.
MYTHICAL MONSTERS
THE FUNG WANG
ACCORDING TO
FANG HENG.
MYTHICAL MONSTERS
BY
CHARLES GOULD, B.A.,
MEMBER OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF TASMANIA; LATE GEOLOGICAL SURVEYOR
OF TASMANIA.
WITH NINETY-THREE ILLUSTRATIONS.
LONDON:
W. H. ALLEN & CO., 13 WATEKLOO PLACE. S.W,
PUBLISHERS TO THE INDIA OFFICE.
1886.
(All rights reserved.)
LONDON :
PRINTED BY W H ALLEN AND CO., 13 WATERLOO PLACE, PALL MALL. S.W.
PREFACE.
THE Author has to express his great obligations to many
gentlemen who have assisted him in the preparation of this
volume, either by affording access to their libraries, or by
furnishing or revising translations from the Chinese, &c. ;
and he must especially tender them to J. Haas, Esq., the
Austro-Hungarian Vice- Consul at Shanghai, to Mr. Thomas
Kingsmill and the Rev. W. Holt of Shanghai, to Mr.
Falconer of Hong-Kong, and to Dr. N. B. Dennys of
Singapore.
For the sake of uniformity, the author has endeavoured
to reduce all the romanised representations of Chinese sounds
to the system adopted by S. W. Williams, whose invaluable
dictionary is the most available one for students. No alte-
ration, however, has been made when quotations from
eminent sinologues like Legge have been inserted.
Should the present volume prove sufficiently interesting to
attract readers, a second one will be issued at a future date,
in continuation of the subject.
June, 1884.
NOTE BY THE PUBLISHEES.
THE Publishers think it right to state that, owing to the Author's
absence in China, the work has not had the advantage of his supervision
in its passage through the press. It is also proper to mention that the
MS. left the Author's hands eighteen months ago.
13, WATERLOO PLACE. S.W.
January, 1886.
39425K
CONTENTS.
PAGE
INTRODUCTION 1
LIST OP AUTHORS CITED ........ 27
CHAPTEE I. ON SOME REMARKABLE ANIMAL FORMS . . 31
CHAPTER II. EXTINCTION OF SPECIES 42
CHAPTEE in. ANTIQUITY or MAN 78
CHAPTEE IV. THE DELUGE NOT A MYTH . . . .101
CHAPTEE Y. ON THE TRANSLATION OF MYTHS BETWEEN THE
OLD AND THE NEW WORLD . . . .137
CHAPTEE VI. THE DRAGON 159
CHAPTEE VII. THE CHINESE DRAGON 212
CHAPTEE VIII. THE JAPANESE DRAGON . . . .248
CHAPTEE IX. THE SEA-SERPENT 260
CHAPTEE X. THE UNICORN 338
CHAPTEE XI. THE CHINESE PHCENIX 366
APPENDICES . . . 375
MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
INTRODUCTION.
IT would have been a bold step indeed for anyone, some
thirty years ago, to have thought of treating the public to a
collection of stones ordinarily reputed fabulous, and of claim-
ing for them the consideration due to genuine realities, or
to have advocated tales, time-honoured as fictions, as actual
facts ; and those of the nursery as being, in many instances,
legends, more or less distorted, descriptive of real beings or
events.
Now-a-days it is a less hazardous proceeding. The great
era of advanced opinion, initiated by Darwin, which has seen,
in the course of a few years, a larger progress in knowledge
in all departments of science than decades of centuries pre-
ceding it, has, among other changes, worked a complete
revolution in the estimation of the value of folk-lore ; and
speculations on it, which in the days of our boyhood would
have been considered as puerile, are now admitted to be not
merely interesting but necessary to those who endeavour to
gather up the skeins of unwritten history, and to trace the
antecedents and early migrations from parent sources of
nations long since alienated from each other by customs,
speech, and space.
i
MONSTERS.
I have, therefore, but little hesitation in gravely proposing
to submit that many of the so-called mythical animals, which
throughout long ages and in all nations have been the fertile
subjects of fiction and fable, come legitimately within the
scope of plain matter-of-fact Natural History, and that they
may be considered, not as the outcome of exuberant fancy,
but as creatures which really once existed, and of which,
unfortunately, only imperfect and inaccurate descriptions have
filtered down to us, probably very much refracted, through
the mists of time.
I propose to follow, for a certain distance only, the path
which has been pursued in the treatment of myths by
mythologists, so far only, in fact, as may be necessary to
trace out the homes and origin of those stories which in
their later dress are incredible ; deviating from it to dwell
upon the possibility of their having preserved to us, through
the medium of unwritten Natural History, traditions of crea-
tures once co-existing with man, some of which are so weird
and terrible as to appear at first sight to be impossible. I
propose stripping them of those supernatural characters with
which a mysteriously implanted love of the wonderful has
invested them, and to examine them, as at the present day
we are fortunately able to do, by the lights of the modern
sciences of Geology, Evolution, and Philology.
For me the major part of these creatures are not chimeras
but objects of rational study. The dragon, in place of being
a creature evolved out of the imagination of Aryan man by
the contemplation of lightning flashing through the caverns
which he tenanted, as is held by some mythologists, is an
animal which once lived and dragged its ponderous coils, and
perhaps flew ; which devastated herds, and on occasions swal-
lowed their shepherd; which, establishing its lair in some
cavern overlooking the fertile plain, spread terror and
destruction around, and, protected from assault by dread or
superstitious feeling, may even have been subsidised by the
INTRODUCTION.
terror-stricken peasantry, who, failing the power to destroy
it, may have preferred tethering offerings of cattle adjacent
to its cavern to having it come down to seek supplies from
amongst their midst.*
To me the specific existence of the unicorn seems not in-
credible, and, in fact, more probable than that theory which
assigns its origin to a lunar myth.f
Again, believing as I do in the existence of some great
undescribed inhabitant of the ocean depths, the much-derided
sea-serpent, whose home seems especially to be adjacent to
Norway, I recognise this monster as originating the myths
of the midgard serpent which the Norse Elder Eddas have
collected, this being the contrary view to that taken by
mythologists, who invert the derivation, and suppose the
stories current among the Norwegian fishermen to be modified
versions of this important element of Norse mythology.J
* This tributary offering is a common feature in dragon legends. A
good example is that given by El Edrisi in his history of the dragon
destroyed by Alexander the Great in the island of Mostachin (one of
the Canaries?).
t The latest writer on this point summarizes his views, in his opening
remarks, as follows : " The science of heraldry has faithfully preserved
to modern times various phases of some of those remarkable legends
which, based upon a study of natural phenomena, exhibit the process
whereby the greater part of mythology has come into existence. Thus
we find the solar gryphon, the solar phcenix, a demi-eagle displayed
issuing from flames of fire ; the solar lion and the lunar unicorn, which
two latter noble creatures now harmoniously support the royal arms. I
propose in the following pages to examine the myth of the unicorn,
the wild, white, fierce, chaste, moon, whose two horns, unlike those of
mortal creatures, are indissolubly twisted into one ; the creature that
endlessly fights with the lion to gain the crown or summit of heaven,
which neither may retain, and whose brilliant horn drives away the dark-
ness and evil of the night even as we find in the myth, that Yenym is
defended by the horn of the unicorn." The Unicorn; a Mythological
Investigation. Eobert Brown, jun., F.S.A. London, 1881.
J " The midgard or world-serpent we have already become tolerably
well acquainted with, and recognise in him the wild tumultuous sea.
Thor contended with him ; he got him on his hook, but did not succeed
1
MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
I must admit that, for my part, I doubt the general de-
rivation of myths from " the contemplation of the visible
workings of external nature."* It seems to me easier to
suppose that the palsy of time has enfeebled the utterance of
these oft-told tales until their original appearance is almost
unrecognisable, than that uncultured savages should possess
powers of imagination and poetical invention far beyond
those enjoyed by the most instructed nations of the present
day ; less hard to believe that these wonderful stories of gods
and demigods, of giants and dwarfs, of dragons and monsters
of all descriptions, are transformations than to believe them
to be inventions.!
The author of Atlantis^ indeed, claims that the gods and
goddesses of the ancient Greeks, the Phoenicians, the Hin-
doos, and the Scandinavians were simply the kings, queens,
and heroes of Atlantis, and the acts attributed to them in
mythology a confused recollection of real historical events.
Without conceding the locus of the originals, which requires
much greater examination than I am able to make at the
in killing him. We also remember how Thor tried to lift him in the
form of a cat. The North abounds in stories about the sea-serpent,
which are nothing but variations of the original myths of the Eddas.
Odin cast him into the sea, where he shall remain until he is conquered
by Thor in Ragnarok." Norse Mythology, p. 387. E. B. Anderson,
Chicago, 1879.
* Vide Anderson.
f Just as even the greatest masters of fiction adapt but do not origi-
nate. Harold Skimpole and Wilkins Micawber sat unconsciously for
their portraits in real life, and the most charming characters and fertile
plots produced by that most prolific of all writers, A. Dumas, are mere
elaborations of people and incidents with which historical memoirs
provided him.
J Atlantis ; the Antediluvian World. J. Donelly, New York, 1882.
The author has amassed, with untiring labour, a large amount of evi-
dence to prove that the island of Atlantis, in place of being a myth or
fable of Plato, really once existed ; was the source of all modern arts
and civilization ; and was destroyed in a catastrophe which he identifies
with the Biblical Deluge,
INTRODUCTION.
present time, I quite agree with him as to the principle. I
believe that the mythological deities represent a confused
chronology of far-distant times, and that the destruction of
the Nemean lion, the Lernean hydra, and the Minotaur are
simply the records of acts of unusual bravery in combating
ferocious animals.
On the first landing of Pizarro the Mexicans entertained
the opinion that man and horse were parts of one strange
animal,* and we have thus a clue to the explanation of the
origin of the belief in centaurs from a distant view of horse-
men, a view possibly followed by the immediate flight of the
observer, which rendered a solution of the extraordinary
phenomenon impossible.
ON THE CREDIBILITY OF KEMAEKABLE STOBIES.
Ferdinand Mendez Pinto quaintly observes, in one of his
earlier chapters, " I will not speak of the Palace Koyal,
because I saw it but on the outside, howbeit the Chinese tell
such wonders of it as would amaze a man; for it is my
intent to relate nothing save what we beheld here with our
own eyes, and that was so much as that I am afraid to write
it ; not that it would seem strange to those who have seen
and read the marvels of the kingdom of China, but because
I doubt that they which would compare those wondrous
things that are in the countries they have not seen, with that
little they have seen in their own, will make some question
* So also, Father Stanislaus Arlet, of the Society of Jesus, writing to
the General of the Society in 1698 respecting a new Mission in Peru,
and speaking of a Peruvian tribe calling themselves Canisian, says :
" Having never before seen horses, or men resembling us in colour and
dress, the astonishment they showed at our first appearance among
them was a very pleasing spectacle to us, the sight of us terrifying
them to such a degree that the bows and arrows fell from their hand ;
imagining, as they afterwards owned, that the man, his hat, his clothes,
and the horse he rode upon, composed but one animal."
MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
of it, or, it may be, give no credit at all to these truths,
because they are not conformable to their understanding
and small experience."*
* The Voyages and Adventures of Ferdinand Mendez Pinto, done into
English by H. C. G-ent, London, 1653, p. 109. The vindication of
Pinto' s reputation for veracity will doubtless one day be, to a great
extent, effected, for although his interesting narrative is undoubtedly
embroidered with a rich tissue of falsity, due apparently to an exagge-
rated credulity upon his part, and systematic deception upon that of his
Chinese informants, he certainly is undeserving of the wholesale con-
demnation of which Congreve was the reflex when he made Foresight,
addressing Sir Sampson Legend, say: "Thou modern Mandeville,
Ferdinand Mendez Pinto was but a type of thee, thou liar of the first
magnitude." Love for Love, Act. 2, Scene 1. There are many points
in his narrative which are corroborated by history and the accounts of
other voyages ; and it must be remembered that, although the major
part of the names of places and persons which he gives are now un-
recognisable, yet this may be due to alterations 'from the lapse of time,
and from the difficulty of recognising the true original Chinese or
Japanese word under those produced by the foreign mode of translitera-
tion in vogue in those days. Thus the Port Liampoo of Pinto is now
and has been for many years past only known as Ningpo, the first name
being a term of convenience, used by the early Portuguese voyagers,
and long since abandoned. Just as the wonderful Quinsay of Marco
Polo (still known by that name in Pinto's time) has been only success-
fully identified (with Hangchow-fu) through the antiquarian research
of Colonel Yule. So also the titles of Chaems, Tutons, Chumbins,
Aytons, Anchacy's, which Pinto refers to (p. 108), are only with diffi-
culty recognisable in those respectively of Tsi'ang (a Manchu governor),
Tu-tung (Lieutenant- General), Tsung-ping (Brigadier- General), Tao-tai
[? ?] (Intendant of Circuit) and Ngan-ch'a She-sze (Provincial Judge),
as rendered by the modern sinologue Mayers in his Essay on the
Chinese Government, Shanghai, 1878. The incidental references to the
country, people, habits, and products, contained in the chapter describing
his passage in captivity from Nanquin to Pequin are true to nature, and
the apparently obviously untruthful statement which he makes of the
employment by the King of Tartary of thousands of rhinoceri both as
beasts of burthen and articles of food (p. 158) is explicable, I think, on
the supposition that some confusion has arisen, either in translation or
transcription, between rhinoceros and camel. Anyone who has seen the
long strings of camels wending their way to Pekin from the various
northern roads through the passes into Mongolia, would readily believe
INTRODUCTION.
Now as some of the creatures whose existence I shall have
to contend for in these volumes are objects of derision to a
large proportion of mankind, and of reasonable doubt to
another, I cannot help fortifying myself with some such out-
work of reasoning as the pith of Pinto's remarks affords,
and supplementing it by adding that, while the balance
between scepticism and credulity is undoubtedly always diffi-
cult to hold, yet, as Lord Bacon well remarks, " There is
nothing makes a man suspect much more than to know little ;
and therefore men should remedy suspicion by procuring to
know more."
Whately extends Bacon's proposition by adding, " This is
equally true of the suspicions that have reference to things
as persons " ; in other words, ignorance and suspicion go
hand-in-hand, and so travellers' tales, even when supported
by good evidence, are mostly denied credence or accepted
with repugnance, when they offend the experience of those
who, remaining at home, are thus only partially educated.
Hence it is, not to go too far back for examples, that we
have seen Bruce, Mungo Park, Du Chaillu, Gordon Gum-
ming, Schliemann,* and Stanley treated with the most un-
generous criticism and contemptuous disbelief by persons
who, however well informed in many subjects, lacked the
extended and appreciative views which can only be acquired
by travel.
Nor is this incredulity limited to travellers' tales about
savage life. It is just as often displayed in reference to the
that a large transport corps of them could easily be amassed by a
despotic monarch ; -while the vast numbers of troops to which Pinto
makes reference are confirmed by more or less authentic histories.
*" I was myself an eye-witness of two such discoveries and helped
to gather the articles together. The slanderers have long since been
silenced, who were not ashamed to charge the discoverer with an impos-
ture." Prof. Virchow, in Appendix I. to Schliemann's Ilios. Murray,
1880..
MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
surroundings of uneventful life, provided they are different
from those with which we are familiar.
Saladin rebuked the Knight of the Leopard for falsehood
when the latter assured him that the waters of lakes in his
own country became at times solidified, so that armed and
mounted knights could cross them as if on dry land. And
the wise Indian who was taken down to see the large Ameri-
can cities, with the expectation that, being convinced of the
resources and irresistible power of civilization he would
influence his tribe to submission on his return, to the surprise
of the commissioners who had conveyed him, spoke in directly
contrary terms to those expected of him, privately explaining
in reply to their remonstrances, that had he told the truth
to his tribe he would have been indelibly branded for the
remainder of his life as an outrageous and contemptible liar.
Chinese students, despatched for education in American or
European capitals, are compelled on their return to make
similar reservations, under pain of incurring a like penalty ;
and officials who, from contact with Europeans at the open
ports, get their ideas expanded too quickly, are said to be
liable to isolation in distant regions, where their advanced
and fantastic opinions may do as little harm to right-thinking
people as possible.*
Even scientific men are sometimes as crassly incredulous
as the uncultured masses. On this point hear Mr. A. E.
Wallace. f " Many now living remember the time (for it is
* " But ask them to credit an electric telegram, to understand a
steam-engine, to acknowledge the microscopic revelations spread out
before their eyes, to put faith in the Atlantic cable or the East India
House, and they will tell you that you are a barbarian with blue eyes, a
fan kwai, and a sayer of that which is not. The dragon and the phoenix
are true, but the rotifer and the message, the sixty miles an hour, the J
cable, and the captive kings are false." H omehold Words, October 30th,
1855.
t Address delivered to the Biological Section of the British Associa-
tion. G-lasgow, 1876.
INTRODUCTION.
little more than twenty years ago) when the antiquity of
man, as now understood, was universally discredited. Not
only theologians, but even geologists taught us that man
belonged to the existing state of things ; that the extinct
animals of the tertiary period had finally disappeared, and
that the earth's surface had assumed its present condition
before the human race first came into existence, So pre-
possessed were scientific men with this idea, which yet rested
on purely negative evidence, and could not be supported by
any argument of scientific value, that numerous facts which
had been presented at intervals for half a century, all tending
to prove the existence of man at very remote epochs, were
silently ignored, and, more than this, the detailed statements
of three distinct and careful observers confirming each other
were rejected by a great scientific society as too improbable
for publication, only because they proved (if they were true)
the co -existence of man with extinct animals."*
The travels of that faithful historian, Marco Polo, were for
a long time considered as fables, and the graphic descriptions
of the Abbe Hue even still find detractors continuing the
role of those who maintained that he had never even visited
the countries which he described.
Gordon Gumming was disbelieved when he asserted that
he had killed an antelope, out of a herd, with a rifle-shot at
a distance of eight hundred yards.
Madame Merianf was accused of deliberate falsehood in
reference to her description of a bird-eating spider nearly
* In 1854 a communication from the Torquay Natural History
Society, confirming previous accounts by Mr. Goodwin Austen, Mr.
Vivian, and the Eev. Mr. McEnery, " that worked flints occurred in
Kents Hole with remains of extinct species," was rejected as too impro-
bable for publication.
f " She is set down a thorough heretic, not at all to be believed, a
manufacturer of unsound natural history, an inventor of false facts in
science." Gosse, Romance of Nat. Hist., 2nd Series, p. 227.
10
MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
two hundred years ago. But now-a-days Mr. Bates and other
reliable observers have confirmed it in regard to South
America, India, and elsewhere.
Audubon was similarly accused by botanists of having in-
vented the yellow water-lily, which he figured in his Birds of
the South under the name of Nymphsea lutea, and after having
lain under the imputation for years, was confirmed at last by
the discovery of the long-lost flower, in Florida, by Mrs.
Mary Trent, in the summer of 1876 ;* and this encourages
us to hope that some day or other a fortunate sportsman may
rediscover the Halisetus Washingtonii, in regard to which
Dr. Cover says: " That famous bird of Washington was a
myth ; either Audubon was mistaken, or else, as some do not
hesitate to affirm, he lied about it."
FIG. 1. FISHERMAN ATTACKED BY OCTOPUS.
(Facsimile from a drawing by Hokusai, a celebrated Japanese artist who lived about
the beginning of the present century.}
Victor Hugo was ridiculed for having exceeded the bounds
of poetic license when he produced his marvellous word-
painting of the devil-fish, and described a man as becoming
its helpless victim. The thing was derided as a monstrous
* Pop. Sei. Monthly, No. 60, April 1877.
INTRODUCTION . 11
impossibility ; yet within a few years were discovered, on the
shores of Newfoundland, cuttle-fishes with arms extending to
thirty feet in length, and capable of dragging a good- sized
boat beneath the surface ; and their action has been repro-
duced for centuries past, as the representation of a well-
known fact, in net sukes (ivory carvings) and illustrations by
Japanese artists.*
* " By the kindness of my friend, Mr. Bartlett, I have been enabled
to examine a most beautiful Japanese carving in ivory, said to be one
hundred and fifty years old, and called by the Japanese net suke or togle.
These togles are handed down from one generation to the next, and
they record any remarkable event that happens to any member of a
family. This carving is an inch and a half long, and about as big
as a walnut. It represents a lady in a quasi-leaning attitude, and
at first sight it is difficult to perceive what she is doing ; but after
a while the details come out magnificently. The unfortunate lady has
been seized by an octopus when bathing for the lady wears a bathing-
dress. One extended arm of the octopus is in the act of coiling round
'the lady's neck, and she is endeavouring to pull it off with her right
hand; another arm of the sea-monster is entwined round the left-
wrist, while the hand is fiercely tearing at the mouth of the brute.
The other arms of the octopus are twined round, grasping the lady's
body and waist in fact, her position reminds one very much of
Laocoon in the celebrated statue of the snakes seizing him and his
two sons. The sucking discs of the octopus are carved exactly as they
are in nature, and the colour of the body of the creature, together
with the formidable aspect of the eye, are wonderfully represented.
The face of this Japanese lady is most admirably done; it expresses
the utmost terror and alarm, and possibly may be a portrait. So
carefully is the carving executed that the lady's white teeth can be
seen between her lips. The hair is a perfect gem of work; it is jet
black, extended down the back, and tied at the end in a knot; in
fact, it is so well done that I can hardly bring myself to think that
it is not real hair, fastened on in some most ingenious manner ; but by
examining it under a powerful magnifying glass I find it is not so it
is the result of extraordinary cleverness in carving. The back of the
little white comb fixed into the thick of the black hair adds to the
effect of this magnificent carving of the hair. I congratulate Mr.
Bartlett on the acquisition of this most beautiful curiosity. There
is an inscription in Japanese characters on the underneath part of the
carving, and Mr. Bartlett and myself would, of course, only be too glad
to get this translated." Frank Buckland, in Land and Water.
12 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
Before the days of Darwinism, what courage was requisite
in a man who propounded any theory a little bit extravagant !
Hark how, even less than twenty years ago, the ghost of the
unfortunate Lord Monboddo had bricks of criticism pelted at
it, half earnestly, half contemptuously, by one of our greatest
thinkers, whose thought happened to run in grooves different
from those travelled in by the mind of the unfortunate
Scotchman.
" Lord Monboddo* had just finished his great work, by
which he derives all mankind from a couple of apes, and all
the dialects of the world from a language originally framed
by some Egyptian gods, when the discovery of Sanskrit came
on him like a thunderbolt. It must be said, however, to his
credit, that he at once perceived the immense importance of
the discovery. He could not be expected to sacrifice his
primordial monkeys or his Egyptian idols, &c."
And again : "It may be of interest to give one other
extract in order to show how well, apart from his men with,
and his monkeys without, tails, Lord Monboddo could sift
and handle the evidence that was placed before him."
Max Miiller also furnishes us with an amazing example
of scepticism on the part of Dugald Stewart. He saysf :
" However, if the facts about Sanskrit were true, Dugald
Stewart was too wise not to see that the conclusions drawn
from them were inevitable. He therefore denied the reality
of such a language as Sanskrit altogether, and wrote his
famous essay to prove that Sanskrit had been put together,
after the model of Greek and Latin, by those archforgers
and liars, the Brahmans, and that the whole of Sanskrit
literature was an imposition."
So Ctesias attacked Herodotus. The very existence of
* Max Miiller, Science of Language, 4th edition, p. 163-165. Loudon,
1864.
f Science of Language, p. 168.
INTRODUCTION. 13
Homer has been denied, and even the authorship of Shake-
speare's plays questioned.*
We are all familiar enough now with the black swan, but
Ovidf considered it as so utterly impossible that he clinched,
as it were, an affirmation by saying, "If I doubted, O
Maximus, of thy approval of these words, I could believe
that there are swans of the colour of Mernnon " [i.e. black] ;;
and even so late as the days of Sir Thomas Browne, we find
them classed by him with flying horses, hydras, centaurs,
harpies, and satyrs, as monstrosities, rarities, or else poetical
fancies. J
Now that we have all seen the great hippopotamus disport
himself in his tank in the gardens of the Zoological Society,
we can smile at the grave arguments of the savant who,
while admitting the existence of the animal, disputed the
possibility of his walking about on the bed of a river, because
his great bulk would prevent his rising again. But I dare-
* " When a naturalist, either by visiting such spots of earth as are
still out of the way, or by his good fortune, finds a very queer plant or
animal, he is forthwith accused of inventing his game, the word not
being used in its old sense of discovery but in its modern of creation.
As soon as the creature is found to sin against preconception, the great
(mis ?) guiding spirit, a priori by name, who furnishes philosophers
with their omniscience pro re natd, whispers that no such thing can be,
and forthwith there is a charge of hoax. The heavens themselves have
been charged with hoaxes. When Leverrier and Adams predicted a
planet by calculation, it was gravely asserted in some quarters that the
planet which had been calculated was not the planet but another which
had clandestinely and improperly got into the neighbourhood of the
true body. '~The disposition to suspect hoax is stronger than the dispo-
sition to hoaxj Who was it that first announced that the classical
writings of Greece and Eome were one huge hoax perpetrated by the
monks in what the announcer would be as little or less inclined than
Dr. Maitland to call the dark ages ? "Macmillan, 1860.
f Poetic Epistles, Bk. iii., Ep. 3.
t Rara avis in terris, nigroque simillima cygno.
" Having showed the foregoing description of the mountain cow,
called by the Spaniards ante [manatee?], to a person of honour, he was
pleased to send it to a learned person in Holland." This learned person
14 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
say it passed muster in his days as a very sound and shrewd
observation, just as, possibly, but for the inconvenient wag-
gery of Peter Pindar, might have done the intelligent inquiry,
which he records, after the seam in the apple-dumpling.
Poor Fray Gaspar de Jan Bernardine who, in 1611, under-
took the journey by land from India to Portugal, was unfor-
tunate enough to describe the mode in which the captain of
the caravan communicated intelligence to Bagdad by carrier
pigeon. " He had pigeons whose young and nests were at
his house in that city, and every two days he let fly a pigeon
with a letter tied to its foot containing the news of his
journey. This account met with but little belief in Europe,
and was treated there as a matter of merriment."*
The discredit under which this traveller fell is the more
surprising because the same custom had alreadybeen noted
by Sir John Mandeville, who, in speaking of Syria and adja-
cent countries, says : " In that contree, and other contrees
beyond, thei have custom, whan thei schulle usen warre, and
when men holden sege abouten Cytee or Castelle, and thei
withinen dur not senden messagers with lettres fro Lord to
Lord for to ask Sokour, thei maken here Lettres and bynden
hem to the Nekke of a Colver and leten the Colver flee, and
the Colveren ben so taughte, that thei flun with the Lettres
to the very place that men wolde send hem to. For the Col-
discusses it and compares it with the hippopotamus, and winds up by
saying, in reference to a description of the habits of the hippopotamus,
as noticed at Loango by Captain Rogers, to the effect that when they
are in the water they will sink to the bottom, and then walk as on dry
ground, " but what he says of her sinking to the bottom in deep rivers,
and walking there, if he adds, what I think he supposes, that it rises
again, and comes on the land, I much question ; for that such a huge
body should raise itself up again (though I know whales and great fish
can do) transcends the faith of J. H." F. J. Knapton, Collection of
Voyages, vol. ii., part ii. p. 13. 4 vols., London, 1729.
* Historical Account of Discoveries and Travels in Asia. Hugh Murray,
F.R.S.E., 3 vols. 8vo. Edinburgh, 1820.
INTRODUCTION. 15
veres ben norrysscht in the Places Where thei been sent to,
and thei senden them there, for to beren here Lettres, and
the Colveres retournen agen, where as thei ben norrischt,
and so thei dou commonly."
While, long before, Pliny had referred to it in his Natural
History* as follows : " In addition to this, pigeons have acted
as messengers in affairs of importance. During the siege of
Mutina, Decimus Brutus, who was in the town, sent
despatches to the camp of the Consuls, fastened to pigeons'
feet. Of what use to Antony, then, were his entrenchments?
and all the vigilance of the besieging army ? his nets, too,
which he had spread in the river, while the messenger of the
besieged was cleaving the air ? "
The pace of railways ; steam communication across the
Atlantic ; the Suez Canalf ; were not all these considered in
former days to be impossible ? With these examples of
failure of judgment before us, it may be fairly asked whether,
in applying our minds to the investigation of the reality of
creatures apparently monstrous, we duly reflect upon the
extraordinary, almost miraculous, events which incessantly
occur in the course of the short existence of all animated
nature ? Supposing the history of insects were unknown to
us, could the wildest imagination conceive such a marvellous
transformation as that which takes place continually around
us in the passage from the larva through the chrysalis to the
butterfly ? or human ingenuity invent one so bizarre as that
recorded by Steenstrup in his theory of the alternation of
generation ?
We accept as nothing marvellous, only because we see
them daily, the organization and the polity of a community
* Bk. x., cliap. 53.
f A writer in Macmillan's Magazine in 1860 concludes a series of ob-
jections to the canal as follows : " And the Emperor must hesitate to
identify himself with an operation which might not impossibly come to
be designated by posterity as ' Napoleon's Folly.' "
16 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
of ants ; their collaboration, their wars, and their slaveries
have been so often stated that they cease to astonish. The
same may be said of the marvellous architecture of birds,
their construction of houses to live in, of bowers to play in,
and even of gardens to gratify their sense of beauty.*
We admire the ingenious imagination of Swift, and
essayists dwell upon his happy conceits and upon the ability
with which, in his celebrated work, he has ordered all things
to harmonise in dimensions with the enlarged and reduced
scales on which he has conceived the men and animals of
Brobdignag and Lilliput. So much even has this quaint
idea been appreciated, that his story has achieved a small
immortality, and proved one of the numerous springs from
which new words have been imported into our language.
Yet the peculiar and essential singularities of the story are
quite equalled, or even surpassed, by creatures which are, or
have been, found in nature. The imaginary diminutive cows
which Gulliver brought back from Lilliput, and placed in the
meadows at Dulwich, are not one bit more remarkable, in
respect to relative size, than the pigmy elephant (E. Falconeri)
whose remains have been found in the cave-deposits of Malta,
associated with those of pigmy hippopotami, and which was
only two feet six inches high ; or the still existing Hippopo-
tamus (Chceropsis) liberiensis, which M. Milne Edwardesf
figures as little more than two feet in height.
The lilliputian forests from which the royal navy was con-
structed contained even large trees in comparison with the
dwarf oaks of Mexico,]: or with the allied, even smaller
* The Bower Bird, Ptilonorhyncus holosericeus, and the Garden-
building Bird of New Guinea, AmUyornis inornara.
f Recherches, &c. des Mammiferes , plate 1. Paris, 1868 to 1874.
J " This obstacle was a forest of oaks, not giant oaks, but the very
reverse, a forest of dwarf oaks (Quercus nana). Far as the eye could
reach extended the singular wood, in which no tree rose above thirty
INTRODUCTION. 17
species, which crawls like heather about the hill-slopes of
China and Japan, and still more so in comparison with that
singular pine, the most diminutive known (Dacrydium taxi-
folium), fruiting specimens of which, according to Kirk, are
sometimes only two inches high, while the average height is
only six to ten inches ; while even among the forests of
Brobdignag, a very respectable position could be held by the
mammoth trees of California (Sequoia gigantea), or by the
loftier white gums of Australia (Eucalyptus amygdalina), which
occasionally reach, according to Von Mueller,* the enormous
height of 480 feet. Nor could more adequate tenants (in
point of size) be found to occupy them than the gigantic
reptilian forms lately discovered by Marsh among the deposits
of Colorado and Texas.
Surely a profound acquaintance with the different branches
of natural history should render a man credulous rather than
incredulous, for there is hardly conceivable a creature so
monstrous that it may not be paralleled by existing ones in
every-day life.f
inches in height. Yet was it no thicket, no undergrowth of shrubs, but
a true forest of oaks, each tree having its separate stem, its boughs, its
lobed leaves, and its bunches of brown acorns." Gapt. Mayne Eeid,
The War Trail, chap. Ixiv.
* Kespecting the timber trees of this tract, Dr. Ferdinand von
Mueller, the Government botanist, thus writes : " At the desire of the
writer of these pages, Mr. D. Bogle measured a fallen tree of Eucalyptus
amygdalina, in the deep recesses of Dandenong, and obtained for it a
length of 420 feet, with proportions of width, indicated in a design of a
monumental structure placed in the exhibition ; while Mr. G-. Klein
took the measurement of a Eucalyptus on the Black Spur, ten miles
distant from Healesville, 480 feet high ! In the State forest of Dande-
nong, it was found by actual measurement that an acre of ground con-
tained twenty large trees of an apparent average height of about 350
feet." R. Brough Smyth, The Gold Fields of Victoria. Melbourne,
1869.
f " In the next place, we must remember how impossible it is for the
mind to invent an entirely new fact. There is nothing in the mind of
2
18
MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
Are the composite creatures of Chaldsean mythology so
very much more wonderful than the marsupial kangaroo, the
duck-billed platypus, and the flying lizard of Malaysia which
FIG. 2. PTERODACTYLUS. (After Figuier.)
are, or the pterodactylus, rhamphorynchus, and archseopteryx
which have been ? Does not geological science, day by day,
trace one formation by easy gradation to another, bridge over
FIG. 3. RHAMPHORYNCHUS. (From " Nature")
the gaps which formerly separated them, carry the proofs of
the existence of man constantly further and further back into
remote time, and disclose the previous existence of inter-
man that has not pre-existed in nature. Can we imagine a person, who
never saw or heard of an elephant, drawing a picture of such a two-
tailed creature ? " J. Donelly, Rangarok, p. 119. New York, 1883.
INTRODUCTION. 19
mediate types (satisfying the requirements of the Darwinian
theory) connecting the great divisions of the animal kingdom,
of reptile-like birds and bird-like reptiles ? Can we suppose
that we have at all exhausted the great museum of nature ?
Have we, in fact, penetrated yet beyond its ante-chambers ?
FIG. 4. ARCH^OPTERYX.
Does the written history of man, comprising a few thou-
sand years, embrace the whole course of his intelligent
existence ? or have we in the long mythical eras, extending
over hundreds of thousands of years and recorded in the
chronologies of Chaldsea and of China, shadowy mementoes
of pre-historic man, handed down by tradition, and perhaps
transported by a few survivors to existing lands from others
which, like the fabled (?) Atlantis of Plato, may have been
submerged, or the scene of some great catastrophe which
destroyed them with all their civilization.
The six or eight thousand years which the various inter-
preters of the Biblical record assign for the creation of
the world and the duration of man upon the earth, allow
little enough space for the development of his civilization a
civilization which documental evidence carries almost to the
verge of the limit for the expansion and divergence of
stocks, or the obliteration of the branches connecting them.
2 *
20 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
But, fortunately, we are no more compelled to fetter our
belief within such limits as regards man than to suppose that
his appearance on the globe was coeval with or immediately
successive to its own creation at that late date. For while
geological science, on the one hand, carries back the creation
of the world and the appearance of life upon its surface to a
period so remote that it is impossible to estimate it, and
difficult even to faintly approximate to it, so, upon the other,
the researches of palaeontologists have successively traced
back the existence of man to periods variously estimated at
from thirty thousand to one million years to periods when
he co-existed with animals which have long since become
extinct, and which even excelled in magnitude and ferocity
most of those which in savage countries dispute his empire
at the present day. Is it not reasonable to suppose that his
combats with these would form the most important topic of
conversation, of tradition, and of primitive song, and that
graphic accounts of such struggles, and of the terrible nature
of the foes encountered, would be handed down from father to
son, with a fidelity of description and an accuracy of memory
unsuspected by us, who, being acquainted with reading and
writing, are led to depend upon their artificial assistance,
and thus in a measure fail to cultivate a faculty which, in
common with those of keenness of vision and hearing, are
essential to the existence of man in a savage or semi-savage
condition ?*
The illiterate backwoodsman or trapper (and hence by
inference the savage or semi-civilized man), whose mind is
* " I conceive that quite a large proportion of the most profound
thinkers are satisfied to exert their memory very moderately. It is, in
fact, a distraction from close thought to exert the memory overmuch,
and a man engaged in the study of an abstruse subject will commonly
rather turn to his book-shelves for the information he requires than
tax his memory to supply it." R, A. Proctor, Pop. Sci. Monthly, Jan.
1874
INTRODUCTION. 21
occupied merely by his surroundings, and whose range of
thought, in place of being diffused over an illimitable horizon,
is confined within very moderate limits, develops remarkable
powers of observation and an accuracy of memory in regard
to localities, and the details of his daily life, surprising to the
scholar who has mentally to travel over so much more ground,
and, receiving daily so many and so far more complex ideas,
can naturally grasp each less firmly, and is apt to lose them
entirely in the haze of a period of time which would still
leave those of the uneducated man distinguishable or even
prominent landmarks.* Variations in traditions must, of
course, occur in time, and the same histories, radiating in
all directions from centres, vary from the original ones by
increments dependent on proportionately altered phases of
temperament and character, induced by change of climate,
associations and conditions of life ; so that the early written
history of every country reproduces under its own garb, and
with a claim to originality, attenuated, enriched, or deformed
versions of traditions common in their origin to many or
all.t
* " It was through one of these happy chances (so the Brothers
Grimm wrote in 1819) that we came to make the acquaintance of a
peasant woman of the village of Nieder-Zwehrn, near Cassel, who told
us the greater part of the Marchen of the second volume, and the most
beautiful of it too. She held the old tales firmly in her memory, and
would sometimes say that this gift was not granted to everyone, and
that many a one could not keep anything in its proper connection.
Anyone inclined to believe that tradition is easily corrupted or carelessly
kept, and that therefore it could not possibly last long, should have
heard how steadily she always abided by her record, and how she stuck
to its accuracy. She never altered anything in repeating it, and if she
made a slip, at once righted herself as soon as she became aware of it,
in the very midst of her tale. The attachment to tradition among
people living on in the same kind of life with unbroken regularity, is
stronger than we, who are fond of change, can understand." Odinic
Songs in Shetland. Karl Blind, Nineteenth Century, June 1879.
t See quotation from Gladstone, Nineteenth Century, Oct. 1879.
22 , MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
Stories of divine progenitors, demigods, heroes, mighty
hunters, slayers of monsters, giants, dwarfs, gigantic ser-
pents, dragons, frightful beasts of prey, supernatural beings,
and myths of all kinds, appear to have been carried into all
corners of the world with as much fidelity as the sacred Ark
of the Israelites, acquiring a moulding graceful, weird or
uncouth according to the genius of the people or their
capacity for superstitious belief; and these would appear to
have been materially affected by the varied nature of their
respective countries. For example, the long-continuing
dwellers in the open plains of a semi-tropical region, relieved
to a great extent from the cares of watchfulness, and nur-
tured in the grateful rays of a genial but not oppressive sun,
must have a more buoyant disposition and more open tem-
perament than those inhabiting vast forests, the matted over-
growth of which rarely allows the passage of a single ray,
bathes all in gloom, and leaves on every side undiscovered
depths, filled with shapeless shadows, objects of vigilant
dread, from which some ferocious monster may emerge at
any moment. Again, on the one hand, the nomad roaming
in isolation over vast solitudes, having much leisure for con-
templative reflection, and on the other, the hardy dwellers on
storm-beaten coasts, by turns fishermen, mariners, and
pirates, must equally develop traits which affect their religion,
polity, and customs, and stamp their influences on mythology
and tradition.
The Greek, the Celt, and the Viking, descended from the
same Aryan ancestors, though all drawing from the same
sources their inspirations of religious belief and tradition,
quickly diverged, and respectively settled into a generous
martial race martial in support of their independence rather
than from any lust of conquest polite, skilled, and learned;
one brave but irritable, suspicious, haughty, impatient of
control ; and the last, the berserker, with a ruling passion
for maritime adventure, piracy, and hand-to-hand heroic
INTRODUCTION. 23
struggles, to be terminated in due course by a hero's death
and a welcome to the banqueting halls of Odin in Walhalla.
The beautiful mythology of the Greek nation, comprising
a pantheon of gods and demigods, benign for the most
part, and often interesting themselves directly in the welfare
of individual men, was surely due to, or at least greatly
induced by, the plastic influences of a delicious climate, a
semi-insular position in a sea comparatively free from stormy
weather, and an open mountainous country, moderately fer-
tile. Again, the gloomy and sanguinary religion of the
Druids was doubtless moulded by the depressing influences of
the seclusion, twilight haze, and dangers of the dense forests
in which they hid themselves forests which, as we know
from Caesar, spread over the greater part of Gaul, Britain,
and Spain ; while the Viking, having from the chance or
choice of his ancestors, inherited a rugged seaboard, lashed
by tempestuous waves and swept by howling winds, a sea-
board with only a rugged country shrouded with unsubdued
forests at its back, exposed during the major portion of the
year to great severity of climate, and yielding at the best but
a niggard and precarious harvest, became perforce a bold and
skilful mariner, and, translating his belief into a language
symbolic of his new surroundings, believed that he saw and
heard Thor in the midst of the howling tempests, revealed
majestic and terrible through rents in the storm-cloud. Pur-
suing our consideration of the effects produced by climatic
conditions, may we not assume, for example, that some at
least of the Chaldseans, inhabiting a pastoral country, and
being descended from ancestors who had pursued, for hun-
dreds or thousands of years, a nomadic existence in the vast
open steppes in the highlands of Central Asia, were indebted
to those circumstances for the advance which they are credited
with having made in astronomy and kindred sciences. Is it
not possible that their acquaintance with climatology was as
exact or even more so than our own ? The habit of solitude
24 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
would induce reflection, the subject of which would naturally
be the causes influencing the vicissitudes of weather. The
possibilities of rain or sunshine, wind or storm, would
be with them a prominent object of solicitude ; and the
necessity, in an unfenced country, of extending their watch
over their flocks and herds throughout the night, would per-
force more or less rivet their attention upon the glorious
constellations of the heavens above, and lead to habits of
observation which, systematized and long continued by the
priesthood, might have produced deductions accurate in the
result even if faulty in the process.
The vast treasures of ancient knowledge tombed in the
ruins of Babylon and Assyria, of which the recovery and de-
ciphering is as yet only initiated, may, to our surprise, reveal
that certain secrets of philosophy were known to the
ancients equally with ourselves, but lost through intervening
ages by the destruction of the empire, and the fact of their
conservancy having been entrusted to a privileged and limited
order, with which it perished.*
* Mr. C. P. Daly, President of the American Geographical Society,
informs us, in his Annual Address [for 1880], that in one book found in
the royal library at Nineveh, of the date 2000 B.C., there is
1. A catalogue of stars.
2. Enumeration of twelve constellations forming our present zodiac.
3. The intimation of a Sabbath.
4. A connection indicated (according to Mr. Perville) between the
weather and the changes of the moon.
5. A notice of the spots on the sun : a fact they could only have
known by the aid of telescopes, which it is supposed they possessed
from observations that they have noted down of the rising of Venus,
the fact that Layard found a crystal lens in the ruins of Nineveh.
(KB. As to the above, 1 must say that telescopes are not always
necessary to see the spots on the sun : these were distinctly visible with
the naked eye, in the early mornings, to myself and the officers of the
S.S. Scotia, in the Eed Sea, in the month of August of 1883, after the
great volcanic disturbances near Batavia. The resulting atmospheric
effects were very marked in the Eed Sea, as elsewhere, the sun, when
near the horizon, appearing of a pale green colour, and exhibiting the
spots distinctly.)
INTRODUCTION. 25
We hail as a new discovery the knowledge of the existence
of the so-called spots upon the surface of the sun, and scientists,
from long-continued observations, profess to distinguish a
connection between the character of these and atmospheric
phenomena ; they even venture to predict floods and droughts,
and that for some years in anticipation ; while pestilences or
some great disturbance are supposed to be likely to follow the
period when three or four planets attain their apogee within
one year, a supposition based on the observations extended
over numerous years, that similar events had accompanied
the occurrence of even one only of those positions at previous
periods.
May we not speculate on the possibility of similar or parallel
knowledge having been possessed by the old Chaldaean and
Egyptian priesthood ; and may not Joseph have been able, by
superior ability in its exercise, to have anticipated the seven
years' drought, or Noah, from an acquaintance with meteoro-
logical science, to have made an accurate forecast of the great
disturbances which resulted in the Deluge and the destruction
of a large portion of mankind ? *
* Ammianus Marcellinus (bk. xxii., ch. xv., s. 20), in speaking of
the Pyramids, says : " There are also subterranean passages and winding
retreats, which, it is said, men skilful in the ancient mysteries, by means
of which they divined the coming of a flood, constructed in different
places lest the memory of all their sacred ceremonies should be lost."
As affording a minor example of prophesy, I quote a correspondent's
communication, relating to Siam, to the North China Daily News of
July 28th, 1881 : " Singularly enough the prevalence of cholera in
Siam this season has been predicted for some months. The blossoming
of the bamboo (which in India is considered the invariable forerunner
of an epidemic) was looked upon as ominous, while the enormous quantity
and high quality of the fruit produced was cited as pointing out the over-
charge of the earth with matter which, though tending to the development
of vegetable life, is deleterious to human. From these and other sources
of knowledge open to those accustomed to read the book of nature, the
prevalence of cholera, which, since 1873, has been almost unknown in
Siam, was predicted and looked for ; and, unlike most modern predic-
26 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
Without further digression in a path which opens the most
pleasing speculations, and could be pursued into endless
ramifications, I will merely, in conclusion, suggest that the
same influences which, as I have shown above, affect so
largely the very nature of a people, must similarly affect its
traditions and myths, and that due consideration will have
to be given to such influences, in the case of some at least of
the remarkable animals which I propose to discuss in this
and future volumes.
tions, it has been certainly fulfilled. So common was the belief, that
when, some months since, a foreign official in Siamese employ applied
for leave of absence, it was opposed by some of the native officials on
the ground that he ought to stay and take his chance of the cholera with
the rest of them."
