 Cubits long, and proportionably broad. Pliny exceeds all bounds of Credibility, when he tells of some 960 foot, or 4 Acres long Heylin's Cosmogr. p. 876.

2. The Dolphins are so swift, that they swim faster then a Shp under Sail, before the Wind, saith Bellonius; when they play on the calm Sea, they foreshew which way the Wind will blow, and when they cast up Water, the Sea being troubled, they foreshew a Calm. Thomas thinks, that Exhalations rising from the bottom of the Sea, when a Storm is at hand in Winter, is the cause of it; and he thinks that the Dolphin feels heat thereby, and so breaks forth the oftner; but Rondeletius thinks, they are affected in the Water with the motion of the Air, as those that are Sick, are wont to be, when the South Wind begins to blow. Johnston. p. 294.

The last Year of King Edward VI. was taken at Quinborough, three Dolphins, and at Blackwall, 6 more, the last of which was bigger then a Horse. Baker.

3. The Manaty is a great Fish, taken in the Rivers of Hispaniola; his Head is like an Ox-head, or bigger; his Eyes, in respect of his body, are small; he hath two thick Feet, like Wings, in the place of Gills, with which he swims, he hath a thick Skin and no Scales. He is so great, that there needs a Yoke of Oxen to carry him; sometimes he is 14 or 15 foot long, and 8 hands thick; he hath two stones, or rather bones in his Head, so great as little hand-balls; he wants Ears, but in their place he hath small holes, by which he hears. His Skin is like the Skin of a shrevell'd Ox, a Finger thick, Ash colour, and thin of Hairs, the Tail is all Nervous, which being boiled or fryed, it resolves into fat. Johnston. p. 296.

4. The Swordfish hath a beck on both Chaps, but the lower of them is short and triangular; the upper is more bony and harder, and far longer, sometimes two Cubits long. In the Indian Sea, they grow so great, that they will pierce the sides of the strongest Ship, a hand and a half in thick∣ness sometimes. Gesner writes, that a faithful Friend of his, saw a Man, when he sailed to Syria, thar swam by the Ships side, and he was cut in the middle, by the beck of this Fish. Johnston. p. 304.

5. The Torpedo, has his name because he benums the Hands, and he doth this so effectually, that before he is taken, he will do it by the Net, or the Rod. Johnston. p. 303.

6. The ••unies, are chiefly caught about Constantinople, for when they are past Chalcedon, a cer∣tain white Rock appears to them, and so terrifies them, that immediatly they put over to the far∣thest Bank, and being taken by the swift Current of the Waters, turns their course to Constantino∣ple, so that they are tkane in their Snares in great numbers; they are bred in the Lakes of Maeotis.

9. The Remora, is said to stay Ships. Petrus Melaras of Bononia reports, That the Ship of Fran∣cis, Cardinal of Troas, when he went by Sea out of France, was held frst in the swiftness of its course. Many have sought the cause, but no Man hath certainly found it. Saith Johnston. Hist. Nat. Class. 9. c. 7. p. 331.

8. Tritons, or Fishes having the Face, Lineaments, and shape of Man's body; one was seen in the days of Tiberius, another in the time of Augustus, a third, under Nero; Aelian, Theodor. Gaza, Trapezuntius, Alex. ab Alex. Scaliger and divers others affirm the Truth of this; yet these Tritons or Ne∣reides, cannot be called, nor are they Men, though they have the outward shape; for it is not the matter, nor outward Lineaments, but the form that gives Essence and Denomination. Ross. Ar∣cana Microcosin. l. 2. p. 18.

In King John's Reign, such a Fish was taken near Orford in Suffolk, in all parts like a Man, and for 6 Months was kept in the Castle, whence after he escaped, and went again to the Sea. Others do add, that he was kept with raw Flesh and Fish, and because he could not speak, was thrown into the Sea again. Bakers Chron.

He uttered not any Speech, though to try him he was hung by the Heels, and grievously Torment∣ed; he would get him to his Couch as Sun-set, and rise again at Sun-rising; one day they brought him to the Haven, and let him go into the Sea, but to prevent his escape, they set 3 rows of very strong Nets before him, to catch him again at pleasure; but he diving to the bottom, crept un∣der their Nets, and shewed himself again to them, and so often diving, he still came up, and as it were mocked them; at length, he came back to them of his own accord, and remain'd with them two Months after. But afterwards, being not carefully lookt to, he went to the Sea, and was never after seen, or heard of. Fabians Chron.

Anno Christi, 1404. Some Women of Edom in the Low-Counties, as they were going in their Barks to their Cattel in Purmer-meer, they often saw at the Ebbing of the Water, a Sea-Woman playing up and down, where at the first they were afraid, but after a while, encouraging one ano∣ther, they made with their Boats towards her, and the Water at that time being not deep enough for her to dive in, they took her by force, and drew her into the Boat, and so carried her to Edam, where in time she grew familiar, and fed of ordinary Meats; and being sent from thence to Harlem, she lived about 15 Years, but never spake, seeking often to get away to the Waters. Belg. Common Wealth. p. 102,

Captain Richard Whithurn, in his Description of Newfoundland, writes: That Anno Christi, 1610. early in the Morning, as he was standing by the Water side, in the Harbour of St. John's, he espied a strong Creature swimming very swiftly towards him, like a Woman, looking chearfully upon him, her Face, Eyes, Nose, Mouth, Chin, Ears, Neck, and Forehead, were like a Wo∣man; it was very beautiful, and in those parts well proportioned, having Hair hanging down round about the Head; he seeing it come within a Pikes length of him, stepped back, where∣upon it dived under the Water, swimming to another place, whereby he beheld the Shoulders, and back down to the middle, which was as square, white, and smooth, as the back of a Man; from the middle to the hinder part, it pointed in proportion like a broad hooked Arrow: after∣wards it came to Boat, wherein some of his Men were, attempting to come in to them, till one of them struck it a full blow on the Head; others of them saw it afterwards also, Clark's Geogr. p. 208. Purchas saith, many Meer-maids and Women are seen about Brasile, who sometimes catch, embrace, kiss, and crush the Indians to death. Vol. 4. p. 1315.

