Concerning These Crocodiles, It Is Related[26] That They Often Lie Along The Shores Of The River With Their Mouths

Wide open; on which occasion, certain white birds, little larger than our thrushes, fly into the mouths of the crocodiles,

And pick out the filth from between his teeth, to the great delight of the crocodile; which, however, would surely close his mouth and devour the bird, had not nature provided the bird with a sharp sting, growing from the top of his head, which pricks the roof of the crocodiles mouth, and forces him to gape, so that the bird flies away unhurt. In this manner, by means of a succession of these birds, the crocodiles get their teeth cleansed. In this same river, there are many beasts resembling horses; and upon the land, there are certain birds like our cranes, which continually make war upon the serpents, which come thither out of Arabia: Which birds, and likewise the rats, which eat the eggs of the crocodiles, are held in great reverence and estimation, by the Egyptians.

But now, to return to my subject of discoveries. In the year 485 before Christ, Xerxes, king of Persia, sent his nephew Sataspis to discover India; who sailed from the Mediterranean through the Straits of Hercules, and passed the promontory of Africa, which we now call the Cape of Good Hope; but, wearying of the length of the voyage, he returned back again, as Bartholomew Diaz did in our days[27]. In 443 A. C. Hamilco and Hanno, two Carthaginian commanders who governed that part of Spain now called Andalusia, sailed from thence with two squadrons. Hamilco, sailing towards the north, discovered the coasts of Spain, France, England, Flanders, and Germany; and some allege that he sailed to Gothland, and even to Thule or Iceland, standing under the Arctic circle, in 64 degrees north, and continued his voyage during two years, till he came to that northern island, where the day in June continues for twenty-two hours, and the nights in December are of a similar length; on account of which it is there wonderfully cold. His brother, Hanno, took his course to the south, along the coast of Africa and Guinea, and discovered the Fortunate Islands, now the Canaries, and the Orcades, Hesperides, and Gorgades, now called the Cape de Verde islands. Proceeding onwards, Hanno doubled the Cape of Good Hope, and went along the eastern coast of Africa to another cape, called Aromaticum, now called Gardafu, and thence to the coast of Arabia, and was five years employed in this voyage before his return to Spain[28]. Others allege, that Hanno proceeded no farther than Sierra Leona, which he colonized, and afterwards discovered as far as the equinoctial line; but it would rather appear, from the length of time he employed, that he must have accomplished the more extended navigation.

It is reported that the inhabitants of the country at the Cape of Good Hope are great witches, and by inchantment bring certain serpents so much under command, that they preserve their churches, churchyards, gardens, orchards, barns, and cattle, both from wild beasts and thieves. When these serpents see any person doing or intending to do harm, they wind themselves in such a manner around them as to make them prisoners, and then command their young ones to give notice to their masters, that they may come and secure the thieves. But if the thieves be numerous, or the wild beasts of too much strength, so that the serpents dare not encounter them, they go to their masters house, and if it happen to be in the night, they give many strokes with their tails, so as to awaken their masters, that they may provide for their defence[29].

A certain Italian, named Aloisius Cadamosta, relates, that when he was upon the discovery of Guinea, and resided in the house of Bisboral, the grandson of king Budomel, he heard one night, when in bed, a great noise and many blows given about the house, upon which Bisboral arose and went out; and, upon his return, Cadamosta demanded of him where he had been, and he answered that he had been with his cobras or snakes, which called him[30]. In the Indies there are many snakes, and some of them very full of poison; yet the Indians carry them about their necks, and put them in their bosoms, and under their arms, without fear or injury; and at certain sounds, the snakes will dance, and do many other strange things at command.

I was informed by a certain Portuguese, who had been beyond the Cape of Good Hope, towards Sofala, Quiloa, and Melinda, that there were certain birds in that country, which would come to the negroes on a call, and as the negroes moved on through the woods, the birds would do the same from tree to tree, till at length they would alight on a tree whence they would not remove: And, on examining that tree, the negroes were sure to find wax and honey, but knew not whether it grew there naturally or not[31]. In the same country, they find much wax and honey in ant-holes, made by the ants, but somewhat bitter. In the seas of that coast, there are certain fish, known to the fishermen, which commonly swim upright in the water, having the faces and breasts of women[32].

In the year 355 before Christ, the Spaniards are said to have gone by sea to the flats of India, Arabia, and the adjoining coasts, to which they carried various merchandizes in great ships; and sailing to the north- west they came to certain flats which are covered by the tide, and left bare by the ebb, where they caught many _tunnies_ of great size; which fishing turned out to their great profit, as they were very abundant and much esteemed[33].

Alexander, who flourished 324 years before Christ, travelled from Europe into Asia and Africa, passed through Armenia, Assyria, Persia, and Bactria; whence he descended by the mountains of Imaus and the vallies of Parapomissus, into India, and prepared a navy on the river Indus, with which he passed into the ocean.

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