CHEONOLOGICAL LIST OF SOME AUTHORS WRITING ON, AND
WORKS RELATING TO NATURAL HlSTORY, TO WHICH
REFERENCES ARE MADE IN THE PRESENT VOLUME ;
EXTRACTED TO A GEEAT EXTENT, AS TO THE WESTERN
AUTHORS, FROM KNIGHT'S " CYCLOPEDIA of BIOGRAPHY."
The Shan Hai King According to the commentator Kwoh
P'oh (A.D. 276-324), this work was compiled three
thousand years before this time, or at seven dynas-
ties' distance. Yang Sun of the Ming dynasty
(commencing A.D. 1368), states that it was com-
piled by Kung Chia (and Chung Ku ?) from en-
gravings on nine urns made by the Emperor Yii,
B.C. 2255. Chung Ku was an historiographer,
and at the time of the last Emperor of the Hia
dynasty (B.C. 1818), fearing that the Emperor
might destroy the books treating of the ancient
and present time, carried them in flight to Yin.
The 'Rh Ya Initiated according to tradition, by Chow Kung ;
uncle of Wu Wang, the first Emperor of the Chow
dynasty, B.C. 1122. Ascribed also to Tsze Hea,
the disciple of Confucius.
The Bamboo Books Containing the Ancient Annals of China,
said to have been found A.D. 279, on opening the
grave of King Seang of Wei [died B.C. 295]. Age
prior to last date, undetermined. Authenticity dis-
puted, favoured by Legge.
28 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
Confucius Author of Spring and Autumn Classics, &c.,
B.C. (551-479).
Ctesias Historian, physician to Artaxerxes, B.C. 401.
Herodotus B.C. 484.
Aristotle B.C. 384.
Megasthenes About B.C. 300. In time of Seleucus Nicator.
His work entitled Indica is only known by extracts
in those of Strabo, Arrian, and -ZElian.
Eratosthenes Born B.C. 276. Mathematician, Astronomer,
and Geographer.
Posidonius Born about B.C. 140. Besides philosophical
treatises, wrote works on geography, history, and
astronomy, fragments of which are preserved in
the works of Cicero, Strabo, and others.
Nicander About B.C. 135. Wrote the Theriaca, a poem
of 1,000 lines, in hexameter, on the wounds caused
by venomous animals, and the treatment. Is fol-
lowed in many of his errors by Pliny. Plutarch
says the Theriaca cannot be called a poem, because
there is in it nothing of fable or falsehood,
Strabo Just before the Christian era. Geographer.
Cicero Born B.C. 106.
Propertius (Sextus Aurelius)- Born probably about B.C. 56.
Diodorus Siculus Wrote the Bibliotheca Historica (in Greek),
after the death of Julius Caesar (B.C. 44). Of the
40 books composing it only 15 remain, viz. Books
1 to 5 and 11 to 20.
Juba Died A.D. 17. Son of Juba I., King of Numidia.
Wrote on Natural History.
Pliny Born A.D. 23.
Lucan A.D. 38. The only work of his extant is the Phar-
salia, a poem on the civil war between Caesar and
Pompey.
LIST OF AUTHORS CITED. 29
Ignatius Either an early Patriarch, A.D. 50, or Patriarch of
Constantinople, 799.
Isidorus Isidorus of Charaux lived probably in the first
century of our era. He wrote an account of the
Parthian empire.
Arrian Born about A.D. 100. His work on the Natural
History, &c. of India is founded on the authority of
Eratosthenes and Megasthenes.
Pausanias Author of the Description or Itinerary of Greece.
In the 2nd century.
Philostratus Born about A.D. 182.
Solinus, Gains Julius Did not write in the Augustan age, for
his work entitled Polyhistor is merely a compilation
from Pliny's Natural History. According to Sal-
masius, he lived about two hundred years after
Pliny.
^lian Probably middle of the 3rd century A.D. De Naturd
Animalium. In Greek.
Ammianus Marcellinus Lived in 4th century.
Cardan, Jerome A. About the end of 4th century A.D.
Printing invented in China, according to Du Halde, A.D. 924.
Block-printing used in A.D. 593.
Marco Polo Eeached the Court of Kublai Khan in A.D.
1275.
Mandeville, Sir John de Travelled for thirty-three years in
Asia dating from A.D. 1327. As he resided for
three years in Peking, it is probable that many of
his fables are derived from Chinese sources.
Printing invented in Europe by John Koster of Haarlem,
A.D. 1438.
Scaliger, Julius CcesarBoxn April 23rd, 1484. Wrote Aris-
totelis Hist. Anim. liber decimus cum vers. et comment.
8vo. Lyon, 1584, &c.
30 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
Gesner Born 1516. Historice Animalium, &c.
Ambrose Pare Born 1517. Surgeon.
Belon, Pierre. Born 1518. Zoologist, Geographer, &c.
Aldrovandus Born 1552. Naturalist.
Tavernier, J. B. Born 1605.
Pan Ts'ao Kang Muh. By Li She-chin of the Ming dynasty
(A.D. 1368-1628).
Yuen Kien Lei Han. A.D. 1718.
31
CHAPTER I.
ON SOME REMARKABLE ANIMAL FORMS.
THE reasoning upon the question whether dragons, winged
snakes, sea-serpents, unicorns, and other so-called fabulous
monsters have in reality existed, and at dates coeval with
man, diverges in several independent directions.
We have to consider :
1. Whether the characters attributed to these creatures
are or are not so abnormal in comparison with those of known
types, as to render a belief in their existence impossible or
the reverse.
2. Whether it is rational to suppose that creatures so
formidable, and apparently so capable of self-protection,
should disappear entirely, while much more defenceless
species continue to survive them.
3. The myths, traditions, and historical allusions from
which their reality may be inferred require to be classified
and annotated, and full weight given to the evidence which
has accumulated of the presence of man upon the earth
during ages long prior to the historic period, and which
may have been ages of slowly progressive civilization, or
perhaps cycles of alternate light and darkness, of knowledge
and barbarism.
4. Lastly, some inquiry may be made into the geo-
graphical conditions obtaining at the time of their possible
existence.
32
MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
It is immaterial which of these investigations is first
entered upon, and it will, in fact, be more convenient to
defer a portion of them until we arrive at the sections of this
volume treating specifically of the different objects to which
it is devoted, and to confine our attention for the present to
those subjects which, from their nature, are common and
in a sense prefatory to the whole subject.
I shall therefore commence with a short examination of
some of the most remarkable reptilian forms which are
known to have existed, and for that purpose, and to show
their general relations, annex the accompanying tables,
compiled from the anatomy of vertebrated animals by
Professor Huxley :
Amphibia.
REPTILES CLASSIFIED BY HUXLEY.
ORDER.
SUB-ORDER.
GROUPS.
ILLUSTRATIVE
GENERA.
EANGE OF THE
ORDER.
Chelonia.
Land
1. Testudinea
Pyxis, Cinyxis
-,
tortoises
The Chelonia
JJ
River and
2. Emydea
a Terra-
Emys, Cistudo
are first
marsh do.
penes
known to
b Chelo-
Chelys, Chelodina
occur in the
dines
Lias.
Mud tor-
3. Trionychoidea
Gymnopus
toises
Cryptopus
To recent.
J
Turtles
4. Euereta
Sphargis. Chelone
.,
Plesio-
5. ...
Post
Plesiosaurus
1
sauria.
Triassic
Pliosaurus
Trias to
J5
6. ...
Triassic
Nothosaurus
I Chalk
Simosaurus
inclusive.
Pistosaurus
J
Lacertilia.
Geckos
7. Ascalabota
recent
5J
8. Rhynchocephala
Sphenodon or
Rhyncocephalus
>?
9. Homceosauria
.
Solenhofen
i
slates to
0>
Trias
g
5?
10. Protosauria
Permian
o
.,
Monitor
11. Platynota
recent
' 3
ej
,,
12. Eunota
13. Lacertina
JJ
'
14. Chalcidea
5J
ON SOME REMARKABLE ANIMAL FORMS.
EEPTILES CLASSIFIED BY HUXLEY. cont.
ORDER.
SUB-ORDER. GROUPS. ILLUSTRATIVE KANGE OF
GENERA. ORDER
THE
Lacertilia.
15. Scincoidea
Recent
"1 **
B
16. Dolichosauria
Dolichosaurus
Chalk
8
17. Mosasauria
Mososaurus
Chalk
.2
a
B
18. Amphisbsenoida
Chirotes Amphis-
1
baena
. &
99
19. Chamaaleonida
Ophidia.
tfon-vene-
20. Aglyphodontia
Python, Tortrix
1
mous con-
stricting
21. Opisthoglyphia
Older
22. Proteroglyphia
}> Tertiary
to recent.
Vipers and
Rattle-
23. Solenoglyphia
Crotalus
1
snakes
24. Typhlopidae
J
Icthyo-
....
Icthyosaurus
Trias(?)
to
sauria.
chalk inclusive.
Crocodile.
Alligator
26. Alligatorid
Alligator Caiman
>
Jacare
99
Crocodiles
27. Crocodilidae
Crocodilus
9
Gavials
28. Gavialidse
Mecistops
Rhynchosuchus
Gavialis
Trias to
recent
99
29. Teleosauridae
Teleosaurus
J9
30. Belodontidae
Belodon
_
Dicyno-
dontia.
31. ...
Dicynodon
Oudenodon
\ Trias.
Ornitho-
32. Dinosauria
Thecodontosaurus
Trias *
scelida
Scelidosaurus
Lias
CO
Megalosaurus J
Iguanodon "1
Middle &
Upper -
Mesozoic
I
11
33. Compsognatha
.
Solenho-
^.2
fen slates
Ptero-
Flying
34. Pterodactvlidse
Ornithopterus
sauria.
reptile
Pterodactylus
Lias to Chalk
Rhamphorynchus
inclusive.
Dimorphodon
.
Aves.
The most bird-like of reptiles, the Pterosauria, appear to
have possessed true powers of flight ; they were provided with
wings formed by an expansion of the integument, and sup-
ported by an enormous elongation of the ulnar finger of the
3
34 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
anterior limb. The generic differences are based upon the
comparative lengths of the tail, and upon the dentition. In
Pterodactylus (see Fig. 2, p. 18), the tail is very short, and
the jaws strong, pointed, and toothed to their anterior ex-
tremities. In Rhamphorynchus (see Fig. 3, p. 18), the tail is
very long and the teeth are not continuous to the extremities
of the jaws, which are produced into toothless beaks. The
majority of the species are small, and they are generally
considered to have been inoffensive creatures, having much
the habits and insectivorous mode of living of bats. One
British species, however, from the white chalk of Maidstone,
measures more than sixteen feet across the outstretched
wings; and other forms recently discovered by Professor
Marsh in the Upper Cretaceous deposits of Kansas, attain
the gigantic proportions of nearly twenty-five feet for the
same measurements; and although these were devoid of
teeth (thus approaching the class Aves still more closely),
they could hardly fail, from their magnitude and powers of
flight, to have been formidable, and must, with their weird
aspects, and long outstretched necks and pointed heads,
have been at least sufficiently alarming.
We need go no farther than these in search of creatures
which would realise the popular notion of the winged
dragon.
The harmless little flying lizards, belonging to the genus
Draco, abounding in the East Indian archipelago, which have
many of their posterior ribs prolonged into an expansion of
the integument, unconnected with the limbs, and have a
limited and parachute-like flight, need only the element of
size, to render them also sufficiently to be dreaded, and
capable of rivalling the Pterodactyls in suggesting the
general idea of the same monster.
It is, however, when we pass to some of the other groups,
that we find ourselves in the presence of forms so vast and
terrible, as to more than realise the most exaggerated im-
OJ\T SOME REMARKABLE ANIMAL FORMS. 35
pression of reptilian power and ferocity which the florid
imagination of man can conceive.
We have long been acquainted with numerous gigantic
terrestrial Saurians, ranging throughout the whole of the
Mesozoic formations, such as Iguanodon (characteristic of the
Wealden), Megalosaurus (Great Saurian), and Hylceosaurus
(Forest Saurian), huge bulky creatures, the last of which,
at least, was protected by dermal armour partially produced
into prodigious spines ; as well as with remarkable forms
essentially marine, such as Icthyosaurus (Pish-like Saurian),
Plesiosaurus, &c., adapted to an oceanic existence and pro-
pelling themselves by means of paddles. The latter, it may
be remarked, was furnished with a long slender swan-like
neck, which, carried above the surface of the water, would
present the appearance of the anterior portion of a ser-
pent.
To the related land forms the collective term Dinosauria
(from 8eti/os " terrible ; ') has been applied, in signification of
the power which their structure and magnitude imply that
they possessed ; and to the others that of Enaliosauria, as
expressive of their adaptation to a maritime existence. Yet,
wonderful to relate, those creatures which have for so many
years commanded our admiration fade into insignificance in
comparison with others which are proved, by the discoveries
of the last few years, to have existed abundantly upon, or
near to, the American continent during the Cretaceous and
Jurassic periods, by which they are surpassed,' in point of
magnitude, as much as they themselves exceed the mass
of the larger Vertebrata.
Take, for example, those referred to by Professor Marsh in
the course of an address to the American Association for the
Advancement of Science, in 1877, in the following terms :
' ' The reptiles most characteristic of our American cretaceous
strata are the Mososauria, a group with very few representa-
tives in other parts of the world. In our cretaceous seas
3 *
36 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
they rule supreme, as their numbers, size, and carnivorous
habits enabled them to easily vanquish all rivals. Some
were at least sixty feet in length, and the smallest ten or
twelve. In the inland cretaceous sea from which the Rocky
Mountains were beginning to emerge, these ancient ' sea-
serpents ' abounded, and many were entombed in its muddy
bottom ; on one occasion, as I rode through a valley washed
out of this old ocean-bed, I saw no less than seven different
skeletons of these monsters in sight at once. The Moso-
sauria were essentially swimming lizards with four well-
developed paddles, and they had little affinity with modern
serpents, to which they have been compared."
Or, again, notice the specimens of the genus Cidastes,
which are also described as veritable sea-serpents of those
ancient seas, whose huge bones and almost incredible number
of vertebrae show them to have attained a length of nearly
two hundred feet. The remains of no less than ten of these
monsters were seen by Professor Mudge, while riding through
the Mauvaise Terres of Colorado, strewn upon the plains,
their whitened bones bleached in the suns of centuries, and
their gaping jaws armed with ferocious teeth, telling a
wonderful tale of their power when alive.
The same deposits have been equally fertile in the remains
of terrestrial animals of gigantic size. The Titanosaurus
montanus, believed to have been herbivorous, is estimated to
have reached fifty or sixty feet in length ; while other Dino-
saurians of still more gigantic proportions, from the Jurassic
beds of the Rocky Mountains, have been described by Pro-
fessor Marsh. Among the discovered remains of Atlantosaurus
immanis is a femur over six feet in length, and it is estimated
from a comparison of this specimen with the same bone in
living reptiles that this species, if similar in proportions to
the crocodile, would have been over one hundred feet in
length.
But even yet the limit has not been reached, and we hear
ON SOME REMARKABLE ANIMAL FORMS.
of the discovery of the remains of another form, of such
Titanic proportions as to possess a thigh-bone over twelve
feet in length.
FIG. 5. MONSTER BONES OF EXTINCT GIGANTIC SAURIANS FROM COLORADO, SHOWING
RELATIVE PROPORTIONS TO CORRESPONDING BONE IN THE CROCODILE (A).
(From the " Scientific American"}
38 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
From these considerations it is evident that, on account of
the dimensions usually assigned to them, no discredit can be
attached to the existence of the fabulous monsters of which
we shall speak hereafter; for these, in the various myths,
rarely or never equal in size creatures which science
shows to have existed in a comparatively recent geological
age, while the quaintest conception could hardly equal
the reality of yet another of the American Dinosaurs,
Stegosaurus, which appears to have been herbivorous, and
more or less aquatic in habit, adapted for sitting upon its
hinder extremities, and protected by bony plate and nume-
rous spines. It reached thirty feet in length. Professor
Marsh considers that this, when alive, must have presented
the strangest appearance of all the Dinosaurs yet discovered.
The affinities of birds and reptiles have been so clearly
demonstrated of late years, as to cause Professor Huxley and
many other comparative anatomists to bridge over the wide
gap which was formerly considered to divide the two classes,
and to bracket them together in one class, to which the name
Sauropsidse has been given.*
There are, indeed, not a few remarkable forms, as to the
class position of which, whether they should be assigned to
* " It is now generally admitted by biologists who have made a study
of the Vertebrata that birds have come down to us through the Dino-
saurs, and the close affinity of the latter with recent struthious birds
will hardly be questioned. The case amounts almost to a demonstration
if we compare with Dinosaurs their contemporaries, the Mesozoic birds.
The classes of birds and reptiles as now living are separated by a gulf
so profound that a few years since it was cited by the opponents of
evolution as the most important break in the animal series, and one
which that doctrine could not bridge over. Since then, as Huxley has
clearly shown, this gap has -been virtually filled by the discoveries of
bird-like reptiles and reptilian birds. Compsognathus and Archseo-
pteryx of the old world, and Icthyornis and Hesperornis of the new,
are the stepping-stones by which the evolutionist of to-day leads the
doubting brother across the shallow remnant of the gulf, once thought
impassable." Marsh.
ON SOME REMARKABLE ANIMAL FORMS.
39
birds or reptiles, opinion was for a long time, and is in a few
instances still, divided. It is, for example, only of late
years that the fossil form Archaeopteryx* (Fig. 4, p. 19)
from the Solenhofen slates, has been definitely relegated
to the former, but arguments against this disposal of it
have been based upon the beak or jaws being furnished
with true teeth, and the feather of the tail attached to
FlG. 6. SlVATHERIUM (RESTORED), FROM THE UPPER MlOCENE DEPOSITS OF THE
SIWALIK HILLS. (After Figuier.}
a series of vertebrae, instead of a single flattened one as
in birds. It appears to have been entirely plumed, and to
have had a moderate power of flight.
On the other hand, the Ornithopterus is only provisionally
* Professor Carl Vogt regards the Archaeopteryx "as neither reptile
nor bird, but as constituting an intermediate type. He points out that
there is complete homology between the scales or spines of reptiles and
the feathers of birds. The feather of the bird is only a reptile's scale
further developed, and the reptile's scale is a feather which has remained
in the embryonic condition. He considers the reptilian hoinologies to
preponderate."
40
MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
classed with reptiles, while the connection between the two
classes is drawn still closer by the copious discovery of the
birds from the Cretaceous formations of America, for which
we are indebted to Professor Marsh.
The Lepidosiren, also, is placed mid- way between reptiles
and fishes. Professor Owen and other eminent physiologists
consider it a fish ; Professor Bischoff and others, an amphi-
bian reptile. It has a two-fold apparatus for respiration,
partly aquatic, consisting of gills, and partly aerial, of true
lungs.
So far, then, as abnormality of type is concerned, we have
here instances quite as remarkable as those presented by
most of the strange monsters with the creation of which
mythological fancy has been credited.
FIG. 7. SKELETON OF MEGATHERIUM. (After Figuier.}
Among mammals I shall only refer to the Megatherium,
which appears to have been created to burrow in the earth
and to feed upon the roots of trees and shrubs, for which
purpose every organ of its heavy frame was adapted. This
ON SOME REMARKABLE ANIMAL FORMS.
Hercules among animals was as large as an elephant or
rhinoceros of the largest species, and might well, as it has
existed until a late date, have originated the myths, current
among the Indians of South America, of a gigantic tun-
nelling or burrowing creature, incapable of supporting the
light of day.*
* A similar habit is ascribed by the Chinese to the mammoth and to
the gigantic Sivatherium (Fig. 6, p. 39), a four-horned stag, which had
the bulk of an elephant, and exceeded it in [height. It was remarkable
for being in some respects between the stags and the pachyderms. The
Dinotherium (Fig. 8), which had a trunk like an elephant, and two
inverted tusks, presented in its skull a mixture of the characteristics
of the elephant, hippopotamus, tapir, and dugong. Its remains occur
in the Miocene of Europe.
FIG. 8. DINOTHKRIUM. (After
42 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
CHAPTER II.
EXTINCTION OF SPECIES.
IN reviewing the past succession of different forms of ancient
life upon the globe, we are reminded of a series of dissolving
views, in which each species evolves itself by an imperceptible
gradation from some pre-existing one, arrives at its maximum
of individuality, and then slowly fades away, while another
type, either higher or lower, evolved in turn from it, emerges
from obscurity, and succeeds it on the field of view.
Specific individuality has in all cases a natural term, de-
pendent on physical causes, but that term is in many cases
abruptly anticipated by a combination of unfavourable con-
ditions.
Alteration of climate, isolation by geological changes, such
as the submergence of continents and islands, and the com-
petition of other species, are among the causes which have
at all times operated towards its destruction ; while, since the
evolution of man, his agency, so far as we can judge by what
we know of his later history, has been especially active in
the same direction.
The limited distribution of many species, even when not
enforced by insular conditions, is remarkable, and, of course,
highly favourable to their destruction. A multiplicity of
examples are familiar to naturalists, and possibly not a
few may have attracted the attention of the ordinary observer.
EXTINCTION OF SPECIES. 43
For instance, it is probably generally known, that in our
own island, the red grouse (which, by the way, is a species
peculiar to Great Britain) is confined to certain moorlands,
the ruffs and reeves to fen districts, and the nightingale,*
chough, and other species to a few counties ; while Ireland
is devoid of almost all the species of reptiles common to
Great Britain. In the former cases, the need of or predilec-
tion for certain foods probably determines the favourite
locality, and there are few countries which would not furnish
similar examples. In the latter, the explanation depends on
biological conditions dating prior to the separation of Ireland
from the main continent. Among birds, it might fairly be
presumed that the power of flight would produce unlimited
territorial expansion, but in many instances the reverse is
found to be the case : a remarkable example being afforded
by the island of Tasmania, a portion of which is called the
unsettled waste lands, or Western Country. This district,
which comprises about one-third of the island upon the
western side, and is mainly composed of mountain chains of
granites, quartzite, and mica schists, is entirely devoid of the
numerous species of garrulous and gay-plumaged birds, such
as the Mynah mocking-bird, white cockatoo, wattle bird, and
Eosella parrot, though these abundantly enliven the eastern
districts, which are fertilized by rich soils due to the presence
of ranges of basalt, greenstone, and other trappean rocks.
Another equally striking instance is given by my late
father, Mr. J. Gould, in his work on the humming-birds.
Of two species, inhabiting respectively the adjacent moun-
* " It enters Europe early in April, spreads over France, Britain,
Denmark, and the south of Sweden, which it reaches by the beginning
of May. It does not enter Brittany, the Channel Islands, or the western
part of England, never visiting Wales, except the extreme south of
Glamorganshire, and rarely extending farther north than Yorkshire."
A. E. Wallace, Geographical Distribution of Animals, vol. i. p. 21.
London, 1876.
44 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
tains of Pichincha and Chimborazo at certain elevations, each
is strictly confined to its own mountain ; and, if my memory
serves me correctly, he mentions similar instances of species
peculiar to different peaks of the Andes.
Limitation by insular isolation is intelligible, especially in
the case of mammals and reptiles, and of birds possessing
but small power of flight ; and we are, therefore, not sur-
prised to find Mr. Gosse indicating, among other examples,
that even the smallest of the Antilles has each a fauna of its
own, while the humming-birds, some of the parrots, cuckoos,
and pigeons, and many of the smaller birds are peculiar to
Jamaica. He states still further, that in the latter instance
many of the animals are not distributed over the whole
island, but confined to a single small district.
Continental limitation is effected by mountain barriers.
Thus, according to Mr. Wallace, almost all the mammalia,
birds, and insects on one side of the Andes and Eocky
Mountains are distinct in species from those on the
other ; while a similar difference, but smaller in degree,
exists with reference to regions adjacent to the Alps and
Pyrenees.
Climate, broad rivers, seas, oceans, forests, and even large
desert wastes, like the Sahara or the great desert of Gobi,
also act more or less effectively as girdles which confine
species within certain limits.
Dependence on each other or on supplies of appropriate
food also form minor yet practical factors in the sum of
limitation ; and a curious example of the first is given by
Dr. Van Lennep with reference to the small migratory birds
that are unable to perform the flight of three hundred and
fifty miles across the Mediterranean. He states that these
are carried across on the backs of cranes.*
* Bible Customs in Bible Lands. By H. J. Van Lennep, D.D. 1875.
Quoted in Nature, March 24, 1881.
EXTINCTION OF SPECIES. 45
In the autumn many flocks of cranes may be seen coming from the
North, with the first cold blast from that quarter, flying low, and utter-
ing a peculiar cry, as if of alarm, as they circle over the cultivated
plains. Little birds of every species may be seen flying up to them,
while the twittering cries of those already comfortably settled upon
their backs may be distinctly heard. On their return in the spring they
fly high, apparently considering that their little passengers can easily
find their way down to the earth.
The question of food-supply is involved in the more
extended subject of geological structure, as controlling the
flora and the insect life dependent on it. As an example
we may cite the disappearance of the capercailzie from
Denmark with the decay of the pine forests abundant during
late Tertiary periods.
Collision, direct or indirect, with inimical species often
has a fatal ending. Thus the dodo was exterminated by the
swine which the early visitors introduced to the Mauritius
and permitted to run wild there ; while the indigenous insects,
mollusca, and perhaps some of the birds of St. Helena,
disappeared as soon as the introduction of goats caused the
destruction of the whole flora of forest trees.
The Tsetse fly extirpates all horses, dogs, and cattle, from
certain districts of South Africa, and a representative species
in Paraguay is equally fatal to new-born cattle and horses.
Mr. Darwin * shows that the struggle is more severe
between species of the same genus, when they come into
competition with each other, than between species of distinct
genera. Thus one species of swallow has recently expelled
another from part of the United States; and the missel-
thrush has driven the song-thrush from part of Scotland.
In Australia the imported hive-bee is rapidly exterminating
the small stingless native bee, and similar cases might be
found in any number.
Mr. Wallace, in quoting Mr. Darwin as to these facts,
points the conclusion that " any slight change, therefore,
* Origin of Species, C. Darwin, 5th edit. 1869.
46 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
of physical geography or of climate, which allows allied
species hitherto inhabiting distinct areas to come into
contact, will often lead to the extermination of one of them."
It is the province of the palaeontologist to enumerate the
many remarkable forms which have passed away since man's
first appearance upon the globe, and to trace their fluctuations
over both hemispheres as determined by the advance and
retreat of glacial conditions, and by the protean forms
assumed by past and existing continents under oscillations
of elevation and depression. Many interesting points, such
as the dates of the successive separation of Ireland and
Great Britain from the main continent, can be determined
with accuracy from the record furnished by the fossil remains
of animals of those times ; and many interesting associations
of animals with man at various dates, in our present island
home and in other countries, have been traced by the
discovery of their remains in connection with his, in bone
deposits in caverns and elsewhere.
Conversely, most valuable deductions are drawn by the
zoologist from the review which he is enabled to take,
through the connected labours of his colleagues in all
departments, of the distinct life regions now mapped out
upon the face of the globe. These, after the application of
the necessary corrections for various disturbing or controlling
influences referred to above, afford proof reaching far back
into past periods, of successive alterations in the disposition
of continents and oceans, and of connections long since
obliterated between distant lands.
The palaeontologist reasons from the past to the present,
the zoologist from the present to the past ; and their mutual
labours explain the evolution of existing forms, and the
causes of the disparity or connection between those at
present characterizing the different portions of the surface of
the globe.
The palaeontologist, for example, traces the descent of the
EXTINCTION OF SPECIES. 47
horse, which, until its reintroduction by the Spaniards was
unknown in the New World, through a variety of inter-
mediate forms, to the genus Orohippus occurring in Eocene
deposits in Utah and Wyoming. This animal was no larger
than a fox, and possessed four separated toes in front, and
three behind. Domestic cattle he refers to the Bos primi-
genius, and many existing Carnivora to Tertiary forms such
as the cave-bear, cave-lion, sabre-tiger, and the like.
The zoologist groups the existing fauna into distinct
provinces, and demands, in explanation of the anomalies
which these exhibit, the reconstruction of large areas, of
which only small outlying districts remain at the present
date, in many instances widely separated by oceans, though
once forming parts of the same continent; and so, for the
simile readily suggests itself, the workers in another branch
of science, Philology, argue from words and roots scat-
tered like fossils through the various dialects of very distant
countries, a mutual descent from a common Aryan language :
the language of a race of which no historical record exists,
though in regard to its habits, customs, and distribution much
may be affirmed from the large collection of word speci-
mens stored in philological museums.
Thus Mr. Sclater, on zoological grounds, claims the late
existence of a continent which he calls Lemuria, extending
from Madagascar to Ceylon and Sumatra ; and for similar
reasons Mr. Wallace extends the Australia of Tertiary
periods to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, and per-
haps to Fiji, and from its marsupial types infers a connection
with the northern continent during the Secondary period.
Again, the connection of Europe with North Africa during
a late geological period is inferred by many zoologists
from the number of identical species of mammalia inhabit-
ing the opposite sides of the Mediterranean, and palaeontolo-
gists confirm this by the discovery of the remains of
elephants in cave-deposits in Malta, and of hippopotami in
48 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
Gibraltar; while hydrographers furnish the supplemental
suggestive evidence that an elevation of only fifteen hun-
dred feet would be sufficient to establish two broad connec-
tions between the two continents so as to unite Italy with
Tripoli and Spain with Morocco, and to convert the Mediter-
ranean Sea into two great lakes, which appears, in fact, to
have been its condition during the Pliocene and Post Plio-
cene periods.
It was by means of these causeways that the large pachy-
derms entered Britain, then united to the continent ; and
it was over them they retreated when driven back by glacial
conditions, their migration northward being effectually pre-
vented by the destruction of the connecting arms of land.
Some difference of opinion exists among naturalists as
to the extent to which zoological regions should be sub-
divided, and as to their respective limitations.
But Mr. A. R. Wallace, who has most recently written
on the subject, is of opinion that the original division pro-
posed by Mr. Sclater in 1857 is the most tenable, and he
therefore adopts it in the very exhaustive work upon the
geographical distribution of animals which he has recently
issued. Mr. Sclater's Six Regions are as follows :
1. The Palcearctic Region, including Europe, Temperate
Asia, and North Africa to the Atlas mountains.
2. The Ethiopian Region, Africa south of the Atlas,
Madagascar, and the Mascarene islands, with
Southern Arabia.
3. The Indian Region, including India south of the
Himalayas, to South China, and to Borneo and Java.
4. The Australian Region, including Celebes and Lombok,
Eastward to Australia and the Pacific islands.
5. The Nearctic Region, including Greenland, and North
America, to Northern Mexico.
6. The Neotropical Region, including South America, the
Antilles, and Southern Mexico.
EXTINCTION OF SPECIES. 49
This arrangement is based upon a detailed examination of
the chief genera and families of birds, and also very nearly
represents the distribution of mammals and of reptiles. Its
regions are not, as in other subsequently proposed and more
artificial systems, controlled by climate ; for they range, in
some instances, from the pole to the tropics. It probably
approaches more nearly than any other yet proposed to that
desideratum, a division of the earth into regions, founded
on a collation of the groups of forms indigenous to or typical
of them, and upon a selection of those peculiar to them ; with
a disregard of, or only admitting with caution, any which,
though common to and apparently establishing connection
between two or more regions, may have in fact but little
value for the purpose of such comparison ; from the fact of
its being possible to account for their extended range by
their capability of easy transport from one region to another
by common natural agencies.*
Such an arrangement should be consistent with the retro-
spective information afforded by palaeontology ; and, taking
an extended view of the subject, be not merely a catalogue
* Thus Mr. Wallace considers that the identity of the small fish,
Galaxias attenuatus, which occurs in the mountain streams of Tasmania,
with one found in those of New Zealand, the Falkland Islands, and the
temperate regions of South America, cannot be considered as demon-
strating a land connection between these places within the period of
its specific existence. For there is a possibility that its ova have
been transported from one point to another on floating ice; and for
similar reasons fresh-water fish generally are unsafe guides to a
classification of zoological regions. Mr. Darwin has shown (Origin of
Species, and Nature, vol. xviii. p. 120 and vol. xxv. p. 529) that mollusca
can be conveyed attached to or entangled in the claws of migratory
birds. Birds themselves are liable to be blown great distances by
gales of wind. Beetles and other flying insects may be similarly
transferred. Reptiles are occasionally conveyed on floating logs and
uprooted trees. Mammals alone appear to be really trustworthy guides
towards such a classification, from their being less liable than the
other classes to accidental dispersion.
4
50 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
of the present, but also an index of the past. It should
afford an illustration of an existing phase of the distribution
of animal life, considered as the last of a long series of similar
phases which have successively resulted from changes in the
disposition of land and water, and from other controlling
agencies, throughout all time. A reconstruction of the areas
respectively occupied by the sea and the land at different
geological periods will be possible, or at least greatly facili-
tated, when a complete system of similar groupings, illus-
trative of each successive period, has been compiled.
It is obvious that any great cosmical change, affecting to
a wide extent any of the regions, might determine a destruc-
tion of specific existence ; and this on a large scale, in com-
parison with the change which is always progressing in a
smaller degree in the different and isolated divisions.
The brief remarks which I have made on this subject are
intended to suggest, rather than to demonstrate which could
only be done by a lengthy series of examples the causes
influencing specific existence and its in many cases extreme
frailty of tenure. And I shall now conclude by citing from
the works of Lyell and Wallace a short list of notable
species, now extinct, whose remains have been collected
from late Tertiary, and Post Tertiary deposits that is to
say, at a time subsequent to the appearance of man. From
other authors I have extracted an enumeration of species
which have become locally or entirely extinct within the
historic period.
These instances will, I think, be sufficient to show that,
as similar destructive causes must have been in action
during pre-historic times, it is probable that, besides those
remarkable animals of which remains have been discovered,
many others which then existed may have perished without
leaving any trace of their existence. There is, consequently,
a possibility that some at least of the so-called myths
respecting extraordinary creatures, hitherto considered fabu-
EXTINCTION OF SPECIES. 51
lous, may merely be distorted accounts traditions of species
as yet unrecognised by Science, which have actually existed,
and that not remotely, as man's congener.
FIG. 9. THE MAMMOTH. (After Jukes.')
Extinct Post Tertiary Mammalia.
THE MAMMOTH. Among other remarkable forms whose
remains have been discovered in those later deposits, in
which geologists are generally agreed that remains of man
or traces of his handicraft have also been recognised, there
is one which stands out prominently both for its magnitude
and extensive range in time and space. Although the animal
itself is now entirely extinct, delineations by the hand of
Palaeolithic man have been preserved, and even frozen car-
cases, with the flesh uncorrupted and fit for food, have been
occasionally discovered.
This is the mammoth, the Elephas primigenius of Blumen-
bach, a gigantic elephant nearly a third taller than the
largest modern species, and twice its weight. Its body was
4 *
52 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
protected from the severity of the semi-arctic conditions
under which it flourished by a dense covering of reddish
wool, and long black hair, and its head was armed or orna-
mented with tusks exceeding twelve feet in length, and
curiously curved into three parts of a circle. Its ivory has
long been, and still is, a valuable article of commerce, more
especially in North-eastern Asia, and in Eschscholtz Bay
in North America, near Behring's straits, where entire
skeletons are occasionally discovered, and where even the
nature of its food has been ascertained from the undigested
contents of its stomach.
There is a well-known case recorded of a specimen found
(1799), frozen and encased in ice, at the mouth of the Lena.
It was sixteen feet long, and the flesh was so well preserved
that the Yakuts used it as food for their dogs. But similar
instances occurred previously, for we find the illustrious
savant and Emperor Kang Hi [A.D. 1662 to 1723] penning
the following note* upon what could only have been this
species :
" The cold is extreme, and nearly continuous on the
coasts of the northern sea beyond Tai-Tong-Kiang. It is
on this coast that the animal called Fen Chou is found, the
form of which resembles that of a rat, but which equals an
elephant in size. It lives in obscure caverns, and flies from
the light. There is obtained from it an ivory as white as
that of the elephant, but easier to work, and which will not
split. Its flesh is very cold and excellent for refreshing the
blood. The ancient work Chin-y-king speaks of this animal
in these terms : ' There is in the depths of the north a rat
which weighs as much as a thousand pounds ; its flesh is very
good for those who are heated.' The Tsee-Chou calls it Tai-
Chou and speaks of another species which is not so large. It
* Memoires concernant I'hiatoire, &c. des Chinois, par les Missionaires
de Pekin, vol. iv. p. 481.
EXTINCTION OF SPECIES. 53
says that this is as big as a buffalo, buries itself like a mole,
flies the light, and remains nearly always under ground ;
it is said that it would die if it saw the light of the sun or
even that of the moon.' :
FIG. 10. TOOTH OF THE MAMMOTH. (After Figuier.}
It seems probable that discoveries of mammoth tusks
formed in part the basis for the story which Pliny tells in
reference to fossil ivory.. He says*: "These animals
[elephants] are well aware that the only spoil that we are
anxious to procure of them is the part which forms their
weapon of defence, by Juba called their horns, but by Hero-
dotus, a much older writer, as well as by general usage, and
more appropriately, their teeth. Hence it is that, when
these tusks have fallen off, either from accident or old age,
they bury them in the earth."
Nordenskjold f states that the savages with whom he came
in contact frequently offered to him very fine mammoth
tusks, and tools made of mammoth ivory. He computes
that since the conquest of Siberia, useful tusks from more
than twenty thousand animals have been collected.
Mr. Boyd Dawkins,]; in a very exhaustive memoir on this
animal, quotes an interesting notice of its fossil ivory having
* The Natural History of Pliny, J. Bostock and H. T. Eiley, book
viii. chap iv.
f The Voyage of the Vega, A. E. Nordenskjold. London, 1881.
J On the Range of the Mammoth in Space and Time, by W. B.
Dawkins, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc.> 1879, p. 138.
54 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
been brought for sale to Khiva. He derives * this account
from an Arabian traveller, Abou-el-Cassim, who lived in the
middle of the tenth century.
Figuierf says : "New Siberia and the Isle of Lachon are
for the most part only an agglomeration of sand, of ice, and
of elephants' teeth. At every tempest the sea casts ashore
new quantities of mammoth's tusks, and the inhabitants of
New Siberia carry on a profitable commerce in this fossil
ivory. Every year during the summer innumerable fisher-
men's barks direct their course to this isle of bones, and
during winter immense caravans take the same route, all the
convoys drawn by dogs, returning charged with the tusks of
the mammoth, weighing each from one hundred and fifty
to two hundred pounds. The fossil ivory thus with-
drawn from the frozen north is imported into China and
Europe."
In addition to its elimination by the thawing of the frozen
grounds of the north, remains of the mammoth are procured
from bogs, alluvial deposits, and from the destruction of
submarine beds.]: They are also found in cave deposits,
associated with the remains of other mammals, and with
* The notice is taken from Les Peuples du Caucause, on Voyage
d' Abou-el-Cassim, par M. C. D'Ohsson, p. 80, as follows: " On trouve
souvent dans la Boulgarie des os (fossils) d'une grandeur prodigieuse.
J'ai vu une dent qui avait deux palmes de large sur quatre de long,
et un crane qui ressemblait a une hutte (Arabe). On y deterre des
dents semblables aux defenses d'elephants, blanche comme la neige et
pesant jusqu' a deux cents menus. On ne sait pas a quel animal
elles ont appartenu, mais on les transporte dans le Khoragur (Kiva),
ou elles se vendent a grand prix. On en fait des peignes, des vases, et
d'autres objets, comme on fasonne 1'ivoire; toute fois cette substance
est plus dure que 1'ivoire ; jamais elle ne se brise."
f The World before the Deluge, L. Figuier. London, 1865.
J According to Woodward, over two thousand grinders were dredged
up by the fishermen of Happisburgh in the space of thirteen years ;
and other localities in and about England are also noted. Dana's
Manual of Geology, p. 564.
EXTINCTION OF SPECIES. 55
flint implements. This creature appears to have been an
object of the chase with Palaeolithic man.
Mr. Dawkins, reviewing all the discoveries, considers that
its range, at various periods, extended over the whole of
Northern Europe, and as far south as Spain ; over Northern
Asia, and North America down to the Isthmus of Darien.
Dr. Falconer believes it to have had an elastic constitu-
tion, which enabled it to adapt itself to great change of
climate.
Murchison, De Verneuil, and Keyserling believed that
this species, as well as the woolly rhinoceros, belonged to
the Tertiary fauna of Northern Asia, though not appearing
until the Quaternary period in Europe.
Mr. Dawkins shows it to have been pre-glacial, glacial,
and post-glacial in Britain and in Europe, and, from its
relation to the intermediate species Elephas armeniacus,
accepts it as the ancestor of the existing Indian elephant.
Its disappearance was rapid, but not in the opinion of most
geologists cataclysmic, as suggested by Mr. Howorth.
Another widely distributed species was the Rhinoceros ticho-
rhinus the smooth-skinned rhinoceros also called the woolly
rhinoceros and the Siberian rhinoceros, which had two horns,
and, like the mammoth, was covered with woolly hair. It-
attained a great size ; a specimen, the carcase of which was
found by Pallas imbedded in frozen soil near Wilui, in
Siberia (1772), was eleven and a half feet in length. Its
horns are considered by some of the native tribes of northern
Asia to have been the talons of gigantic birds ; and Ermann
and Middendorf suppose that their discovery may have origi-
nated the accounts by Herodotus of the gold-bearing griffons
and the arimaspi.
Its food, ascertained by Von Brandt, and others, from
portions remaining in the hollows of its teeth, consisted of
leaves and needles of trees still existing in Siberia. The
range of this species northwards was as extensive as that of
56 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
the mammoth, but its remains have not yet been discovered
south of the Alps and Pyrenees.
The investigation,* made by M. E. Lartet in 1860, of the
contents of the Grotto of Aurignac, in the department of the
Haute Garonne, from which numerous human skeletons had
been previously removed in 1852, shows that this animal was
included among the species used as ordinary articles of food,
or as exceptional items at the funeral feasts of the Palaeolithic
troglodytes. In the layers of charcoal and ashes immediately
outside the entrance to the grotto, and surrounding what is
supposed to have been the hearth, the bones of a young
Rhinoceros tichorhinus were found, which had been split open
for the extraction of the marrow. Numerous other species
had been dealt with in the same manner ; and all these
having received this treatment, and showing marks of the
action of fire, had evidently been carried to the cave for
banqueting purposes. The remains of Herbivora associated
with those of this rhinoceros, consisted of bones of the
mammoth, the horse (Equus caballus), stag (Cervus elaphus),
elk (Megaceros hibernicus), roebuck (C. capreolus), reindeer
(C. tarandus), auroch (Bison europceus.) Among carnivora
were found remains of Ursus spelceus (cave-bear), Ursus
arctos? (brown bear), Meles taxus (badger), Putorius vulgaris
(polecat), Hycena spelcea (cave-hyaena), Felis spelcea (cave-lion),
Felis catus ferus (wild cat), Canis lupus (wolf), Canis vulpis
(fox). Within the grotto were also found remains of Felis
spelcea (cave-lion) and Sus scrofa (pig). The cave-bear, the
fox, and indeed most of these, probably also formed articles
of diet, but the hyaena seems to have been a post attendant
at the feast, and to have rooted out and gnawed off the
spongy parts of the thrown-away bones after the departure
of the company.
In the Pleistocene deposits at Wiirzburg, in Franconia,
* Lyell, Antiquity of Man, p. 185, 2nd edit., 1863.
EXTINCTION OF SPECIES. 57
a human finger-bone occurs with bones of this species, and
also of other large mammalia, such as the mammoth, cave-
bear, and the like.
And flint implements, and pointed javelin-heads made of
reindeer horn, are found associated with it in the vicinity
of the old hearths established by Palaeolithic man in the
cave called the Trou du Bureau, on the river Malignee in
Belgium.
In the cavern of Goyet, also in Belgium, there are five
bone layers, alternating with six beds of alluvial deposits,
showing that the cave had been inhabited by different species
at various periods. The lion was succeeded by the cave-
bear, and this by hyaenas ; then Palaeolithic man became a
tenant and has left his bones there, together with flint imple-
ments and remains of numerous species, including those
already enumerated as his contemporaries.
THE SABRE-TOOTHED TIGEE OR LION. This species,
Machairodus* latifrons of Owen, was remarkable for having
long sabre-shaped canines. It belongs to an extinct genus,
of which four other species are known, characterised by the
possession of serrated teeth. The genus is known to be
represented in the Auvergne beds between the Eocene and
Miocene, in the Miocene of Greece and India, in the Plio-
cene of South America and Europe, and in the Pleistocene.
Mr. Dawkins believes that this species survived to post-
glacial times. It is one of the numerous animals whose
remains have been found with traces of man and flint im-
plements in cave deposits at Kent's Hole, near Torquay,
and elsewhere.
THE CAVE-BEAR, Ursus spelceus, of Kosenmiiller. The
appearance of this species has been preserved to us in the
drawing by Palaeolithic man found in the cave of Massat
(Arieze).
* Fr. /xaaipa "a, sword," and oSovs "a tooth."
58 MYTHICAL MONSTEBS.
It occurs in the Cromer Forest Bed, a deposit referred by
Mr. Boyd Dawkins to the early part of the Glacial period,
and generally regarded as transitional between the Pliocene
and Quaternary. It is also found in the caves of Perigaud,
which are considered to belong to the reindeer era of
M. Lartet or the opening part of the Recent period, and
numerous discoveries of its remains at dates intermediate to
these have been made in Britain and ,m Europe. Carl
Vogt, indeed, is of opinion that this species is the progenitor
of our living brown bear, Ursus arctos, and Mr. Boyd Daw-
kins also says that those " who have compared the French,
German, and British specimens, gradually realize the .fact
that the fossil remains of the bears form a graduated series,
in which all the variations that at first sight appear specific
vanish away."