Purchas adds, that many Women-Fishes are found near Soffala, which from the Belly to the Neck, are very like Women; from the Belly downward, they are like Dolphins.

I my self, when a Young Man at Oxford, saw a couple of such Fishes as these, taken, as was reported by them who brought them, singing upon a Rock in the Irish Seas.

9. The River-Horse, Hippotamus, the Morse, found in Soffala, is as big as two of our Horses, living in the Water, but feeding on Grass by Land, with thick and short hinder Legs, five Claws on each fore-foot, and four on the hinder; the Mouth wide, and full of Teeth, 4 of which are above two spans long apiece, the two lower stand upright, the two upper turned like Bears Tushes; they have Teats, thick Hides, are of an Ash-colour, with white Strakes on their Faces, or Stars in their Fore-heads. Purch. Pilgr. Vol. 2. p. 1544.

10. The Dog-Fish, found in the River of Goa, big as a Cur-dog, hath a Snout like a Hog, small Eyes, two holes for Ears, 4 feet like an Elephant; flat Tail, Body, Head, Tail, and Legs, co∣vered with broad Scales, as hard as Iron, snorting like a Hog, and rolling himself round like an Urchin. Ibid. p. 1774.

11. Toad-Fishes, are about a span long, Painted, with fair Eyes, snorting and swelling much out of the Water; the Poysonous Skin being flayed off, the Indians eat them. Ibid. p. 1314.

12. Cuttle-Fish, hath a Hood always full of black Water, like Ink, which when she is pursued by other Fishes that would devour her, she casts forth, and so darkens the Water, that she thereby escapeth. Ibid.

13. The Flying-Fish, hath Fins instead of Wings, and a delicate Skin, interlaced with fine bones; they are like Pitchards, only a little rounder and bigger; they flie best with a side Wind, but no longer then their Wings are wet, seldom above a quarter of a Mile. The Dolphins and Bo∣nitoes, do continually hunt after them by Water, and the Alcatrace, a Fowl, much like a He∣ron, hovers in the Air, to seize upon them.

14. The Eagle-Fish, found in the Indian Sea, hath Eyes 5 quarters asunder, from the end of one Fin to the end of the other, are above 4 yards; its Mouth and Teeth resemble a Porcullise; has a small Tail, and its rather wondred at then eaten.

15. The Carvel, comes of the Fome of the Sea; is a kind of a Sea-Spider, of a round form, floating upon the surface of the Ocean, throwing abroad her string like so many lines, to Angle for small Fishes: When she sees her Web too weak, she can blow a deadly infectious Breath, or put forth such a Sting as if she had borrowed it from a Scorpion. Herb. Trav.

16. A. Shark taken by Mr. Herbert's Men in his East-India Voyage, was 9 foot and a half long; they found in her Paunch 55 young ones, each of them a foot in length, all which go out and in at their pleasures; she was armed with a double row of Venemous Teeth; and is guided in her Prey by a little Musculus, or Pilot-Fish, that she sends to and fro do bring Intelligence; the Shark for its kindness suffering it to Suck at pleasure. Herb. Trav. p. 26.

17. A certain Fish, or Sea-Monster, (in le Maire's Voyage) with a Horn struck against the Ship with such violence that it shook it; whereupon the Master looking over-board, saw the Sea all Bloody, but knew not what should be the cause, till coming into Port Desire, where they cleansed and trimed their Ship, they found 7 foot under water, a Horn sticking in the Ship, for bigness and fashion, like an Elephants Tooth, yet not hollow, but all of solid hard Bone, which had pierced through three double Planks, and was entered into a Rib of the Ship; it stuck above half a foot deep into the Ship, and by great force was broken off, which caused the Monster to bleed so much as discoloured the Water. Purch. Pilgr, vol. 1. p. 90.

18. Dr. Edward Brown, in his Description of Vienna, speaking of the Danube, saith, it affords extraordinary Carps, Trouts, Tenches, Pikes, &c. There is that substantial large Fish called Scheiden, or Silurus Gesneri, larger than Pike, Salmon, or any of our River Fishes, but the great Fishes called Hausons, or Husons, in Jonston, for largeness exceeds all others, some being 20 foot long: Some think this to be the Fish which Aelian names Antacetus, and speaks largely of the Fishing for them in Ister. I was (saith he) at the Fishing places, for Hausons in Schiit Island, be∣tween Presburg and Comora, for they come not usually higher, especially in Shoals, and it is much that they come so high, for they are perceived to come up the Stream out of the Euxine Sea. They Eat them both fresh and salted: they taste most like Sturgeon. It is a Cartilagi∣nous Fish, consisting of Gristles, and they have a hollow nervous chord the down the Back, which being dried, serves for a Whip. When they Fish for them, they blow a Horn or Trumpet and know where they go by the moving of the Water. Dr. Browns Trav. p. 154.

19. Chatagne de Mer, or Sea Chest-Nuts, found in Canada of New France, are the most delicious Fish that possibly can be. Nova Francia, p. 265.