It has been identified by Mr. Busk among the associated
mammalian bones of the Brixham cave. Its remains are
very abundant in the bone deposit of the Trou de Sureau in
Belgium, and in the cavern of G-oyet, which it tenanted
alternately with the lion and hyaena, and, like them, appears
to have preyed on man and the larger mammalia.
Mr. Prestwich has obtained it in low-level deposits of river
gravels in the valleys of the north of France and south of
England, and it has been obtained from the Loss, a loamy,
usually unstratified deposit, which is extensively distributed
over central Europe, in the valleys of the Rhine, Rhone,
Danube, and other great rivers. This deposit is considered
by Mr. Prestwich to be equivalent to other high-level gravels
of the Pleistocene period.
THE MASTODON. The generic title Mastodon has been
applied to a number of species allied to the elephants, but
distinguished from them by a peculiar structure of the molar
teeth ; these are rectangular, and in their upper surfaces
exhibit a number of great conical tuberosities with rounded
points disposed in pairs, to the number of four or five,
EXTINCTION OF SPECIES.
59
according to the species; whereas in the elephants they
are broad and uniform, and regularly marked with furrows
of large curvature. The mastodons, in addition to large
tusks in the premaxillse, like those of the elephant, had also
in most instances, a pair of shorter ones in the mandible.
FIG. 11. MASTODON'S TOOTH (WORN). (After Figuier.)
Cuvier established the name Mastodon,* or teat-like
toothed animals, for the gigantic species from America which
Buffon had already described under the name of the animal
or elephant of the Ohio.
FIG. 12. MASTODON'S TOOTH. (After Figuier.)
The form first appears in the Upper Miocene of Europe,
five species being known, two of them from Pikermi, near
Athens, and one, M. angustidens, from the Miocene beds of
* From /xaoro's " a teat," and o8ov's " a tooth."
60
MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
Malta. Mastodon remains have also been found in the beds
of the Sivalik hills, and four species of mastodon in all
are known to have ranged over India during those periods.
In Pliocene deposits we have abundant remains of
M. arvernensis, and M. longirostris from the Val d'Arno in
Italy, and the M. Borsoni from central France.
The M. arvernensis may be considered as a characteristic
Pliocene species in Italy, France, and Europe generally. In
Britain it occurs in the Norwich Crag and the Ked Crag of
Suffolk.
Species of mastodon occur in the Pliocene of La Plata, and
of .the temperate regions of South America ; on the Pampas,
and in the Andes of Chili.
The Mastodon mirificus of Leidy is the earliest known species
in America ; this occurs in Pliocene deposits on the Niobrara
and the Loup fork, west of the Mississippi.
The remains of the Mastodon americanus of Cuvier occur
abundantly in the Post Pliocene deposits throughout the
United States, but more especially in the northern half; they
are also found in Canada and Nova Scotia.
FIG. 13. THE MASTODON.
Perfect skeletons are occasionally procured from marshes,
where the animals had become mired. In life this species
appears to have measured from twelve to thirteen feet in
EXTINCTION OF SPECIES. 61
height and twenty-four to twenty-five feet in length, includ-
ing seven feet for the tusks. Undigested food found with
its remains show that it lived partly on spruce and fir-trees.
A distinct species characterised the Quaternary deposits of
South America.
THE IRISH ELK. The species (Megaceros hibermcus),
commonly but erroneously called the Irish Elk, was, as pro-
fessor Owen* has pointed out, a true deer, whose place is
between the fallow and reindeer.
Though now extinct, it survived the Palaeolithic period,
and may possibly have existed down to historic times. Mr.
Gosse adduces some very strong testimony on this point, and
is of opinion that its extinction cannot have taken place
more than a thousand years ago.
It had a flattened and expanded form of antler, with
peculiarities unknown among existing deer, and was, in
comparison with these, of gigantic size ; the height to the
summit of the antlers being from ten to eleven feet in the
largest individuals, and the span of the antlers, in one case,
over twelve feet.
Although its remains have been found most abundantly
in Ireland, it was widely distributed over Britain and middle
Europe. It has been found in peat swamps, lacustrine
marls, bone caverns, fen deposits, and the Cornish gravels.
It has been obtained from the cavern of Goyet in Belgium,
and from the burial-place at Aurignac, in the department
of the Haute Garonne. Its known range in time is from the
early part of the Glacial period down to, possibly, historic
periods.
The CAVE -HYAENA Hycena spelcea of Goldfuss is, like
the cave-bear, characteristic of Europe during the Palaeolithic
age. It has been found in numerous caves in Britain, such
as Kent's Hole, the Brixham cave, and one near Wells in
* Palaeontology, B. Owen. Edinburgh, 1860.
62 MYTHICAL MONSTEES.
Somersetshire, explored by Dawkins in 1859 ; in all of these
the remains are associated with those of man, or with his
implements. This species is closely related to the H. crocuta
of Zimin, at present existing in South Africa, and is by some
geologists considered identical with it. It is, however, larger.
It appears to have to some extent replaced the cave-bear
in Britain ; we are also, doubtless, greatly indebted to it for
some of the extensive collections of bones in caverns, result-
ing from the carcases which it had dragged thither, and
imperfectly destroyed.
In a cave at Kirkdale, in the vale of Pickering, the bones
of about three hundred individuals hyaenas were found
mingled with the remains of the mammoth, bear, rhinoceros,
deer, cave-lion, brown bear, horse, hare, and other species.
Mr. Dawkins,* in describing it, says : " The pack of hyaenas
fell upon reindeer in the winter, and at other times on horses
and bisons, and were able to master the hippopotamus, the
lion, the slender-nosed rhinoceros, or the straight-tusked
elephant, and to carry their bones to their den, where they
were found by Dr. Buckland. The hyaenas also inhabiting
the ' Dukeries,' dragged back to their dens fragments of
lion."
Notable Quaternary forms (now extinct) on the American
continent are the gigantic sloth-like animals Megatherium,
which reached eighteen feet in length, and Mylodon, one
species of which (M. robustus) was eleven feet in length ;
Armadillos, such as Glyptodon, with a total length of nine
feet ; Chlamydotherium, as big as a rhinoceros ; and Pachy-
therium, equalling an ox.
In Australia we find marsupial forms as at the present
day ; but they were gigantic in comparison with the latter.
As for example, the Diprotodon, which equalled in size a
hippopotamus, and the Nototkerium, as large as a bullock.
* The British Lion, W. Boyd Dawkins, Contemporary Review, 1882.
EXTINCTION OF SPECIES. 63
I may mention a few other species, the remains of which
are associated with some of those commented on in the last
few pages ; but which, as they have undoubtedly continued
in existence down to the present period, are external to the
present portion of my argument, and are either treated of
elsewhere, or need only to be referred to in a few words.
FIG. H. MYLODON ROBUSTDS. (After Figuier.}
It must also be borne in mind that the linking together of
species by the discovery of intermediate graduated forms, is
daily proceeding ; so that some even of those spoken of in
greater detail may shortly be generally recognised, as at
present they are held by a few, to be identical with existing
forms.
The HIPPOPOTAMUS. The Hippopotamus major, now con-
sidered identical with the larger of the two African species
H. amphibia, has been found associated with E. antiquus and
Li. hemitcechus of Falc in Durdham Down and Kirkdale caves,
64 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
and in those at Kent's Hole and Kavenscliff. It has also
been found in river gravels at Grays, Ilford, and elsewhere,
in the lower part of the river-horder deposits of Amiens with
flint implements, and in Quaternary deposits on the continent
of Europe.
THE CAVE-LION Felis spelcea is now considered to be
merely a variety of the African lion (Felis led), although of
larger size ; it had a very wide range over Britain and
Europe during the Post Pliocene period, as also did the
leopard (F. pardus) and probably the lynx (Lyncus).
The KEINDEEB or CARIBOO Cervus tarandus which still
exists, both domesticated and wild, in northern Europe and
America, is adapted for northern latitudes. It formerly
extended over Europe, and in the British Isles probably
survived in the north of Scotland until the twelfth century.
Its remains have been found in Pleistocene deposits in
numerous localities, but most abundantly in those which
M. Lartet has assigned to the period which he calls the
Eeindeer age.
Other Pleistocene mammals still existing, but whose range
is much restricted, are the musk ox (Ovibos moschatus),
familiar to us, from the accounts of arctic expeditions, as
occurring in the circumpolar regions of North America ; the
glutton (Gulo luscus), the auroch (Bison europceus), the
wild horse (E. fossilis), the arctic fox (Canis lagopus),
the bison (Bison priscus), the elk or moose (Alces malchis),
found in Norway and North America, the lemming, the
lagomys or tail-less hare, &c.
As examples of total extinction in late years, we may
mention the dodo, the solitaire, and species allied to them,
in the islands of Mauritius, Bourbon, and Eeunion ; the
moa in New Zealand; the JEpiornis in Madagascar; the
great auk, Alca impennis, in northern seas, and the Rhytina
Stelleri, common once in the latitude of Behring's Straits, and
described by Steller in 1742.
EXTINCTION OF SPECIES.
65
The Dodo, a native of the island of Mauritius, was about
50 Ibs. in weight, and covered with loose downy plumage, it
66 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
was unable to rise from the ground in consequence of the
imperfect development of its wings; it was minutely de-
scribed by Sir Thomas Herbert in 1634, and specimens of
the living bird and of its skin were brought to Europe. Its
unwieldiness led to its speedy destruction by the early
voyagers.
FIG. 16. RHYTINA STELLERI. (From " The Voyage of the ' Vega.' ")
The Solitaire was confined to the island of Mascaregue or
Bourbon. It is fully described by Francis Leguat, who,
having fled from France into Holland in 1689, to escape
religious persecution consequent on the revocation of the
Edict of Nantes, engaged under the Marquis de Quesne in an
expedition for the purpose of settlement on that island. This
bird also speedily became extinct.
The Moa (Dinornis giganteus, Owen) reached from twelve
to fourteen feet in height, and survived for a long period after
the migration of the Maories to New Zealand. Bones of it
have been found along with charred wood, showing that it
had been killed and eaten by the natives ; and its memory
is preserved in many of their traditions, which also record the
existence of a much larger bird, a species of eagle or hawk,
which used to prey upon it.*
* The Moa was associated with other species also nearly or totally
extinct : some belonging to the same genus, others to those of Papteryx,
of Nestor, and of Notornis. One survivor of the latter was obtained
by Mr. Gideon Mantell, and described by my father, Mr. John Gould,
in 1850. I believe the Nestor is still, rarely, met with. Mr. Mantell is
of opinion that the Moa and his congeners continued in existence long
after the advent of the aboriginal Maori. Mr. Mantell discovered a
gigantic fossil egg, presumably that of the Moa.
EXTINCTION OF SPECIES. 67
Eapidly approaching total extinction are the several
species of Apteryx in the same country remarkable birds
with merely rudimentary wings : as also the Notornis, a large
Eail at first, and for a long time, only known in the fossil
state, but of which a living specimen was secured by Mr.
Walter Mantell in 1849 : and the Rapapo (Strigops habrop-
tilus) of G. R. Gray a strange owl-faced nocturnal ground-
parrot.
The jEpyornis maximus was almost as large as the Moa ;
of this numerous fossil bones and a few eggs have been
discovered, but there are not, I believe, any traditions extant
among the natives of Madagascar of its having survived to a
late period.
The Great Auk (Alca impennis) is now believed to be
extinct. It formerly occurred in the British Isles, but more
abundantly in high latitudes ; and its remains occur in great
numbers on the shores of Iceland, Greenland, and Denmark,
as also of Labrador and Newfoundland.
FIG. 17. RHYTINA STELLERI. (After /. Fr. Brandt.)
Steller's Sea-cow (Rhytina Stelleri of Cuvier) was a mam-
mal allied to the Manatees and Dugongs ; it was discovered
by Behring in 1768 on a small island lying off the Kamt-
chatkan coast. It measured as much as from twenty-eight
to thirty-five feet in length, and was soon nearly exterminated
by Behring's party and other voyagers who visited the island.
The last one of which there is any record was killed in
1854.*
* A. E. Nordensldold, The Voyage of the ' Vega,' vol. i f p. 272, et seq.
London, 1881.
5 *
68 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
To the above may be added the Didunculus, a species of
ground -pigeon peculiar to the Samoa Islands, and the Nestor
productus , a parrot of Norfolk Island. An extended list might
be prepared, from fossil evidences, of other species which
were at one time associated with those I have enumerated.
FIG. 18. RHYTINA STELLBRI. (From " The Voyage of the ' Vega.' ")
In conclusion, I may point out that that excellent naturalist
Pliny* records the disappearance, in his days, of certain species
formerly known. He mentions the Incendiary, the Olivia,
and the Subis (species of birds), and states that there were
many other birds mentioned in the Etruscan ritual, which
were no longer to be found in his time. He also says that
there had been a bird in Sardinia resembling the crane, and
called the Gromphaena, which was no longer known even by
the people of the country.
Local Extinction.
Of local extinction we may note in our own island the cases
of the beaver, the bear, the wolf, the wild cattle, the elk,
the wild boar, the bustard, and the capercailzie ; of these
the beaver survived in Wales and Scotland until the time
of Giraldus Cambrensis in 1188, and Pennant notes indica-
tions of its former existence in the names of several streams
and lakes in Wales. It was not uncommon throughout the
greater part of Europe down to the Middle Ages.
* Pliny, Nat. EisL, Bk. x., chap, xvii., and Bk. xxx., chap, liii,
EXTINCTION OF SPECIES. 69
The bear, still common in Norway and the Pyrenees, is
alluded to, as Mr. Gosse points out, in the Welsh Triads,*
which are supposed to have been compiled in the seventh
century. They say that " the Kymri, a Celtic tribe, first
inhabited Britain ; before them were no men here, but only
bears, wolves, beavers, and oxen with high prominences."
Mr. Gosse adds, " The Roman poets knew of its existence
here. Martial speaks of the robber Laureolis being exposed
on the cross to the fangs of the Caledonian bear ; and Clau-
dian alludes to British bears. The Emperor Claudius, on
his return to Rome after the conquest of this island, exhi-
bited, as trophies, combats of British bears in the Arena.
In the Penitential of Archbishop Egbert, said to have been
compiled about A.D. 750, bears are mentioned as inhabiting
the English forests, and the city of Norwich is said to have
been required to furnish a bear annually to Edward the
Confessor, together with six dogs, no doubt for baiting him."
The wolf, though greatly reduced in numbers during the
Heptarchy, when Edgar laid an annual tribute of three
hundred wolf- skins upon the Welsh, still occurred in for-
midable numbers in England in 1281, and not unfrequently
until the reign of Henry VII. The last wolf was killed in
Scotland in the year 1743, and in Ireland in 1770.f
The wild cattle are now only represented by the small
herds in Chartley Castle, Chillingham, and Cadgow parks ;
the spare survivors probably of the species referred to by
Herodotus when he speaks of " large ferocious and fleet
white bulls " which abounded in the country south of Thrace,
and continued in Poland, Lithuania, and Muscovy until the
fifteenth century, or perhaps of the Urus described by Csesar
as little inferior to the elephant in size, and inhabiting the
* The Romance of Natural History, by P. H. Gosse, 2nd Series,
London 1875.
t Pop. Sci. Monthly, October 1878.
70 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
Hercynian forest, and believed to be identical with the Bos
primigenim found in a fossil state in Britain.
The wild boar was once abundant in Scotland and England.
The family of Baird derives its heraldic crest from a grant
of David I. of Scotland, in recognition of his being saved
from an infuriated boar which had turned on him. In Eng-
land only nobles and gentry were allowed to hunt it, and
the slaughter of one by an unauthorized person within the
demesnes of William the Conqueror was punished by the
loss of both eyes.*
The bustard, once abundant, is now extinct in Britain,
so far as the indigenous race is concerned. Occasionally a
chance visitant from the continent is seen ; but there, also, its
numbers have been greatly diminished. It was common in
Buifon's time in the plains of Poitou and Champagne, though
now extremely rare, and is still common in Eastern Asia.
The capercailzie, or cock of the woods, after complete ex-
tinction, has been reintroduced from Norway, and, under
protection, is moderately abundant in parts of Scotland,
In America, the process of extermination marches with
the settlement of the various states. W. J. J. Allen records
the absolute disappearance of the walrus from the Gulf of
Si Lawrence, and of the moose, the elk, and the Virginian
deer, from many of the states in which they formerly
abounded. This also is true, to some extent, of the bear,
the beaver, the grey wolf, the panther, and the lynx.
The buffalo (Bos americanus) is being destroyed at the
rate of two hundred and fifty thousand annually, and it is
estimated that the number slain by hunters for their hides
during the last forty years amounts to four millions. It has
disappeared in the eastern part of the continent from many
extensive tracts which it formerly inhabited.
Among the ocean whales, both the right and the sperm
* Excelsior, vol. iii. London, J855.
EXTINCTION OF SPECIES. 71
have only been preserved from extinction by the fortunate
discovery of petroleum, which has reduced the value of their
oil, and thus lessened considerably the number of vessels
equipped for the whale fishery.
In South Africa, elephants and all other large game are
being steadily exterminated within the several colonies.
In Australia, we find that the seals which thronged the
islands of Bass's Straits in countless thousands, at the period
when Bass made his explorations there, have utterly disap-
peared. The bulk of them were destroyed by seal-hunters
from Sydney within a few years after his discovery. The
lamentable records of the Sydney Gazette of that period show
this, for they detail the return to port, after a short cruise,
of schooners laden with from twelve to sixteen thousand
skins each. The result of this has been that for many years
past the number of seals has been limited to a few indivi-
duals, to be found on one or two isolated rocks off Clarke's
Island, and on Hogan's group.
The great sea-elephant, which, in Peron's time, still
migrated for breeding purposes from antarctic regions to the
shores of King's Island, where it is described by him as
lining the long sandy beaches by hundreds, has been almost
unseen there since the date of his visit, and its memory is
only preserved in the names of Sea-Elephant Bay, Elephant
Rock, &c. which are still inscribed on our charts.
The introduction of the Dingo, by the Australian blacks
in their southward migration, is supposed to have caused the
extinction of the Thylacinus (T. cynocephalus), or striped
Australian wolf, on the main land of Australia, where it was
once abundant ; it is now only to be found in the remote
portions of the island of Tasmania. This destruction of one
species by another is paralleled in our own country by the
approaching extinction of the indigenous and now very rare
black rat, which has been almost entirely displaced by the
fierce grey rat from Norway.
72 MYTHICAL MONSTERti.
We learn from incidental passages in the Bamboo Books*
that the rhinoceros, which is now unknown in China, formerly
extended throughout that country. We read of King Ch'aou,
named Hea (B.C. 980), that " in his sixteenth year [of reign]
the king attacked Ts'oo, and in crossing the river Han met
with a large rhinoceros." And, again, of King E, named
See (B.C. 860), that " in his sixth year, when hunting in the
forest of Shay, he captured a rhinoceros and carried it
home." There is also mention made though this is less
conclusive that in the time of King Yiu, named Yeu
(B.C. 313), the King of Yueh sent Kung-sze Yu with a
present of three hundred boats, five million arrows, together
with rhinoceros' horns and elephants' teeth.
Elephants are now unknown in China except in a domes-
ticated state, but they probably disputed its thick forest and
jungly plains with the Miaotsz, Lolos, and other tribes which
held the country before its present occupants. This may be
inferred from the incidental references to them in the Shan
Hai King, a work reputed to be of great antiquity, of which
more mention will be made hereafter, and from evidence
contained in other ancient Chinese works which has been
summarized by Mr. Kingsmillf as follows :
" The rhinoceros and elephant certainly lived in Honan
B.C. 600. The Tso-chuen, commenting on the C'hun T'siu
of the second year of the Duke Siuen (B.C. 605), describes
the former as being in sufficient abundance to supply skins
for armour. The want, according to the popular saying,
was not of rhinoceroses to supply skins, but of courage to
animate the wearers. From the same authority (Duke Hi
XIII., B.C. 636) we learn that while T'soo (Hukwang) pro-
duced ivory and rhinoceros' skins in abundance, Tsin, lying
* The Chinese Classics, vol. iii. p. 1, by James Legge, B.D.
f Inaugural Address by President, T. W. Kingsmill, North China
Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1877.
EXTINCTION OF SPECIES. 73
north of the Yellow River, on the most elevated part of the
Loess, was dependent on the other for its supplies of those
commodities. The Tribute of Yu tells the same tale. Yang-
chow and King (Kiangpeh and Hukwang), we are told, sent
tribute of ivory and rhinoceros' hide, while Liang (Shensi)
sent the skins of foxes and bears. Going back to mythical
times, we find Mencius (III. ii. 9) telling how Chow Kung
expelled from Lu (Shantung) the elephants and rhinoceroses,
the tigers and leopards."
Mr. Kingsmill even suggests that the species referred to
were the mammoth and the Siberian rhinoceros (E. ticho-
rhinus).
M. Chabas* publishes an Egyptian inscription showing
that the elephant existed in a feral state in the Euphrates
Valley in the time of Thothmes III. (16th century B.C.).
The inscription records a great hunting of elephants in the
neighbourhood of Nineveh.
Tigers still abound in Manchuria and Corea, their skins
forming a regular article of commerce in Vladivostock, New-
chwang, and Seoul. They are said to attain larger dimen-
sions in these northern latitudes than their southern congener,
the better-known Bengal tiger. They are generally extinct
in China Proper ; but Pere David states that he has seen
them in the neighbourhood of Pekin, in Mongolia, and at
Moupin, and they are reported to have been seen near Amoy.
Within the last few yearsf a large specimen was killed by
Chinese soldiery within a few miles of the city of Ningpo ;
and it is probable that at no distant date they ranged over
the whole country from Hindostan to Eastern Siberia, as
they are incidentally referred to in various Chinese works
the Urh Yah specially recording the capture of a white tiger
* Chabas, Etudes sur VAntiquite Historique, d'apres les sources figyp-
tiennes.
t Subsequently to 1874.
74 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
in the time of the Emperor Siien of the Han dynasty, and of a
black one, in the fourth year of the reign of Yung Kia, in a
netted surround in Kien Ping Fu in the district of Tsz Kwei.
The tailed deer or Mi-lu (Cervus Davidianus of Milne
Edwardes), which Chinese literature* indicates as having
once been of common occurrence throughout China, is now
only to be found in the Imperial hunting grounds south of
Peking, where it is restricted to an enclosure of fifty miles
in circumference. It is believed to exist no longer in a wild
state, as no trace of it has been found in any of the recent
explorations of Asia. The Ch'un ts'iu (B.C. 676) states that
this species appeared in the winter of that year, in such
numbers that it was chronicled in the records of Lu (Shan-
tung), and that in the following autumn it was followed by
an inroad of " Yih," which Mr. Kingsmill believes to be the
wolf.
There also appears reason to suppose that the ostrich had
a much more extended range than at present ; for we find
references in the Shi-Kirf or book of history of Szema
Tsien, to " large birds with eggs as big as water-jars " as
inhabiting T'iaou-chi, identified by Mr. Kingsmill as Saran-
gia or Drangia; and, in speaking of Parthia, it says, " On
the return of the mission he sent envoys with it that they
might see the extent and power of China. He sent with
them, as presents to the 4 Emperor, eggs of the great bird of
the country, and a curiously deformed man from Samar-
kand."
The gigantic Chelonians which once abounded in India
* O. F. von Mollendorf, Journal of North China Branch of the Boyal
Asiatic Society, New Series, No. 2, and T. W. Kingsmill, " The Border
Lands of Geology and History," Journal of North China Branch of the
Eoyal Asiatic Society, 1877.
f " Intercourse of China with Eastern Turkestan and the adjacent
country in the second century B.C.," T. W. Kingsmill, Journal of North
China Branch of the Eoyal Asiatic Society, New Series, No. 14.
EXTINCTION OF SPECIES. 75
and the Indian seas are now entirely extinct ; but we have
had little difficulty in believing the accounts of their actual
and late existence contained in the works of Pliny and
-ZElian since the discovery of the Colossochelys, described by
Dr. Falconer, in the Upper Miocene deposits of the Siwalik
Hills in North-Western India. The shell of Colossochelys
Atlas (Falconer and Cautley) measured twelve feet, and the
whole animal nearly twenty.
Pliny,* who published his work on Natural History about
A.D. 77, states that the turtles of the Indian Sea are of such
vast size that a single shell is sufficient to roof a habitable
cottage, and that among the islands of the Ked Sea the
navigation is mostly carried on in boats formed 'from this
shell.
.ZElian,t about the middle of the third century of our era,
is more specific in his statement, and says that the Indian
river-tortoise is very large, and in size not less than a boat
of fair magnitude ; also, in speaking of the Great Sea, in
which is Taprobana (Ceylon), he says : " There are very
large tortoises generated in this sea, the shell of which is
large enough to make an entire roof ; for a single one reaches
the length of fifteen cubits, so that not a few people are able
to live beneath it, and certainly secure themselves from the
vehement rays of the sun ; they make a broad shade, and so
resist rain that they are preferable for this purpose to tiles,
nor does the rain beating against them sound otherwise than
if it were falling on tiles. Nor, indeed, do those who inhabit
them have any necessity for repairing them, as in the case
of broken tiles, for the whole roof is made out of a solid
shell so that it has the appearance of a cavernous or under-
mined rock, and of a natural roof."
* The Natural History of Pliny. Translated by J. Bostock and H. T.
Biley, 6 vols. Bohn, London, 1857.
f JEliani de Natura Animalium, F. Jacobs. Jenae, 1832.
76 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
El Edrisi, in his great geographical work,* completed
A.D. 1154, speaks of them as existing down to his day, but
as his book is admitted to be a compilation from all preceding
geographical works, he may have been simply quoting, with-
out special acknowledgment, the statements given above.
He says, speaking of the Sea of Herkend (the Indian Ocean
west of Ceylon), " It contains turtles twenty cubits long,
containing within them as many as one thousand eggs."
Large tortoises formerly inhabited the Mascarene islands, but
have been destroyed on all of them, with the exception of
the small uninhabited Aldabra islands, north of the Seychelle
group ; and those formerly abundant on the Galapagos islands
are now represented by only a few survivors, and the species
rapidly approaches extinction.
I shall close this chapter with a reference to a creature
which, if it may not be entitled to be called " the dragon,"
may at least be considered as first cousin to it. This is a
lacertilian of large size, at least twenty feet in length, pano-
plied with the most horrifying armour, which roamed over
the Australian continent during Pleistocene times, and pro-
bably until the introduction of the aborigines.
Its remains have been described by Professor Owen in
several communications to the Koyal Society,! under the
name of Megalania prisca. They were procured by Mr. G.
F. Bennett from the drift-beds of King's Creek, a tributary
of the Condamine Kiver in Australia. It was associated with
correspondingly large marsupial mammals, now also extinct.
From the portions transmitted to him Professor Owen
determined that it presented in some respects a magnified
resemblance of the miniature existing lizard, Moloch horridus,
* Geographic d* Edrisi, traduite de I'Arabe en Franqais, P. Amedee
Jaubert, 2 vols, Paris, ] 836.
f Phil. Trans., vol. cxlix. p. 43, 1859; vol. clxxi. p. 1,037, 1880;
vol. clxxii. p. 547, 1881.
EXTINCTION OF SPECIES. 77
found in Western Australia,* of which Dr. Gray remarks,
" The external appearance of this lizard is the most ferocious
of any that I know. 5 ' In Megalania the head was rendered
horrible and menacing by horns projecting from its sides,
and from the tip of the nose, which would be "as available
against the attacks of Thylacoleo as the buffalo's horns are
against those of the South African lion." The tail con-
sisted of a series of annular segments armed with horny
spikes, represented by the less perfectly developed ones in
the existing species Uromastix princeps from Zanzibar, or in
the above-mentioned moloch. In regard to these the Pro-
fessor says, " That the horny sheaths of the above-described
supports or cores arming the end of the tail may have been
applied to deliver blows upon an assailant, seems not impro-
bable, and this part of the organization of the great extinct
Australian dragon may be regarded, with the cranial horn, as
parts of both an offensive and defensive apparatus/'
The gavial of the Ganges is reported to be a fish-eater
only, and is considered harmless to man. The Indian
museums, however, have large specimens, which are said to
have been captured after they had destroyed several human
beings ; and so we may imagine that this structurally herbi-
vorous lizard (the Megalania having a horny edentate upper
jaw) may have occasionally varied his diet, and have proved
an importunate neighbour to aboriginal encampments in
which toothsome children abounded, and that it may, in fact,
have been one of the sources from which the myth of the
Bunyip, of which I shall speak hereafter, has been derived.
* Description of some New Species and Genera of Eeptiles from
Western Australia, discovered by John Gould, Esq., Annals and Maga-
zine of Natural History, vol. vii. p. 88, 1841.
78 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
CHAPTER III.
ANTIQUITY OF MAN.
I DO not propose to bestow any large amount of space upon
the enumeration of the palaeontological evidence of the
antiquity of man. The works of the various eminent
authors who have devoted themselves to the special conside-
ration of this subject exhaust all that can be said upon it
with our present data, and to these I must refer the reader
who is desirous of acquainting himself critically with its
details, confining myself to a few general statements based
on these labours.
In the early days of geological science when observers
were few, great groups of strata were arranged under an
artificial classification, which, while it has lost to a certain
extent the specific value which it then assumed to possess, is
still retained for purposes of convenient reference. Masters
of the science acquired, so to say, a possessive interest in
certain regions of it, and the names of Sedgwick, Murchison,
Jukes, Phillips, Lyell, and others became, and will remain,
inseparably associated with the history of those great divi-
sions of the materials of the earth's crust, which, under the
names of the Cambrian, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous,
and Tertiary formations, have become familiar to us.
In those days, when observations were limited to a com-
paratively small area, the lines separating most of these
formations were supposed to be hard and definite ; forms of
life which characterized one, were presumed to have become
ANTIQUITY OF MAN. 79
entirely extinct before the inauguration of those which suc-
ceeded them, and breaks in the stratigraphical succession
appeared to justify the opinion, held by a large and influential
section, that great cataclysms or catastrophes had marked the
time when one age or formation terminated and another
commenced to succeed it.
By degrees, and with the increase of observers, both in
England and in every portion of the world, modifications of
these views obtained ; passage beds were discovered, con-
necting by insensible gradations formations which had
hitherto been supposed to present the most abrupt separa-
tions; transitional forms of life connecting them were
unearthed ; and an opinion was advanced, and steadily con-
firmed, which at the present day it is probable no one would
be found to dispute, that not all in one place or country, but
discoverable in some part or other of the world, a perfect
sequence exists, from the very earliest formations of which
we have any cognizance, up to the alluvial and marine
deposits in process of formation at the present day.*
* " We shall, I think, eventually more fully recognise th'at, as is the
case with the periods of the day, each of the larger geological divisions
follows the other, without any actual break or boundary ; and that the
minor subdivisions are like the hours on the clock, useful and conven-
tional rather than absolutely fixed by any general cause in Nature."
Annual Address, President of G-eological Society, 1875.
" With regard to stratigraphical geology, the main foundations are
already laid, and a great part of the details filled in. The tendency of
modern discoveries has already been, and will probably still be, to fill
up those breaks, which, according to the view of many, though by no
means all geologists, are so frequently assumed to exist between different
geological periods and to bring about a more full recognition of the
continuity of geological time. As knowledge increases, it will, I think,
become more and more apparent that all existing divisions of time are
to a considerable extent local and arbitrary. But, even when this is
fully recognised, it will still be found desirable to retain them, if only
for the . sake of convenience and approximate precision." Annual
Address, President of Geological Society, 1876.
80 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
Correlatively it was deduced that the same phenomena of
nature have been in action since the earliest period when
organic existence can be affirmed. The gradual degradation
of pre-existing continents by normal destructive agencies,
the upheaval and subsidence of large areas, the effusion from
volcanic vents, into the air or sea, of ashes and lavas, the
action of frost and ice, of heat, rain, and sunshine all these
have acted in the past as they are still acting before our
eyes.
In earlier days, arguing from limited data, a progressive
creation was claimed which confined the appearance of the
higher form of vertebrate life to a successive and widely-
stepped gradation.
Hugh Miller, and other able thinkers, noted with satisfac-
tion the appearance, first of fish, then of reptiles, next of
birds and mammals, and finally, as the crowning work of all,
both geologically and actually, quite recently of man.
This wonderful confirmation of the Biblical history of
creation appealed so gratefully to many, that it caused for a
time a disposition to cramp discovery, and even to warp the
facts of science, in order to make them harmonize with the
statements of Revelation. The alleged proofs of the existence
of pre-historic man were for a long time jealously disputed,
and it was only by slow degrees that they were admitted,
that the tenets of the Darwinian school gained ground, and
that the full meaning was appreciated of such anomalies as
the existence at the present day of Ganoid fishes both in
America and Europe, of true Palaeozoic type, or of Oolitic
forms on the Australian continent and in the adjacent seas.
But step by step marvellous palaeontological discoveries
were made, and the pillars which mark the advent of each
great form of life have had to be set back, until now no one
would, I think, be entirely safe in affirming that even in the
Cambrian, the oldest of all fossiliferous formations, vestiges
of mammals, that is to say, of the highest forms of life, may
ANTIQUITY OF MAN. 81
not at a future day be found, or that the records contained
between the Cambrian and the present day, may not in fact
be but a few pages as compared with the whole volume of
the world's history.*
* " It was not until January 1832, that the second volume of the
Principles was published, when it was received with as much favour as
the first had been. It related more especially to the changes in the
organic world, while the former volume had treated mainly of the
inorganic forces of nature. Singularly enough, some of the points
which were seized on by his great fellow-labourer Murchison for his
presidential address to this Society in 1832, as subjects for felicitation,
are precisely those which the candid mind of Lyell, ever ready to attach
the full value to discoveries or arguments from time to time brought
forward, even when in opposition to his own views, ultimately found
reason to modify. We can never, I think, more highly appreciate Sir
Charles LyelPs freshness of mind, his candour and love of truth, than
when we compare certain portions of the first edition of the Principles
with those which occupy the same place in the last, and trace the
manner in which his judicial intellect was eventually led to conclusions
diametrically opposed to those which he originally held. To those
acquainted only with the latest editions of the Principles, and with his
Antiquity of Man, it may sound almost ironical in Murchison to have
written, ' I cannot avoid noticing the clear and impartial manner in
which the untenable parts of the dogmas concerning the alteration and
transmutation of species and genera are refuted, and how satisfactorily
the author confirms the great truth of the recent appearance of man
upon our planet.'
"By the work (Principles of Geology, vol. iii.), as a whole, was dealt
the most telling blow that had ever fallen upon those to whom it
appears l more philosophical to speculate on the possibilities of the past
than patiently to explore the realities of the present,' while the earnest
and careful endeavour to reconcile the former indications of change
with the evidence of gradual mutation now in progress, or which may
be in progress, received its greatest encouragement. The doctrines
which Hutton and Playfair had held and taught assumed new and more
vigorous life as better principles were explained by their eminent suc-
cessor, and were supported by arguments which, as a whole, were incon-
trovertible." Annual Address, President of Geological Society, 1876.
"But, as Sir Roderick Murchison has long ago proved, there are
parts of the record which are singularly complete, and in those parts
we have the proof of creation without any indication of development.
The Silurian rocks, as regards oceanic life, are perfect and abundant in
6
MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
It is with the later of these records that we have to deal,
in which discoveries have been made sufficiently progressive
to justify the expectation that they have by no means reached
their limit, and sufficiently ample in themselves to open the
widest fields for philosophic speculation and deduction.
Before stating these, it may be premised that estimates
have been attempted by various geologists of the collective
age of the different groups of formations. These are based
on reasonings which for the most part it is unnecessary to give
in detail, in so much as these can scarcely yet be considered
to have passed the bounds of speculation, and very different
results can be arrived at by theorists according to the relative
importance which they attach to the data employed in the
calculation.
Thus Mr. T. Mellard Keade, in a paper communicated to
the Royal Society in 1878, concludes that the formation of
the sedimentary strata must have occupied at least six hun-
dred million years : which he divides in round numbers as
follows :
i
Millions of Years.
Laurentian, Cambrian, and Silurian .... 200
Old Eed, Carboniferous, Permian, and New Eed . 200
Jurassic, Wealden, Cretaceous, Eocene, Miocene,
Pliocene, and Post Pliocene . . . . . 200
600
He estimates the average thickness of the sedimentary
crust of the earth to be at least one mile, and from a compu-
the forms they have preserved. Yet there are no fish. The Devonian
age followed tranquilly and without a break, and in the Devonian sea,
suddenly, fish appear, appear in shoals, and in form of the highest and
most perfect type." The Duke of Argyll, Primeval Man, p. 45, London,
1869.
* T. Mellard Eeade, " Limestone as an Index of Geological Time,"
Proceedings, Eoyal Society, London, vol. xxviii., p. 281.
ANTIQUITY OF MAN.
83
tation of the proportion of carbonate and sulphate of lime
to materials held in suspension in various river-waters from
a variety of formations, infers that one-tenth of this crust is
calcareous,
He estimates the annual flow of water in all the great
river-basins, the proportion of rain-water running off the
granitic and trappean rocks, the percentage of lime in solu-
tion which they carry down, and arrives at the conclusion
that the minimum time requisite for the elimination of the
calcareous matter contained in the sedimentary crust of the
earth, is at least six hundred millions of years.
A writer in the Gentleman's Magazine* (Professor Huxley ?),
whose article I am only able to quote at second-hand, makes
an estimate which, though much lower than the above, is still
of enormous magnitude, as follows :
Laurentian
Cambrian ....
Silurian .
Old Red and Devonian
Carboniferous .
Secondary ....
Tertiary and Post Tertiary
Gaps and unrepresented strata
Feet.
Years.
30,000
30,000,000
25,000
25,000,000
6,000
6,000,000
10,000
10,000,000
12,000
12,000,000
10,000
10,000,000
1,000
1,000,000
6,000
6,000,000
Total . 100,000,000
Mr. Darwin, arguing upon Sir W. Thompson's estimate of
a minimum of ninety-eight and maximum of two hundred
millions of years since the consolidation of the crust, and on
Mr. Croll's estimate of sixty millions, as the time elapsed
since the Cambrian period, considers that the latter is quite
insufficient to permit of the many and great mutations of
life which have certainly occurred since then. He judges
* Scientific American, Supplement, February 1881.
6 *
84 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
from the small amount of organic change since the com-
mencement of the glacial epoch, and adds that the previous
one hundred and forty million years can hardly be considered
as sufficient for the development of the varied forms of life
which certainly existed towards the close of the Cambrian
period.
On the other hand, Mr. Croll considers that it is utterly
impossible that the existing order of things, as regards our
globe, can date so far back as anything like five hundred
millions of years, and, starting with referring the commence-
ment of the Glacial epoch to two hundred and fifty thousand
years ago, allows fifteen millions since the beginning of
the Eocene period, and sixty millions of years in all since the
beginning of the Cambrian period. He bases his arguments
on the limit to the age of the sun's heat as detailed by Sir
William Thompson.
Sir Charles Lyell and Professor Haughton respectively
estimated the expiration of time from the commencement
of the Cambrian at two hundred and forty and two hundred
millions of years, basing their calculations on the rate of
modification of the species of mollusca, in the one case, and on
the rate of formation of rocks and their maximum thickness,
in the other.
This, moreover, is irrespective of the vast periods during
which life must have existed, which on the development
theory necessarily preceded the Cambrian, and, according to
Mr. Darwin, should not be less than in the proportion of
five to two.
In fine, one school of geologists and zoologists demand
the maximum periods quoted above, to account for the
amount of sedimentary deposit, and the specific developments
which have occurred ; the other considers the periods claimed
as requisite for these actions to be unnecessary, and to be in
excess of the limits which, according to their views, the
physical elements of the case permit.
ANTIQUITY OF MAN. 85
Mr. Wallace, in reviewing the question, dwells on the pro-
bability of the rate of geological changes having been greater
in very remote times than it is at present, and thus opens a
way to the reconciliation of the opposing views so far as one
half the question is concerned.
Having thus adverted to the principles upon which various
theorists have in part based their attacks on the problem of
the estimation of the duration of geological ages, I may now
make a few more detailed observations upon those later
periods during which man is, now, generally admitted to have
existed, and refer lightly to the earlier times which some, but
not all, geologists consider to have furnished evidences of his
presence.
I omit discussing the doubtful assertions of the extreme
antiquity of man, which come to us from American observers,
such as are based on supposed footprints in rocks of secon-
dary age, figured in a semi-scientific and exceedingly valuable
popular journal. There are other theories which I omit,
both because they need further confirmation by scientific
investigators, and because they deal with periods so remote
as to be totally devoid of significance for the argument of
this work.
Nor, up to the present time, are the evidences of the
existence of man during Miocene and Pliocene times admitted
as conclusive. Professor Capellini has discovered, in deposits
recognised by Italian geologists as of Pliocene age, cetacean
bones, which are marked with incisions such as only a sharp
instrument could have produced, and which, in his opinion,
must be ascribed to human agency. To this view it is ob-
jected that the incisions might have been made by the teeth
of fishes, and further evidence is waited for.
Not a few discoveries have been made, apparently extend-
ing the existence of man to a much more remote antiquity,
that of Miocene times. M. 1'Abbe Bourgeois has collected,
from undoubted Miocene strata at Thenay, supposed flint
86 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
implements which he conceives to exhibit evidences of having
been fashioned by man, as well as stones showing in some
cases traces of the action of fire, and which he supposes to
have been used as pot-boilers. M. Carlos Eibeiro has made
similar discoveries of worked flints and quartzites in the
Pliocene and Miocene of the Tagus ; worked flint has been
found in the Miocene of Aurillac (Auvergne) by M. Tardy,
and a cut rib of Halitherium fossile, a Miocene species, by
M. Delaunay at Pouance.
Very divided opinions are entertained as to the interpreta-
tion of the supposed implements discovered by M. TAbbe
Bourgeois. M. Quatrefages, after a period of doubt, has
espoused the view of their being of human origin, and of
Miocene age. " Since then," he says, " fresh specimens dis-
covered have removed my last doubts. A small knife or
scraper, among others, which shows a fine regular finish, can,
in my opinion, only have been shaped by man. Nevertheless,
I do not blame those of my colleagues who deny or still
doubt. In such a matter there is no very great urgency,
and, doubtless, the existence of Miocene man will be proved,
as that of Glacial and Pliocene has been, by facts/' Mr.
Geikie, from whose work Prehistoric Europe I have sum-
marized the above statements, says, in reference to this
question : " There is unquestionably much force in what
M. Quatrefages says ; nevertheless, most geologists will
agree with him that the question of man's Miocene age still
remains to be demonstrated by unequivocal evidence. At
present, all that we can safely say is, that man was probably
living in Europe near the close of the Pliocene period, and
that he was certainly an occupant of our continent during
glacial and interglacial times."
Professor Marsh considers that the evidence, as it stands
to-day, although not conclusive, " seems to place the first
appearance of man [in America] in the Pliocene, and that
the best proofs of this are to be found on the Pacific coast."
ANTIQUITY OF MAN. 87
He adds : (t During several visits to that region many facts
were brought to my knowledge which render this more than
probable. Man, at this time, was a savage, and was doubt-
less forced by the great volcanic outbreaks to continue his
migration. This was at first to the south, since mountain
chains were barriers on the east," and " he doubtless first
came across Behring's Straits."
I have hitherto assumed a certain acquaintance, upon the
part of the general reader, with the terms Eocene, Miocene,
and Pliocene, happily invented by Sir Charles Lyell to desig-
nate three of the four great divisions of the Tertiary age.
These, from their universal acceptation and constant use,
have " become familiar in our mouths as household words."
But it will be well, before further elaborating points in the
history of these groups, bearing upon our argument, to take
into consideration their subdivisions, and the equivalent or
contemporary deposits composing them in various countries.
This can be most conveniently done by displaying these, in
descending order, in a tabular form, which I accordingly annex
below. This is the more desirable as there are few depart-
ments in geological science which have received more attention
than this ; or in which greater returns, in the shape of im-
portant and interesting discoveries relative to man's existence,
have been made.
Comparatively recent comparatively, that is to say, with
regard to the vast aeons that preceded them, but extending
back over enormous spaces of time when contrasted with the
limited duration of written history, they embrace the period
during which the mainly existing distribution of land and ocean
has obtained, and the present forms of life have appeared by
evolution from preceding species, or, as some few still maintain,
by separate and special creation,
MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
THE TEETIAEY OE CAINOZOIC AGE.
oT .J r
| 1. Eecent ^
S 3 a a
g 6 . ^ 2 - Post Glacial]
2 g "^rS ^ 3. Pleistocene or
^ J 4j ^ S . Quaternary
-Post Tertiary "
"- o S/d E)
-3^8^^ (including
Glacial
.2
o D S 1^1 ^ formation)
o
ocf^ 2 *d
a
c3 <D as .fj
3
g3 ^ 4. Newer Pliocene "
i
O
> Pliocene
fel
"S K /MJ -DV '
i
" 'J
6. Upper Miocene ")
/ Miocene
1
7 T nTurr TVTinrmr
'
8. Upper Eocene
9. Middle do.
^ Eocene
10. Lower do. ^
PLIOCENE.
BRITAIN.
Norwich
Sand loam and gravel
Marine, land, and fresh- water
g shells
Many f Fusus striatus
shells \ antiquus
o> abundant, 1 Tunitella communis
such as (^Cardium edule, still existing
in adjacent sea.
Norwich Crag.
o
g f Eed,
g Crag -\ White,
* or
, ^ Coralline
ANTIQUITY OF MAN.
89
g s
w _,
H o
i I
o
-agl.s
d <D
ll
^y
li:
02 O
JIU
(D 0>
S^
og +*
%i*zj l ri I 1
rj;s SS n -s _ TS
oO
8 '2
90
MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
s I
II
II
H r 2 ^
C fe >>
I -i'^
2 .-
S M
H s-
: ^1
S^
^ ^
Sid
S 2
&Dr5
rt ^
l|
-5
03
^
1 1
d
adoana m pouad ij'Eq^ jo tjnn'Bj aq^ o^
aou'qqmasaj v Stii^uasaad suuoj aaq^o puij 'ratiuaq^oidonY PUT;
I
II
I
a <B 30
<] 0)
fc '
pa^atdnioo uaaq ^A ^on s'eq s^isodap
aq^ ' ure^T ig jo anaoog; aipptpi
p9Japisubo 'ajB spaq aiuoqrqQ a
aq| SB
S?
11
-I
II
.D q>
3
o
[poua j B
P-g-g -SB'S
a-^-^ 2^ g^j
d.?Sa^
,111
! L
i'S V
5'? !t
Si:! 3 ,
g ri^ll
to
g li
I!
I t
s ^
ANTIQUITY OF MAN. 91
We learn, both from the nature of these deposits and from
their organic contents, that climatic oscillations have been
passing during the whole period of their deposition over the
surface of the globe, and inducing corresponding fluctuations
in the character of the vegetable and animal life abounding
on it. A complete collation of these varying conditions at
synchronous periods remains to be achieved, but the study
of our own country, and those adjacent to it, shows that
alternations of tropical, boreal, and temperate climate have
occurred in it ; a remarkable series of conditions which has
only lately been thoroughly and satisfactorily accounted for.
Thus, during a portion of the Eocene period a tropical
climate prevailed, as is evidenced by deposits containing
remains of palms of an equatorial type, crocodiles, turtles,
tropical shells, and other remains attesting the existence of
a high temperature. The converse is proved of the Pleisto-
cene by the existence of a boreal fauna, and the widespread
evidences of glacial action. The gradations of climate during
the Miocene and Pliocene, and the amelioration subsequent
to the glacial period, have resulted in the gradual develop-
ment or appearance of specific life as it exists at present.
Corresponding indications of secular variability of climate
are derived from all quarters : during the Miocene age,
Greenland (in N. Lat. 70) developed an abundance of trees,
such as the yew, the Redwood, a Sequoia allied to the Cali-
fornian species, beeches, planes, willows, oaks, poplars, and
walnuts, as well as a Magnolia and a Zamia. In Spitsbergen
(N. Lat. 78 56') flourished yews, hazels, poplars, alders,
beeches, and limes. At the present day, a dwarf willow and
a few herbaceous plants form the only vegetation, and the
ground is covered with almost perpetual ice and snow.
Many similar fluctuations of climate have been traced right
back through the geological record ; but this fact, though
interesting in relation to the general solution of the causes,
has little bearing on the present purpose.
92 MYTHICAL MONSTEES.
Sir Charles Lyell conceived that all cosmical changes of
climate in the past might be accounted for by the varying
preponderance of land in the vicinity of the equator or near
the poles, supplemented, of course, in a subordinate degree
by alteration of level and the influence of ocean currents.
When, for example, at any geological period the excess of
land was equatorial, the ascent and passage northwards of
currents of heated air would, according to his view, render
the poles habitable ; while, per contra, the excessive massing
of land around the pole, and absence of it from the equator,
would cause an arctic climate to spread far over the now
temperate latitudes.
The correctness of these inferences has been objected to
by Mr. James Geikie and Dr. Croll, who doubt whether the
northward currents of air would act as successful carriers of
heat to the polar regions, or whether they would not rather
dissipate it into space upon the road. On the other hand,
Mr. Geikie, though admitting that the temperature of a large
unbroken arctic continent would be low, suggests that, as the
winds would be stripped of all moisture on its fringes, the
interior would therefore be without accumulations of snow and
ice; and in the more probable event of its being deeply indented
by fjords and bays, warm sea-currents (the representatives of
our present Gulf and Japan streams, but possessing a higher
temperature than either, from the greater extent of equatorial
sea-surface originating them, and exposed to the sun's influ-
ence) would flow northward, and, ramifying, carry with them
warm and heated atmospheres far into its interior, though
even these, he thinks, would be insufficient in their effects
under any circumstances to produce the sub -tropical climates
which are known to have existed in high latitudes.
Mr. John Evans* has thrown out the idea that possibly a
Proceedings, Eoyal Sooi^v, vol. xv. No. 82, 1866.
ANTIQUITY OF MAN. 93
complete translation of geographical position with respect to
polar axes may have been produced by a sliding of the whole
surface crust of the globe about a fluid nucleus. This, he
considers, would be induced by disturbances of equilibrium
of the whole mass from geological causes. He further points
out that the difference between the polar and equatorial dia-
meters of the globe, which constitutes an important objection
to his theory, is materially reduced when we take into con-
sideration the enormous depth of the ocean over a large
portion of the equator, and the great tracts of land elevated
considerably above the sea-level in higher latitudes. He also
speculates on the general average of the surface having in
bygone geological epochs approached much more nearly to
that of a sphere than it does at the present time.
Sir John Lubbock favoured the idea of a change in the
position of the axis of rotation, and this view has been sup-
ported by Sir H. James* and many later geologists. t If I
apprehend their arguments correctly, this change could only
have been produced by what may be termed geological revo-
lutions. These are great outbursts of volcanic matter, eleva-
tions, subsidences, and the like. These having probably
been almost continuous throughout geological time, incessant
changes, small or great, would be demanded in the position
of the axis, and the world must be considered as a globe
rolling over in space with every alteration of its centre of
gravity. The possibility of this view must be left for mathe-
maticians and astronomers to determine.
Sounder arguments sustain the theory propounded by Dr.
Croll (though this, again, is not universally accepted), that
all these alterations of climate can be accounted for by the
effects of nutation, and the precession of the equinoxes.
* Athenceum, August 25, 1860, &c.
f The mass of astronomers, however, deny that this is possible to any-
very great extent.
94 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
From these changes, combined with the eccentricity of the
ecliptic from the first, it results that at intervals of ten
thousand five hundred years, the northern and southern
hemispheres are alternately in aphelion during the winter,
and in perihelion during the summer months, and vice versa ;
or, in other words, that if at any given period the inclination
of the earth's axis produces winter in the northern hemi-
sphere, while the earth is at a maximum distance from that
focus of its orbit in which the sun is situated, then, after
an interval of ten thousand five hundred years, and as a
result of the sum of the backward motion of the equinoxes
along the ecliptic, at the rate of 50' annually, the converse
will obtain, and it will be winter in the northern hemisphere
while the earth is at a minimum distance from the sun.
The amount of eccentricity of the ecliptic varies greatly
during long periods, and has been calculated for several
million years back. Mr. Croll* has demonstrated a theory
explaining all great secular variations of climate as indirectly
the result of this, through the action of sundry physical
agencies, such as the accumulation of snow and ice, and
especially the deflection of ocean currents. From a consi-
deration of the tables which he has computed of the eccen-
tricity and longitude of the earth's orbit, he refers the glacial
epoch to a period commencing about two hundred and forty
thousand years back, and extending down to about eighty
thousand years ago, and he describes it as " consisting of
a long succession of cold and warm periods ; the warm
periods of the one hemisphere corresponding in time with
the cold periods of the other, and vice versa."
Having thus spoken of the processes adopted for estimating
the duration of geological ages, and the results which have
been arrived at, with great probability of accuracy, in regard
* James Croll, F.E.S., &c., Climate and Time in their Geological Rela-
tions.
ANTIQUITY OF MAN. 95
to some of the more recent, it now only remains to briefly
state the facts from which the existence of man, during these
latter periods, has been demonstrated. The literature of
this subject already extends to volumes, and it is therefore
obviously impossible, in the course of the few pages which
the limits of this work admit, to give anything but the
shortest abstract, or to assign the credit relatively due to the
numerous progressive workers in this rich field of research.
I therefore content myself with taking as my text-book Mr.
James Geikie's Prehistoric Europe, the latest and most ex-
haustive work upon the subject, and summarizing from it
the statements essential to my purpose.
From it we learn that, long prior to the ages when men
were acquainted with the uses of bronze and iron, there
existed nations or tribes, ignorant of the means by which
these metals are utilized, whose weapons and implements
were formed of stone, horn, bone, and wood.
These, again, may be divided into an earlier and a later
race, strongly characterized by the marked differences in the
nature of the stone implements which they respectively
manufactured, both in respect to the material employed and
the amount of finish bestowed upon it. To the two periods
in which these people lived the terms Palaeolithic and Neo-
lithic have been respectively applied, and a vast era is sup-
posed to have intervened between the retiring from Europe
of the one and the appearance there of the other.
Palaeolithic man was contemporaneous with the mammoth
(Elephas primigenius), the woolly rhinoceros (Rhinoceros primi-
genius), the Hippopotamus major, and a variety of other species,
now quite extinct, as well as with many which, though still
existing in other regions, are no longer found in Europe ;
whereas the animals contemporaneous with Neolithic man
were essentially the same as those still occupying it.
The stone implements of Palaeolithic man had but little
variety of form, were very rudely fashioned, being merely
MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
'
* Figs. 19 and 21 are taken, by permission of Edmund Christy, Esq.,
from Reliquice Aquitanicce, &c., London, 1875.
ANTIQUITY OF MAN.
97
chipped into shape, and never ground or polished ; they were
worked nearly entirely out of flint and chert. Those of
Neolithic man were made of many varieties of hard stone,
often beautifully finished, frequently ground to a sharp point
or edge, and polished all over.
Palaeolithic men were unacquainted with pottery and the
art of weaving, and apparently had no domesticated animals
or system of cultivation ; but the Neolithic lake dwellers of
Switzerland had looms, pottery, cereals, and domesticated
animals, such as swine, sheep, horses, dogs, &c.
Implements of horn, bone, and wood were in common use
among both races, but those of the older are frequently dis-
tinguished by their being sculptured with great ability or
ornamented with life-like engravings of the various animals
living at the period ; whereas there appears to have been a
marked absence of any similar artistic ability on the part of
Neolithic man.
FIG. 20. REINDEER ENGRAVED ON ANTLER BY PALAEOLITHIC MAN
(After Geikie.}
Again, it is noticeable that, while the passage from the
Neolithic age into the succeeding bronze age was gradual,
and, indeed, that the use of stone implements and, in some
7
98 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
parts, weapons, was contemporaneous with that of bronze in
other places, no evidence exists of a transition from Palaeo-
lithic into Neolithic times. On the contrary, the examination
of bone deposits, such as those of Kent's Cave and Victoria
Cave in England, and numerous others in Belgium and
France, attest " beyond doubt that a considerable period
must have supervened after the departure of Palaeolithic man
and before the arrival of his Neolithic successor." The
discovery of remains of Palaeolithic man and animals in river
deposits in England and on the Continent, often at consider-
able elevations* above the existing valley bottoms, and in
Loss, and the identification of the Pleistocene or Quaternary
period with Preglacial and Glacial times, offer a means of
estimating what that lapse of time must have been.f
* In some cases as much as 150 feet.
t " Starting from the opinion generally accepted among geologists,
that man was on the earth at the close of the Glacial epoch, Professor
B. F. Mudge adduces evidence to prove that the antiquity of man cannot
be less than 200,000 years.
" His argument, as given in the Kansas City Review of Science, is
about as follows :
"After the Glacial epoch, geologists fix three distinct epochs, the
Champlain, the Terrace, and the Delta, all supposed to be of nearly
equal lengths.
" Now we have in the delta of the Mississippi a means of measuring
the duration of the third of these epochs.
" For a distance of about two hundred miles of this delta are seen
forest growths of large trees, one after the other, with interspaces of
sand. There are ten of these distinct forest growths, which have begun
and ended one after the other. The trees are the bald cypress (Taxo-
dium) of the Southern States, and some of them were over twenty-five
feet in diameter. One contained over five thousand seven hundred annual
rings. In some instances these huge trees have grown over the stumps
of others equally large, and such instances occur in all, or nearly all, of
the ten forest beds. This gives to each forest a period of 10,000 years.
" Ten such periods give 100,000 years, to say nothing of the time
covered by the interval between the ending of one forest and the begin-
ning of another, an interval which in most cases was considerable.
" ' Such evidence,' writes Professor Mudge, ' would be received in any
ANTIQUITY OF MAN. 99
Skeletons or portions of the skeletons of human beings,
of admitted Palaeolithic age, have been found in caverns in
the vicinity of Liege in Belgium, by Schmerling, and pro-
bably the same date may be assigned those from the Nean-
derthal Cave near Diisseldorf. A complete skeleton, of tall
stature, of probable but not unquestioned Palaeolithic age,
has also been discovered in the Cave of Mentone on the
Kiviera.
These positive remains yield us further inferences than
can be drawn from the mere discovery of implements or
fragmentary bones associated with remains of extinct
animals.
The Mentone man, according to M. Kiviere, had a rather
long but large head, a high and well-made forehead, and
the very large facial angle of 85. In the Liege man the
cranium was high and short, and of good Caucasian type ;
" a fair average human skull," according to Huxley.
Other remains, such as the jaw-bone from the cave of the
Naulette in Belgium, and the Neanderthal skeleton, show
marks of inferiority ; but even in the latter, which was the
lowest in grade, the cranial capacity is seventy-five cubic
inches or " nearly on a level with the mean between the two
human extremes."
We may, therefore, sum up by saying that evidences have
been accumulated of the existence of man, and intelligent
man, from a period which even the most conservative among
geologists are unable to place at less than thirty thousand
court of law as sound and satisfactory. We do not see how such proof
is to be discarded when applied to the antiquity of our race.
" * There is satisfactory evidence that man lived in the Champlain epoch.
But the Terrace epoch, or the greater part of it, intervenes between the
Champlain and the Delta epochs, thus adding to my 100,000 years.
" * If only as much time is given to both those epochs as to the Delta
period, 200,000 years is the total result."' Popular Science Monthly,
No. 91, vol. xvi. No. 1, p. 140, November 1878.
7 *
100
MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
years ; while most of them are convinced both of his exist-
ence from at least later Pliocene times, and of the long
duration of ages which has necessarily elapsed since his
appearance a duration to be numbered, not by tens, but by
hundreds of thousands of years.
FIG. 21. ENGRAVING BY PALAEOLITHIC MAN ON REINDEER ANTLER.
101
CHAPTER IV.
THE DELUGE NOT A MYTH.
IF we assume that the antiquity of man is as great, or even
approximately as great, as Sir Charles Lyell and his followers
affirm, the question naturally arises, what has he been doing
during those countless ages, prior to historic times ? what
evidences has he afforded of the possession of an intelligence
superior to that of the brute creation by which he has been
surrounded ? what great monuments of his fancy and skill
remain ? or has the sea of time engulphed any that he
erected, in abysses so deep that not even the bleached masts
project from the surface, to testify to the existence of the
good craft buried below ?
These questions have been only partially asked, and but
slightly answered. They will, however, assume greater pro-
portions as the science of archaeology extends itself, and
perhaps receive more definite replies when fresh fields for
investigation are thrown open in those portions of the old
world which Asiatic reserve has hitherto maintained inviolable
against scientific prospectors.
If man has existed for fifty thousand years, as some
demand, or for two hundred thousand, as others imagine,
has his intelligence gone on increasing thoughout the period ?
and if so, in what ratio ? Are the terms of the series which
involve the unknown quantity stated with sufficient precision
to enable us to determine whether his development has been
slow, gradual, and more or less uniform, as in arithmetical,
or gaining at a rapidly increasing rate, as in geometric pro-
gression. Or, to pursue the simile, could it be more
102 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
accurately expressed by the equation to a curve which traces
an ascending and descending path, and, though controlled in
reality by an absolute law, appears to exhibit an unaccount-
able and capricious variety of positive and negative phases,
of points d'arret, nodes, and cusps.
These questions cannot yet be definitely answered ; they
may be proposed and argued on, but for a time the result
will doubtless be a variety of opinions, without the possibility
of solution by a competent arbiter.
For example, it is a matter of opinion whether the intelli-
gence of the present day is or is not of a higher order than
that which animated the savans of ancient Greece. It is
probable that most would answer in the affirmative, so far as
the question pertains to the culture of the masses only, but
how will scholars decide, who are competent to compare the
works of our present poets, sculptors, dramatists, logicians,
philosophers, historians, and statesmen, with those of Homer,
Pindar, QBschylus, Euripides, Herodotus, Aristotle, Euclid,
Phidias, Plato, Solon, and the like ? Will they, in a word,
consider the champions of intellect of the present day so
much more robust than their competitors of three thousand
years ago as to render them easy victors ? This would
demonstrate a decided advance in human intelligence during
that period ; but, if this is the case, how is it that all the
great schools and universities still cling to the reverential
study of the old masters, and have, until quite recently,
almost ignored modern arts, sciences, and languages.
We must remember that the ravages of time have put out
of court many of the witnesses for the one party to the suit,
and that natural decay, calamity, and wanton destruction*
* Such as the destruction of the Alexandrine Library on three distinct
occasions, (1) upon the conquest of Alexandria by Julius Caesar, B.C. 48 ;
(2) in A.D. 390 ; and, (3) by Amrou, the general of the Caliph Omar, in
640, who ordered it to be burnt, and so supplied the baths with fuel for
THE DELUGE NOT A MYTH. 103
have obliterated the bulk of the philosophy of past ages.
With the exceptions of the application of steam, the employ-
ment of moveable type in printing,* and the utilization of
electricity, there are few arts and inventions which have not
descended to us from remote antiquity, lost, many of them,
for a time, some of them for ages, and then re-discovered
and paraded as being, really and truly, something new under
the sun.
Neither must we forget the oratory and poetry, the master-
pieces of logical argument, the unequalled sculptures, and
the exquisitely proportioned architecture of Greece, or the
thorough acquaintance with mechanical principles and engi-
neering skill evinced by the Egyptians, in the construction
of the pyramids, vast temples, canalsf and hydraulic works 4
Notice, also, the high condition of civilization possessed
six months. Again, the destruction of all Chinese books by order
of Tsin Shi Hwang-ti, the founder of the Imperial branch of the Tsin
dynasty, and the first Emperor of United China ; the only exceptions
allowed being those relating to medicine, divination, and husbandry.
This took place in the year 213 B.C.
* The Chinese have used composite blocks (wood engraved blocks
with many characters, analogous to our stereotype plates) from an early
period. May not the brick-clay tablets preserved in the Imperial
Library at Babylon have been used for striking off impressions on some
plastic material, just as rubbings may be taken from the stone drums
in China : may not the cylinders with inscribed characters have been
used in some way or other as printing-rollers for propagating knowledge
or proclamations ?
t As, for example, the old canal from the Nile to the Red Sea, in
reference to which Herodotus says (Euterpe, 158), " Neco was the son
of Psammitichus, and became King of Egypt : he first set about the
canal that leads to the Red Sea, which Darius the Persian afterwards
completed. Its length is a voyage of four days, and in width it was
dug so that two triremes might sail rowed abreast. The water is drawn
into it from the Nile, and it enters it a little above the city Bubastis,
passes near the Arabian city Paturnos, and reaches to the Red Sea." In
the digging of which one hundred and twenty thousand Egyptians
perished in the reign of Neco.
J The co-called tanks at Aden, reservoirs constructed one below the
304
MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
by the Chinese four thousand years ago, their enlightened
and humane polity, their engineering works,* their provision
for the proper administration of different departments of
the State, and their clear and intelligent documents.f
In looking back upon these, I think we can hardly distin-
guish any such deficiency of intellect, in comparison with
ours, on the part of these our historical predecessors as to
indicate so rapid a change of intelligence as would, if we
were able to carry our comparison back for another similar
period, inevitably land us among a lot of savages similar to
other, in a gorge near the cantonments, are as perfect now as they
were when they left the hand of the contractor or royal engineer in the
time of Moses.
* In the 29th year of the Em-
peror Kwei [B.C. 1559] they chiselled
through mountains and tunnelled
hills, according to the Bamboo Books,
f An interesting line of investi-
gation might be opened up as to
the origin of inventions and the
date of their migrations. The
Chinese claim the priority of many
discoveries, such as chess, printing,
issue of bank-notes, sinking of arte-
sian wells, gunpowder, suspension
bridges, the mariner's compass, &c.
&c. I extract two remarkable
wood- cuts from the San Li TU, one
appended here showing the origin
of our college cap ; the other, in
the chapter on the Unicorn, ap-
pearing to illustrate the fable of
the Sphynx.
I also give a series of engravings,
reduced facsimiles of those con-
tained in a celebrated Chinese work
on antiquities, showing the gradual
evolution of the so-called Grecian
pattern or scroll ornamentation,
and origination of some of the
Fm. 22. ROYAL DIADEM OF THE CHEN .- , , .
DYNASTY. (From the San Li T'u.) Greek forms <> f tripods.
THE DELUGE NOT A MYTH.
105
FIG. 23. VASE. HAN DYNASTY
B.C. 206 to A.D. 23.
(From the Poh Ku 2 'M.)
FIG. 24. CYATHUS OR CUP FOR
LIBATIONS. SHANG DYNASTY,
B.C. 1766 to B.C. 1122.
(From the Poh Ku 2V)
106 . MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
those who fringe the civilization of the present period.
Intellectually measured, the civilized men of eight or ten
thousand years ago must, I think, have been but little
inferior to ourselves, and we should have to peer very far
back indeed before we reached a status or condition in which
the highest type of humanity was the congener of the cave
lion, disputing with him a miserable existence, shielded only
from the elements by an overhanging rock, or the fortuitous
discovery of some convenient cavern.
If this be so, we are forced back again to the consideration
of the questions with which this section opened ; where are
the evidences of man's early intellectual superiority ? are they
limited to those deduced from the discovery of certain stone
implements of the early rude, and later polished ages ? and,
if so, can we offer any feasible explanation either of their
non-existence or disappearance ?
In the first place, it may be considered as admitted by
archaeologists that no exact line can be drawn between the
later of the two stone-weapon epochs, the polished Neolithic
stone epoch, and the succeeding age of bronze. They are
agreed that these overlap each other, and that the rude
hunters, who contented themselves with stone implements of
war and the chase, were coeval with people existing in other
places, acquainted with the metallurgical art, and therefore
of a high order of intelligence. The former are, in fact,
brought within the limit of historic times.
A similar inference might not unfairly be drawn with
regard to those numerous discoveries of proofs of the exis-
tence of ruder man, at still earlier periods. The flint-headed
arrow of the North American Indian, and the stone hatchet
of the Australian black-fellow exist to the present day ; and
but a century or two back, would have been the sole repre-
sentatives of the constructive intelligence of humanity over
nearly one half the inhabited surface of the world. No
philosopher, with these alone to reason on, could have
*THE DELUGE NOT A MYTH.
107
FIG. 25. INCENSE BURNER (?). CHEN DYNASTY, B.C. 1122 to B.C. 255.
(From the Poh KuTu.}
FIG. 26. TRIPOD OF THE SHANG DYNASTY. Probable date, B.C. 1649.
(From the Poh Ku ZV)
108
MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
FIG. 27. TRIPOD F Fu Ym, SHANG DYNASTY. (From the Poh Ku T'.)
FIG, 28. TRIPOD OP KWAI WAN, CHEN DYNASTY, B.C. 1122 to B.C. 255
(From the Poh Ku T'u.)
THE DELUGE NOT A MYTH.
109
imagined the settled existence, busy industry, and superior
intelligence which animated the other half ; and a parallel
suggestive argument may be supported by the discovery of
human relics, implements, and artistic delineations such as
those of the hairy mammoth or the cave-bear. These may
possibly be the traces of an outlying savage who co -existed
with a far more highly- organized people elsewhere,* just as
at the present day the Esquimaux, who are by some geolo-
gists considered as the descendants of Palaeolithic man,
co-exist with ourselves. They, like their reputed ancestors,
have great ability in carving on bone, &c.; and as an example
of their capacity not only to conceive in their own minds a
CHART
DRAWN BY THE NATIVES.
THE se MAHKS o SHE w WHERE THC BOOTHIANS
filter Hurs TO Siftf in on but JOURHAY TO AccuLEC.
FIG. 29. (From /Sir John .Ross' Second Voyage to the Arctic Regions.}
* " The old Troglodytes, pile villagers, and bog people, prove to be
quite a respectable society. They have heads so large that many a
living person would be only too happy to possess such." A. Mitchell,
The Past in the Present, Edinburgh, 1880.
110 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
correct notion of the relative bearings of localities, but also
to impart the idea lucidly to others, I annex a wood-cut of a
chart drawn by them, impromptu, at the request of Sir J.
Koss, who, inferentially, vouches for its accuracy.
There is but a little step between carving the figure of a
mammoth or horse, and using them as symbols. Multiply
them, and you have the early hieroglyphic written language
of the Chinese and Egyptians. It is not an unfair presump-
tion that at no great distance, in time or space, either some
generations later among his own descendants, or so many
nations' distance among his coevals, the initiative faculty of
the Palaeolithic savage was usefully applied to the communi-
cation of ideas, just as at a much later date the Kououen
symbolic language was developed or made use of among the
early Chinese.*
Such is, necessarily, the first stage of any written lan-
guage, and it may, as I think, perhaps have occurred, been
developed into higher stages, culminated, and perished at many
successive epochs during man's existence, presuming it to have
been so extended as the progress of geology tends to affirm.
May not the meandering of the tide of civilization west-
ward during the last three thousand years, bearing on its
crest fortune and empire, and leaving in its hollow decay and
oblivion, possibly be the sequel of many successive waves
which have preceded it in the past, rising, some higher, some
lower, as waves will.
In comparison with the vast epochs of which we treat how
* I have given in the annexed plates a few examples of the early
hieroglyphics on which the modern Chinese system of writing is based,
selected from a limited number collected by the early Jesuit fathers in
China, and contained in the Memoirs concernant I'Histoire, &c. des Chinois,
par les Missionaires de Pekin, vol. i., Paris, 1776. The modern Chinese
characters conveying the same idea are attached, and their derivation
from the pictorial hieroglyphics, by modification or contraction, is in
nearly all cases obvious.
THE DELUGE NOT A MYTH.
Ill
JILL
CD
FIG. 30. EARLY CHINESE HIEROGLYPHICS,
112
MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
I:
FIG. 31. EARLY CHINESE HIEROGLYPHICS.
THE DELUGE NOT A MYTH. 113
near to us are Nineveh, Babylon, and Carthage ! Yet the very
sites of the former two have become uncertain, and of the
last we only know by the presence of the few scattered ruins
on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. Tyre, the vast
entrepot of commerce in the days of Solomon, was stated,
rightly or wrongly, by Benjamin of Tudela, to be but barely
discernible (in 1173) in ruins beneath the waves; and the
glory of the world, the temple of King Solomon, was repre-
sented at the same date by two copper columns which had
been carried off and preserved in Eome. It is needless to
quote the cases of Persia, Greece, and Home, and of many
once famous cities, which have dissolved in ruin ; except as
assisting to point the moral that conquest, which is always
recurring, means to a great extent obliteration, the victor
having no sympathy with the preservation of the time-
honoured relics of the vanquished.
"When decay and neglect are once initiated, the hand
of man largely assists the ravages of time. The peasant
carts the marbles of an emperor's palace to his lime-kiln,* or
an Egyptian monarch strips the casing of a pyramidf to
furnish the material for a royal residence.
Nor is it beyond the limits of possibility that the arrogant
caprice of some, perhaps Mongol, invader in the future, may
level the imperishable pyramids themselves for the purpose
of constructing some defensive work, or the gratification
of an inordinate vanity.
* " The Porcelain Tower of Nankin, once one of the seven wonders
of the world, can now only be found piecemeal in walls of peasants'
huts." Gutzlaff, Hist. China, vol. i. p. 372.
f The outer casing of the pyramid of Cheops, which Herodotus
(Euterpe, 125) states to have still exhibited in his time an inscription,
telling how much was expended (one thousand six hundred talents
of silver) in radishes, onions, and garlic for the workmen, has entirely
disappeared ; as also, almost completely, the marble casing of the adjacent
pyramid of Sen-Saophis. According to tradition the missing marbles
in each instance were taken to build palaces with in Cairo.
8
114 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
In later dates how many comfortable modern residences
have been erected from the pillage of mediaeval abbey, keep,
or castle ? and how many fair cities* must have fallen to
decay, in Central and Eastern Asia, and how many numerous
populations dwindled to insignificance since the days when
Ghenghis and Timour led forth their conquering hordes, and
Nadun could raise four hundred thousand hor semen f to
contest the victory with Kublai Khan.
The unconscious ploughman in Britain has for centuries
guided his share above the remains of Eoman villas, and the
inhabitants of the later city of Hissarlik were probably as
ignorant that a series of lost and buried cities lay below
them, as they would have been incredulous that within a
thousand years their own existence would have passed from
the memory of man, and their re-discovery been due only to
the tentative researches of an enthusiastic admirer of Homer.
Men live by books and bards longer than by the works of
their hands, and impalpable tradition often survives the
material vehicle which was destined to perpetuate it. The
name of Priam was still a household word when the site of
his palace had been long forgotten.
The vaster a city is, the more likely is it to be constructed
upon the site of its own grave, or, in other words, to occupy
the broad valley of some important river beneath whose
gravels it is destined to be buried.
Perched on an eminence, and based on solid rock, it may
escape entombment, but more swiftly and more certainly will
* " The work of destruction was carried on methodically. From the
Caspian Sea to the Indus, the Mongols ruined, within four years, more
than four centuries of continuous labour have since restored. The most
flourishing cities became a mass of ruins : Samarkand, Bokhara, Niza-
bour, Balkh, and Kandahar shared in the same destruction." Gutzlaff,
Hist. China, vol. i. p. 358.
f " An army of 700,000 Mongols met half the number of Mahom-
medans." Ibid. p. 357.
THE DELUGE NOT A MYTH. 115
it be destroyed by the elements,* and by the decomposition
of its own material furnish the shroud for its envelopment.!
It is not altogether surprising then that no older discoveries
than those already quoted have yet been made, for these
would probably never have resulted if tradition had not both
stimulated and guided the fortunate explorer.
It is, therefore, no unfair inference that the remains of
equally important, but very much more ancient cities and
memorials of civilization may have hitherto entirely escaped
our observation, presuming that we can show some reason-
able grounds for belief that, subsequent to their completion,
a catastrophe has occurred of sufficiently universal a character
to have obliterated entirely the annals of the past, and to
have left in the possession of its few survivors but meagre
and fragmentary recollections of all that had preceded them.
Now this is precisely what the history and traditions of all
nations affirm to have occurred. However, as a variance of
opinion exists as to the credence which should be attached to
these traditions, I shall, before expressing my own views upon
the subject, briefly epitomize those entertained by two authors
of sufficient eminence to warrant their being selected as
representatives of two widely opposite schools.
These gentlemen, to whom we are indebted for exhaustive
papers, J embracing the pith of all the information extant
* Those interested in the subject may read with great advantage the
section on dynamical geology in Dana's valuable manual. He points
out the large amount of wear accomplished by wind carrying sand in
arid regions, by seeds falling in some crevice, and bursting rocks open
through the action of the roots developed from their sprouting, to say
nothing of the more ordinarily recognized destructive agencies of frost
and rain, carbonic acid resulting from vegetable decomposition, &c.
f Darwin, in Vegetable Mould and Earth-worms, has shown that earth-
worms play a considerable part in burying old buildings, even to a depth
of several feet.
J Eev. T. K Cheyne, Article "Deluge," Encyclopedia Britannica,
1877. Fran9ois Lenormant, " The Deluge, its Traditions in Ancient
Histories," Contemporary Review, Nov., 1879,
8 *
116 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
upon the subject, have tapped the same sources of informa-
tion, consulted the same authorities, ranged their information
in almost identical order, argued from the same data, and
arrived at diametrically opposite conclusions.
Mr. Cheyne, following the lead of Continental mythologists,
deduces that the Deluge stories were on the whole propagated
from several independent centres, and adopts the theory of
Schirrer and Gerland that they are ether myths, without any
historical foundation, which have been transferred from the
sky to the earth.
M. Lenormant, upon the other hand, eliminating from the
inquiry the great inundation of China in the reign of Yao,
and some others, as purely local events, concludes as the
result of his researches that the story of the Deluge ' ' is a
universal tradition among all branches of the human race/'
with the one exception of the black. He further argues :
" Now a recollection thus precise and concordant cannot be
a myth voluntarily invented. No religious or cosmogenic
myth presents this character of universality. It must arise
from the reminiscences of a real and terrible event, so power-
fully impressing the imagination of the first ancestors of our
race, as never to have been forgotten by their descendants.
This cataclysm must have occurred near the first cradle of
mankind and before the dispersion of families from which the
different races of men were to spring."
Lord Arundel of Wardour adopts a similar view in many
respects to that of M. Lenormant, but argues for the exist-
ence of a Deluge tradition in Egypt, and the identity of the
Deluge of Yu (in China) with the general catastrophe of
which the tradition is current in other countries.
The subject is in itself so inviting, and has so direct a
bearing upon the argument of this work that I propose to
re-examine the same materials and endeavour to show from
them that the possible solutions of the question have not
yet been exhausted.
THE DELUGE NOT A MYTH. 117
We have as data :
1. The Biblical account.
2. That of Josephus.
3. The Babylonian.
4. The Hindu.
5. The Chinese.
6. The traditions of all nations in the northern
hemisphere, and of certain in the southern.
It is unnecessary to travel in detail over the well-worn
ground of the myths and traditions prevalent among Euro-
pean nations, the presumed identity of Noah with Saturn,
Janus, and the like, or the Grecian stories of Ogyges and
Deucalion. Nor is anyone, I think, disposed to dispute the
identity of the cause originating the Deluge legends in Persia
and in India. How far these may have descended from
independent sources it is now difficult to determine, though
it is more than probable that their vitality is due to the
written Semitic records. Nor is it necessary to discuss any
unimportant differences which may exist between the text of
Josephus and that of the Bible, which agree sufficiently
closely, but are mere abstracts (with the omission of many
important details) in comparison with the Chaldsean account.
This may be accounted for by their having been only derived
from oral tradition through the hands of Abraham. The
Biblical narrative shows us that Abraham left Chaldsea on a
nomadic enterprise, just as a squatter leaves the settled dis-
tricts of Australia or America at the present day, and strikes
out with a small following and scanty herd to search for,
discover, and occupy new country ; his destiny leading him,
may be for a few hundred, may be for a thousand miles.
In such a train there is no room for heavy baggage, and the
stone tablets containing the detailed history of the Deluge
would equally with all the rest of such heavy literature be
left behind.
118 MYTHICAL MONSTEKS.
The tradition, however reverenced and faithfully preserved
at first, would, under such circumstances, soon get mutilated
and dwarfed. We may, therefore, pass at once to the much
more detailed accounts presented in the text of Berosus,
and in the more ancient Chaldaean tablets deciphered by
the late Mr. G. Smith from the collation of three separate
copies.
The account by Berosus (see Appendix) was taken from
the sacred books of Babylon, and is, therefore, of less value
than the last-mentioned as being second-hand. The leading
incidents in his narrative are similar to those contained in
that of Genesis, but it terminates with the vanishing of
Xisuthros (Noah) with his wife, daughter, and the pilot,
after they had descended from the vessel and sacrificed to
the gods, and with the return of his followers to Babylon.
They restored it, and disinterred the writings left (by the
pious obedience of Xisuthros) in Shurippak, the city of the
Sun.
The great majority of mythologists appear to agree in
assigning a much earlier date to the Deluge, than that which
has hitherto been generally accepted as the soundest interpre-
tation of the chronological evidence afforded by the Bible.
I have never had the advantage of finding the arguments
on which this opinion is based, formulated in association,
although, as incidentally referred to by various authors, they
appear to be mainly deduced from the references made, both
by sacred and profane writers, to large populations and
important cities existing subsequently to the Deluge, but
at so early a date, as to imply the necessity of a very long
interval indeed between the general annihilation caused by
the catastrophe, and the attainment of so high a pitch of
civilization and so numerous a population as their existence
implies.
Philologists at the same time declare that a similar inference
may be drawn from the vast periods requisite for the diver-
THE DELUGE NOT A MYTH. 119
gence of different languages from the parent stock,* while the
testimony of the monuments and sculptures of ancient Egypt
assures us that race distinction of as marked a type as occurs
at the present day existed at so early a datef as to preclude
the possibility of the derivation of present nations from the
descendants of Noah within the limited period usually
allowed.
These difficulties vanish, if we consider the Biblical and
Chaldean narratives as records of a local catastrophe, of vast
extent perhaps, and resulting in general but not total destruc-
tion, whose sphere may have embraced the greater portion
of Western Asia, and perhaps Europe ; but which, while
wrecking the great centres of northern civilization, did not
extend southwards to Africa and Egypt 4 The Deluge legends
indigenous in Mexico at the date of the Spanish conquest,
combining the Biblical incidents of the despatch of birds
from a vessel with the conception of four consecutive ages
terminating in general destruction, and corresponding with
the four ages or Yugas of India, supply in themselves the
testimony of their probable origin from Asia. The cataclysm
which caused what is called the Deluge may or may not
have extended to America, probably not. In a future page
* Bunsen estimates that 20,000 years were requisite for the formation
of the Chinese language. This, however, is not conceded by other
philologists.
f Eawlinson quotes the African type on the Egyptian sculptures as
being identical with that of the negro of the present day.
J " While the tradition of the Deluge holds so considerable a place
in the legendary memories of all branches of the Aryan race, the monu-
ments and original texts of Egypt, with their many cosmogenic specu-
lations, have not afforded one, even distant, allusion to this cataclysm.
When the Greeks told the Egyptian priests of the Deluge of Deucalion,
their reply was that they had been preserved from, it as well as from the
conflagration produced by Phaeton ; they even added that the Hellenes
were childish in attaching so much importance to that event, as there
had been several local catastrophes resembling it." Lenormant,
Contemporary Review, November 1879.
120 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
I shall enumerate a few of the resemblances between the
inhabitants of the New World and of the Old indicative of
their community of origin.
I refer the reader to M. Lenormant's valuable essay* for
his critical notice on the dual composition of the account in
Genesis, derived as it appears to be from two documents, one
of which has been called the Elohistic and the other the
Jehovistic account, and for his comparison of it with the
Chaldean narrative exhumed by the late Mr. George Smith
from the Eoyal Library of Nineveh, the original of which is
probably of anterior date to Moses, and nearly contempora-
neous with Abraham.
I transcribe from M. Lenormant the text of the Chaldean
narrative, because there are points in it which have not yet
been commented on, and which, as it appears to me, assist
in the solution of the Deluge story :
I will reveal to thee, O Izdhubar, the history of my preservation
and tell to thee the decision of the gods.
The town of Shurippak, a town which thou knowest, is situated on
the Euphrates. It was ancient, and in it [men did not honour] the gods.
[I alone, I was] their servant, to the great gods [The gods took
counsel on the appeal of] Anu [a deluge was proposed by] Bel [and
approved by Nabon, Nergal and] Adar.
And the god [fia,] the immutable lord, repeated this command in a
dream. I listened to the decree of fate that he announced, and he said
to me : " Man of Shurippak, son of Ubaratutu thou, build a vessel
and finish it [quickly]. By a [deluge] I will destroy substance and
life. Cause thou to go up into the vessel the substance of all that has
life. The vessel thou shalt build 600 cubits shall be the measure of
its length and 60 cubits the amount of its breadth and of its height.
[Launch it] thus on the ocean and cover it with a roof." I understood,
and I said to J&a, my lord : " [The vessel] that thou commaudest me
to build thus, [when] I shall do it young and old [shall laugh at
me]." [Ba opened his mouth and] spoke. He said to me, his servant :
" [If they laugh at thee] thou shalt say to them : [Shall be punished]
he who has insulted me, [for the protection of the gods] is over me.
.... like to caverns .... .... I will exercise my judgment
* Fran9ois Lenormant, "The Deluge; its Traditions in Ancient
Histories," Contemporary Review, vol. xxxvi. p. 465.
THE DELUGE NOT A MYTH. 121
on that which is on high and that which is below .... ....
Close the vessel .... .... At a given moment that I shall
cause thee to know, enter into it, and draw the door of the ship towards
thee. Within it, thy grains, thy furniture, thy provisions, thy riches,
thy men-servants, and thy maid- servants, and thy young people the
cattle of the field and the wild beasts of the plain that I will assemble
and that I will send thee, shall be kept behind thy door." Khasis-
atra opened his mouth and spoke ; he said to fia, his lord : " No one
has made [such a] ship. On the prow I will fix .... 1 shall see
.... and the vessel .... the vessel thou comniandest me to build
[thus] which in . . . .*
On the fifth day [the two sides of the bark] were raised. In its
covering fourteen in all were its rafters fourteen in all did it count
above. I placed its roof and I covered it. I embarked in it on the
sixth day ; I divided its floors on the seventh ; I divided the interior
compartments on the eighth. I stopped up the chinks through which
the water entered in ; I visited the chinks and added what was wanting.
I poured on the exterior three times 3,600 measures of asphalte,
and three times 3,600 measures of asphalte within. Three times 3,600
men, porters, brought on their heads the chests of provisions. I kept
3,600 chests for the nourishment of my family, and the mariners
divided amongst themselves twice 3,600 chests. For [provisioning] I
had oxen slain ; I instituted [rations] for each day. In [anticipation
of the need of] drinks, of barrels and of wine [I collected in quan-
tity] like to the waters of a river, [of provisions] in quantity like to the
dust of the earth. [To arrange them in] the chests I set my hand to.
.... of the sun .... the vessel was completed. .... strong and
I had carried above >and below the furniture of the ship. [This
lading filled the two-thirds.]
All that I possessed I gathered together ; all I possessed of silver I
gathered together; all that I possessed of gold I gathered all that
I possessed of the substance of life of every kind I gathered together.
I made all ascend into the vessel ; my servants male and female, the
cattle of the fields, the wild beasts of the plains, and the sons of the
people, I made them all ascend.
Shamash (the sun) made the moment determined, and he an-
nounced it in these terms : " In the evening I will cause it to rain
abundantly from heaven ; enter into the vessel and close the door."
The fixed moment had arrived, which he announced in these terms :
"In the evening I will cause it to rain abundantly from heaven."
"When the evening of that day arrived, I was afraid, I entered into
the vessel and shut my door. In shutting the vessel, to Buzurshadi-
rabi, the pilot, I confided this dwelling with all that it contained.
Here several verses are wanting.
122 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
Mu-sheri-ina-namari* rose from the foundations of heaven in a
black cloud ; Rammanf thundered in the midst of the cloud and
Nabon and Sharru marched before ; they marched, devastating the
mountain and the plain ; NergalJ the powerful, dragged chastisements
after him ; Adar advanced, overthrowing before him ; the archangels
of the abyss brought destruction, in their terrors they agitated the
earth. The inundation of Kamman swelled up to the sky, and [the
earth] became without lustre, was changed into a desert.
They broke .... of the surface of the [earth like .... ; [they
destroyed] the living beings of the surface of the earth. The terrible
[Deluge] on men swelled up to [heaven]. The brother no longer saw his
brother ; men no longer knew each other. In heaven the gods became
afraid of the waterspout, and sought a refuge ; they mounted up to
the heaven of Anu.|| The gods were stretched out motionless, pressing
one against another like dogs. Ishtar wailed like a child, the great
goddess pronounced her discourse : " Here is humanity returned into
mud, and this is the misfortune that I have announced in the presence
of the gods. So I announced the misfortune in the presence of the
gods, for the evil I announced the terrible [chastisement] of men who
are mine. I am the mother who gave birth to men, and like to the
race of fishes, there they are filling the sea ; and the gods by reason of
that which the archangels of the abyss are doing, weep with me."
The gods on their seats were seated in tears, and they held their lips
closed, [revolving] future things.
Six days and as many nights passed ; the wind, the waterspout, and
the diluvian rain were in all their strength. At the approach of the
seventh day the diluvian rain grew weaker, the terrible waterspout
which had assailed after the fashion of an earthquake grew calm, the
sea inclined to dry up, and the wind and the waterspout came to an end.
I looked at the sea, attentively observing and the whole of humanity
had returned to mud; like unto sea- weeds the corpses floated. I
opened the window, and the light smote on my face. I was seized with
sadness ; I sat down and I wept ; and my tears came over my face.
I looked at the regions bounding the sea ; towards the twelve points
of the horizon; not any continent. The vessel was borne above the
land of Nizir, the mountain of Nizir arrested the vessel, and did not
permit it to pass over. A day and a second day the mountain of Nizir
arrested the vessel, and did not permit it to pass over ; the third and
* " The water of the twilight at break of day," one of the personifi-
cations of rain.
f The god of thunder.
J The god of war and death.
The Chald seo- Assyrian Hercules.
|| The superior heaven of the fixed stars.
THE DELUGE NOT A MYTH. 123
fourth day the mountain of Nizir arrested the vessel, and did not permit
it to pass over ; the fifth and sixth day the mountain of Nizir arrested
the vessel, and did not permit it to pass over. At the approach of the
seventh day, I sent out and loosed a dove. The dove went, turned, and
found no place to light on, and it came back. I sent out and loosed
a swallow ; the swallow went, turned, and found no place to light on,
and it came back. I sent out and loosed a raven ; the raven went, and
saw the corpses on the waters ; it ate, rested, turned, and came not back.
I then sent out (what was in the vessel) towards the four winds, and
I offered a sacrifice. I raised the pile of my burnt-offering on the peak
of the mountain ; seven by seven I disposed the measured vases,* and
beneath I spread rushes, cedar, and juniper wood. The gods were seized
with the desire of it, the gods were seized with a benevolent desire of
it ; and the gods assembled like flies above the master of the sacrifice.
From afar, in approaching, the great goddess raised the great zones that
Anu has made for their glory (the gods'). f These gods, luminous
crystal before me, I will never leave them ; in that day I prayed that I
might never leave them. " Let the gods come to my sacrificial pile !
but never may Bel come to my sacrificial pile ! for he did not master
himself, and he has made the waterspout for the Deluge, and he has
numbered my men for the pit."
From far, in drawing near, Bel saw the vessel, and Bel stopped ;
he was filled with anger against the gods and the celestial archangels :
" No one shall come out alive ! No man shall be preserved from the
abyss ! " Adar opened his mouth and said ; he said to the warrior
Bel : " What other than a should have formed this resolution ? for
Ea possesses knowledge and [he foresees] all." Ea opened his mouth
and spake ; he said to the warrior Bel : " thou, herald of the gods,
warrior, as thou didst not master thyself, thou hast made the water-
spout of the deluge. Let the sinner carry the weight of his sins, the
blasphemer the weight of his blasphemy. Please thyself with this
good pleasure, and it shall never be infringed ; faith in it never [shall
be violated]. Instead of thy making a new deluge, let hyaenas appear
and reduce the number of men ; instead of thy making a new deluge,
let there be famine, and let the earth be [devastated] ; -instead of thy
making a new deluge, let DibbaraJ appear, and let men be [mown
down]. 1 have not revealed the decision of the great gods ; it is
Khasisatra who interpreted a dream and comprehended what the gods
had decided."
Then, when his resolve was arrested, Bel entered into the vessel. He
* Vases of the measure called in Hebrew Setih. This relates to a
detail of the ritualistic prescriptions for sacrifice.
f These metaphorical expressions appear to designate the rainbow.
J The god of epidemics.
124 MYTHICAL MONSTEUS.
took my hand and made me rise. He made my wife rise, and made her
place herself at my side. He turned around us and stopped short ; he
approached our group. " Until now Khasisatra has made part of
perishable humanity ; but lo, now, Khasisatra and his wife are going
to be carried away to live like the gods, and Khasisatra will reside
afar at the mouth of the rivers." They carried me away and established
me in a remote place at the mouth of the streams.
This narrative agrees with the Biblical one in ascribing
the inundation to a deluge of rain ; but adds further details
which connect it with intense atmospheric disturbance, similar
to that which would be produced by a series of cyclones, or
typhoons, of unusual seventy and duration.
The intense gloom, the deluge of rain, terrific violence of
wind, and the havoc both on sea and land, which accompany
the normal cyclones occurring annually on the eastern coast
of China, and elsewhere, and lasting but a few hours in any
one locality, can hardly be credited, except by those who
have experienced them. They are, however, sufficient to
render explicable the general devastation and loss of life
which would result from the duration of typhoons, or analo-
gous tempests, of abnormal intensity, for even the limited
period of six days and nights allotted in the text above, and
much more so for that of one hundred and fifty days assigned
to it in the Biblical account.
As illustrating this I may refer to a few calamities of recent
date, which, though of trivial importance in comparison with
the stupendous event under our consideration, bring home to
us the terribly devastating power latent in the elements.
In Bengal, a cyclone on October 31, 1876, laid under
water three thousand and ninety-three square miles, and
destroyed two hundred and fifteen thousand lives.
A typhoon which raged in Canton, Hongkong, and Macao
on September 22, 1874, besides much other destruction,
destroyed several thousand people in Macao and the adjacent
villages, the number of corpses in the town being so numerous
that they had to be gathered in heaps and burnt with kerosene,
THE DELUGE NOT A MYTH. 125
the population, without the Chinese who refused to lend
assistance, being insufficient to bury them.
A tornado in Canton, on April 11, 1878, destroyed, in the
course of a few minutes, two thousand houses and ten thou-
sand lives.
In view of these few historical facts, which might be
greatly supplemented, there appears to my mind to be no
difficulty in believing that the continuance, during even only
six days and six nights, of extraordinarily violent circular
storms over a given area, would, especially if accompanied by
so-called tidal or earthquake waves, be sufficient to wreck all
sea-going and coasting craft, all river boats, inundate every
country embraced within it to a very great extent, submerge
each metropolis, city, or village, situate either in the deltas
of rivers, or higher up their course, sap, unroof, batter down,
and destroy all dwellings on the highlands, level forests,
destroy all domestic animals, sweep away all cultivated soil,
or bury it beneath an enormous thickness of debris, tear away
the soil from the declivities of hills and mountains, destroy
all shelter, and hence, by exposure, most of those wretched
human beings who might have escaped drowning on the
lower levels. The few survivors would with difficulty escape
starvation, or death from subsequent exposure to the deadly
malaria which would be liberated by the rooting up of the
accumulated debris of centuries. This latter supposition
appears to me to be directly indicated by the passage towards
the end of the extract referring to famine, and to the devas-
tation of the earth by Dibbara (the god of epidemics).
It is noticeable that in this account there is no suggestion
of complete immersion, Khasisatra simply says there is not
any continent (i.e. all the hill ranges within sight would
stand out from the inundation like islands), while he speaks
of his vessel being arrested by the mountain of Nizir, which
must consequently have been above the surface of the water.
Neither is there any such close limitation of the number
126 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
of persons preserved, as in the Biblical story, for Khasisatra
took with him his men-servants, maid-servants, and his
young people, while the version transmitted by Berosus (see
Appendix to this Chapter), states that Xisuthros embarked
his wife, children, and his intimate friends, and that these
latter subsequently founded numerous cities, built temples,
and restored Babylon.
We have thus a fair nucleus for starting a fresh population
in the Euphrates valley, which may have received accessions
from the gradual concentration of scattered survivors, and
from the enterprise of maritime adventurers from the African
coast and elsewhere, possibly also nomads from the north,
east, and west may have swelled the numbers, and a polyglot
community have been established, which subsequently, through
race distinctions, jealousies, and incompatibility of language,
became again dismembered, as recorded in the history of the
attempted erection of the Tower of Babel.
Confining our attention for the moment to this one locality,
we may imagine that the young population would not be
deterred by any apprehension of physical danger from re-
inhabiting such of the old cities as remained recognizable ;
since we see that men do not hesitate to recommence the
building of cities overthrown by earthquake shocks almost
before the last tremblings are over ; or, as in the case of
Herculaneum and Pompeii, within the range of volcanoes
which may have already repeatedly vomited destroying floods
of lava. Yet, in this instance, they would probably invest
the calamity with a supernatural horror, and regard it, as the
text expresses it, as a chastisement from the gods for their
impiety. If this were so, the very memory of such cities
would soon be lost, and with it all the treasures of art and
literature which they contained.*
* It is probably as much from a superstitious sentiment as upon
merely physical grounds that many of the deserted cities in Asia have
THE DELUGE NOT A MYTH. 127
The Hindu account is taken from the S'atapatha-Brdhmana,
a work of considerable antiquity, being one of a series which
Professor Max Miiller believes to have been written eight
hundred years before Christ. A literal translation of the
legend, as given in this venerable work, is as follows :
" To Manu in the morning they brought water for wash-
ing, just as they bring it for washing the hands. As he was
using the water, a fish came into his hand. This (fish) said
to him, ' Preserve me, and I will save thee. J (Manu said),
1 From what wilt thou preserve me ? ' (The fish replied),
1 A flood will carry away all these creatures ; from that I will
preserve thee.' (Manu said), ' How is thy preservation (to
be effected) ? ' (The fish replied), f As long as we are small,
there is great danger of our destruction ; fish even devours
fish : at first preserve me in a jar. When I grow too big for
that, cut a trench, and preserve me in that. When I out-
grow that, carry me to the sea ; then I shall be beyond (the
reach of) danger.' Soon it became a great fish ; it increased
greatly. (The fish said), ' In so many years the flood will
come ; make a ship and worship me. On the rising of the
flood enter the ship, then I will preserve thee.' Having
preserved the fish he brought it to the sea. In the same
year indicated by the fish (Manu) made a ship and wor-
shipped the fish. When the flood rose he entered the ship ;
the fish swam near him : he attached the cable of the ship
to his (the fish's) horn. By this means the fish carried him
over the northern mountain (Himalayas). (The fish said),
been abandoned ; while, as a noticeable instance, we may quote Gour,
the ruined capital of Bengal, which is computed to have extended from
fifteen to twenty miles along the bank of the river, and three in depth.
The native tradition is that it was struck by the wrath of the gods in
the form of an epidemic which slew the whole population. Another
case is the reputed presence of a ruined city, in the vicinity of the
populous city of Nanking, and at some distance from the right bank of
the river Yangtsze, of which the walls only remain, and of the history
of which those in the vicinity profess to have lost all record.
128 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
1 1 have preserved thee : fasten the ship to a tree. But lest
the water cut thee off whilst thou art on the mountain, as
fast as the water subsides thou wilt descend with it,' Ac-
cordingly he descended (with the water) ; hence this became
* Manu's Descent ' from the northern mountain. The flood
had carried away all those creatures, Manu alone was left.
He being desirous of offspring performed a sacred rite ; there
also he offered a p&fca-sacrifice. With clarified butter,
coagulated milk, whey, and curds, he made an offering to
the waters. In a year a female was produced ; and she arose
unctuous from the moisture, with clarified butter under her
feet. Mitra and Varuna came to her; and said to her,
4 Who art thou?' (She said), ' The daughter of Manu.'
(They said), ' Say (thou art) our (daughter).' ' No,' she
replied, ' I am verily (the daughter) of him who begot me/
They desired a share in her ; she agreed and did not agree.
She went on and came to Manu. Manu said to her, ' Who
art thou ? ' * Thy daughter,' she replied. * How, revered
one, art thou my daughter ? ' (She replied), * The offerings
which thou hast cast upon the waters, clarified butter, coagu-
lated milk, whey, and curds, from them thou hast generated
me. I am a blessing. Do thou introduce me into the sacrifice.
If thou wilt introduce me into the sacrifice, thou wilt be
(blessed) with abundance of offspring and cattle. Whatever
blessing thou shalt ask through me, will all be given to
thee.' Thus he introduced her in the middle of the sacri-
fice ; for the middle of the sacrifice is that which comes
between the final and the introductory prayers. He, desirous
of offspring, meditating and toiling, went with her. By her
he begot this (offspring), which is (called) ' The offspring of
Manu.' "
The correspondence of this legend with the Biblical and
the other accounts is remarkable. We have the announce-
ment of the Deluge, the construction of a ship, the pre-
servation therein of a representative man, the settlement of
THE DELUGE NOT A MYTH. 129
the vessel on a mountain, the gradual subsidence of the
water, and the subsequent re-peopling of the world by the
man thus preserved. The very scene of the cataclysm is in
singular agreement with the other accounts ; for the flood is
said to carry Manu " over the northern mountain." This
places the scene of the Deluge in Central Asia, beyond the
Himalaya mountains, and it proves that the legend embodies
a genuine tradition brought by the progenitors of the Hindus
from their primaeval home, whence also radiated the Semitic
and Sinitic branches of mankind.
There has been much discussion as to whether the great
inundation which occurred in China during the reign of Yao
is identical with that of Genesis or not. The close proximity
of date lends a strong support to the assumption, and the
supposition that the scene of the Biblical Deluge was local in
its origin, but possibly widespread in its results, further
favours the view.
As the rise of the Nile at Cairo is the only intimation
which the inhabitants of Lower Egypt have of the tropical
rains of Central Africa, so the inundation of the countries
adjacent to the head waters of the great rivers of China may
alone have informed the inhabitants of that country of serious
elemental disturbances, only reaching, and in a modified
form, their western frontier ; and it may well have been that
the deluge which caused a national annihilation in Western
Asia was only a national calamity in the eastern portion
of it.
This view is strengthened if we consider that Chinese his-
tory has no record of any deluge prior to this, which could
hardly have been the case had the Chinese migrated from
their parent stock subsequent to an event of such importance ;
assuming that it had occurred, as there seems valid reason to
suppose, within the limits of written history. The anachronism
between the two dates assigned by Chinese authors (2297 B.C.)
9
130 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
and the Jewish historian's calculation (2104 B.C.) is only one
hundred and ninety-three years, and this is not so great but
that we may anticipate its being explained at some future
date. Strauchius' computation of 2293 B.C. for the date of
the Biblical deluge is within four years, and Ussher's (2349-
2348) within fifty-one of the Chinese one. The reason for
supposing the deluge of Yao to be historically true, will be
inferred from the arguments borrowed from Mr. Legge on
the subject of the Shu-king, in another portion of this
volume. It is detailed in the great Chinese work on history,
the T'ung-keen-kang-muh, by Choo He, of which De Mailla's
History of China professes to be a translation.
This states that the inundation happened in the sixty-first
year of the reign of Yao (2297 B.C.), and that the waters of
the Yellow River mingled with those of the Ho-hi-ho and
the Yangtsze, ruining all the agricultural country, which was
converted into one vast sea.
But neither in the Bamboo Books nor in the Shu-king do
we find that any local phenomena of importance occurred,
with the exception of the inundation. In fact, the first work
is singularly silent on the subject, and simply says that in
his sixty-first year Yao ordered K'wan of Ts'ung to regulate
the Ho, and degraded him in his sixty-ninth for being unable
to effect it, as we learn elsewhere.
The Shu is more explicit. The Emperor, consulting one
of his chief officials on the calamity, says : " chief of
the four mountains, destructive in their overflow are the
waters of the inundation. In their vast extent they embrace
the mountains and overtop the hills, threatening the heavens
with their floods, so that the inferior people groan and
murmur."
According to De Mailla's translation, K'wan laboured use-
lessly for nine years, the whole country was overrun with
briars and brushwood, the people had almost forgotten the
art of cultivating the ground they were without the neces-
THE DELUGE NOT A MYZH. 131
sary seeds and wild animals and birds destroyed all their
attempts at agriculture.
In this extremity Yao consulted Shun, his subsequent
successor, who recommended the appointment of Yu, the
son of K'wan, in his father's place.
Yu was more successful, and describes his labours as fol-
lows :
" The inundating waters seemed to assail the heavens,
and in their vast extent embraced the mountains and over-
topped the hills, so that people were bewildered and over-
whelmed. I mounted my four conveyances,* and all along
the hills hewed down the woods, at the same time,
along with Yih, showing the multitudes how to get flesh
to eat.
" I also opened passages for the streams throughout the
nine provinces, and conducted them to the sea. I deepened,
moreover, the channels and canals, and conducted them to
the streams, at the same time, along with Tseih, sowing
grain, and showing the multitudes how to procure the food
of toil in addition to flesh meat."
Yu's success is simply chronicled in the Bamboo Books as,
" In his seventy-fifth year.Yu, the Superintendent of Works,
regulated the Ho."
There was a legend extant in China in the times of Pinto,
which he gives in his book, of the original Chinese having
migrated from a region in the West, and, following the
course of the Ho in boats, finally settling in the country
adjacent to Pekin. That some such event took place is
not unlikely. Its acceptance would explain much that is
difficult.
The pioneers, pushing through a country infested with
* i.e. (according to the Historical Records) a carriage to travel along
the dry land, a boat to travel along the water, a sledge to travel through
miry places, and, by using spikes, to travel on the bills.
9 *
132 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
hostile aborigines, who would immediately after their passage
close up the road of communication behind them pioneers who
may have been fugitives from their kindred through political
commotions, or expelled by successful enemies would have
a further barrier against return, even were they disposed to
attempt it, in the strong opposing current which had borne
them safely to their new homes.
It is probable that such a journey would form an entirely
new departure for their history, and that a few generations
later it would resemble a nebulous chronological zone, on
the far side of which could be dimly seen myths of persons
and events representing in reality the history of the not very
remote ancestors from whom they had become separated.
The early arrivals would have been too much occupied with
establishing themselves in their new dominions to be able to
give much attention to keeping records or preserving other
than the most utilitarian branches of knowledge which they
had brought with them. The volumes of their ancestors
were probably, like the clay tablets of the royal library of
Babylon, not of a portable nature, at all events to fugi-
tives, whose knowledge would, therefore, be rather of a
practical than of a cultivated nature, and this would
soon become limited for a while to their chiefs and reli-
gious instructors, the exigencies of a colony menaced with
danger prohibiting any general acquisition or extension of
learning.
In this way we can account for the community of the
fables relating ^to the remote antiquity of the Chinese
with those of Chaldean and Indian mythology, and
with the highly civilized administration and astrological
knowledge possessed by Yao and Shun as herediton of
Fuh Hi, &c.
We can account for their possession of accurate delinea-
tions of the dragon, which would form an important decora-
tion of the standards and robes of ceremony which were
THE DELUGE NOT A MYTH. 133
companions of their flight, while their descriptions of the
animal and its qualities would have already entered into the
realms of fanciful exaggeration and myth.
The dragon of Yao and Shun's time, and of Yu's time
was, in my opinion, an aquatic creature, an alligator ; but
the dragon of their ancestors was a land lizard, which may
even have existed down to the time of the great cataclysm
which we call the Deluge, and the memory of which is best
preserved in the Chinese drawings which have been handed
down from remote antiquity, and have travelled from the
great Central Asian centre, which was once alike its habitat
and that of their ancestors. Its history may perhaps become
evolved when the great store of book knowledge contained
in the cuneiform tablets, representing the culture of the
other branch of their great ethnological family, has been
more extensively explored.
Geologists of the present day have a great objection to the
bringing in of cataclysms to account for any considerable
natural changes, but this one I conceive to have been of so
stupendous a nature as to have been quite capable of
both extinguishing a species and confusing the recollection
of it. The mere fact of the story of the dragon having
survived such a period argues greatly, in my mind, for the
reality of its previous existence.
Extending our consideration, we are brought face to face
with another very important fact, namely, that a large pro-
portion of the human race content themselves with ephemeral
structures. Thus, for example, the Chinese neither have
now, nor at any time have had, any great architectural works.
" The finest building in China is a reproduction, on a large
scale, of the tent ; and the wooden construction is always
imitated where the materials are stone or marble. The sup-
ports, often magnificent logs, brought, at great expense,
specially from the Straits, represent tent-poles ; and the roof
has always the peaked ends and the curves that recall the
134 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
drooping canvas of the marquee. Architecture evidently
died early ; it never had life enough to assimilate the new
material which it found when it migrated into China Proper.
The yamen is a slightly glorified cottage ; the temple is an
improved yamen. Sculpture is equally neglected in this
(aesthetically) benighted country. The human form is as
dignified and sightly, to Chinese eyes at least, in China as in
the West ; but it never seems to have occurred, throughout
so many hundreds of years, to any Chinaman to perpetuate
it in marble or bronze, or to beautify a city with statues of
its deities or great men."*
What holds good of the Chinese now, probably holds good
of their ancestors and the race from which they parted com-
pany in Central Asia five thousand years ago, when they
pierced their way eastwards through the savage aborigines
of Thibet and Mongolia, pushing aside tribes which closed
in again behind them, so as to intercept their return or com-
munication with their mother country a country which may
have been equally careless of elaborating stupendous and
permanent works of architecture such as other nations glory
in possessing, and which, like the pyramids of Egypt and of
Central America, stand forth for thousands of years as land-
marks of the past.
We must, therefore, not be surprised if we do not imme-
diately discover the vestiges of the people of ten, fifteen, or
twenty thousand years ago. With an ephemeral architecture
(which, as we have seen, is all that a highly populous and
long civilized race actually possess), the sites of vast cities
may have become entirely lost to recollection in a few thou-
sands of years from natural decay, and how much more so
would this be the case if, as we may reasonably argue, minor
cataclysms have intervened, such as local inundations, earth-
quakes, deposition of volcanic ashes from even distant
* Balfour, North China Daily News, Feb. 11, 1881.
THE DELUGE NOT A MYTH. 135
sources, the spread of sandy deserts, destruction of life by
exceptionally deadly pestilence, by miasma, or by the outpour
of sulphurous fumes.
We have shown in another chapter how the process of
extinction of species continues to the present day, and from
the nature of this process we may deduce that the number
of species which became extinct during the four or five
thousand years preceding the era of exact history must have
been considerable.
The less remarkable of these would expire unnoticed ;
and only those distinguished by their size, ferocity, and
dangerous qualities, or by some striking peculiarity, would
leave their impress on the mythology of their habitat. Their
exact history would be lost as the cities of their epoch
crumbled away, and during the passage through dark ages
of the people of their period and their descendants, and by
conquest or catastrophes such as we have referred to else-
where ; while the slow dispersion which appears to have
obtained among all nations would render the record of their
qualities the more confused as the myth which embalmed
it spread in circling waves farther and farther from its
original centre.
Amongst the most fell destroyer both of species and of
their history must have been the widespread, although not
universal, inundation known as the Biblical Deluge ; a deluge
which we think the evidence given in the foregoing pages,
and gathered from divers nations, justifies us in believing to
have really taken place, and not to be, as mythologists claim, a
mere ether myth. As to its date, allowance being made for
trifling errors, there is no reason for disputing the computa-
tion of Jewish chronology, especially as that is closely
confirmed by the entirely independent testimony of Chinese
history.
This interposes a vast barrier between us and the know-
ledge of the past, a barrier round which we pass for a short
136 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
distance at either end when we study the history of the two
great streams of nations which have diverged from a common
centre, the Chinese towards the East, the Accadian Chal-
deans and Semites towards the West ; a barrier which we
may hope to surmount when we are ahle to discover and
explore the lost cities of that common centre, with the
treasures of art and literature which they must undoubtedly
possess.
137
CHAPTEK V.
ON THE TRANSLATION OF MYTHS BETWEEN THE OLD AND
THE NEW WORLD.
INTERCOURSE between various parts of the old world and the
new was probably much more intimate even three or four
thousand years ago than we, or at all events our immediate
ancestors, have credited. The Deluge Tablets referred to in
another chapter contain items from which we gather that
sea-going vessels, well equipped and with skilled pilots, were
in vogue in the time of Noah, and there is wanting no better
proof of their seaworthiness than the fact that his particular
craft was able to weather a long-continued tempest which
would probably have sunk the greater part of those which
keep the seas at the present time. The older, Chinese
classics make constant allusions to maritime adventure, and
the discovery by Schliemann in ancient Troy* of vases with
* Dr. Schliemann found a vase in the lowest strata of his excavations
at Hissaiiik with an inscription in an unknown language.
Six years ago the Orientalist E. Burnouf declared it to be in Chinese,
for which he was generally laughed at at the time.
The Chinese ambassador at Berlin, Li Fang-pau, has read and trans-
lated the inscription, which states that three pieces of linen gauze are
packed in the vase for inspection.
The Chinese ambassador fixes the date of the inscription at about
1200 B.C., and further states that the unknown characters so frequently
occurring on the terra cotta are also in the Chinese language, which
would show that at this remote period commercial intercourse existed
between China and the eastern shores of Asia Minor and Greece.
Pop. Sci. Monthly, No. 98, p. 176, June 1880.
138 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
Chinese inscriptions confirms the notion that, at that date at
least, commercial exchange was effected between these two
widely-distant countries, either directly or by transfer through
different entrepots.
A more striking example, and one which carries us back
to a still earlier epoch, will be afforded if the reported dis-
covery of Chinese vestigia in Egyptian tombs is confirmed
by further investigation.
The fleets of King Solomon penetrated at least to India,
and detached squadrons* probably coasted from island to
island along the Malay archipelago ; while to descend by
gradation to modern times, we may quote the circumnaviga-
tion of Africa by Hanno the Carthaginian, f the discovery
* Pierre Bergeron suggests that Solomon's fleets, starting from
Ezion-geber (subsequently Berenice and now Alcacu), arrived at Babel-
mandeb, and then divided, one portion going to Malacca, Sumatra, or
Java, the other to Sofala, round Africa, and returning by way of Cadiz
and the Mediterranean to Joppa.
f There are various accounts of the circumnavigation of Africa in
old times. For example, Herodotus (Melpomene, 42) : " Libya shows
itself to be surrounded by water, except so much of it as borders upon
Asia. Neco, King of Egypt, was the first whom we know of that proved
this; he, when he had ceased digging the canal leading from the Nile
to the Arabian gulf, sent certain Phoenicians in ships with orders to
sail back through the pillars of Hercules into the Northern Sea, and so
to return to Egypt. The Phoenicians accordingly, setting out from the
Red Sea, navigated the Southern Sea ; when autumn came they went
ashore, and sowed the land, by whatever part of Libya they happened
to be sailing, and waited for harvest ; then, having reaped the corn,
they put to sea again. When two years had thus passed, in the third,
having doubled the pillars of Hercules, they arrived in Egypt, and
related what to me does not seem credible, but may to others, that as
they sailed round Libya, they had the sun on the right hand." Again,
Pliny tells us (Book ii. chap. Ixvii, Translation by Bostock and Eiley),
" While the power of Carthage was at its height, Hanno published an
account of a voyage which he made from Gades to the extremity of
Arabia : besides, we learn from Cornelius Nepos, that one Eudoxus, a
contemporary of his, when he was flying from King Lathyrus, set out
from the Arabian Gulf, and was carried as far as Gades. And long
OLD AND NEW WORLD MYTHS. 139
of America prior to Columbus by the Chinese in the fifth
century, from the Asiatic side, and by the Norsemen under
Leif Ericsson in the year 1001, from the European ; and the
anticipation of the so-called discoveries of Van Diemen and
Tasman by the voyages of Arab and other navigators, from
whose records El Edrisi,* in the twelfth century, was enabled
to indicate the existence of New Guinea, and, I think, of the
northern coast of Australia. For although the identity with
Mexico of the country called Fu-sang, visited prior to A.D. 499
before him, Coelius Antipater informs us, that he had seen a person
who had sailed from Spain to Ethiopia for the purposes of trade.
The same Cornelius Nepos, when speaking of the northern circum-
navigation, tells us that Q. Metellus Celer, the colleague of L. Afranius
in the consulship, but then proconsul in Gaul, had a present made to
him by the King of the Suevi, of certain Indians, who, sailing from
India for the purposes of commerce, had been driven by tempests
into Germany."
Ptolemy Lathy rus commenced his reign 117 B.C. and reigned for
thirty- six years. Cornelius Nepos is supposed to have lived in the
century previous to the Christian era, and Coelius Antipater to have been
born in the middle of the second century B.C.
* Edrisi compiled, under the instruction of Roger, King of Sicily,
Italy, Lombardy, and Calabria, an exhaustive geographical treatise
comprising information derived from numerous preceding works,
principally Arabic, and from the testimony of all the geographers of
the day.
Vide the Translation into French by M. Amedee Jaubert, 2 vols. 4to,
Paris, 1836, included in the Recueil de Voyages et de Memoires public par
la Society de Geograpliie.
" Ce pays touch celui de Wac Wac ou sont deux villes miserables et
inal peuplces a cause de la rarete des subsistances et du peu de ressource
en tout genre ; 1'une se nomme Derou et 1'autre Nebhena ; dans son
voisinage est un grand bourg nomme Da'rgha. Les naturels sont noirs,
de figure hideuse, de complexion difforme ; leur langage est une espece
de sifflement. Us sont absolument nus et sont peu visites (par les
ctrangers). Us vivent de poissons, de coquillages, et de tortues. Us
sont (comme il vienVd'etre dit) voisins de Tile ^-Wac_-J?afi dont nous
reparlerons, s'il plait a Dieu. Chacun de ces pays et de ces iles est situe
sur un grand golfe, on n'y trouve ni or, ni commerce, ni navire, ni betes
de somme." El Edrisi, vol. i. p. 79.
140 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
by the Buddhist priest Hoei-shiu, has been disputed, yet the
arguments in favour of it seem to preponderate. These
were adduced primarily by Deguignes, and subsequently by
C. F. Neumann, Leland and others, and are based on the
facts stated in the short narrative in regard to distance,
description of the Maguey plant, or great aloe,* the absence
of iron, and abundance of copper, gold, and silver.
While there can be little question that the islands and
land of Wak Wak are respectively some of the Sunda
islands, New Guinea, and the adjacent portion of Australia,
it does not appear to have struck any of the commentators
on this question that the name " islands of Wak Wak " may
be assumed to signify simply "Bird of Paradise islands."
Wallace, in his Malay Archipelago, emphatically remarks that
in the interior of the forests of New Guinea the most striking
sound is the cry " Wok Wok " of the great Bird of Paradise, -
and we may therefore reasonably speculate on the bird
having been known as the Wok Wok, and the islands as the
Wok Wok islands, just as we ourselves use the imitative
names of Cuckoo, Morepork, or Hoopoe for birds, or Snake
islands, Ape Hill, &c. for places.
This view is to an extent strengthened by Wak Wak being ,
the home of the lovely maiden captured by Hasan (in the
charming story of Hasan of El Basrah in the Arabian Nights),
after she had divested herself of her bird skin, and to which
he had to make so weary a pilgrimage from island to island,
and sea to sea, in search of her after her escape from him.
It is evident that among the wonders related by navigators
of islands so remote and unfrequented, not the least would
be the superavian loveliness of the Birds of Paradise, and
from the exaggerated narratives of travellers may have
* The Agave Americans, which substance has as many uses among
the Mexicans as the bamboo (the iron of China) among the Chinese, or
the camel among nomads.
OLD AND NEW WORLD MYTHS. 141
arisen the beautiful fable incorporated in the Arabian Nights,
as well as that other recorded by Eesa or Moosa the son of
El Mubarak Es Serafee.* "Here, too, is a tree that bears
fruit like women with bodies, eyes, limbs, &c. like those of
women ; they have beautiful faces, and are suspended by the
hair ; they come forth from integuments like large leathern
bags ; and when they feel the air and the sun they cry out
' Wak Wak ' until their hair is cut, and when it is cut they
die ; and the people of these islands understand their cry,
and augur ill from it." This, after all, is not more absurd
than the story of the origin of the barnacle duck, extant and
believed in Europe until within the last century or so.
El Edrisi, who, in common with the geographers of the
period, believed in a great antarctic continent, after describing
Sofala with its mines of gold, abundance of iron, &c., jumps
at once to the mainland of Wak Wak, which he describes as
possessing two towns situated on a great gulf (Carpentaria ?),
and a savage population. f
The two small towns may very well have been encamp-
ments of the aborigines, or trading stations of Malay
merchants.
It may be noted that this identification of Wak Wak is in
opposition to the view entertained by some commentators ;
for example, Professor de G-oeje of Leyden has recently
identified the Sila islands (which had previously been consi-
* The Thousand and One Nights, vol. iii. chap. xxv. p. 480, Note 32,
E. W. Lane, London, 1877.
A similar account is given by Quazvini. See Scriptorum Arabum de
Rebus Indicis, J. Gilderneister, Bonn, 1838.
f The diggings are seventy to one hundred and fifty miles from Port
Darwin. There is gold on Victoria River.
Jacks, in his report to the Queensland Government, published March
or April of 1880, reports no paying gold in Yorke's peninsula.
One hundred miles from Port Darwin and twenty-six miles from the
Adelaide River a new rush occurred in July 1880 : nuggets from 70 to
80 oz. of common occurrence ; one found weighed 187 oz.
142 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
dered as being Japan) with Corea, and Wak Wak with
Japan ; but this does not agree with El Edrisi's account of
the people being black, unclothed, and living on fish, shell,
and tortoises (turtles), without gold, commerce, ships, or
beasts of burden. Elsewhere El Edrisi says the women are
entirely naked, and only wear combs of ivory ornamented
with mother of pearl.
Lane thinks the Arabs applied the name of Wak Wak to
all the islands with which they were acquainted on the east
and south-east of Borneo. Es Serafee, beside the details
given in a previous note, also says, " From one of these
islands of Wak Wak there issueth a great torrent like pitch,
which floweth into the sea, and the fish are burnt thereby,
and float upon the water." And Hasan, in the story quoted
above, has, in order to reach the last of the seven islands of
Wak Wak, to pass over the third island, the land of the
Jinn, " where by reason of the vehemence of the cries of
the Jann, and the rising of the flames about, of the sparks
and the smoke from their mouths, and the harsh sounds
from their throats, and their insolence, they will obstruct the
way before us," &c. &c. I think that in each of these latter
instances, the volcanic islands of Java, and other of the
Sunda islands are indicated.
The information in our possession is as yet too meagre
to permit of our indulging in any profitable consideration of
the sources from which originated those nations which
peopled America during the very early pre-traditional ages,
of which geological evidence is accumulating daily. In fact,
the theories on this point have advanced so little beyond the
limits of speculation that I feel it unnecessary to do more
than quote one of them, as summarized in the ensuing
extract. " Professor Flowers, in remarking upon recent
palaeontological investigations, which prove that an immense
number of forms of terrestrial animals that were formerly
supposed to be peculiar to the Old World are abundant in
- OLD AND NEW WORLD MYTHS. 143
the New ; and that many, such as the horse, rhinoceros,
and the camel, are more numerous in species and varieties in
the latter, infers that the means of land communication must
have been very different to what it is now, and that it is
quite as likely that Asiatic man may have been derived from
America as the reverse, or both may have had their source
in a common centre, in some region of the earth now
covered with sea."*
The most commonly accepted theory with regard to the
origin of those who have peopled the American continent,
within the limits of tradition, is that they are of Asiatic
descent, and that the migration has been effected in compara-
tively recent times by way of Behring Straits, and supple-
mented by chance passages from Southern Asia by way of
the Polynesian islands, or from the north of Africa, across
the Atlantic. There are, however, some who elaborate
Professor Flowers' suggestion, and contend, in opposition to
the more generally received opinion, that the peopling of the
present countries of the Old World has in fact been effected
from the New.
For instance, a proficient Aztec scholar, Senor Altamiranof
of Mexico, argues that the Aztecs were a race, originating
in the unsubmerged parts of America, as old as the Asiatics
themselves, and that Asia may in fact have been peopled from
Mexico; while Mr. E. J. Elliott, in quoting him, says:
" From the ruins recently found, the most northern of any
yet discovered, the indications of improved architecture, the
work of different ages, can be traced in a continual chain to
Mexico, when they culminate in massive and imposing struc-
tures, thus giving some proof by circumstantial evidence to
Altamirano's reasoning."
* Scientific American, Aug. 14, 1880.
f E. J. Elliott, " The Age of Cave Dwellers in America," Pop. Sci<
Monthly, vol. xv. p. 488.
144 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
Again, " Dr. Rudolf Falb* discovers that the language
spoken by the Indians in Peru and Bolivia, especially in
Quichua and Aymara, exhibits the most astounding affinities
with the Semitic languages, and particularly with the Arabic
in which tongue Dr. Falb himself has been skilled from
his boyhood. Following up the links of this discovery, he
has first found a connecting link with the Aryan roots, and,
secondly, has arrived face to face with the surprising revela-
tion that the Semitic roots are universally Aryan. The
common stems of all the variants are found in their purest
condition in Quichua and Aymara, from which fact Dr. Falb
derives the conclusion that the high plains of Peru and
Bolivia must be regarded as the point of exit of the present
human race."
On the other hand, Mr. E. B. Tylor, in the course of an
article upon Backgammon among the Aztecs, f which he
argues must have reached them from Asia, and very likely
through Mexico, points out that the myths and religion of
the North American tribes contain many fancies well known
to Asia, which they were hardly likely to have hit upon inde-
pendently, and which they had not learned from white men :
" Such as the quaint belief that the world is a monstrous
tortoise floating on the waters ; and an idea which the Sioux
have in common with the Tartars, that it is sinful to chop or
poke with a sharp instrument the burning log on the fire."
He quotes Alexander von Humboldt as having " argued years
ago that the Mexicans did and believed things which were at
once so fanciful and so like the fancies of the Asiatics that
there must have been communication. Would two nations,"
he asks, " have taken independently to forming calendars of
days and years by repeating and combining cycles of animals,
such as tiger, dog, ape, hare, &c. ? Would they have deve-
* Scientific American, Jan. 24, 1880.
f Macmillan's Magazine, quoted in Pop. Sci. Monthly, No. 82.
OLD AND NEW WORLD MYTHS. 145
loped independently similar astrological fancies about these
signs governing the periods they began, and being influential
each over a particular limb or organ of men's bodies ?
Would they, again, have evolved separately out of this con-
sciousness the myths of the world and its inhabitants having,
at the end of several successive periods, been destroyed by
elemental catastrophes ? "
He adds, " It may very well have been the same agency
which transported to Mexico the art of bronze-making, the
computation of time by periods of dogs and apes, the casting
of nativity, and the playing of backgammon. "
Then, again, we have the theory of those, now indeed few
in number, who hold that the present Indian inhabitants of
America were a distinctly indigenous race. Lord Kaimes, in
his Sketches of the History of Man, says, " I venture still
further, which is to conjecture that America has not been
peopled from any part of the Old World." Voltaire had
preceded him in this line of argument, relying on ridicule
rather than on reason. " The same persons that readily
admit that the beavers of Canada are of Canadian origin,
assert that the men must have come there in boats, and that
Mexico must have been peopled by some of the descendants
of Magog."*
Missionaries of various sects have endeavoured to identify
the Ked man with the lost ten tribes. Adair conceived the
language of the Southern Indians to be a corruption of
Hebrew, and the Jesuit Lafitan, in his history of the savages
of America, maintained that the Caribee language was radi-
cally Hebrew.
Mr. John Josselyn,t in an account of the Mohawks, states
that their language is a dialect of the Tartars, and Dr.
Williamson, in his history of North Carolina, considers it
* CEuvres, I. 7, pp. 197, 198.
f . Two Voyages to New England, p. 124 ; London, 1673.
10
146 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
can hardly be questioned that the Indians of South America
are descended from a class of the Hindoos in the southern
part of Asia.
Amongst others, Captain Don Antonio del Rio, who
described the ruins of an ancient city in Guatemala, believed
that they were the relics of a civilization founded by Phoeni-
cian colonists who had crossed the Atlantic ocean ; and yet
another theory is propounded by Mr. Knox,* who considers
the extinct Guanches, formerly inhabiting the Canary and
Cape de Verde islands, to have closely resembled the Egyp-
tians in certain particulars. He goes on to observe, " Now
cross the Atlantic, and in a nearly parallel zone of the earth,
or at least in one not far removed, we stumble all at once
upon the ruined cities of Copan and Central America. To
our astonishment, notwithstanding the breadth of the
Atlantic, vestiges, of a nature not to be doubted, of a
thoroughly Egyptian character reappear hieroglyphics,
monolithic temples, pyramids ; who erected these monuments
on the American continent ? Perhaps at some remote period
the continents were not so far apart, they might have been
united, thus forming a zone or circle of the earth occupied
by a pyramid-building people."
It is not impossible that all of these theories may be
correct, and that numerous migrations may have been made
at various periods by different nations, the most facile would
of course be that from North -Eastern Asia by way of the
Aleutian islands, for, as the author of Fu-sang well remarks,
a sailor in an open boat might cross from Asia to America
by that route in summer time, and hardly ever be out of
sight of land ; and this in a part of the sea generally
abounding in fish, as is proved by the fishermen who inhabit
many of these islands, on which fresh water is always to be
found. But it is more than likely that the direct route,
* Eobert Knox, The Races of Men j London, 1850,
OLD AND NEW WORLD MYTHS. 147
from the islands of Japan to the coast of California or
Mexico, was also occasionally followed, voluntarily or in-
voluntarily, by mariners impelled by enterprise, religious
motives, or stress of weather.
Colonel B. Kennon, as an evidence of the possibility of
junks performing long ocean voyages, adduces the instance
of a Japanese junk picked up by an American whaler two
thousand three hundred miles south-east of Japan, and of
others which had drifted among the Aleutian islands nearly
half-way over to San Francisco ; and in noting the resem-
blance and probable co-origin of the Sandwich Islanders with
the Japanese, he adverts to the " ancient and confirmed
habit of both Japanese and Chinese of taking women to sea
with them, or of traders keeping their families on board,
which would fully account for the population of those
islands," or, to extend the argument, of points on the
American continent. The Jewish element might easily be
introduced through this channel, for the occasional admixture
of Jewish blood both among the Chinese and Japanese is
so strongly marked, as to have induced some authors to
contend for the absolute descent of the latter people at least
from Jewish parentage.
It must also be remembered that the waters of both the
North and South Pacific are peculiarly favourable to the
navigation of small craft, and that Captain Bligh, after
the mutiny on board the Bounty, was able to safely perform
a journey of two thousand miles in an open boat; while all
the islands both in North and South Polynesia must neces-
sarily have been gradually peopled by the drifting over the
ocean of stray canoes.
Again, as the tradition of the existence of a large conti-
nent west of the African coast was extant amongst the
Egyptian priests long before the days of Solon, and, as I
shall show hereafter, among the Carthaginians and Tyrrhe-
nians, it is, I think, more than probable that both Phoenician
10 *
]48 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
and Egyptian mariners, either acting under a Koyal Com-
mission, or influenced by mercantile considerations, would
endeavour to discover it, and, as in the case of Columbus,
would have no difficulty in stretching across the Atlantic
before a fair trade wind, though they might be less successful
than him on their return.
The possibility of the existence of a large island or conti-
nent, midway between the Old and New World, within the
traditional period, is included in the important question,
which is still sub judice amongst geologists, whether the
general disposition of land and water has or has not been
variable during past ages. Sir Charles Lyell held the first
view, and was of opinion* that complete alternations of the
positions of continent and ocean had repeatedly occurred in
geological time.
The opposite idea has been suggested at various dates by
eminent authorities, suggested rather than sustained by
elaborate arguments, until recently, when the question has
been re-examined by Mr. Wallace and Dr. Carpenter.
The former, in that chapter of island life devoted to the
permanence of continents, dwells forcibly upon Dr. Darwin's
inference from the paucity of oceanic islands affording frag-
ments of either Palaeozoic or Secondary formations "that
perhaps during the Palaeozoic and Secondary periods neither
continents nor continental islands existed where our oceans
now extend ; for, had they existed, Palaeozoic and Secondary
formations would in all probability have been accumulated
from sediment derived from their wear and tear ; and these
would have been at least partially upheaved by the oscillations
of level which must have intervened during these enor-
mously long periods. If, then, we may infer anything from
these facts, we may infer that, where our oceans now extend,
oceans have extended from the remotest period of which we
* Principles of Geology, chap. xii.
OLD AND NEW WORLD MYTHS. 149
have any record ; and, on the other hand, that where conti-
nents now exist, large tracts of land have existed, subjected
no doubt to great oscillations of level, since the Cambrian
period."
I am not aware whether Dr. Darwin has expressed himself
more authoritatively on this point in later works, or whether
the whole question has been discussed in detail otherwise
than by Mr. Wallace in the chapter referred to, in which he
quotes what must, I think, after all, only be taken in the
light of a suggestion as an auxiliary to the powerful argu-
ments which he himself has enunciated in favour of a
similar conclusion. There is no doubt that the paucity of
any but volcanic or coralline islands throughout the greatest
extent of existing oceans has a certain but not absolute
significance, so far as recent geological epochs are concerned.
There is another line of reasoning, debated by Mr. Wal-
lace, based on the formation of the Palaeozoic and Secondary
strata from the waste of broken continents and islands occu-
pying generally the site of the existing continents, and
separated by insignificant distances of inland sea or exten-
sions from the adjacent oceans. It is soundly based on their
lithological structure, as generally indicative of a littoral and
shallow water origin, but it seems to me to be only positive
so far as it shows that, throughout geological time, some land
has existed somewhere within the limits of the present up-
heaval, and simply negative as to what may or may not have
been the condition of what are now the great ocean spaces
of the world. Indeed, it would at first sight seem only
reasonable to infer, that the very depressions which caused
the inundations of Europe and Asia, during the deposition of
any important formation, would imply a corresponding eleva-
tion elsewhere, in order that the same relative areas of land
and water might be maintained.
This view has, however, been reduced in its proportions by
Dr. Carpenter, who has levelled the results of the recent
150 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
researches by the Challenger expedition against the advocates
of the intermutations of land and ocean, and, in pursuing
another line of reasoning from Mr. Wallace, has estimated
the solid contents of ocean and land above the sea-level
respectively, as bearing the proportion of thirty-six to one.
So that, supposing all the existing land of the globe to sink
down to the sea-level, this subsidence would be balanced by
the elevation of only one thirty-sixth part of the existing
ocean floor from its present depth to the same level.
It must be admitted that the balance of argument was
until lately considerably against the former existence of the
country of Atlantis, whose ghostly outlines, however, we
could almost imagine to be sketched out by faint contours in
the chart illustrative of the North Atlantic portion of the
Challenger investigations. But it was not so overwhelming as
to entitle us to ignore the story entirely as a fable. I do not
conceive it impossible that some centrally situated and
perhaps volcanic island may once have existed, sufficiently
important to have served as the basis of simple legends,
which, under the enchantment of distance and time became
metamorphosed and enriched.
Mr. A. K. Grote suggests that it is simply a myth founded
on the observation of low-lying clouds in a sun-flushed sky,
which gave the appearance like islands on a golden sea.
Mr. Donelly, on the other hand, in a very exhaustive and
able volume, contends first, that Atlantis actually existed, and
secondly, that it was the origin of our present civilization,
that its kings are represented by the gods of Greek mytho-
logy, and that its destruction originated our Deluge story.
The well-known story is contained in an epic of Plato, of
which two fragments only remain, found in two dialogues
(the TimsBus and the Critias). Critias is represented as
telling an old-world story, handed down in his family from
* Atlantis, by Ignatius Donelly ; New York, 1882.
OLD AND NEW WORLD MYTHS. 151
his great-grandfather Dropidas, who had heard it from Solon,
who had it from the Egyptian priests of Sais.*
^Elian, again, contains an extract from Theophrastus, who
wrote in the time of Alexander the Great, which can hardly
imply anything else than an acquaintance with America. It
is in the form of a dialogue between Midas the Phrygian and
Silenus.
The latter informs Midas that Europe, Asia, and Africa
were but islands surrounded on all sides by sea, but that
there was a continent situated beyond these which was of
immense dimensions, even without limits, and that it was so
luxuriant as to produce animals of prodigious magnitude.
That there men grew to double the size of themselves, and
that they lived to a far greater age, that they had many
cities, and their usages and laws were different from their
own ; that in one city there was more than a million of
inhabitants, and that gold and silver were there in vast
quantities.
Diodorus Siculus gives an account of what could only have
been the mainland of America, or one of the West Indian
islands ; it is as follows.
" After cursorily mentioning the islands within the Pillars
of Hercules, let us treat of those further ones in the open
ocean, for towards Africa there is a very large island in the
great ocean sea, situated many days' sail from Libya towards
the west.
" Its soil is fruitful, a great part rising in mountains, but
still with no scarcity of level expanse, which excels in plea-
santness, for navigable rivers flow through and irrigate it.
Gardens abound, stored with various trees and numerous
orchards, intersected by pleasant streams.
" The towns are adorned with sumptuous edifices, and
* It is given in great detail by Mr. Donelly ; want of space forbids
my including it.
152 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
drinking taverns, beautifully situated in gardens, are every-
where met with ; as the convenient situation of these largely
invites to pleasure, they are frequented during the summer
season.
" The mountain region possesses numerous and large
forests, and various kinds of fruitful trees. It everywhere
presents deep valleys and springs suitable for mountain
recreations.
" Indeed the whole of this island is watered with springs
of sweet water, which gives rise not merely to the pleasure
of its inhabitants, but also to an accession of their health
and strength.
" Hunting furnishes all kinds of game, the abundance of
which in their banquets leaves nothing to be desired.
"Moreover, the sea which washes against this island
abounds with fish, since the ocean, from its nature every-
where, affords a variety of fish.
" Finally, the temperature is very genial, from which it
results that the trees bear fruit throughout the greater part
of the year.
" Lastly, it excels so much in felicity as to resemble the
habitations of the gods rather than of men.
" Formerly it was unknown, on account of the remoteness
of its situation from the rest of the world, but accident dis-
closed its position. The Phoenicians have been in the habit
of making frequent passages, for the sake of commerce, from
the very oldest dates, from whence it resulted that they were
the founders of many of the African colonies, and of not a
few of those European ones situated to the west ; and when
they had yielded to the idea which had entered their minds,
of enriching themselves greatly, they passed out beyond the
Pillars of Hercules into the sea which is called the Ocean,
and they first founded a city called Gades, on the European
peninsula, and near the straits of the Pillars [of Hercules]
in which, when others had flocked to it, they instituted a
OLD AND NEW WORLD MYTHS. 153
sumptuous temple to Hercules. This temple has been held
in the utmost veneration both in ancient times and during
later periods up to the present day ; therefore many Eomans
of illustrious nobility and reputation pronounce their vows to
that god, and happily discharge their obligations.
" The Phoenicians for this reason continued their explora-
tion beyond the Pillars, and when they were sailing along the
African coast, being carried off by a tempest to a distant part of
the ocean, were driven by the violence of the storm, after a
period of many days, to the island of which I have spoken,
and having first acquainted themselves with its nature and
pleasing characters, introduced it to the notice of others.
On that account, the Tyrrhenians, also obtaining the empire
of the sea, determined on a colony there, but the Carthagi-
nians prevented them, both because they feared lest many of
their citizens, being allured by the advantages of the island,
might migrate there, and because they wished to have a
refuge prepared for themselves against a sudden stroke of
fortune, if by chance the Carthaginian Kepublic should
receive any deadly blow, for they contemplated that they
would be able, while yet powerful at sea, to transport them-
selves and their families to the island unknown to the
victors."*
Among the many proofs which may be cited of community
of origin between the Asiatics and certainly a large propor-
tion of the American population is the practice of scalping
enemies, quoted by Herodotus as prevalent amongst the v
Scythians, and universally existing amongst all tribes of
North American Indians ; the discovery of jade ornaments
amongst Mexican remains, and the general esteem in which
that material is held by the Chinese ; the use of the Quipos
among the Peruvians, and the assertion in the I-king, or Book
* I use the text of the edition of Diodorus Siculus of L. Rhodo-
inanus, Amsterdam, 1746.
154 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
of Change, one of the oldest of the Chinese Classics, that
66 The ancients knotted cords to express their meaning, but
in the next age the sages renounced the custom and adopted
a system of written characters ; "* the discovery of the
meander pattern among Peruvian relics, and the common use
of this ornamentation on Chinese vases and tripods, at dates
long preceding the Trojan era, in which it is commonly sup-
posed to have originated ; the similarity of the features of
Chinese, and other Mongols, with those of various Indian
tribes ; the resemblance of masks and various other remains
to Chinese patterns discovered recently by Desiree de Charnay
in Central America ; and the reserve and stolid demeanour
of both races. A good illustration of this is afforded by the
story told of the celebrated statesman Sieh Ngan (A.D. 320-
385), in Mayer's Chinese Reader's Manual ; it could be imagined
to apply to any Indian sachem.
It is related of Sieh Ngan that, at the time when the
capital was menaced by the advancing forces of Fukien, he
sat one day over a game of chess with a friend, when a
despatch was handed to him, which he calmly read and then
continued the game. On being asked what the news was,
he replied : " It is merely an announcement that my young
people have beaten the enemy." The intelligence was, in
fact, of the decisive rout of the invaders by the army under
his brother Sieh She and his nephew Sieh Hiian. Only
when retired within the seclusion of his private apartments
did he give himself up to an outburst of joy. The very ex-
pression " my young people " is the equivalent of " my
young men " which the Indian chief would have employed.
A singular custom prevails among the Petivaces, an Indian
f " Professor Yirchow considers this an example how certain artistical
or technical forms are developed simultaneously, without any connection
or relation between the artists or craftsmen." Preface to Ilios, Schlie-
inann. Murray, 1880.
OLD AND NEW WORLD MYTHS. 155
tribe of Brazil.* " When they are delivered of a child, and
ought to have all the ceremony and attendance proper to a
lying-in woman, the husband presently lies down in his ham-
mock (as if he had been brought to bed himself), and all his
wives and neighbours come about and serve him. This is a
pleasant fancy indeed, that the woman must take all the pains
to bring the child into the world, and then the man lie down
and gruntle upon it."
Compare with this the account given by Marco Polo of the
same custom prevalent among the Miau-tze, or aborigines of
China, as distinguished from their present occupants. Their
reduction to submission is recorded in the early works on the
country.
" Proceeding five days' journey, in a westerly direction
from Karazan, you enter the province of Kardandan belong-
ing to the dominion of the great Khan, and of which the
principal city is named Vochang (probably Yung-chang in
the western part of Yunnan). These people have the fol-
lowing singular usage. As soon as a woman has been deli-
vered of a child, and rising from her bed, has washed and
swathed the infant, her husband immediately takes the place
she has left, has the child beside him, and nurses it for forty
days. In the meantime the friends and relations of the
family pay to him their visits of congratulation ; whilst the
woman attends to the business of the house, carries victuals
and drink to the husband in his bed, and suckles the infant
at his side."f
We find a reference in Hudibras to this grotesque practice,
in which it is imputed, but erroneously, to the Chinese them-
selves, and it reappears on the western side of Europe,
among those singular people the Basques, who have their
* Knivet's description of the West Indies, Harris' Voyages, vol. i.
p. 705.
f T. Wrigbt, Marco Polo, p. 267. Bohn, 1854.
156 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
own especial Deluge tradition, and use a language which,
according to Humboldt, approaches some of the dialects of
the North American Indians more nearly than any other.
They profess to trace the custom up to A'itor or Noah, whose
wife bore a son to him when they were in exile, and, being
afraid to stay by herself for fear of being discovered and
murdered, bade her husband take care of the child, while
she went out to search for food and firing.
The change of name which prevails among the Chinese
and Japanese in both sexes, at different periods of life, is
also found upon the other continent,* where males and
females when they come to years of discretion do not
retain the names they had when young, and, if they do any
remarkable deed, assume a new name upon it.
Less importance is to be attached to the coincidence of
sun worship, Deluge tradition, and the preservation of ances-
tral ashes. f These, though probably not, might have been
indigenous ; but we can hardly conceive this of serpent
worship, which Mr. Fergusson suggests arose among a people
of Turanian origin, from which it spread to every country or
land of the Old World in which a Turanian settled. The
coincidence between the serpent mounds of North America
and such an one as is described by M. Phene in Argyllshire}:
is remarkable ; and still more so is that between the Mexican
myth of the fourfold destruction of the world by fire and
water, with those current among the Egyptians and that of
the four ages in the Hindu mythology.
Another coincidence, although perhaps of minor value,
will be seen in the dresses of the soldiers of China and
Mexico, as noted in the passages annexed. " Thus, in our
* Harris' Voyages, vol. i. p. 859.
f Dr. J. le Conte describes a ceremonial of cremation among the
Cocopa Indians of California, and it is an ancient practice among the
Chinese, dating back beyond the Greek and Roman historical periods.
J British Association, 1871.
OLD AND NEW WORLD MYTHS. 157
own time, the Chinese soldiers wear a dress resembling the
tiger skin, and the cap, which nearly covers the face, is
formed to represent the head of a tiger " ;* while the Mexi-
can warriors, according to Spanish historians, " wore enor-
mous wooden helmets in the form of a tiger's head, the jaws
of which were armed with the teeth of this animal, "t
Mr. C. Wolcott -Brooks, in an address to the California
Academy of Science, has pointed out that, according to Chi-
nese annals, Tai Ko Fo Kee, the great stranger-king, ruled
the kingdom of China, and that he is always represented in
pictures with two small horns like those associated with the
representation of Moses. He and his successors are said to
have introduced into China " picture writing " like that in
use in Central America at the time of the Spanish conquest.
Now there has been found at Copan, in Central America, a
figure strikingly like the Chinese symbol of Fo Kee, with his
two horns. " Either,'' says Mr. Brooks, " one people learned
from the other, or both acquired their forms from a common
source."
In reviewing all these cases we cannot fail to perceive that
early and frequent communication must have taken place
between the two worlds, and that the myths of one have
probably been carried with them by the migrants to the
other.
* Staunton, China, vol. ii. p. 455.
f Humboldt, Researches in America, English Translation, vol. i. p. 133.
158
MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
159
CHAPTEK VI.
THE DRAGON.
FIG. 33. Draco, OR FLYING LIZARD FROM
SINGAPORE. (After N. B. Dennys.}
THE dragon is denned in
the Encyclopaedia Britannica
for 1877 as " the name given
by the ancients to a huge
winged lizard or serpent (fa-
bulous).''
The text also goes on to
state that "they (the an-
cients) regarded it as the
enemy of mankind, and its
overthrow is made to figure
among the greatest exploits
of the gods and heroes of
heathen mythology. A dra-
gon watched the gardens of
the Hesperides, and its de-
struction formed one of the
seven labours of Hercules.
Its existence does not seem to
have been called in question
by the older naturalists ;
figures of the dragon appear-
ing in the works of Gesner
and Aldrovandus, and even
specimens of the monster,
evidently formed artificially of
portions of different animals,
160 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
have been exhibited." A reference is also made to the
genus Draco, comprising eighteen specimens of winged
lizards, all small, and peculiar to India and the islands of
the Malay archipelago.
Such is the meagre account of a creature which figures in
the history and mythology of all nations, which in its diffe-
rent forms has been worshipped as a god, endowed with
beneficent and malevolent attributes, combatted as a monster,
or supposed to have possessed supernatural power, exercised
alternately for the benefit or chastisement of mankind.
Its existence is inseparably wedded to the history, from
the most remote antiquity, of a nation which possesses con-
nected and authentic memoirs stretching uninterruptedly
from the present day far into the remote past ; on which
the belief in its existence has been so strongly impressed,
that it retains its emblem in its insignia of office, in its orna-
mentation of furniture, utensils, and dwellings, and com-
memorates it annually in the competition of dragon boats,
and the processions of dragon images ; which believes, or
affects to believe, in its continued existence in the pools of
the deep, and the clouds of the sky ; which propitiates it
with sacrifices and ceremonies, builds temples in its honour,
and cultivates its worship ; whose legends and traditions
teem with anecdotes of its interposition in the affairs of man,
and whose scientific works, of antiquity rivalling that of our
oldest Western Classics, treat of its existence as a sober and
accepted fact, and differentiate its species with some exact-
ness. It is, moreover, though not very frequently, occasion-
ally referred to in the Biblical history of that other ancient,
and almost equally conservative branch of the human race,
the Jews, not as a myth, or doubtfully existent supernatural
monster, but as a tangible reality, an exact terrible creature.
Equally do we find it noticed in those other valuable
records of the past which throw cross lights upon the Bible
narrative, and confirm by collateral facts the value of its
THE DRAGON.
161
11
162 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
historic truth ; such as the fragments of Chaldsean history
handed down by the reverent care of later historians, the
careful narrative of Josephus, and the grand resurrection of
Chaldsean and Assyrian lore effected by the marvellously well
directed and fortunate labour of GK H. Smith and those who
follow in his train.
Among the earliest classics of Europe, its existence is
asserted as a scientific fact, and accepted by poets as a sound
basis for analogies, comparisons, allegories, and fable ; it
appears in the mythology of the Goth, and is continued
through the tradition and fable of every country of Europe ;
nor does it fail to appear even in the imperfect traditions of
the New World,* where its presence may be considered as
comparatively indigenous, and undetermined by the commu-
nications dependent on the so-called discovery of later days.
Turning to other popular accounts, we find equally limited
and incredible versions of it. All consider it sufficiently
disposed of by calling it fabulous,t and that a sufficient
explanation of any possible belief in it is afforded by a refe-
rence]: to the harmless genus of existing flying lizards referred
to above.
* " In turning to the consideration of the primitive works of art of
the American continent . . . when in the bronze work of the later iron
period, imitative forms at length appear, they are chiefly the snake and
dragon shapes and patterns, borrowed seemingly by Celtic and Teutonic
wanderers, with the wild fancies of their mythology, from the far eastern
land of their birth." D. Wilson, Prehistoric Man, 1862.
" He had remarked that the Indians of the north-west coast fre-
quently repeat in their well-known blackstone carvings the dragon, the
lotus flower, and the alligator." 0. G-. Leland, Fusang, London, 1875.
f " Dragon, an imaginary animal something like a crocodile." Rev.
Dr. Brewer, Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, p. 243.
J "In the woods of Java are certain flying snakes, or rather drakes ;
they have four legs, a long tail, and their skin speckled with many
spots, their wings are not unlike those of a bat, which they move in
flying, but otherwise keep them almost unperceived close to the body.
They fly nimbly, but cannot hold it long, so that they fly from tree to
THE DRAGON. 163
Some consider it an evolution of the fancy, typifying
noxious principles; thus, Chambers* says, " The dragon
appears in the mythical history and legendary poetry of
almost every nation as the emblem of the destructive and
anarchical principle ; ... as misdirected physical force
and untamable animal passions. . . . The dragon proceeds
openly to work, running on its feet with expanded wings,
and head and tail erect, violently and ruthlessly outraging
decency and propriety, spouting fire and fury both from
mouth and tail, and wasting and devastating the whole
land/'
The point which strikes me as most interesting in this
passage is the reference to the legendary theory of the mode
of the dragon's progress, which curiously calls to mind the
semi-erect attitude of the existing small Australian frilled
lizard (Chlamijdosaurus). This attitude is also ascribed to
some of the extinct American Dinosaurs, such as the Stego-
saurus.
No one, so far as I am aware, in late days has hitherto
ventured to uphold the claims of this terrible monster to be
accepted as a real contemporary of primitive man,f which
tree at about twenty or thirty paces' distance. On the outside of the
throat are two bladders, which, being extended when they fly, serve them
instead of a sail. They feed upon flies and other insects." Mr. John
Nieuhoff's Voyage and Travels to the East Indies, contained in a collection
of Voyages and Travels, in 6 vols., vol. ii. p. 317 ; Churchill, London,
1732.
* Chambers' Encyclopedia, vol. iii. p. 635.
f The following is the nearest approach to such an assertion I have
met with, but appears from the context to apply to geologic time prior
to the advent of man. " When all those large and monstrous amphibia
since regarded as fabulous still in reality existed, when the confines of
the water and the land teemed with gigantic saurians, with lizards of
dimensions much exceeding those of the largest crocodiles of the present
day : who to the scaly bodies of fish, added the claws of beasts, and the
neck and wings of birds : who to the faculty of swimming in water,
added not only that of moving on the earth but that of sailing in air :
11 *
164 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
may even have been co- existent with him to a comparatively
recent date, and but lately passed away into the cohort of
extinct species, leaving behind it only the traditions of its
ferocity and terrors, to stamp their impression on the tongues
of all countries.
No one has endeavoured to collate the vast bulk of mate-
rials shrouded in the stories of all lands. If this were per-
fectly effected, a diagnosis of the real nature of the dragon
might perhaps be made, and the chapter of its characteristics,
alliances, and habits completed like that of any other well-
established species.
The following sketch purposes only to initiate the task
here propounded, the author's access to materials being
limited, and only sufficient to enable him, as he thinks, to
establish generally the proposition which it involves, to grasp
as it were some of the broader and salient features of the
investigation, while leaving a rich gleaning of corroborative
information for the hand of any other who may please to
continue and extend his observations.
At the outset it will be necessary to assign a much more
extended signification to the word dragon than that which is
contained in the definition at the head of this chapter. The
popular mind of the present day doubtless associates it
always with the idea of a creature possessing wings ; but
the Lung of the Chinese, the Spd K w of the Greeks, the
and who had all the characteristics of what we now call chimeras and
dragons, and perhaps of such monsters the remains, found among the
bones and skeletons of other animals more resembling those that still
exist and propagate, in the grottos and caverns in which they sought
shelter during the deluges that affected the infancy of the globe, gave
first rise to the idea that these dens and caves were once retreats whence
such monsters watched and in which they devoured other animals. "-
Thomas Hope, On the Origin and Prospects of Man, vol. ii. p. 346 ;
London, 1831.
Southey, in his Commonplace Book, pityingly alludes to this passage,
saying, "He believes in dragons and griffins as having heretofore
existed."
THE DRAGON. 165
Draco of the Eomans, the Egyptian dragon, and the Ndga of
the Sanscrit have no such limited signification, and appear to
have been sometimes applied to any serpent, lacertian, or
saurian, of extraordinary dimensions, nor is it always easy
to determine from the passages in which these several terms
occur what kind of monster is specially indicated.
Thus the dragon referred to by Propertius in the quotation
annexed may have been a large python. " Lanuvium* is,
of old, protected by an aged dragon ; here, where the occa-
sion of an amusement so seldom occurring is not lost, where
is the abrupt descent into a dark and hollowed cave ; where
is let down maiden, beware of every such journey the
honorary tribute to the fasting snake, when he demands his
yearly food, and hisses and twists deep down in the earth. >
Maidens, let down for such a rite, grow pale, when their
hand is unprotectedly trusted in the snake's mouth. He
snatches at the delicacies if offered by a maid; the very
baskets tremble in the virgin's hands ; if they are chaste,
they return and fall on the necks of their parents, and the
farmers cry * We shall have a fruitful year/ "f
To the same class may probably be ascribed the dragon
referred to by Aristotle ,J "The eagle and the dragon are
enemies, for the eagle feeds on serpents "; and again, " the
Glanis in shallow water is often destroyed by the dragon
serpent." It might perhaps be supposed that the crocodile
is here referred to, but this is specially spoken of in another
passage, as follows |i : "But there are others which, though
they live and feed in the water, do not take in water but air,
and produce their young out of the water; many of these
* From the context, Lanuvium appears to have been on the Appian
BoacU in Latium, about twenty-fives miles from Rome,
f Propertius, Elegy VIII . ; Bohn, 1854.
J History of Animals, Book ix., chap. ii. 3 ; Bohn.
IUd., Book vi., chap. xx. 12.
|| Hid., Book i., 6.
166 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
animals are furnished with feet, as the otter and crocodile, / /
and others are without feet, as the water- serpent."
A somewhat inexplicable habit is ascribed to the dragon in
Book ix.* : " When the draco has eaten much fruit, it seeks
the juice of the bitter lettuce ; it has been seen to do this."
Pliny, probably quoting Aristotle, f also states that the
dragon relieves the nausea which affects it in spring with
the juices of the lettuce ; and -ZElianJ repeats the story.
It is also probable that some large serpent is intended by
Pliny in the story which he relates, after Democritus, that
a man called Thoas was preserved in Arcadia by a dragon.
When a boy, he had become attached to it and had reared it
very tenderly ; but his father, being alarmed at the nature
and monstrous size of the reptile, had taken and left it in the
desert. Thoas being here attacked by robbers who lay in
ambush, he was delivered from them by the dragon, which
recognized his voice and came to his assistance. It may be
noted in regard to this that there are many authenticated
instances of snakes evidencing considerable affection for those
who have treated them with kindness. ||
The impression that Pliny's dragon was intended to repre-
* History of Animals, Book ix., chap. vii. 4.
f Natural History of Pliny, Book viii., chap, xli., translated by J. Bos-
tock and H. T. Biley ; London, 1855.
J Anim. Nat., Bookvi., chap. iv.
Natural History, Book viii., chap. xxii.
|| " On the contrary, towards ourselves they were disappointingly un-
demonstrative, and only evinced their consciousness of the presence of
strangers by entwining themselves about the members of the family as
if soliciting their protection. . . . They were very jealous of each other,
Mr. Mann said ; jealous also of other company, as if unwilling to lose their
share of attention. . . . Two sweet little children were equally familiar
with the other boas, that seemed quite to know who were their friends
and playfellows, for the children handled them and petted them and
talked to them as we talk to pet birds and cats." Account of Snakes
kept by Mr. and Mrs. Mann, of Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, in Snakes, by
C. C. Hopley; London, 1882.
THE DRAGON. 167
sent some large boa or python is strengthened by his state-
ment :* " The dragon is a serpent destitute of venom ; its
head placed beneath the threshold of a door, the gods being
duly propitiated by prayers, will ensure good fortune to the
house, it is said."
It is remarkable that he attributes to the dragon the same
desire and capacity to attack the elephant as is attributed to
the Pa snake in Western China, and by the old Arabian
voyagers to serpents in Borneo.
The Shan-hai-lting, a Chinese work of extreme antiquity,
of which special mention will be made hereafter, says : " The
Pa snake swallows elephants, after three years it ejects the
bones ; well-to-do people, eating it, are cured of consump-
tion."
Diodorus Siculus, in speaking of the region of the Nile in
Libya, says that, according to report, very large serpents are
produced there and in great numbers, and that these attack
elephants when they gather around the watering places,
involve them in their folds till they fall exhausted, and then
devour them.
Diodorus, in another passage referring to the crocodiles
and hippopotami of Egypt, speaking of Ethiopia and Libya,
mentions a variety of serpents as well as of other wild beasts,
including dragons of unusual size and ferocity.
While El Edrisi says : " On peut encore citer le serpent
de Zaledj dont parlent Ben Khordadebe, 1'auteur du Livre des
Merveilles, et divers autres ecrivains qui s'accordent a dire
qu'il existe dans les montagnes de Tile de Zaledj une espece
de serpent qui attaque 1'elephant et le buffle, et qui ne les
abandonnent qu'apres les avoir vaincu."t
* Natural History, Book xxix., chap. xx.
t " It is probable that the island of Zanig described by Qazvinius, in
his geographical work (for extracts from which vide Scriptorum Arabum
de Rebus Indicis loci et opuscula inedita, by I. Gildemeister, Bonnae,
168 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
Artemidorus, also, according to Strabo,* " mentions ser-
pents of thirty cubits in length, which can master elephants
and bulls. In this he does not exaggerate ; but the Indian
and African serpents are of a more fabulous size, and are
said to have grass growing on their backs."
Iphicrates, according to Bryant, <c related that in Mauri-
tania there were dragons of such extent that grass grew upon
their backs. "
It is doubtful whether large serpents, or real dragons, are
referred to by Pliny in the following interesting passages
which I give at length : the surprise which he expresses at
Juba's believing that they had crests, leads me to suspect
that there was possibly some confusion of species involved ;
that Juba might have been perfectly accurate so far as the
crests are concerned, and that the beasts in question, in place
of being pythons of magnitude, were rather some gigantic
lizard-like creature, of great length and little bulk, corre-
sponding with the Chinese idea of the dragon, and, therefore,
naturally bearing horny crests, similar to those with which the
monster is usually represented by the latter people.
It must be noticed here, that if we postulate the existence
of the dragon, we are not bound to limit ourselves to a single
species, or even two, as the same causes which effected the
gradual destruction of one would be exceedingly likely to
effect that of another ; we must not, therefore, be too critical
in comparing descriptions of different authors in different
1838), as the seat of the empire of the Mahraj, is identical with Zaledj.
He says that it is a large island on the confines of China towards India,
and that among other remarkable features is a mountain called Nacan
(Kini Balu ?), on which are serpents of such magnitude as to be able to
swallow oxen, buffaloes, and even elephants. Masudi includes Zanig,
Kalah, and Taprobana among the islands constituting the territory of
the Mahraj." P. Amede'e Jaubert, Geographic d'Edrisi, vol. i. p. 104 ;
Paris, 1836.
* Book vi., chap. iv. 16.
t Serpent Worship, p. 35 ; Welder, New York, 1877.
THE DRAGON. 169
countries and epochs, since they may refer only to allied, but
not identical, animals.
" Africa produces elephants, but it is India that produces
the largest, as well as the dragon, who is perpetually at war
with the elephant, and is itself of so enormous a size, as
easily to envelop the elephants with its folds, and encircle
them in its coils. The contest is equally fatal to both ; the
elephant, vanquished, falls to the earth, and by its weight
crushes the dragon which is entwined around it.*
" The sagacity which every animal exhibits in its own
behalf is wonderful, but in these it is remarkably so. The
dragon has much difficulty in climbing up to so great a
height, and therefore, watching the road, which bears marks
of their footsteps, when going to feed, it darts down upon
them from a lofty tree. The elephant knows that it is
quite unable to struggle against the folds of the serpent, and
so seeks for trees or rocks against which to rub itself.
" The dragon is on its guard against this, and tries to
prevent it, by first of all confining the legs of the elephant
with the folds of its tail ; while the elephant, on the other
hand, tries to disengage itself with its trunk. The dragon,
however, thrusts its head into its nostrils, and thus, at the
same moment, stops the breath, and wounds the most tender
parts. When it is met unexpectedly, the dragon raises itself
up, faces its opponent, and flies more especially at the eyes ;
this is the reason why elephants are so often found blind,
and worn to a skeleton with hunger and misery.
" There is another story, too, told in relation to these
combats. The blood of the elephant, it is said, is remark-
ably cold ; for which reason, in the parching heats of summer,
it is sought by the dragon with remarkable avidity. It lies,
therefore, coiled up and concealed in the river, in wait for
* Pliny's Natural History, Book viii., chap, xi., translated by J. Bos-
tock and H. T. Eiley ; Bonn, London, 1855.
170 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
the elephants when they come to drink ; upon which it darts
out, fastens itself around the trunk, and then fixes its teeth
behind the ear, that being the only place which the elephant
cannot protect with the trunk. The dragons, it is said, are
of such vast size that they can swallow the whole of the
blood; consequently the elephant, being drained of its blood,
falls to the earth exhausted ; while the dragon, intoxicated
with the draught, is crushed beneath it, and so shares its fate.*
" Ethiopia produces dragons, not so large as those of
India, but still twenty cubits in length. The only thing that
surprises me is, how Juba came to believe that they have
crests. The Ethiopians are known as the Asachsei, among
whom they most abound ; and we are told that on those
coasts four or five of them are found twisted and interlaced
together like so many osiers in a hurdle, and thus setting
sail, with their heads erect, they are borne along upon the
waves to find better sources of nourishment in Arabia, "f
Pliny then goes on to describe, as separate from dragons,
large serpents in India, as follows.
" Megasthenesj: informs us that in India serpents grow to
such an immense size as to swallow stags and bulls ; while
Metrodorus says that about the river Bhyndacus, in Pontus,
they seize and swallow the birds that are flying above them,
however high and however rapid their flight.
" It is a well-known fact that during the Punic war, at the
river Bagrada, a serpent one hundred and twenty feet in
length was taken by the Koman army under Kegulus, being
besieged, like a fortress, by means of balistae and other
engines of war. Its skin and jaws were preserved in a temple
at Rome down to the time of the Numantine war.
" The serpents, which in Italy are known by the name of
* Pliny's Natural History, Book viii., chap. xii.
f Ibid., Book viii., chap. xiii.
I Hid., Book viii., chap. xiv.
THE DRAGON. 171
boa, render these accounts far from incredible, for they grow
to such vast size that a child was found entire in the stomach
of one of them which was killed on the Vaticanian Hill
during the reign of Emperor Claudius."*
Aristotle tells us that u in Libya, the serpents, as it has
been already remarked, are very large. For some persons
say that as they sailed along the coast, they saw the bones of
many oxen, and that it was evident to them that they had
been devoured by serpents. And, as the ships passed on, the
serpents attacked the triremes, and some of them threw
themselves upon one of the triremes and overturned it."f
It is doubtful whether the dragons described by Benjamin
of Tudela, who travelled through Europe and the East and
returned to Castille in 11 734 as infesting the ruins of the
palace of Nebuchodonosor at Babylon, so as to render them
inaccessible, were creatures of the imagination such as the
mediaeval mind seems to have loved to dress up, or venomous
serpents. But there is little doubt that the so-called dragons
of later voyages were simply boas, pythons, or other large
serpents, such as those described by John Leo, in his descrip-
* " At the present day the longest Italian serpents are the JBsculapian
serpent (a harmless animal) and the Colubes quadrilineatus, neither of
which exceeds ten feet in length." Nat. Hist., Book viii., chap. xiv.
f Aristotle's History of Animals, Book viii., chap, xxvii. 6, by R.
Oresswell, Bonn's Series ; Bell, London, 1878.
An abridgment of these travels is contained in Voyages par Pierre
Bergeron, a la Haye, 1735. They were originally written in Hebrew,
translated into Latin by Benoit Arian Montare, and subsequently into
French. [The introduction refers to his return to Castille in 1173,
presumably after the termination of his voyages ; but in the opening
paragraph there is a marginal note giving the same date to his setting
out from Sarragossa.] Sir John Mandeville gives a similar account in
speaking of the tower of Babylon ; he says, " but it is full long sithe
that any man durste neyhe to the Tour : for it is all deserte and fulle of
Dragouns and grete serpents, and fulle of dyverse venemous Bestes alle
about he." The Voyages of Sir John Mandeville, Kt., p. 40 ; J. 0. Halli-
well, London, 1839.
172 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
tion of a voyage to Africa, as existing in the caverns of
Atlas. He says, " There are many monstrous dragons which
are thick about the middle, but have slender necks and tails,
so that their motion is but slow.* They are so venomous,
that whatever they bite or touch, certain death ensues." There
is also the statement of Job Ludolphus that (in ^Ethiopia)
" the dragons are of the largest size, very voracious, but not
venomous. "f
I fancy that at the present day the numbers, magnitude,
and terrifying nature of serpents but feebly represent the
power which they asserted in the early days of man's exis-
tence, or the terror which they then inspired. This subject
has been so ably dealt with by a writer of the last century];
that I feel no hesitation in transcribing his remarks at length.
" It is probable, in early times, when the arts were little
known and mankind were but thinly scattered over the earth,
that serpents, continuing undisturbed possessors of the forest,
grew to an amazing magnitude, and every other tribe of
animals fell before them. It then might have happened that
the serpents reigned tyrants of the district for centuries
together. To animals of this kind, grown by time and rapa-
city to one hundred or one hundred and fifty feet long, the
lion, the tiger, and even the elephant itself were but feeble
opponents. That horrible fetor, which even the commonest
and the most harmless snakes are still found to diffuse, might
in these larger ones become too powerful for any living being
to withstand, and while they preyed without distinction, they
might also have poisoned the atmosphere round them. In
this manner, having for ages lived in the hidden and un-
peopled forest, and finding, as their appetites were more
powerful, the quantity of their prey decreasing, it is possible
* Harris's Voyages, vol, i. p. 360.
f Ibid., vol. i. p. 392.
J Encyclopaedia of Arts and Sciences, first American edition, Philadel-
phia, 1798.
THE DRAGON. 173
they might venture boldly from their retreats into the more
cultivated parts of the country, and carry consternation
among mankind, as they had before desolation among the
lower ranks of nature.
" We have many histories of antiquity presenting us such
a picture, and exhibiting a whole nation sinking under the
ravages of a single serpent. At that time man had not
learned the art of uniting the efforts of many to effect one
great purpose. Opposing multitudes only added new victims
to the general calamity, and increased mutual embarrassment
and terror. The animal, therefore, was to be singly opposed
by him who had the greatest strength, the best armour, and
the most undaunted courage. In such an encounter hun-
dreds must have fallen, till one more lucky than the rest, by
a fortunate blow, or by taking the monster in its torpid
interval and surcharged with spoil, might kill and thus rid
his country of the destroyer. Such was the original occu-
pation of heroes.
" But as we descend into more enlightened antiquity we
find these animals less formidable, as being attacked in a
more successful manner.
" We are told that while Eegulus led his army along the
banks of the river Bagrada in Africa, an enormous serpent
disputed his passage over. We are assured by Pliny that it
was one hundred and twenty feet long, and that it had
destroyed many of the army. At last, however, the batteriog
engines were brought out against it, and then, assailing it at
a distance, it was destroyed. Its spoils were carried to Borne,
and the general was decreed an ovation for his success.
" There are, perhaps, few facts better ascertained in his-
tory than this : an ovation was a remarkable honour, and
was only given for some signal exploit that did not deserve a
triumph. No historian would offer to invent that part of
the story, at least, without being subject to the most shameful
detection.
174 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
" The skin was kept for several years after, in the Capitol,
and Pliny says he saw it there.
" This tribe of animals, like that of fishes, seem to have
no bounds put to their growth ; their bones are in a great
measure cartilaginous, and they are consequently capable of
great extension.
" The older, therefore, a serpent becomes, the larger it
grows, and, as they live to a great age, they arrive at an
enormous size. Leguat assures us that he saw one in Java
that was fifty feet long.* Carli mentions their growing to
above forty feet, and there is now in the British Museum one
that measures thirty-two feet.
" Mr. Wentworth, who had large concerns in the Berbice
in America, assures us that in that country they grow to an
enormous length. He describes an Indian mistaking one for
a log, and proceeding to sit down on it, when it began to
move. A soldier with him shot the snake, but the Indian
died of fright. It measured thirty-six feet. It was sent to
the Hague.
" A life of savage hostility in the forest offers the imagina-
tion one of the most tremendous pictures in nature. In
those burning countries where the sun dries up every brook
for hundreds of miles round : where what had the appearance
of a great river in the rainy season becomes in summer one
dreary bed of sand ; in those countries a lake that is never
dry, or a brook that is perennial, is considered by every
animal as the greatest convenience of nature. When they
have discovered this, no dangers can deter them from attempt-
ing to slake their thirst. Thus the neighbourhood of a
rivulet, in the heart of the tropical continents, is generally
* See Voyage to the East Indies, by Francis Leguat ; London, 1708.
Leguat hardly makes the positive affirmation stated in the text. In
describing Batavia he says there is another sort of serpents which
are at least fifty feet long.
THE DRAGON. 175
the place where all the hostile tribes of nature draw up for
the engagement.
" On the banks of this little envied spot, thousands of
animals of various kinds are seen venturing to quench their
thirst, or preparing to seize their prey. The elephants are
perceived in a long line, marching from the darker parts of
the forest. The buffaloes are there, depending upon numbers
for security ; the gazelles relying solely upon their swiftness ;
the lion and tiger waiting a proper opportunity to seize,
" But chiefly the larger serpents are upon guard there, and
defend the accesses of the lake. Not an hour passes without
some dreadful combat, but the serpent, defended by its scales,
and naturally capable of sustaining a multitude of wounds,
is of all others the most formidable. It is the most wakeful
also, for the whole tribe sleep with their eyes open, and are
consequently for ever upon the watch ; so that, till their
rapacity is satisfied, few other animals will venture to
approach their station."
We read of a serpent exhibited in the time of Augustus
at Rome, which, Suetonius tells us, "was fifty cubits in
length."* But at the present day there are few authentic
accounts of snakes exceeding thirty feet in length ; and there
are some people who discredit any which profess to speak of
snakes of greater dimensions than this. There are some,
however, among the annexed stories, which I think demand
belief, and apparently we may conclude that the python and
boa exceptionally attain as much as forty feet in length, or
even more.
Wallacef merely reports by hearsay that the pythons in
the Phillipines, which destroy young cattle, are said to reach
more than forty feet.
Captain Sherard Osborn,]; in his description of Quedah in
* Broderip, Leaves from the Note Book of a Naturalist, p. 357.
f Australasia, p. 273.
t Quedah', London, 1857,
176 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
the Malay peninsula, says, also, as a matter of popular
belief: " The natives of Tamelan declared most of them to
be of the boa-constrictor [species, but spoke of monsters in
the deep forests, which might, if they came out, clear off the
whole village. A pleasant feat, for which Jadie, with a wag
of his sagacious head, assured me that an ' oular Bessar ' or
big snake was quite competent.
" It was strange but interesting to find amongst all Malays
a strong belief in the extraordinary size to which the boa-
constrictors or pythons would grow ; they all maintained that
in the secluded forests of Sumatra or Borneo, as well as on
some of the smaller islands which were not inhabited, these
snakes were occasionally found of forty or fifty feet in
length."
Major McNair says* : " One of the keenest sportsmen in
Singapore gives an account of a monster that he encountered.
He had wounded a boar in the jungle, and was following its
tracks with his dogs, when, in penetrating further into the
forest, he found the dogs at bay, and, advancing cautiously,
prepared for another shot at the boar ; to his surprise, how-
ever, he found that the dogs were baying a huge python,
which had seized the boar, thrown its coils round the unfor-
tunate beast, and was crushing it to death. A well-directed
shot laid the reptile writhing on the ground, and it proved to
be about thirty feet long. But such instances of extreme
length are rare."
Unfortunately the exciting story of a serpent, between
forty and fifty feet in length, which I extract from the North
China Daily News of November 10th, 1880, the scene of
which is also laid in the Malay peninsula, lacks the authen-
ticity of the narrator's name. It is as follows :
" The Straits Times tells the following exciting python
story : ' A sportsman, who a few days ago penetrated into the
* Perak and the Malays, p. 77.
THE DRAGON. 177
jungle lying between Buddoh and Sirangoon, came upon a
lone hut in a district called Campong Batta, upon the roof of
which the skin of an enormous boa or python (whichever
may be the correct name) was spread out. The hut was
occupied by a Malay and his wife, from whom our informant
gathered the following extraordinary account. One night,
about a week previously, the Malay was awakened by the
cries of his wife for assistance. Being in perfect darkness,
and supposing the alarm to be on account of thieves, he
seized his sharp parang, and groped his way to her sleep-
ing place, where his hand fell upon a slimy reptile. It was
fully a minute before he could comprehend the entire situa-
tion, and when he did, he discovered that the whole of his
wife's arm had been drawn down the monster's throat,
whither the upper part of her body was slowly but surely
following. Not daring to attack the monster at once for fear
of causing his wife's death, the husband, with great presence
of mind, seized two bags within reach, and commenced stuff-
ing them into the corner of the snake's jaws, by means of
which he succeeded in forcing them wider open and releasing
his wife's arm. No sooner had the boa lost his prey than he
attacked the husband, whom he began encircling in his fatal
coils ; but holding out both arms, and watching his oppor-
tunity, he attacked the monster so vigorously with his parang
that it suddenly unwound itself and vanished through an
opening beneath the attap sides of the hut. His clothes
were covered with blood, as was also the floor of the hut, and
his wife's arm was blue with the squeezing it received between
the boa's jaws. At daylight the husband discovered his
patch of plaintain trees nearly ruined, where the boa, writh-
ing in agony, had broken off the trees at the roots, and in the
midst of the debris lay the monster itself, dead. The Malay
assured our informant that he had received no less than sixty
dollars from Chinese, who came from long distances to pur-
chase pieces of the flesh on account of its supposed medical
12
178 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
properties, and that he had refused six dollars for the skin,
which he preferred to retain as a trophy. It was greatly
decomposed, having been some days exposed in the open
air, and useless for curing. There is no telling what may
have been the measurement of this large reptile, but the
skin, probably greatly stretched by unskilful removal, mea-
sured between seven and eight fathoms."
Bontius speaks of serpents in the Asiatic Isles. " The
great ones," he says, " sometimes exceed thirty-six feet ; and
have such capacity of throat and stomach that they swallow
whole boars."
Mr. McLeod, in the Voyage of the Alceste, states that during
a captivity of some months at Whidah, on the coast of
Africa, he had opportunities of observing serpents double
this length.*
Broderip, in his Leaves from the Note-book of a Naturalist
(Parker, 1852), speaks of a serpent thirty feet in length,
which attacked the crew of a Malay proa anchored for the
night close to the island of Celebes.
Mr. C. Collingwood in Rambles of a Naturalist, states that
" Mr. Low assured me that he had seen one [python] killed
measuring twenty- six feet, and I heard on good authority of one
of twenty-nine feet having been killed there. In Borneo they
were said to attain forty feet, but for this I cannot vouch."
That large pythons still exist in South and Western China,
although of very reduced dimensions as compared with those
described in ancient works, is affirmed by many writers, from
whom I think it is sufficient to extract a notice by one of
the early missionaries who explored that country.
"Pour ce qui est des serpens qu'on trouve dans Chine
1'Atlas raconte que la Province de Quansi, en produit de si
grands et d'une longueur si extreme, qu'il est presque incroy-
able ; et il nous assure, qu'il s'en est trouve, qui etaient plus
* Figuier, Reptiles and Birds, p. 51.
THE DRAGON. 179
longs que ne seraient pas dix perches attachees les unes avec
les autres, c'est-a-dire, qu'ils avaient plus de trente pieds
geometriques. Flore Sienois dit, < Gento est le plus grand
de tous ceux qui sont dans les provinces de Quansi, de
Haynan, et de Quantun ... 11 devore les cerfs. ... II
s'eleve droit sur sa queue, et combat vigoureuseinent, en cette
posture, centre les hommes et les betes farouches.' "*
We have unfortunately no clue to the actual length of the
serpent Bomma, described by J. M. da Sorrento in A Voyage
to Congo in 1682, contained in Churchill's collection of
voyages published in 1732. f " The flesh they eat is gene-
rally that of wild creatures, and especially of a sort of serpent
called Bomma. At a certain feast in Baia, I observed the
windows, instead of tapestry and arras, adorned with the skin
of these serpents as wide as that of a large ox, and long in
proportion."
That harmless snakes of from twelve to fourteen feet in
length occur abundantly in Northern Australia is generally
known ; but it is only of late years that I have been made
acquainted with a firm belief, entertained by the natives in
the interior, of the existence near the junction of the Darling
and Murray, south of the centre of the continent, of a serpent
of great magnitude.
I learn from Mr. G. E. Moffat that on the Lower Murray,
between Swan Hill and the Darling junction at the time of
his acquaintance with the district (about 1857 to 1867)
the black fellows had numerous stories of the existence of a
large serpent in the Mallee scrub. It was conspicuous for its
size, thirty to forty feet in length, and especially for its great
girth, swiftness, and intensely disgusting odour ; this latter,
in fact, constituted the great protection from it, insomuch
* La Chine Illustrt, d'Athase Keichere, chap. x. p. 272. Amsterdam,
CIO ICD LXX.
t Vol. i. p. 601.
12 *
180 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
as it would be impossible to approach without recognising its
presence.
Mr. Moffatt learnt personally from a Mr. Beveridge, son
of Mr. Peter Beveridge, of Swan Hill station, that he
had actually seen one, and that his account quite tallied
with those of the blacks. In answer to an inquiry which
I addressed to Australia, I received the note attached
below.*
Mr. Henry Liddell, who was resident on the Darling River
in 1871-72, informs me that he has heard from stock-riders
and ration-carriers similar accounts to that of Mr. Moffatt,
with reference to the existence of large serpents of the boa
species in an adjacent locality, viz. the tract of country lying
to the east of Darling and Murray junction, in the back
country belonging to Pooncaira station.
They described them as being numerous, in barren and
rocky places, among big boulders ; fully forty feet long ; as
thick as a man's thigh ; and as having the same remarkable
odour described by Mr. Moffatt. They spoke of them as
quite common, and not at all phenomenal, between Went-
worth and Pooncaira.
The Anaconda, in regard to which so much myth and
superstition prevails among the Indians of Brazil, is thus
spoken of by Condamine, in his Travels in South America.
" The most rare and singular of all is a large amphibious
serpent from twenty-five to thirty feet long and more than a
foot thick, according to report. It is called Jacumama, or
,\ * the mother of the waters,' by the Americans of Maynas,
* See Proceedings of Eoyal Society of Tasmania, September 13, 1880.
Mr. C. M. Officer states " With reference to the Hindi or Mallee snake,
it has often been described to me as a formidable creature of at least
thirty feet in length, which confined itself to the Mallee scrub. No one,
however, has ever seen one, for the simple reason that to see it is to die,
so fierce it is, and so great its power of destruction. Like the Bunyip,
I believe the Mindi to be a myth, a mere tradition,"
THE DBAGOtf. 181
and commonly inhabits the large lakes formed by the river-
water after flood." *
Ulloa, also, in his Voyage to South America^ says : " In
the countries watered by that vast river (the Maranon) is
bred a serpent of a frightful magnitude, and of a most dele-
terious nature. Some, in order to give an idea of its large-
ness, affirm that it will swallow any beast whole, and that
this has been the miserable end of many a man. But what
seems still a greater wonder is the attractive quality attri-
buted to its breath, { which irresistibly draws any creature
to it which happens to be within the sphere of its attraction.
The Indians call it Jacumama, i.e. 'mother of water'; for, as
it delights in lakes and marshy places, it may in some sense
be considered as amphibious. I have taken a great deal of
pains to inquire into this particular, and all I can say is that
the reptile's magnitude is really surprising."
John Nieuhoff, in his Voyages to Brazil^ speaking of the
serpent Guaku or Liboya, says : " It is questionless the
biggest of all serpents, some being eighteen, twenty-four, nay
thirty feet long, and of the thickness of a man in his middle.
The Portuguese call it Kobra Detrado, or the roebuck
serpent, because it will swallow a whole roebuck, or any other
deer it meets with ; after they have swallowed such a deer,
they fall asleep, and so are catched. Such a one I saw at
Paraiba, which was thirty feet long, and as big as a barrel.
This serpent, being a very devouring creature, greedy of prey,
leaps from amongst the hedges and woods, and standing
upright upon its tail, wrestles both with men and wild
* Pinkerton's Voyages, vol. xiv. p. '247.
f Ibid., vol. xiv. p. 514.
% It is interesting to compare this belief with stories given else-
where, by Pliny, Book viii. chap, xiv., and Julian, Book ii. chap, xxi., of
the power of the serpents or dragons of the river Rhyndacus to attract
birds by inhalation.
Pinkerton's Voyages, vol. xiv. p. 713.
182 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
beasts ; sometimes it leaps from the trees upon the traveller,
whom it fastens upon, and beats the breath out of his body
with its tail."
The largest (water boa) ever met with by a European
appears to be that described by a botanist, Dr. Gardiner, in
his Travels in Brazil. It had devoured a horse, and was
found dead, entangled in the branches of a tree overhanging
a river, into which it had been carried by a flood ; it was
nearly forty feet long.
FIG. 35. EGYPTIAN FOUK-WINGED SERPENT, CHANUPHIS, OR BAIT. {From " Serpent
Myths of Ancient Egypt" by W. R. Cooper.}
Winged Serpents.
The next section relates to winged serpents, a belief in
which was prevalent in early ages, and is strongly supported
by several independent works.
To my mind, Herodotus speaks without the slightest doubt
upon the subject in the following passages. "Arabia* is
the last of inhabited lands towards the south, and it is the
only country which produces frankincense, myrrh, cassia,
cinnamon, and ledanum." " The frankincense they procure
by means of the gum styrax, which the Greeks get from the
Phoenicians. This they burn, and thereby obtain the spice ;
for the trees which bear the frankincense are guarded by
* Herodotus, Book iii. chap, cvii., cviii.
THE DRAGON. 183
winged serpents, small in size, and of various colours,
whereof vast numbers hang about every tree. They are of
the same kind as the serpents that invade Egypt, and there
is nothing but the smoke of the styrax which will drive them
from the trees."
FIG. 36. THE SYMBOLIC WINGED SERPENT OP THE GODDESS MERSOKAR OR
MELSOKAR. (After W. R. Cooper.}
Again,* " the Arabians say that the whole world would
swarm with these serpents, if they were not kept in check,
in the way in which I know that vipers are." " Now, with
respect to the vipers and the winged snakes of Arabia, if they
increased as fast as their nature would allow, impossible
were it for man to maintain himself upon the earth.
Accordingly, it is found that when the male and female come
together, at the very moment of impregnation, the female
seizes the male by the neck, and having once fastened cannot
be brought to leave go till she has bit the neck entirely
through, and so the male perishes ; but after a while he is
avenged upon the female by means of the young, which,
while still unborn, gnaw a passage through the womb and
then through the belly of their mother. Contrariwise, other
snakes, which are harmless, lay eggs and hatch a vast
number of young. Vipers are found in all parts of the
world, but the winged serpents are nowhere seen except in
Arabia, where they are all congregated together ; this makes
them appear so numerous."
* Herodotus, Book iii. chap, cviii.
184 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
Herodotus had so far interested himself in ascertaining the
probability of their existence as to visit Arabia for the
purpose of inquiry ; he says,* " I went once to a certain place
in Arabia, almost exactly opposite the city of Buto, to make
inquiries concerning the winged serpents. On my arrival I
saw the back-bones and ribs of serpents in such numbers as
it is impossible to describe ; of the ribs there were a multi-
tude of heaps, some great, some small, some middle-sized.
The place where the bones lie is at the entrance of a narrow
gorge between steep mountains, which there open upon a
spacious plain communicating with the great plains of
Egypt. The story goes, that with the spring the snakes
come flying from Arabia towards Egypt, but are met in this
gorge by the birds called ibises, who forbid their entrance
and destroy them all. The Arabians assert, and the Egyp-
tians also admit, that it is on account of the service thus
rendered that the Egyptians hold the ibis in so much reve-
rence." He further! describes the winged serpent as being
shaped like the water-snake, and states that its wings are not
feathered, but resemble very closely those of the bat.
FIG. 37. THE SYMBOLIC WINGED SERPENT OF THE GODDESS EILEITHTA.
(After W. R. Cooper.)
Aristotle briefly states, as a matter of common report, that
there were in his time winged serpents in Ethiopia. J Both
two and four winged snakes are depicted among the Egyptian
* Herodotus, Book ii., chap. Ixxv.
t Ibid., Book ii., chap. Ixxvi.
f Ibid., Book i., chap. v.
THE DRAGON. 185
sculptures, considered by Mr. Cooper to be emblematic of
deities, and to signify that the four corners of the earth are
embraced and sheltered by the supreme Providence.
Josephus* unmistakably affirms his belief in the existence
of flying serpents, in his account of the stratagem which
Moses adopted in attacking the Ethiopians, who had invaded
Egypt and penetrated as far as Memphis. From this we
may infer that in his time flying serpents were by no means
peculiar to Arabia, but, as might have been expected, equally
infested the desert lands bordering the fertile strip of the Nile.
In Whiston's translation we read that " Moses prevented
the enemies, and took and led his army before those ene-
mies were apprised of his attacking them ; for he did not
march by the river, but by land, where he gave a wonderful
demonstration of his sagacity ; for when the ground was
difficult to be passed over, because of the multitude of ser-
pents (which it produces in vast numbers, and indeed is
singular in some of those productions, which other countries
do not breed, and yet such as are worse than others in power
and mischief, and an unusual fierceness of sight, some of
which ascend out of the ground unseen, and also fly in the
air, and so come upon men at unawares, and do them a
mischief), Moses invented a wonderful stratagem to preserve
the army safe and without hurt; for he made baskets, like
unto arks, of sedge, and filled them with ibes, and carried
them along with them ; which animal is the greatest enemy
to serpents imaginable, for they fly from them when they
come near them ; and as they fly they are caught and de-
voured by them, as if it were done by the harts ; but the
ibes are tame creatures, and only enemies to the serpentine
kind ; but about these ibes I say no more at present, since
the Greeks themselves are not unacquainted with this sort
of bird. As soon, therefore, as Moses was come to the land,
* Antiquities of the Jews, Book ii., chap. x.
186 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
which was the breeder of these serpents, he let loose the ibes,
and by their means repelled the serpentine kind, and used them
for his assistants before the army came upon that ground."
These statements of Herodotus and Josephus are both too
precise to be explicable on the theory that they refer to
the darting or jumping serpents which Nieuhoff describes,
in his day, as infesting the palm trees of Arabia and
springing from tree to tree ; or to the jaculus of Pliny,*
which darts from the branches of trees, and flies through the
air as though it were hurled by an engine, and which is
described by ^Elian and graphically figured by Lucanf in
the passage " Behold! afar, around the trunk of a barren
tree, a fierce serpent Africa calls it the jaculus wreathes
itself, and then darts forth, and through the head and pierced
temples of Paulus it takes its flight : nothing does venom
there effect, death seizes him through the wound. It war
then understood how slowly fly the stones which the sling
hurls, how sluggishly whizzes the flight of the Scythian
arrow."
Solinus, whose work, Polyhistor, is mainly a compilation
from Pliny's Natural History, gives a similar account of the
swarms of winged serpents about the Arabian marshes, and
states that their bite was so deadly that death followed the
bite before pain could be felt; he also refers to their destruc-
tion by the ibises, and is probably only quoting other authors
rather than speaking of his own knowledge.
Cicero, again, speaks of the ibis as being a very large bird,
with strong legs, and a horny long beak, which destroys a
great number of serpents, and keeps Egypt free from
pestilential diseases, by killing and devouring the flying
serpents, brought from the deserts of Lybia by the south-
west wind, and so preventing the mischief which might
* Book viii. chap. xxxv.
f Pharsalia, Book ix.
THE DRAGON. 187
attend their biting while alive, or from any infection when
dead.
There are not unfrequent allusions in ancient history to
serpents having become so numerous as to constitute a
perfect plague ; the dreadful mortality caused among the
Israelites by the fiery serpents spoken of in Numbers is a
case in point, and another * is the migration of the Neuri
from their own country into that of the Budini, one gene-
ration before the attack of Darius, in consequence of the
incursion of a huge multitude of serpents. It is stated that
some of these were produced in their own country, but for
the most part they came in from the deserts of the north.
The home of the Neuri appears to have been to the north-
west of the Pontus Euxinus, pretty much in the position of
Poland, and I believe that at the present day the only harm-
ful reptile occurring in it is the viper common to the rest
of Europe. Diodorus Siculusf mentions a tradition that
the Cerastes had once made an irruption into Egypt in
such numbers as to have depopulated a great portion of the
inhabited districts.
These stories are interesting as showing a migratory in-
stinct occurring in certain serpents, either periodically or
occasionally, and are thus to some extent corroborative of
the account of the annual invasion of Egypt by serpents,
referred to in a previous page. They also, I think, con-
firm the impression that serpents were more numerous in
the days of early history, and had a larger area of distri-
bution than they have now, and that possibly some species,
such as the Arabian and flying serpents, which have since
become extinct, then existed. Thus the boa is spoken of by
Pliny as occurring commonly in Italy, and growing to such
a vast size that a child was found entire in one of them,
which was killed on the Vatican Hill during the reign of the
* Herodotus, Book iv. chap. cv. f Book iii. chap. xx.
188 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
Emperor Claudius. Yet at the present day there are no snakes
existing there at all corresponding to this description.
Parallel instances of invasions of animals materially affect-
ing the prosperity of man are doubtless familiar to my readers,
such as the occasional migration of lemmings, passage of
rats, flights of locusts, or the ravages caused by the Colo-
rado beetle ; but many are perhaps quite unaware what a
terrible plague can be established, in the course of a very
few years, by the prolific unchecked multiplication of even so
harmless, innocent, and useful an animal as the common
rabbit. The descendants of a few imported pairs have laid
waste extensive districts of Australia and New Zealand, neces-
sitated an enormous expenditure for their extirpation, and
have at the present day* caused such a widespread destruc-
* " It may be some comfort to graziers and selectors who are strug-
gling, under many discouragements, to suppress the rabbit plague in
Victoria, to learn that our condition, bad as it is, is certainly less serious
than that of New Zealand. There, not only is an immense area of good
country being abandoned in consequence of the inability of lessees to
bear the great expense of clearing the land of rabbits, but, owing to
the increase of the pest, the number of sheep depastured is decreasing
at a serious rate. Three years ago the number exceeded thirteen mil-
lions ; but it is estimated that they have since been diminished by two
millions, while the exports of the colony have, in consequence, fallen
off to the extent of =500,000 per annum. A Rabbit Nuisance Act has
been in existence for some time, but it is obviously inefficient, and it is
now proposed to make its provisions more stringent, and applicable
alike to the Government as well as to private landowners. A select
committee of both Houses of the Legislature, which has recently taken
a large amount of evidence upon this subject, reports in the most
emphatic terms its conviction that unless immediate and energetic
action is taken to arrest the further extension of, and to suppress the
plague, the result will be ruinous to the colony. A perusal of the
evidence adduced decidedly supports this opinion. Many of the
squatters cannot be accused of apathy. Some of them have employed
scores of men, and spent thousands of pounds a year in ineffectual
efforts to eradicate the rabbits from their runs. One firm last year is
believed to have killed no less than 500,000 ; but the following spring
their run was in as bad a state as if they had never put any poison down.
THE DRAGON. 189
tion of property in the latter country, that large areas of
ground have actually had to be abandoned and entirely
surrendered to them.
It is interesting to find in the work of the Arabic geo-
grapher El Edrisi a tradition of an island in the Atlantic,
called Laca, off the north-west coast of Africa, having been
formerly inhabited, but abandoned on account of the excessive
multiplication of serpents on it. According to Scaligerus,
the mountains dividing the kingdom of Narsinga from
Malabar produce many wild beasts, among which may be
enumerated winged dragons, who are able to destroy any
one approaching their breath.
Megasthenes (tradente Mliano) relates that winged ser-
pents are found in India ; where it is stated that they are
noxious, fly only by night, and that contact with their urine
destroys portions of animals.
Similar instances of failure could be easily multiplied. It is found,
as with us, that one of the chief causes of non-success is the fact that
the G-overnment do not take sufficient steps to destroy the rabbits on
unoccupied Crown lands. This foolish policy, of course, at once
diminishes the letting value of the adjacent pastoral country to such
an extent, indeed, that instances have occurred in which 34,000 acres
have been leased for .10 a year. Poison is regarded as the most
destructive agent that can be employed, and it is especially effective
when mixed with oats and wheat, a striking testimony to the value of
Captain Raymond's discovery. Most of the witnesses examined were
strongly of opinion that the Administration of the Rabbit Suppression
Act should not be left to private and, perhaps, interested persons, as
at present, but should be conducted by officers of the Government,
probably the sheep inspectors, on a principle similar to that by which
the scab was eradicated from the flocks of the colony. The joint com-
mittee adopted this view, and also recommended the Legislature to enact
that all unoccupied Crown land, as well as all native, reserved, or private
land, should bear a proportionate share of the cost of destroying the
rabbits, and of administering the act. It is to be hoped that, in the
midst of the party conflicts which have so impeded practical legislation
this session, the Parliament will yet find time to give effect to the
useful recommendations of the Rabbit Nuisance Committee." Austra-
lasian, 10th September 1881.
190 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
Ammianus Marcellinus (who wrote about the fourth cen-
tury A.D.) states that the ibis is one among the countless
varieties of the birds of Egypt, sacred, amiable, and valuable
as storing up the eggs of serpents in his nest for
food and so diminishing their number. He also refers
to their encountering flocks of winged snakes, coming
laden with poison from the marshes of Arabia, and over-
coming them in the air, and devouring them before they quit
their own region. And Strabo,* in his geographical de-
scription of India, speaks of serpents of two cubits in
, length, with membraneous wings like bats : " They fly at
night, and let fall drops of urine or sweat, which occasions
; the skins of persons who are not on their guard to putrefy."
Isaiah speaks of fiery flying serpents, the term " fiery" being
otherwise rendered in the Alexandrine edition of the Septua-
gint by tfamTowres " deadly," while-the term (( fiery " is explained
by other authorities as referring to the burning sensation pro-
duced by the bite, and to the bright colour of the serpents, f
Collateral evidence of the belief in winged serpents is
afforded by incidental allusions to them in the classics.
Thus Virgil alludes to snakes with strident wings in the line
Ilia autem attolit stridentis anguibus alis.J
Lucan refers to the winged serpents of Arabia as forming
one of the ingredients of an incantation broth brewed by a
Thessalian witch, Erictho, with the object of resuscitating a
corpse, and procuring replies to the queries of Sextus, son of
Pompey. There are other passages in Ovid and other poets,
in which the words " winged serpents" are made use of, but
* Book xv. chap. i. 37.
f See Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, p. 145-47. Murray, 1863.
J Add, Book vii. 561.
Non Arabum volucer serpens, innataque rubris
JEquoribus custos pretiosae vipera conchsB
Aut viventis adhuc Lybici membrana cerastse.
Pharsalia, Book vi. 677.
THE DRAGON. 191
which I omit to render here, since from the context it seems
doubtful whether they were not intended as poetic appella-
tions of the monster to which, by popular consent, the term
dragon has been generally restricted.
I feel bound to refer, although of course without attaching
any very great weight of evidence to them, to the numerous
stories popular in the East, in which flying serpents play a
conspicuous part, the serpents always having something
magical or supernatural in their nature. Such tales are
found in the entrancing pages of the Arabian Nights, or in
the very entertaining folk-lore of China, as given to us by
Dr. N. P. Dennys of Singapore.*
The latest notice of the flying serpent that we find is in a
work by P. Belon du Mans, published in 1557, entitled,
Portraits de quelques animaux, poissons, serpents, herbes et arbres,
hommes et femmes cV Arable, Egypte, et Asie, observes par P.
Belon du Mans. It contains a drawing of a biped winged
dragon, with the notice " Portrait du serpent aile " and the
quatrain
Dangereuse est du serpent la nature
Qu'on voit voler pres le mont Sinai
Qui ne serait, de la voir, esbahy,
Si on a peur, voyant sa pourtraiture ?
This is copied by Gesner, who repeats the story of its flying
out of Arabia into Egypt. f I attach considerable importance
to the short extract which I shall give in a future page from
the celebrated Chinese work on geography and natural
history, the Shan Hai King, or Mountain and Sea Classic.
The Shan tiai King claims to be of great antiquity,
and, as Mr. Wylie remarks, though long looked on with
distrust, has been investigated recently by scholars of great
* The popular illustrations of the Story of the Black and White Snakes
given by him, a favourite story among the Chinese, always represent
them as winged. Folk Lore of China, N. P. Dennys, Ph.D.
f Broderip, Zoological Recreations, p. 333,
192 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
ability, who have come to the conclusion that it is at least as
old as the Chow dynasty, and probably older. Now, as the
Chow dynasty commenced in 1122 B.C., it is, if this latter
supposition be correct, of a prior age to the works of Aristotle,
Herodotus, and all the other authors we have been quoting,
and therefore is the earliest work on natural history extant,
and the description of the flying serpent of the Sien moun-
tains (vide infra) the earliest record of the existence of such
creatures.
Classical Dragon and Medmval Dragon.
While the flying serpents of which we have just treated,
will, if we assent to the reality of their former existence,
assist greatly in the explanation of the belief in a winged
dragon so far as Egypt, Arabia, and adjacent countries are
concerned, it seems hardly probable that they are sufficient
to account for the wide-spread belief in it. This we have
already glanced at ; but we now propose to examine it in
greater detail, with reference to countries so distant from
their habitat as to render it unlikely that their description
had penetrated there.
The poets of Greece and Rome introduce the dragon into
their fables, as an illustration, when the type of power and
ferocity is sought for. Homer, in his description of the
shield of Hercules, speaks of " The scaly horror of a dragon
coiled full in the central field, unspeakable, with eyes oblique,
retorted, that askant shot gleaming fire/' So Hesiod* (750
to 700 B.C., Grote), describing the same object, says : " On
its centre was the unspeakable terror of a dragon glancing
backward with eyes gleaming with fire. His mouth, too,
was filled with teeth running in a white line, dread and un-
approachable ; and above his terrible forehead, dread strife
* Compare Shakspeare, " Peace, Kent. Come not between the Dragon
and his wrath."
THE DRAGON. 193
was hovering, as he raises the battle rout. On it likewise
were heads of terrible serpents, unspeakable, twelve in
number, who were wont to scare the race of men on earth,
whosoever chanced to wage war against the son of Jove/'
Here it is noteworthy that Hesiod distinguishes between
the dragon and serpents.
Ovid* locates the dragon slain by Cadmus in Bceotia,
near the river Cephisus. He speaks of it as being hid in a
cavern, adorned with crests, and of a golden colour. He,
like the other poets, makes special reference to the eyes
sparkling with fire, and it may be noted that a similar bril-
liancy is mentioned by those who have observed pythons in
their native condition. He speaks of the dragon as blue^ and
terribly destructive owing to the possession of a sting, long
constricting folds, and venomous breath.
The story of Ceres flying to heaven in a chariot drawn
by two dragons, and of her subsequently lending it to Trip-
tolemus, to enable him to travel all over the earth and dis-
tribute corn to its inhabitants, is detailed or alluded to by
numerous poets, as well as the tale of Medea flying from
Jason in a chariot drawn by winged dragons. CeresJ is
* Metamorphoses, Book iii. 35, translated by H. J. Biley ; London,
1872.
f In reference to colours so bright as to be inconsistent with our
knowledge of the ordinary colours of reptiles, it may be of interest to
compare the description by D'Argensola who wrote the history of the
successive conquests of the Moluccas, by the Spaniards, Portuguese and
Dutch of a blue and golden saurian existing upon a volcanic mountain
in Tarnate. " II y a aussi sur cette inontagne un grand lac d'eau douce,
entoure d'arbres, dans lequel on voit de crocodiles azures et dores qui
ont plus d'un brasse de longueur, et qui se plongent dans 1'eau lors
qu'ils entendent des hommes." D'Argensola, vol. iii. p. 4, translated
from the Spanish, 3 vols. ; J. Desbordes, Amsterdam, 1706. And Pliny,
Nat. Hist., Book viii. chap, xxviii., speaks of lizards upon Nysa, a moun-
tain of India, twenty-four feet long, their colour being either yellow,
purple, or azure blue.
J Ovid, Fasti, Book iv. 501,
13
194 MYTHICAL MONSTEES.
further made to skim the waves of the ocean, much after the
fashion of mythical personages depicted in the wood-cuts
illustrating passages in the Shan Hai King.* Amrnianus
Marcellinus, whose history ends with the death of Valerius
in A.D. 378, refers, as a remarkable instance of credulity, to a
vulgar rumour that the chariot of Triptolemus was still
extant, and had enabled Julian, who had rendered himself
formidable both by sea and land, to pass over the walls of,
and enter into the city of Heraclea. Though rational expla-
nations are afforded by the theory of Bochart and Le Clerc,
that the story is based upon the equivocal meaning of a Phoe-
nician word, signifying either a winged dragon or a ship
fastened with iron nails or bolts ; or by that of Philodorus,
as cited by Eusebius, who says that his ship was called a
flying dragon, from its carrying the figure of a dragon on its
prow ; yet either simply transposes into another phase the
current belief in a dragon, without prejudicing it.
Diodorus Siculus disposes of the Colchian dragon and
the golden-fleeced ram in a very summary manner, as
follows :
"It is said that Phryxus, the son of Athamas and
Nephele, in order to escape the snares of his stepmother, fled
from Greece with his half-sister Hellen, and that whilst they
were being carried, under the advice of the gods, by the ram
with a golden fleece out of Europe into Asia, the girl acci-
dentally fell off into the sea, which on that account has
been called Hellespont. Phryxus, however, being carried
safely into Colchis, sacrificed the ram by the order of an
oracle, and hung up its skin in a shrine dedicated to
Mars.
" After this the king learnt from an oracle that he would
meet his death when strangers, arriving there by ship,
should have carried off the golden fleece. On this account,
* These wood-cuts occur on pp. 239, 240,
THE DRAGON. 195
as well as from innate cruelty, the man was induced to offer
sacrifice with the slaughter of his guests ; in order that, the
report of such an atrocity being spread everywhere, no one
might dare to set foot within his dominions. He also sur-
rounded the temple with a wall, and placed there a strong
guard of Taurian soldiery ; which gave rise to a prodigious
fiction among the Greeks, for it was reported by them that
bulls, breathing fire from their nostrils, kept watch over the
shrine, and that a dragon guarded the skin, for by ambiguity
the name of the Taurians was twisted into that of bulls, and
the slaughter of guests furnished the fiction of the expiation
of fire. In like manner they translated the name of the
prefect Draco, to whom the custody of the temple had been
assigned, into that of the monstrous and horrible creature of
the poets."
Nor do others fail to give a similar explanation of the
fable of Phryxus, for they say that Phryxus was conveyed in
a ship which bore on its prow the image of a ram, and that
Hellen, who was leaning over the side under the misery of
sea-sickness, tumbled into the water.
Among other subjects of poetry are the dragon which
guarded the golden apples of the Hesperides, and the two
which licked the eyes of Plutus at the temple of ^Esculapius
with such happy effect that he began to see.
Philostratus* separates dragons into Mountain dragons and
Marsh dragons. The former had a moderate crest, which
increased as they grew older, when a beard of saffron colour
was appended to their chins ; the marsh dragons had no
crests. He speaks of their attaining a size so enormous that
they easily killed elephants. ^Elian describes their length
as being from thirty or forty to a hundred cubits ; and Posi-
donius mentions one, a hundred and forty feet long, that
haunted the neighbourhood of Damascus ; and another, whose
* Broderip, Zoological Recreations, p. 332.
13
196 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
lair was at Macra, near Jordan, was an acre in length, and
of such bulk that two men on horseback, with the monster
between them, could not see each % other.
Ignatius states that there was in the library of Constanti-
nople the intestine of a dragon one hundred and twenty feet
long, on which were written the Iliad and Odyssey in letters
of gold. There is no ambiguity in Lucan's* description of
the ^Ethiopian dragon : " You also, the dragon, shining
with golden brightness, who crawl in all (other) lands as
innoxious divinities, scorching Africa render deadly with
wings ; you move the air on high, and following whole herds,
you burst asunder vast bulls, embracing them with your
folds. Nor is the elephant safe through his size ; everything
you devote to death, and no need have you of venom for a
deadly fate." Whereas the dragon referred to by Pliny
(vide ante, p. 169), as also combating the elephant, is evi-
dently without wings, and may either have been a very
gigantic serpent, or a lacertian corresponding to the Chinese
idea of the dragon.
Descending to later periods, we learn from Marcellinusf
that in his day dragon standards were among the chief
insignia of the Koman army ; for, speaking of the triumphal
entry of Constantine into Rome after his triumph over Mag-
nentius, he mentions that numbers of the chief officers who
preceded him were surrounded by dragons embroidered on
various points of tissue, fastened to the golden or jewelled
points of spears ; the mouths of the dragons being open so
as to catch the wind, which made them hiss as though they
were inflamed with anger, while the coils of their tails were
also contrived to be agitated by the breeze. And again he
speaks of SilvanusJ tearing the purple silk from the insignia
* Lucan, Pharsalia, Book ix. 726-32.
f Book xvi. chap. x.
{ Book xv. chap. v. ; A.D. 355.
THE DRAGON. 197
of the dragons and standards, and so assuming the title of
Emperor.
Several nations, as the Persians, Parthians, Scythians,
&c., bore dragons on their standards : whence the standards
themselves were called dracones or dragons.
It is probable that the Eomans borrowed this custom from
the Parthians, or, as Casaubon has it, from the Dacae, or
Codin, from the Assyrians ; but while the Roman dracones
were, as we learn from Ammianus Marcellinus, figures of
dragons painted in red on their flags, among the Persians
and Parthians they were, like the Roman eagles, figures in
relievo, so that the Romans were frequently deceived and
took them for real dragons.
The dragon plays an important part in Celtic mythology.
Among the Celts, as with the Romans, it was the national
standard.
While Cymri's dragon, from the Roman's hold
Spread with calm wing o'er Carduel's domes of gold.*
The fables of Merllin, Nennius, and Greoffry describe it as
red in colour, and so differing from the Saxon dragon which
was white. The hero Arthur carried a dragon on his helm,
and the tradition of it is moulded into imperishable form in
the Faerie Queen. A. dragon infested Lludd's dominion, and
made every heath in England resound with shrieks on each
May-day eve. A dragon of vast size and pestiferous breath
lay hidden in a cavern in Wales, and destroyed two districts
with its venom, before the holy St. Samson seized and threw
it into the sea.
In Celtic chivalry, the word dragon came to be used for
chief, a Pendragon being a sort of dictator created in times
of danger ;"and as the knights who slew a chief in battle
were said to slay a dragon, this doubtless helped to keep
alive the popular tradition regarding the monster which had
* Lord Lytton, King Arthur, Book i. Stanza 4.
198 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
been carried with them westward in their migration from
the common Aryan centre.
The Teutonic tribes who invaded and settled in England
bore the effigies of dragons on their shields and banners, and
these were also depicted on the ensigns of various German
tribes.* We also find that Thor himself was a slayer of \
dragons, f and both Siegfried and Beowulf were similarly
engaged in the Niebelungen-lied and the epic bearing the
name of the latter. J The Berserkers not only named their
boats after the dragon, but also had the prow ornamented
with a dragon figure-head ; a fashion which obtains to the
present day among the Chinese, who have an annual dragon-
boat festival, in which long snaky boats with a ferocious dragon
prow run races for prizes, and paddle in processions.
So deeply associated was the dragon with the popular
legends, that we find stories of encounters with it passing
down into the literature of the Middle Ages ; and, like the
heroes of old, the Christian saints won their principal renown
by dragon achievements. Thus among the dragon-slayers
we find that
1. St. Phillip the Apostle destroyed a huge dragon at
Hierapolis in Phrygia.
2. St. Martha killed the terrible dragon called Tarasque
at Aix (la Chapelle).
3. St. Florent killed a similar dragon which haunted the
Loire.
4. St. Cado, St. Maudet, and St. Paul did similar feats in
Brittany.
* Chamber's Cyclopaedia, 1881.
f J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie, vol. ii. p. 653.
| A dragon without wings is called a lintworm or lindworm, which
Grrimm explains to mean a beautiful or shining worm (here again we
have a corroboration of the idea of the gold and silver dragon given
ante.)
Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable,
THE DRAGON.
199
5. St. Keyne of Cornwall slew a dragon.
6. St. Michael, St. George, St. Margaret, Pope Sylvester,
St. Samson, Archbishop of Dol, Donatus (fourth century),
St. Clement of Metz, killed dragons.
7. St. Eomain of Kouen destroyed the huge dragon called
La Gargouille, which ravaged the Seine.
Moreover, the fossil remains of animals discovered from
time to time, and now relegated to their true position in the
zoological series, were supposed to be the genuine remains
of either dragons or giants, according to the bent of the
mind of the individual who stumbled on them : much as in
the present day large fossil bones of extinct animals of all
kinds are in China ascribed to dragons, and form an impor-
tant item in the Chinese pharmacopoeia. (Vide extract on
FIG. 38. SKELETON OF AN IGUANODON.
200 MYTHICAL MONSTER^.
Dragon bones from the Pen-tsaou-kang-mu, given on pp. 244
-246.)
The annexed wood-cut of the skeleton of an Iguanodon,
found in a coal-mine at Bernissant, exactly illustrates the
semi-erect position which the dragon of fable is reported to
have assumed.
Among the latest surviving beliefs of this nature may be
cited the dragon of Wantley (Wharncliffe, Yorkshire), who
was slain by More of More Hall. He procured a suit of
armour studded with spikes, and, proceeding to the well
where the dragon had his lair, kicked him in the mouth,
where alone he was vulnerable. The Lambton worm is
another instance.
The explanations of these legends attempted by mytho-
logists, based on the supposition that the dragons which are
their subjects are simply symbolic of natural phenomena, are
ingenious, and perhaps in many instances sufficient, but do
not affect, as I have before remarked, the primitive and con-
served belief in their previous existence as a reality.
Thus, the author of British Goblins suggests that for the
prototype of the red dragon, which haunted caverns and
guarded treasures in Wales, we must look in the lightning
caverns of old Aryan fable, and deduces the fire-darting
dragons of modern lore from the shining hammer of Thor,
and the lightning spear of Odin.
The stories of ladies guarded by dragons are explained
on the supposition* that the ladies were kept in the secured
part of the feudal castles, round which the walls wound, and
that an adventurer had to scale the walls to gain access to
the ladies; when there were two walls, the authors of
romance said that the assaulter overcame two dragons, and
so on. St. Bomain, when he delivered the city of Rouen
from a dragon which lived in the river Seine, simply pro-
* Eev. Dr. Brewer, Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, London.
THE DRAGOtf. 20t
tected the city from an overflow, just as Apollo (the sun) is
symbolically said to have destroyed the serpent Python, or,
in other words, dried up an overflow. And the dragon of
Wantley is supposed by Dr. Percy to have been an over-
grown rascally attorney, who cheated some children of their
estates, but was compelled to disgorge by a gentleman
named More, who went against him armed with the " spikes
of the law," whereupon the attorney died of vexation.
Furthermore, our dragoons were so denominated because
they were armed with dragons, that is, with short muskets,
which spouted fire like dragons, and had the head of a
dragon wrought upon their muzzle.
This fanciful device occurs also among the Chinese, for a
Jesuit, who accompanied the Emperor of China on a journey
into Western Tartary in 1683, says, " This was the reason
of his coming into their country with so great an army, and
such vast military preparations; he having commanded several
pieces of cannon to be brought, in order for them to be dis-
charged from time to time in the valleys ; purposely that the
noise and fire, issuing from the mouths of the dragons, with
which they were adorned, might spread terror around."
Though dragons have completely dropped out of all
modern works on natural history, they were still retained and
regarded as quite orthodox until a little before the time of
Cuvier; specimens, doubtless fabricated like the ingeniously
constructed mermaid of Mr. Barnum, were exhibited in the
museums ; and voyagers occasionally brought back, as
authentic stories of their existence, fables which had perco-
lated through time and nations until they had found a home
in people so remote from their starting point as to cause a
complete obliteration of their passage and origin.
For instance, Pigafetta, in a report of the kingdom of
Congo,* " gathered out of the discourses of Mr. E. Lopes, a
* The Harleian Collection of Travels, vol. ii. p. 457. 1745.
202 MYTHICAL MONSTERS
Portuguese," speaking of the province of Bemba, which he
defines as " on the sea coast from the river Ambrize, until
the river Coanza towards the south," says of serpents,
" There are also certain other creatures which, being as big
as rams, have wings like dragons, with long tails, and long
chaps, and divers rows of teeth, and feed upon raw flesh.
Their colour is blue and green, their skin painted like scales,
and they have two feet but no more.* The Pagan negroes
used to worship them as gods, and at this day you may see
divers of them that are kept for a marvel. And because they
are very rare, the chief lords there curiously preserve them,
and suffer the people to worship them, which tendeth greatly
to their profits by reason of the gifts and oblations which the
people offer unto them."
And John Barbot, Agent-General of the Eoyal Company of
Africa, in his description of the coasts of South Guinea, t
says: " Some blacks assuring me that they (i.e. snakes)
were thirty feet long. They also told me there are winged
serpents or dragons having a forked tail and a prodigious
wide mouth, full of sharp teeth, extremely mischievous to
mankind, and more particularly to small children. If we
may credit this account of the blacks, they are of the same
sort of winged serpents which some authors tell us are to be
found in Abyssinia, being very great enemies to the elephants.
Some such serpents have been seen about the river Senegal,
and they are adorned and worshipped as snakes are at Wida
or Fida, that is, in a most religious manner."
Ulysses Aldrovandus^ who published a large folio volume
on serpents and dragons, entirely believed in the existence of
the latter, and gives two wood engravings of a specimen
* The italics are mine.
f Churchill, Collection of Voyages, vol. v. p. 213 ; London, 1746.
I Ulyssis Aldrovandi Serpentum et Draconum Historic^; Bononise,
1640.
THE DRAGON. 203
which he professes to have received in the year 1551, of a
true dried ^Ethiopian dragon.
He describes it as having two feet armed with claws, and
two ears, with five prominent and conspicuous tubercles on
the back. The whole was ornamented with green and dusky
scales, Above, it bore wings fit for flight, and had a long and
flexible tail, coloured with yellowish scales, such as shone on
the belly and throat. The mouth was provided with sharp
teeth, the inferior part of the head, towards the ears, was
even, the pupil of the eye black, with a tawny surrounding,
and the nostrils were two in number, and open.
He criticises Ammianus Marcellinus for his disbelief in
winged dragons, and states in further justification of his
censure that he had heard, from men worthy of confidence,
that in that portion of Pistorian territory called Cotone, a
great dragon was seen whose wings were interwoven with
sinews a cubit in length, and were of considerable width ;
this beast also possessed two short feet provided with claws
like those of an eagle. The whole animal was covered with
scales. The gaping mouth was furnished with big teeth, it
had ears, and was as big as a hairy bear. Aldrovandus
sustains his argument by quotations from the classics and
reference to more recent authors. He quotes Isidorus as
stating that the winged Arabian serpents were called Sirens,
while their venom was so effective that their bite was attended
by death rather than pain; this confirms the account of
Solinus.
He instances Gesner as saying that, in 1543, he under-
stood that a kind of dragon appeared near Styria, within the
confines of Germany, which had feet like lizards, and wings
after the fashion of a bat, with an incurable bite, and says
these statements are confirmed by Froschonerus in his work
on Styria (idque Froschonerus ex Bibliophila Stirio narrabat).
He classes dragons (which he considers as essentially winged
animals) either as footless or possessing two or four feet.
204 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
He refers to a description by Scaliger* of a species of
serpent four feet long, and as thick as a man's arm, with
cartilaginous wings pendent from the sides. He also men-
tions an account by Brodeus, of a winged dragon which was
brought to Francis, the invincible King of the Gauls, by a
countryman who had killed it with a mattock near Sane-
tones, and which was stated to have been seen by many men
of approved reputation, who thought it had migrated from
transmarine regions by the assistance of the wind.
Cardanf states that whilst he resided in Paris he saw five
winged dragons in the William Museum ; these were biped,
and possessed of wings so slender that it was hardly pos-
sible that they could fly with them. Cardan doubted their
having been fabricated, since they had been sent in vessels
at different times, and yet all presented the same remarkable
form. Bellonius states that he had seen whole carcases
of winged dragons, carefully prepared, which he considered
to be of the same kind as those which fly out of Arabia
into Egypt ; they were thick about the belly, had two feet,
and two wings, whole like those of a bat, and a snake's
tail.
It would be useless to multiply examples of the stories, no
doubt fables, current in mediaeval times, and I shall there-
fore only add here two of those which, though little
known, are probably fair samples of the whole. It is
amusing to find the story of Sindbad's escape from the Valley
of Diamonds reappearing in Europe during the Middle Ages,
with a substitution of the dragon for the roc. Athanasius
Kircher, in the Mundus Subterraneus, gives the story of a
Lucerne man who, in wandering over Mount Pilate, tumbled
into a cavern from which there was no exit, and, in search-
ing round, discovered the lair of two dragons, who proved
* Scaliger, lib. iii. Miscell. cap. i. See ante, p. 182, " Winged Serpents."
f De Naturd Rerum, lib. vii., cap. 29.
THE DRAGON.
'205
206 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
more tender than their reputation. Unharmed by them he
remained for the six winter months, without any other suste-
nance than that which he derived from licking the moisture
off the rock, in which he followed their example. Noticing
the dragons preparing for flying out on the approach of
spring, by stretching and unfolding their wings, he attached
himself by his girdle to the tail of one of them, and so was
restored to the upper world, where, unfortunately, the return
to the diet to which he had been so long unaccustomed
killed him. In memory, however, of the event, he left his
goods to the Church, and a monument illustrative of his
escape was erected in the Ecclesiastical College of St. Leo-
degaris at Lucerne. Kircher had himself seen this, and it
was accepted as an irrefragable proof of the story.
Another story is an account also given by A. Kircher,* of
the fight between a dragon and a knight named Grozione, in
the island of Rhodes, in the year 1349 A.D. This monster
is described as of the bulk of a horse or ox, with a long neck
and serpent's head tipped with mule's ears the mouth
widely gaping and furnished with sharp teeth, eyes spark-
ling as though they flashed fire, four feet provided with claws
like a bear, and a tail like a crocodile, the whole body being
coated with hard scales. It had two wings, blue above, but
blood-coloured and yellow underneath ; it was swifter
than a horse, progressing partly by flight and partly by
running. The knight, being solicited by the chief magis-
trate, retired into the country, when he constructed an imita-
tion dragon of paper and tow, and purchased a charger and
two courageous English dogs ; he ordered slaves to snap the
jaws and twist the tail about by means of cords, while he
urged his horse and dogs on to the attack. After practising
for two months, these latter could scarcely retain their frenzy
at the mere sight of the image. He then proceeded to
* Athanasii Kircheri Mundus SuUerraneus, Book viii. 27.
THE DRAGON. 207
Rhodes, and after offering his vows in the Church of St.
Stephen, repaired to the fatal cave, instructing his slaves to
witness the combat from a lofty rock, and hasten to him
with remedies, if after slaying the dragon he should be over-
come by the poisonous exhalations, or to save themselves, in
the event of his being slain. Entering the lair he excited
the beast with shouts and cries, and then awaited it outside.
The dragon appearing, allured by the expectation of an easy
prey, rushed on him, both running and flying ; the knight
shattered his spear at the first onset on the scaly carcase, and
leaping from his horse continued the contest with sword and
shield. The dragon, raising itself on its hind legs, endea-
voured to grasp the knight with his fore ones, giving the
FIG. 40. THE DRAGON OP THE DRACHENFELDT. (Athanasius Kircher.)
latter an opportunity of striking him in the softer parts of
the neck. At last both fell together, the knight being
exhausted by the fatigue of the conflict, or by mephitic exha-
lations. The slaves, according to instruction, rushed for-
ward, dragged off the monster from their master, and fetched
water in their caps to restore him ; after which he mounted
his horse and returned in triumph to the city, where he was
at first ungratefully received, but afterwards rewarded with
208 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
the highest ranks of the order, and created magistrate of
the province.*
Kircher had a very pious belief in dragons. He says :
" Since monstrous animals of this kind for the most part
select their lairs and breeding-places in subterraneous caverns.
I have considered it proper to include them under the head
of subterraneous beasts. I am aware that two kinds of this
animal have been distinguished by authors, the one with, the
other without, wings. No one either can or ought to doubt
concerning the latter kind of creature, unless perchance he
dares to contradict the Holy Scripture, for it would be an
impious thing to say it when Daniel makes mention of the
divine worship accorded to the dragon Bel by the Baby-
lonians, and after the mention of the dragon made in other
parts of the sacred writings.'*
Harris, in his Collection of Voyages,^ gives a singular
resume. He says : " We have, in an ancient author, a very
large and circumstantial account of the taking of a dragon
on the frontiers of Ethiopia, which was one and twenty feet
in length, and was carried to Ptolemy Philadelphus, who
very bountifully rewarded such as ran the hazard of pro-
curing him this beast. Diodorus Siculus, lib. iii. . . . Yet
terrible as these were they fall abundantly short of monsters
of the same species in India, with respect to which St.
Ambroset tells us that there were dragons seen in the neigh-
bourhood of the Ganges nearly seventy cubits in length. It
was one of this size that Alexander and his army saw in a
cave, where it was fed, either out of reverence or from
curiosity, by the inhabitants ; and the first lightning of its
* Probably many of my readers are acquainted with Schiller's poem
based on this story, and with the beautiful designs by Eetsch illus-
trating it.
t Harris, Collection of Voyages, vol. i. p. 474; London, 1764.
I De Moribus Brachmanorvm , p. 63. Strabo, lib. 16, p. 75. Bochart
Hieroz, p. 11, lib. 3, cap. 13.
THE DRAGON. 209
eyes, together with its terrible hissing, made a strong im-
pression on the Macedonians, who, with all their courage,
could not help being frighted at so horrid a spectacle.* The
dragon is nothing more than a serpent of enormous size ;
and they formerly distinguished three sorts of them in the
Indies, viz. such as were found in the mountains, such as
were bred in caves or in the flat country, and such as were
found in fens and marshes.
" The first is the largest of all, and are covered with scales
as resplendent as polished gold.f These have a kind of
beard hanging from their lower jaw, their eyebrows large,
and very exactly arched ; their aspect the most frightful
that can be imagined, and their cry loud and shrill ;| their
crests of a bright yellow, and a protuberance on their heads
of the colour of a burning coal.
" Those of the flat country differ from the former in
nothing but in having their scales of a silver colour, and in
their frequenting rivers, to which the former never come.
" Those that live in marshes and fens are of a dark colour,
approaching to a black, move slowly, have no crest, or any
rising upon their heads. || Strabo says that the painting them
with wings is the effect of fancy, and directly contrary to
truth, but other naturalists and travellers both ancient and
modern affirm that there are some of these species winged.^
* JElian, De Animal., lib. xv. cap. 21.
f Strabo, lib. xvi.
% Gosse tells us that it is still a common belief in Jamaica that
crested snakes exist there which crow like a cock.
Strabo, lib. xvi.
|| Jonston, Thecttr. Animal, tome ii. p. 34, " De Serpentibus." Note.
It is interesting to record that in China, to the present day, the
tradition of the gold and silver scaled species of dragons remains alive.
Two magnificent dragons, 200 feet and 150 feet long, representing
respectively the gold and silver dragon, formed part of the processions
in Hongkong in December 1881, in honour of the young princes.
Tf Strabo, lib. xvi.
14
210 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
Pliny says their bite is not venomous, other authors deny
this. Pliny gives a long catalogue of medical and magical
properties, which he ascribes to the skin, flesh, bones, eyes,
and teeth of the dragon, also a valuable stone in its head.
' They hung before the mouth of the dragon den a piece of
stuff flowered with gold, which attracted the eyes of the
beast, till by the sound of soft music they lulled him to
sleep, and then cut off his head.' :
I do not find Harris's statement in Diodorus Siculus, the
author quoted, but there is the very circumstantial description
of a serpent thirty cubits (say forty-five feet) in length, which
was captured alive by stratagem, the first attempt by force
having resulted in the death of several of the party. This
was conveyed to Ptolemy II. at Alexandria, where it was
placed in a den or chamber suitable for exhibition, and
became an object of general admiration. Diodorus says :
" When, therefore, so enormous a serpent was open for all to
see, credence could no longer be refused the Ethiopians, or
their statements be received as fables ; for they say that they
have seen in their country serpents so vast that they can not
only swallow cattle and other beasts of the same size, but
that they also fight with the elephant, embracing his limbs
so tightly in the fold of their coils that he is unable to move,
and, raising their neck up underneath his trunk, direct their
head against the elephant's eyes ; having destroyed his sight
by fiery rays like lightning, they dash him to the ground,
and, having done so, tear him to pieces."
In an account of the castle of Fahender, formerly one of
the most considerable castles of Fars, it is stated " Such is
the historical foundation of an opinion generally prevalent,
that the subterranean recesses of this deserted edifice are
still replete with riches. The talisman has not been for-
gotten ; and tradition adds another guardian to the previous
deposit, a dragon or winged serpent ; this sits for ever
brooding over the treasure which it cannot enjoy,"
THE DRAGON. 211
I shall examine, on a future occasion, how far those
figures correspond to the Persian ideas of dragons and ser-
pents, the azhdaha ((&A')\ = dragon) and mar (;U = snake),
which, as various poets relate, are constant guardians of
every subterraneous ganj (^S = treasure).
The mar at least may be supposed the same as that
serpent which guards the golden fruit in the garden of the
Hesperides.
212 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
CHAPTER VII.
THE CHINESE DRAGON.
WE now approach the consideration of a country in which
the belief in the existence of the dragon is thoroughly
woven into the life of the whole nation. Yet at the same
time it has developed into such a medley of mythology and
superstition as to materially strengthen our conviction of the
reality of the basis upon which the belief has been founded,
though it involves us in a mass of intricate perplexities in
connection with the determination of its actual period of
existence.
There is no country so conservative as China, no nation
which can boast of such high antiquity, as a collective people
permanently occupying the same regions, and preserving
records of their polity, manners, and surroundings from the
earliest date of their occupation of the territory which still
remains the centre of their civilization ; and there is none in
which dragon culture has been more persistently maintained
down to the present day.
Its mythologies, histories, religions, popular stories, and
proverbs, all teem with references to a mysterious being who
has a physical nature and spiritual attributes. Gifted with
an accepted form, which he has the supernatural power of
casting off for the assumption of others, he has the power
of influencing the weather, producing droughts or fertilizing
THE CHINESE DRAGON. 213
rains at pleasure, of raising tempests and allaying them.
Volumes could be compiled from the scattered legends which
everywhere abound relating to this subject ; but as they are,
for the most part, like our medieval legends, echoes of each
other, no useful purpose would be served by doing so, and I
therefore content myself with drawing, somewhat copiously,
from one or two of the chief sources of information.
As, however, Chinese literature is but little known or
valued in England, it is desirable that I should devote some
space to the consideration of the authority which may be
fairly claimed for the several works from which I shall make
quotations, bearing on the Chinese testimony of the past
existence, and date of existence, of the dragon and other
so-called mythical animals.
Incidental comments on natural history form a usual part
of every Chinese geographical work, but collective descrip-
tions of animals are rare in the literature of the present, and
almost unique in that of the past. We are, therefore, forced
to rely on the side-lights occasionally afforded by the older
classics, and on one or two works of more than doubtful
authenticity which claim, equally with them, to be of high
antiquity. The works to which I propose to refer more
immediately are the Yih King, the Bamboo Books, the Shu
King, the 'Eh Ya, the Shan Hai King, the Pan Ts'ao Kang
Muh, and the Yuen Kien Lei Han.
As it is well known that all the ancient books, with the
exception of those on medicine, divination, and husbandry,
were ordered to be destroyed in the year B.C. 212 by the
Emperor Tsin Shi Hwang Ti, under the threatened penalty
for non-compliance of branding and labour on the walls for
four years, and that a persecution of the literati was com-
menced by him in the succeeding year, which resulted in the
burying alive in pits of four hundred and sixty of their
number, it may be reasonably objected that the claims to
high antiquity which some of the Chinese classics put forth,
214 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
are, to say the least, doubtful, and, in some instances, highly
improbable.
This question has been well considered by Mr. Legge in
his valuable translation of the Chinese Classics. He points
out that the tyrant died within three years after the burning
of the books, and that the Han dynasty was founded only
eleven years after that date, in B.C. 201, shortly after which
attempts were commenced to recover the ancient literature.
He concludes that vigorous efforts to carry out the edict
would not be continued longer than the life of its author-
that is, not for more than three years and that the materials
from which the classics, as they come down to us, were com-
piled and edited in the two centuries preceding the Christian
era, were genuine remains, going back to a still more remote
period.
THE " Ym KING " OB YH KING."
The Yih King is one of those books specially excepted from
the general destruction of the books. Keferences in it to
the dragon are not numerous, and will be found as quota-
tions in the extracts from the large encyclopedia Yuen
Kien Lei Han, given hereafter. This work has hitherto
been very imperfectly understood even by the Chinese
themselves, but the recent researches of M. Terrien de la
Couperie lead us to suppose that our translations have
been imperfect, from the fact that many symbols have
different significations in the present day to those which
they had in very ancient times, and that a special dic-
tionary of archaic meanings must be prepared before an
accurate translation can be arrived at, a consummation
which may shortly be expected from his labours. I
find in my notes, taken from the manuscript of a lecture
given before the Ningpo Book Club in 1870, by the Eev. J.
Butler, of the Presbyterian Mission, that " the way in which
the dragon came to represent the Emperor and the Throne
THE CHINESE DRAGON. 215
of China* is accounted for in the Yih King as follows :
The chief dragon has his abode in the sky, and all clouds
and vapours, winds and rains are under his control. He
can send rain or withhold it at his pleasure, and hence all
vegetable life is dependent on him. So the Emperor, from
his exalted throne, watches over the interests of his people,
and confers on them those temporal and spiritual blessings
without which they would perish." I abstain from dwelling
on this or any other passages in the Yih King, pending the
translation promised by M. De la Couperie, the nature of
whose views on it are condensed in the notef attached, being
extracts from his papers on the subject.
* In China the dragon is peculiarly the emblem of imperial power,
as with us the lion is of the kingly. The Emperor is said to be seated
on the dragon throne. A five-clawed dragon is embroidered on the
Emperor's court-robes. It often surrounds his edicts, and the title-
pages of books published by his authority, and dragons are inscribed
on his banners. It is drawn stretched out at full length or curled up
with two legs pointing forwards and two backwards ; sometimes holding
a pearl in one hand, and surrounded by clouds and fire.
f The Yih King extracts from papers by Monsieur De la Couperie,
in the Journal of the Eoyal Asiatic Society.
" The Yih King is the oldest of the Chinese books, and is the
mysterious classic which requires ' a prolonged attention to make it reveal
its secrets ' ; it has peculiarities of style, making it the most difficult of
all the Chinese classics to present in an intelligible version."
" We have multifarious proofs that the writing, first known in China,
was already an old one, partially decayed, but also much improved since
its primitive hieroglyphic stage. We have convincing proofs (vide my
' Early History of Chinese Civilization,' pp. 21-23, and the last section
of the present paper) that it had been borrowed, by the early leaders of
the Chinese Bak families [Poh Sing] in Western Asia, from an hori-
zontal writing traced from left to right, the pre-cuneiform character,
which previously had itself undergone several important modifica-
tions.
"At that time the Ku-wen was really the phonetic expression of
speech. (By an analysis of the old inscriptions and fragments, and by
the help of the native works on palaeography, some most valuable,
I have compiled a dictionary of this period.)
" If the kwas, which were a survival of the arrows of divination
216 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
THE ANNALS OF THE BAMBOO BOOKS.
These are annals from which a great part of Chinese
chronology is derived. Mr. Legge gives the history of their
known to the ancestors of Chinese culture before their emigration
eastward," &c. &c. Vol. xiv. part 4.
"This mysterious book is still avowedly not understood, and we
assist, now-a-days, at a most curious spectacle. There are not a few
Chinese of education among those who have picked up some knowledge
in Europe or in translations of European works of our modern sciences,
who believe openly that all these may be found in their Yih. Electricity,
steam power, astronomical laws, sphericity of the earth, &c., are all,
according to their views, to be found in the Yih King ; they firmly
believe that these discoveries were not ignored by their sages, who have
embodied them in their mysterious classics, of which they will be able
to unveil the secrets when they themselves apply to its study a thorough
knowledge of the modern sciences. It is unnecessary for any Euro-
pean mind to insist upon the childishness of such an opinion. Even in
admitting, what seems probable, that the early leaders of the Bak people
(Poh Sing) were not without some astronomical and mathematical
principles, which have been long since forgotten, there is no possible
comparison between their rude notions and our sciences.
" It is not a mysterious book of fate and prognostics. It contains a
valuable collection of documents of old antiquity, in which is embodied
much information on the ethnography, customs, language, and writing
of early China.
" Proofs of various kinds similitude of institutions, traditions and
knowledge, affinities of words of culture ; and, in what concerns the
writing, likenesses of shapes of characters, hieroglyphic and arbitrary,
with the same sounds (sometimes polyphons) and meanings attached to
them, the same morphology of written words, the same phonetic laws of
orthography had led me, several years ago, to no other conclusion than
that (as the reverse is proved impossible by numerous reasons), at an
early period of their history, and before their emigration to the far
East, the Chinese Bak families had borrowed the pre-cuneiform writing
and elements of their knowledge and institutions from a region con-
nected with the old focus of culture of south-western Asia.
" Numerous affinities of traditions, institutions, and customs, connect
the borrowing of script and culture by the Chinese Bak families with
the region of Elam, the confederation of states of which Susa was the
chief town, and the Kussi the principal population.
" What are the historical facts of this connection we do not know.
THE CHINESE DRAGON. 217
discovery, as related in the history of the Emperor Woo, the
first of the sovereigns of Tsin, as follows :
" In the fifth year of his reign, under title of Heen-ning*
[=A.D. 2791, some lawless parties, in the department of
Keih, dug open the grave of King Seang of Wei [died
B.C. 295] and found a number of bamboo tablets, written
over, in the small seal character, with more than one hun-
dred thousand words, which were deposited in the imperial
library."
Mr. Legge adds, " The Emperor referred them to the
principal scholars in the service of the Government, to adjust
the tables in order, having first transcribed them in modern
characters. Among them were a copy of the Yih King, in
two books, agreeing with that generally received, and a book
of annals, in twelve or thirteen chapters, beginning with the
reign of Hwang-te, and coming down to the sixteenth year
of the last emperor of the Chow dynasty, B.C. 298."
" The reader will be conscious of a disposition to reject at
once the account of the discovery of the Bamboo Books.
He has read so much of the recovery of portions of the
Shoo from the walls of houses that he must be tired of this
Has the break-up which happened in those states and resulted in
the conquest of Babylonia by the Elamite king, Kudur Nakhunta,
at the date, which is certain, of 2285 B.C., been also the cause of an
eastern conquest and a settlement in Bactria ? and would this account
for the old focus of culture coeval with the earlier period of Assyrian
monarchy said to have existed in Central Asia?
" The two ethnic names, which, as we have pointed out, were those of
the Chinese invaders, Bak and Kutti or Kutta, are not altogether
foreign to those regions. The Chinese Kutti and the Kussi, the Chinese
Bak and Bakh, the ethnic of Bakhdi (Bactria), will be, most likely, one
day proved to be the same ethnic names. Had not the Chinese, pre-
vious to my researches, and quite on different reasons, been traced back
westerly to the regions of Yarkand and Khotan? This is not far
distant from the old focus of culture of Central Asia, and the connection
cannot be objected to by geographical reasons." Vol. xv. part 2.
* Dr. Williams, Hien-ning*
218 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
mode of finding lost treasures, and smiles when he is now
called on to believe that an old tomb opened and yielded its
literary stores long after the human remains that had been
laid in it had mingled with the dust. From the death of
King Seang to A.D. 279 were 574 years."
Against this, however, which is not a very weighty objec-
tion, if we consider the length of time that Egyptian papyri
have been entombed before their restoration to the light,
Mr. Legge ranges preponderating evidence in favour of their
authenticity, and concludes that " they had, no doubt, been
lying for nearly six centuries in the tomb in which they had
been first deposited when they were then brought anew to
light."
The annals consist of two portions, one forming what is
undoubtedly the original text, and consisting of short notices
of occurrences, such as, " In his fiftieth year, in the
autumn, in the seventh month, on the day Kang shin [fifty-
seventh of cycle] phoenixes, male and female, arrived," &c.
&c. It also records earthquakes, obituaries, accessions, and
remarkable natural phenomena. The other portion is inter-
spersed between these, in the form of rather diffuse, though
not very numerous, notes, which by some are supposed to be
a portion of the original text, by others, to have been added
by the commentator Shin Yo [A.D. 502-557].
In the latter, frequent references are made to the appear-
ance of phoenixes (the funy wang). ki-lins (unicorns), and
dragons.
In the former we find only incidental references to either
of these, such as, " XIV. The Emperor K'ung-kea. In
his first year (B.C. 1611), when he came to the throne, he
dwelt on the west of the Ho. He displaced the chief of
Ch'e-wei,* and appointed Lew-luyt to feed the dragons."
* Williams, Shi- Wei.
f Williams, Liu-Lei.
THE CHINESE DRAGON. 219
According to the latter, Hwang Ti (B.C. 2697) had a
dragon -like countenance ; while the mother of Yaou (B.C.
2356) conceived him by a dragon. The legend is : " After
she was grown up, whenever she looked into any of the three
Ho, there was a dragon following her. One morning the
dragon came with a picture and writing. The substance of
the writing was the Ked one has received the favour of
Heaven. . . . The red dragon made K'ing-teo pregnant."
Again, when Yaou had been on the throne seventy years,
a dragon-horse appeared bearing a scheme, which he laid on
the table and went away.
The Emperor Shun (B.C. 2255) is said to have had a
dragon countenance.
It is also said of Yu (the first emperor of the Hia dynasty)
that when the fortunes of Hia were about to rise, all vegeta-
tion was luxuriant, and green dragons lay in the borders ;
and that " on his way to the south, when crossing the Kiang,
in the middle of the stream, two yellow dragons took the
boat on their backs. The people were all afraid ; but Yu
laughed, and said, ' I received my appointment from Heaven,
and labour with all my strength to nourish men. To be
born is the course of nature ; to die is by Heaven's decree.
Why be troubled by the dragons ? ' On this the dragons
went away, dragging their tails."
From these extracts it will be seen that the dragon,
although universally believed in, was already mythical and
legendary, so far as the Chinese were concerned.
THE "Snu KING"* OR " SHOO KING"
is, according to Dr. Legge, simply a collection of historic
memorials, extending over a space of one thousand seven
hundred years, but on no connected method, and with great
gaps between them.
* Williams, Shu King.
220 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
It opens with the reign of Yaou (B.C. 2357), and contains
interesting details of the polity of those remote ages.
It contains a record of the great inundation occurring
during his reign, which Mr. Legge does not identify with the
Deluge of Genesis, but which Dr. Gutzlaff and other
missionary Sinologues consider to be the same.
It is interesting to find in this work, claiming so high an
antiquity, references to an antiquity which had preceded it
a bygone civilization, perhaps as follows, in the book called
Yih and Ts'ih.* The emperor (Shun, B.C. 2255 to 2205)
says, " I wish to see the emblematic figures of the ancients
the sun, the moon, the stars, the mountain, the dragon,
and the flowery fowl, which are depicted on the upper garment ;
the temple cup, the aquatic grass, the flames, the grains of
rice, the hatchet, and the symbol of distinction, which are
embroidered on the lower garment. I wish to see all these dis-
played with the five colours, so as to form the official robes ;
it is yours to adjust them clearly." Here the dragon is
chosen as an emblematic figure, in association with eleven
others, which are objects of every-day knowledge, and this,
I think, establishes a presumption that it itself was not at
that date considered an object of doubtful credibility.
Similarly, we find the twelve symbolical animals, repre-
senting the twelve branches of the Horary characters
(dating, see Williams' Dictionary, from B.C. 2637), to be the
rat, the ox, tiger, hare, dragon, serpent, horse, sheep,
monkey, cock, dog, boar, where the dragon is the only one
about whose existence a question can be raised. From this
latter we learn that there was no confusion of meaning then between
dragons and serpents ; the distinction of the two creatures was
clearly recognized, just as it was many centuries after-
wards by Mencius (4th century B.C.), who, in writing of
these early periods, says, " In the time of Yaou, the waters,
* Williams, Yih and Ts'ih.
THE CHINESE DRAGON. 221
flowing out of their channels, inundated the Middle King-
dom. Snakes and dragons occupied it, and the people had
no place where they could settle themselves " ; and again,
" Yu dug open their obstructed channels, and conducted
them to the sea. He drove away the snakes and dragons,*
and forced them into the grassy marshes."
THE " 'En YA.."
The 'Eh Ya or Urh 7a,f also transliterated Eul Ya and
(El Ya, a dictionary of terms used in the Chinese classics,
but more especially of those in the Shi King, or " Book of
Odes," a collection of ancient ballads compiled and arranged
by Confucius.
There is a tradition that it was commenced by the Duke
of Chow 1100 B.C., and completed or enlarged by Tsz Hia,
a disciple of Confucius.
Dr. Bretschneider suggests that each heading or phrase
in the original book merely represents the book names and
the popular names of the plants and animals.
The bulk of the work at present extant consists of the
commentary by Kwoh P'oh (about A.D. 300) and, in some
editions, of additional commentaries by other authors.
The illustrations selected from it for the present volume
are reduced from those in a very fine folio copy, for the loan
* I am under the impression that the dragons to which Mencius
refers were probably alligators, of which one small species still exists,
though rare, in the Yang-tsze-kiang. So also we may regard as alligators
the dragons referred to above in the annals of the Bamboo Books on
the passage of the Kiang by Yu. Mr. Griffis, in his work on Corea,
says, " The creature called a-ke, or alligator, capable of devouring a
man, is sometimes found in the largest rivers."
f For a full account of this work, see an Article by E. C. Bridgman
in Chinese Repository, xviii. (1849), p. 169 ; and Botanicon Sinicum, by
Dr. E. Bretschneider, in the Journal of the North China Branch of the
Royal Asiatic Society, New Series, vol. xvi. 1881,
222
MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
of which I am indebted to Mr. Thomas Kingsmill, of
Shanghai.
These profess to date back so far as the Sung dynasty
(A.D. 960 to A.D. 1127), and it is interesting to observe that
FIG. 41. THE BANNER CALLED TSING K'I. (From the 'Rh Ya.}
the representations of tools of husbandry then in use (Fig. 50,
p. 232), and of the methods of hawking' (Fig. 46, p. 225),
fishing (Fig. 47, p. 227), and the like, are such as might be
taken without alteration from those of the present day.
THE CHINESE DRAGON.
228
The drawings made by Kwoh P'oh appear to have been
lost in the sixth century A.D.
Notices of the dragon only appear incidentally in the 'Eh
Ya as forming part of the decoration of banners, &c. ; but
FIG. 42. THE K'l WITH BELLS. (From the 'Rh Ya.}
descriptions and figures of the Chinese unicorn are given,
and of other remarkable animals, of which I shall eventually
take notice.
These figures of dragons in the drawings of banners
(Figs. 41-44) are especially interesting ; as there is fair
reason to suppose that they at least have been reproduced
224
MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
time after time from pre-existing ones with tolerable accu-
racy ; and that they give us a good notion of the general
character of the animal they purport to represent.
I have appended a few fac- similes of wood engravings from
the 'Eh Ya on general subjects, in anticipation of others
FIG. 48. THE OHAO BANNER.
(From the 7?A Fa.)
FIG. 44. THE K'l OR KIAO LUNG
STANDARD. (From the San Li 7w.)
dealing with specialities, which will be found in their
appropriate positions ; they will serve to correct the notion
that the Chinese are entirely devoid of artistic power and
imagination (Figs. 46-49).
THE CHINESE DRAGON.
225
THE " SHAN HAI KING " OR CLASSIC OP MOUNTAIN AND SEAS.
Short notices of this remarkable work are given by Mr.
Alexander Wylie* and Dr. Bretschneider,f and a more ex-
haustive one by M. Bazin.J
FIG. 45. ONE OF THE EAVE TILES FROM THE OLD IMPERIAL PALACE OF NANKIN,
showing the Five-clawed or Imperial Dragon, an emblem which cannot be borne
by any outside of the Imperial service, under the penalty of death. Commoners
have to be satisfied with a four-clawed dragon.
FIG. 46. RETURN FROM THE CHASE. (From the 'Eh Ya.)
* Notes on Chinese Literature, A. Wylie, Shanghai and London, 1867.
t " Bot. Sin." in Journal of N. China Branch E. A. S., 1881.
J Journal Asiatique, Extr. No. 17 (1839).
15
226 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
It is also largely quoted by Williams in his valuable
Chinese dictionary. Otherwise Sinologues appear to have
entirely ignored it.
Mr. Wylie remarks that "it has long been looked upon
with distrust ; but some scholars of great ability have recently
investigated its contents, and come to the conclusion that it
is at least as old as the Chow dynasty, and probably of a
date even anterior to that period."
M. Bazin speaks of it as a fabulous description of the
world, and attributes it to Taouist writers in the fourth cen-
tury of our era, who forged the authority of the great Yii
and Peh Yi. He thinks it would be useless to attempt the
identification of the localities given in it, and offers a trans-
lation of a portion of the first chapter in support of his
views.
The value of his translation is impaired by his making
no distinction between the text and the commentary, and he
appears to have possessed an inferior and incomplete
version.
In an editorial article in the North China Herald of May
9, 1884 (presumably by Mr. Balfour, an excellent Sinologue),
it is referred to the date of Ch'in Shih Huang, who con-
nected the Heptarchy into a single kingdom, and conquered
Cochin China about B.C. 222.
Kwoh Po'h* (A.D. 276-324), who prepared an edition
which has descended to us, ascribes a date to it 3,000 years
anterior to his time.
Liu Hsiu,* of the Han dynasty (B.C. 206 to A.D. 25),
states that the Emperor Yii, the founder of the Hia dynasty
(B.C. 2205), employed Yih and Peh Yi as geographers and
natural historians, who produced the " Book of Wonders by
Land and Sea." While Yang Sun,* of the Ming dynasty
* The three prefaces by these authors are given in extenso in the
Appendix to this Chapter.
THE CHINESE DRAGON.
227
15
228
MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
FIG. 48. SOMMEK. (From the 'Eh Fa.)
THE CHINESE DRAGON. 229
(commencing A.D. 1368), states in his after-preface that the
Emperor Yii had nine metal vases cast, on which all won-
derful or rare animals were engraved, the commoner ones
being recorded in the annals of Yii ; and that K'ung Kiah
(of the Hia dynasty, B.C. 1879), included this varied infor-
mation in the present work.
It is to be hoped that at no distant date some competent
Sinologue will be induced to furnish a full translation of
this remarkable work, with an adequate commentary.
There is no doubt that many would be deterred from doing
so by an impression that a collection of fabulous stories,
treating of supernatural beings and apparently impossible
monsters, is unworthy the consideration of mature intellect,
and only fit to be relegated to the domain of Jack the Giant
Killer and other childish stories. After a close examination
of the book, I apprehend that this view of it can hardly
be maintained. That such stories or descriptions are inter-
spersed throughout the work is not to be disputed ; but a
large proportion of it consists of apparently authentic geo-
graphical records, including, as is customary with all works
of a similar nature in China, descriptions of the most remark-
able objects of natural history occurring in the different
regions. I think it will be found possible to identify many
of these at the present day, some may be conjectured at,
and the residue are not more numerous in proportion than
the similar fables or perverted accounts which figure in the
western classic volumes of Ctesias, Aristotle, Pliny, and
even much later writers. So far as the supernatural portions
are concerned, it must be remembered that, even so late as
the days of the childhood of Sir Humphrey Davy, pixies were
still supposed by the lower classes to trace the fairy rings in
Cornwall; that quite lately, and perhaps among certain
classes to the present day, the existence of the banshee in
Ireland, of the kelpie in Scotland, and of persons gifted with
the mysterious and awe-inspiring power of second sight,
230
MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
FIG. 49. MANTIS (A VERY CHARACTERISTIC FIGURE). (From the 'Rh Yet.)
THE CHINESE DRAGON. 231
was religiously believed in. There are few important
houses in England whose ancestral walls have not concealed
an apparition connected with the destinies of the family,
appearing only on fatal or eventful occasions ; and in the
days of the sapient James I. in England, and among the
Pilgrim Fathers in the American States, the existence
of wizards and witches was universally accepted as an
undeniable fact, proved by hundreds of instances of ex-
torted or voluntary confession, and supplemented by the
concurrent testimony of a still greater number of witnesses
who genuinely believed themselves to have been the spec-
tators or victims of the supernatural powers of the accused.
An historian of these later times might well have described
such things as realities, and we should not be disposed, on
account of his having done so, to question the validity of his
description of other objects or creatures existing at the
period, presuming them to be more consistent with our
present notions of possibility.
No one, now-a-days, would discredit the veracity of Marco
Polo because he speaks of enormous serpents in Carajan,
possessing two feet, each armed with a single claw. That
there was a solid foundation for his story is admitted, and
commentators are only at variance as to whether the basis
was a large species of python, such as still exists in Southern
China, or a gigantic alligator, of which he might have seen
a mutilated specimen.
It must also be borne in mind that the existence of some
gigantic saurian, now extinct, possessing two limbs only, in
place of four, is not an impossibility ; as the small lizard,
Chirotes, is in that condition, and also the North American
genus Siren, belonging to the Newts.
I notice that Ketzoch, in his designs to illustrate Schiller's
poem, " The Fight with the Dragon,'* makes the monster
have only two fore-legs, and this appears to have been a
common mediaeval conception of it. Aldrovandus and Gesner
232
MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
FIG. 50. TOOLS OP HUSBANDRY. (From the 'Rh Fa.)
THE CHINESE DRAGON.
233
both give figures of biped dragons. There is also a curious
drawing in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1749 which is
transferred into the pages of the Encyclopedia of Philadel-
phia, apparently a piracy of an English Cyclopaedia, of what
is styled a sea-dragon, four feet long, which stands bolt
upright on two legs, and, like Barnum's mermaid, was
probably a triumph of art.
Aldrovandus was probably imposed on by some waggish
friend, in reference to the biped dragon without wings, two
cubits long, which was said to have been killed by a country-
man near Bonn in 1572 A.D., and which he first figured and
FIG. 51. DRACO BIPES APTEROS CAPTUS IN AGRO BONONIENSI. (Aldrovandus).
then placed in his museum ; and he evidently fully believed
in the Ethiopian winged biped dragon, of which he gives two
figures, but without quoting his authority.
FIG. 52. DRACO ^ETHIOPICUS. (Aldrovandus.
Gesner gives a similar figure, after Belon, of the winged
dragon of Mount Sinai ; but Athanasius Kircher is more
liberal, and gives his dragon not only wings but four legs.
234 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
FIG. 53. THE FOUR-FOOTED WINGED DRAGON. (Kircher.}
In poetry we find Ashtaroth described as appearing to
Faust in the form of a serpent with two little feet.
As to the mysterious powers imputed throughout the Shan
tiai King to different creatures, of controlling drought, rain,
and fire, or acting, when partaken of, as remedies for sundry
ills and ailments, it may be asked whether we ourselves are
free from analogous superstitious beliefs ? Will a sailor
view without uneasiness the destruction of a Mother Carey's
chicken, or a Dutchman, of a stork ? Or is the Chinese
pharmacopoeia of the present day much more trustworthy as
to many of its items ?
As to the hurnan-visaged creatures, both snakes and four-
footed beasts, may we not perhaps put them on a par with
other fancied resemblances, which hold to the present day, of
(for example) the hippopotamus, to a river-horse, of the
pipe-fish, known as the hippocampus, to a sea-horse ; of the
manatee to a merman, and the like ?
And, lastly, are the composite creatures, partly bird and
partly reptilian, occasionally referred to, so entirely incre-
dible ? Is it not barely possible that some of those inter-
vening types which we know from the teaching of Darwin,
must have existed ; which we know, from the researches of
paleontology have existed ; types intermediate to the Stru-
thionidcB, the most reptilian of birds, and the Chlamydce, the
most avian of reptiles is it not possible that some of these
may have continued their existence down to a late date, and
THE CHINESE DRAGON.
235
that the tradition of these existing as the descendants or the
analogues of the Archseopteryx, and the toothed birds of
America, may be embalmed in the pages in question ? Is it
impossible? Do not the Trigonias, the Terebratulas, the
Marsupials, and, in part, the vegetation of Australia, form
the spare surviving descendants of the forms which charac-
terised the oolitic period on our own shores ? Why, then,
may not a few cretaceous and early tertiary forms have
struggled on, through a happy combination of circumstances,
to an aged and late existence in other lands.
After long, repeated, and careful examination of the Shan
Hai King, I arrive at a very different conclusion from M.
Bazin. I hold it to be an authentic and precious memorial
which has been handed down to us from remote antiquity,
the value of which has been unrecognised owing to the book
being unfortunately a fusion of two and perhaps three distinct
works.
FIG. 54. THE PA XAKE. (From the Shan Hai King.)
236 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
The oldest was the Shan King, and consists of five volumes,
devoted respectively to the northern, southern, eastern,
western, and central mountain ranges. This is devoid of all
reference to persons and habited places. It is simply an
abstract of the results of a topographical survey which may
not impossibly have been, as it claims, the one conducted
by Yii.
It contains lists of mountains and rivers, with valuable
notes on their mineral productions, fauna and flora. It also
gives lists of the divinities controlling or belonging to each
mountain range, and the sacrifices suitable to them. There
are few extravagances in this portion of the work.
The remainder is devoted to a history of the regions
without and within the four hai or seas bounding the empire,
and those constituting what is called the Great Desert.
Here extravagant stories, myths, accounts of wonderful
people, references to states, cities, and tribes are mingled
with geographical notices which, from their repetition, show
that this portion is itself resolvable into two distinct works
of more modern date, whose origin was probably posterior to
the wave of Taouist superstition which swept over China in
the first six centuries of our era. I must add that the term,
" within the four seas " does not imply the arrogant belief,
as is generally supposed, that this Empire extended to the
ocean on every side, the archaic meaning being the very
different one of frontier or boundary region ; while the word
" desert " has a similar signification.
In that more credible portion of the work which I believe
to have been the original Shan King, references to dragons
are infrequent. In some instances the Mao (which I inter-
pret as the gavial) is specifically referred to ; in others the
word lung is used ; thus, it speaks of dragons and turtles
abounding in the Ti River, flowing from one of the northern
mountains east of the Ho. From the context, however, an
aquatic creature, and probably an alligator, is indicated.
THE CHINESE DRAGON.
237
FIG. 55. FLYING SNAKES FROM THE SIEN MOUNTAINS (CENTRAL MOUNTAINS).
(Shan Hai King.}
238 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
From the entire text I gather that the true terrestrial dragon
was not an inmate of China, at all events after the period ol
Yii. I further infer that it was a feared and much respected
denizen of the more or less arid highlands, whence the early
Chinese either migrated or were driven, and from which
point the dragon traditions flowed pretty evenly east and
west, beat against the Himalayan chain on the south, and
only penetrated India in a later and modified form.
There is a short reference to the Ying Lung or winged
dragon ; it is as follows :
" In the north-east corner of the Great Desert are moun-
tains called Hiung-li and T'u K'iu. The Ying Lung lives at
the south extremity.
" [Commentary. The Ying Lung is a dragon with wings.]
" He killed Tsz Yiu and Kwa Fu.
" [Commentary. Tsz Yiu was a soldier.]
" He could not ascend to heaven.
" [Commentary. The Ying Lung dwells beneath the earth.]
" So there is often drought.
" [Commentary. Because no rain was made above.]
" When there is a drought, the form of the Ying dragon is
made, and then there is much rain.
" [Commentary. Now the false dragon is for this purpose, to in-
fluence (the heaven) ; men are not able to do it.]"
The better printed copies of this work are illustrated with
a very truculent- looking dragon with outspread wings. A
stone delineation of a dragon with wings forms the orna-
mentation of the bridge at Nincheang Foo. In the interior
of China, it was observed by Mr. Cooper, and is given in his
Travels of a Pioneer of Commerce. These are the only cases
in China in which I have come across illustrations of
dragons with genuine wings. As a rule, the dragon appears
to be represented as having the power of translating itself
without mechanical agency, sailing among the clouds, or
rising from the sea at pleasure.
THE CHINESE DRAGON.
239
240
MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
THE CHINESE DRAGON.
241
The Shan Hai King contains valuable notices of winged
snakes and gigantic serpents, as, for example, the so-called
singing snakes. Speaking of the Sien mountain (one of the
Central Mountains), it says : " Gold and jade abound. It is
barren. The Sien river issues and flows north into the I river.
On it are many singing snakes. They look like snakes, but
have four wings. Their voice is like the beating of stones.
When they appear there will be great drought in the city."
FIG. 58. Yii KIANG (A GOD). Without the Sea and North. (Shan Hai King.}
The Pa snake, already spoken of, is described as capable of
gorging an elephant. The Ta Hien mountains were reputed
uninhabitable on account of the presence of gigantic ser-
pents (pythons ?), which were said to have been of the
colour of mugwort, to have possessed hairs like pig's bristles
projecting between the lines of their riband-like markings.
Rumour had magnified their length to one hundred fathoms,
and they made a noise like the beating of a drum or the
striking of a watchman's wooden clapper. The Siong Jan
mountains were infested by serpents, also gigantic, but of a
different species.
The annexed wood-cuts (Figs. 56, 57) of Ping I (Icy
exterminator), and the Emperor K'i (B.C. 2197), each in
cars, driving two dragons, are interesting in connection
16
242
MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
with the later fable of Medea and Triptolernus, The two
stories were probably derived from a common source ; the
Chinese version, however, being much the older of the two.
The text as to K'i is :
" K'i of the Hia dynasty
danced with Kiutai at the
Tayoh common. He drove
two dragons. The clouds
overhung in three layers.
In his left hand he
grasped a screen ; in his
right hand he held ear or-
naments; at his girdle
dangled jade crescents. It
is north of Tayun mount ;
one author calls it Tai
common." The commen-
tator says Kiutai is the
name of a horse, and
" dance " means to dance
in a circle. [Probably this is the earliest reference extant
to a circus performance.]
Ping I is supposed to dwell in Tsung Ki pool near the
fairy region of Kwa-Sun, to have a human face, and to
drive two dragons.
Cursorily examined, the Shan Hai King is a farrago of false-
hood ; read with intelligence, it is a mine of historical wealth.
THE PAN TSAO KANG Mu.*
Descending to late times, we have the great Chinese
Materia Medica, in fifty-two volumes, entitled Pan Tsao Rang
* The reader is referred, for a careful precis of the contents of this
valuable work, to an exhaustive paper entitled " Botanicon Sinicum,"
in the Journal of North China Branch Royal Asiatic Society, 1881, by
E. Bretschneider, M.D.
FIG. 59. THE TYPHOON DRAGON.
(From a Chinese Painting.)
THE CHINESE DRAGON. 243
Mu, made up of extracts from upwards of eight hundred
preceding authors, and including three volumes of illustra-
tions by Li Shechin, of the Ming dynasty (probably born
early in the sixteenth century A.D.). It was first printed in
the Wan-leih period (1573 to 1620). I give its article
upon the dragon in extenso.
" According to the dictionary of Hii Shan, the character
lung in the antique form of writing represents the shape of
the animal. According to the Shang Siao Lun, the dragon is
deaf, hence its name of lung (deaf). In Western books the
dragon is called nake (naga). Shi-Chan says that in the
'Rh Ya Yih of Lo-Yuen the dragon is described as the largest
of scaled animals (literally, insects). Wang Fu says that
the dragon has nine (characteristics) resemblances. Its head
is like a camel's, its horns like a deer's, its eyes like a
hare's,* its ears like a bull's, its neck like a snake's, its belly
like an iguanodon's (?), its scales like a carp's, its claws like
an eagle's, and its paws like a tiger's. Its scales number
eighty-one, being nine by nine, the extreme (odd or) lucky
number. Its voice resembles the beating of a gong. On
each side of its mouth are whiskers, under its chin is a
bright pearl, under its throat the scales are reversed, on the
top of its head is the poh shan, which others call the wooden
foot-rule. A dragon without a foot-rule cannot ascend the
skies. When its breath escapes it forms clouds, sometimes
changing into rain, at other times into fire. Luh Tien in
the P'i Ya remarks, when dragon -breath meets with damp it
becomes bright, when it gets wet it goes on fire. It is extin-
guished by ordinary fire.
" The dragon comes from an egg, it being desirable to
keep it folded up. When the male calls out there is a breeze
above, when the female calls out there is a breeze below, in
* The character-for a hare is very like the character for a devil. The
Japanese, in quoting this passage, have fallen into this error.
16 *
-244 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
consequence of which there is conception. The Shih Tien
states, when the dragons come together they are changed
into two small serpents. In the Siao Shwoh it is said that
the disposition of the dragon is very fierce, and it is fond of
beautiful gems and jade (?). It is extremely fond of swallow's
flesh ; it dreads iron, the mong plant, the centipede, the
leaves of the Pride of India, and silk dyed of different (five)
colours. A man, therefore, who eats swallow's flesh should
fear to cross the water. When rain is wanted a swallow
should be offered (used); when floods are to be restrained,
then iron ; to stir up the dragon, the mong plant should be
employed ; to sacrifice to Kuh Yuen, the leaves of the Pride
of India bound with coloured silk should be used (see
Mayers, p. 107, 326) and thrown into the river. Physi-
cians who use dragons' bones ought to know the likes and
dislikes of dragons as given above."
" Dragons 1 Bones.* In the Pieh luh it is said that these
are found in the watercourses in Tsin (Southern Shansi)
and in the earth-holes which exist along the banks of the
streams running in the caves of the T'ai Shan (Great Hill),
Shantung. For seeking dead dragons' graves there is no
fixed time. Hung King says that now they are largely
found in Leung-yih (in Shansi ?) and Pa-chung (in Sz-
chuen). Of all the bones, dragon's spine is the best; the
brains make the white earth strice, which when applied to the
tongue is of great virtue. The small teeth are hard, and of
the usual appearance of teeth. The horns are hard and
solid. All the dragons cast off their bodies without really
dying. Han says the dragon-bones from Yea-cheu, Ts'ang-
* The dragons' bones sold by apothecaries in China consist of the
fossilized teeth and bones of a variety of species, generally in a frag-
mentary condition. The white earth striae, or dragons' brains, here
referred to, are probably asbestos. The asbestos sold in Chefoo
market, under the name of Lung Ku or dragons' bones, is procured at
0-tzu-kung.
THE CHINESE DRAGON. 245
cheu and T'ai-yuen (all in Shansi) are the best. The smaller
bones marked with wider lines are the female dragon's ; the
rougher bones with narrower lines are those of the male
dragon ; those which are marked with variegated colours are
esteemed the best. Those that are either yellow or white
are of medium value ; the black are inferior. If any of the
bones are impure, or are gathered by women, they should
not be used.
" P'u says dragons' bones of a light white colour possess
great virtue. Kung says the bones found in Tsin (South
Shansi) that are hard are not good ; the variegated ones
possess virtue. The light, the yellow, the flesh-coloured,
the white, and the black, are efficacious in curing diseases
in the internal organs having their respective colours, just as
the five varieties of the chi* plant, the five kinds of lime-
stone, and the five kinds of mineral oil (literally, fat), which
remain still for discussion in this work.
" Su-chung states : ' In the prefecture of Cheu kiiin, to the
" East of the River " (Shansi), dragons' bones are still found
in large quantities. 5
" Li-chao, in the Kwoh-shi-pu, says : * In the spring floods
the fish leap into the Dragon's Gate, and the number of cast-
off bones there is very numerous. These men seek for medi-
cinal purposes. They are of the five colours. This Dragon's
Gate is in Tsin (Shansi), where this work (Kwoh-shi-pu) is
published. Are not, then, these so-called dragons' bones
the bones of fish ? '
" Again, quoting from Sun Kwang-hien in the Poh-mung
Legends : ' In the time of the five dynasties there was a con-
test between two dragons; when one was slain, a village
hero, Kw'an, got both its horns. In the front of the horns
was an object of a bluish colour, marked with confused lines,
* The boletus, supposed to possess mystic efficacy.
246 MYTHICAL MONSTE&S.
which no one knew anything about, as the dragon was com-
pletely dead.'
" Tsung Shih says : < All statements [concerning dragons'
bones] disagree ; they are merely speculations, for when a
mountain cavern has disclosed to view a skeleton head, horns
and all, who is to know whether they are exuvice or that the
dragon has been killed ? Those who say they are exuvice, or
that the dragon is dead, then have the form of the animal,
but have never seen it alive. Now, how can one see the
thing (as it really is) when it is dead? Some also say
that it is a transformation, but how is it only in its appear-
ance that it cannot be transformed ? '
" Ki, in the present work, says that they are really dead
dragons' bones ; for one to say that they are exuvice is a
mere speculation.
" Shi Chan says : < The present work considers that these
are really dead dragons' bones, but To Shi thinks they
are exuvice. Su and Kan doubt both these statements.
They submit that dragons are divine beings, and resemble
the principle of immortality (never-in-themselves-dying
principle) ; but there is the statement of the dragon fight-
ing and getting killed; and further, in the Tso-chw'en,
in which it is stated that there was a certain rearer of
dragons who pickled dragons for food [for the imperial
table?].'
" The I-ki says : ' In the time of the Emperor Hwo, of the
Han dynasty, during a heavy shower a dragon fell in the
palace grounds, which the Emperor ordered to be made into
soup and given to his Ministers.'
" The Poh-wuh-chi states that a certain Chang Hwa ' got
dragon's flesh to dry, for it is said that when seasoning was
applied the five colours appeared, &c. These facts prove
that the dragon does die, an opinion which is considered
correct by [the writers of] the present work.' "
THE CHINESE DRAGON. 24?
THE YUEN KIEN LEI HAN.
This is an encyclopaedia in four hundred and fifty books or
volumes, completed in 1710. More than eighty pages are
devoted to the dragon. These, with all similar publica-
tions in China, consist entirely of extracts from old works,
many of which have perished, and of which fragments alone
remain preserved as above.
I have had the whole of this carefully translated, but think
it unnecessary to trouble the reader, in the present volume,
with more than the first chapter, which I give in the
Appendix. There is also a description of the Kiao, of which
I give extracts in the Appendix, together with others relating
to the same creature, and to the T'o lung, from the Pan Tsao
Kang Mu.
248 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
FIG. GO VIGNETTE. {After Hoku*<ii.)
CHAPTEE VIII.
THE JAPANESE DRAGON.
THERE is but little additional information as to the dragon
to be gained from Japan, the traditions relating to it in that
country having been obviously derived from China. In
functions and qualities it is always represented as identical
with the Chinese dragon. In Japan, however, it is invari-
ably figured as possessing three claws, whereas in China it
has four or five, according as it is an ordinary or an imperial
emblem. The peasantry are still influenced by a belief in its
supernatural powers, or in those of some large or multiple-
headed snake, supposed to be a transformation of it, and to
be the tenant of deep lakes or of springs issuing from
mountains.
1 give, as examples of dragon stories, two selected from the
narratives of mythical history,* and one extracted from a
native journal of the day.
* The first two stories are from the Ko Ku Shi Riyah, a recent his-
tory of Japan, from the earliest periods down to the present time, by
Matsunai, with a continuation by a later author. They are contained in
THE JAPANESE DRAGON. 249
The first states that " Hi-koho-ho-da-mi no mikoto (a
god) went out hunting, and his eldest brother Hono-sa-su-ri
no mikoto went out fishing. They were very successful, and
proposed to one another to change occupations. They
did so.
" Hono-sa-su-ri no mikoto went out to the mountain hunt-
ing, but got nothing, therefore he gave back his bow and
arrow ; but Hi-ko-hoho-da-mi no mikoto lost his hook in the
sea ; he therefore tried to return a new one, but his brother
would not receive it, and wanted the old one ; and the
mikoto was greatly grieved, and, wandering on the shore,
met with an old man called Si-wo-tsu-chino-gi, and told him
what had happened.
" The latter made a cage called me-na-shi.kogo, enclosed
him in it, and sank it to the bottom of the sea. The
mikoto proceeded to the temple of the sea-god, who gave him
a girl, Toyotama, in marriage. He remained there three
years, and recovered the hook which he had lost, as well as
receiving two pieces of precious jade called * ebb ' and ' flood.'
He then returned. After some years he died. His son, Hi-
ko-na-gi-sa-ta-k'e-ouga-ya-fu-ki-aya-dzu no mikoto, succeeded
to the crown.
" When his father first proposed to return, his wife told
him that she was enciente, and that she would come out to
the shore during the rough weather and heavy sea, saying,
1 1 hope you will wait until you have completed a house for
my confinement.' After some time Toyotama came there
and begged him never to come to her bed when she was
sleeping. He, however, crept up and peeped at her. He
saw a dragon holding a child in the midst of its coils.
It suddenly jumped up and darted into the sea."
the first chapter of the first volume. The third is given as an ordinary
item of news in the journal called the Chin-jei-Nippo, April 30th,
1884.
250
MYTHICAL
THE JAPANESE DRAGON. 251
The second legend is : " When the So-sa-no-o no mikoto
went to the sources of the river Hi-no-ka-mi at Idzumo, he
heard lamentations from a house ; he therefore approached it
and inquired the cause. He saw an old man and woman clasp-
ing a young girl. They told him that in that country there
was a very large serpent, which had eight* heads and eight
tails, and came annually and swallowed one person. * We
had eight children, and we have already lost seven, and now
have only one left, who will be swallowed ; hence our grief.'
The mikoto said, * If you will give that girl to me, I will
save her.' The old man and woman were rejoiced. The
mikoto changed his form, and assumed that of the young
girl. He divided the room into eight partitions, and
in each placed one saki tuh and waited its approach. The
serpent arrived, drank the saki, got intoxicated, and fell
asleep.
" Then the mikoto drew his sword and cut the serpent into
small pieces. When he was cutting the tail his sword was
a little broken ; therefore he split open the tail to find the
reason, and found in it a valuable sword, and offered it to
the god 0-mi-ka-mi, at Taka-maga-hara.
66 He called the sword Ama no mourakoumo no tsiirogi,f
because there was a cloud up in the heaven where the ser-
pent lies. Finally he married the girl, and built a house at
Suga in Idzumo."
The third story runs as follows :
The White Dragon.
" There is a very large pond at the eastern part of Fu-si-
ml-shi-ro-yama, at Yama-shiro (near Kioto) ; it is called
* The idea of the eight heads probably originated in China ; thus,
in the caves in Shantung, near Chi-ning Chou, among carvings of
mythological figures and divinities, dating from A.D. 147, we find a
tiger's body with eight heads, all human.
f Mourakoumo means " clouds of clouds " ; ama means " heaven " ;
tsurogi means " sword."
252 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
Ukisima. In the fine weather little waves rise up on account
of its size. There are many turtles in it. In the summer-
time many boys go to the pond to swim, but never go out
into the middle or far from the shore. No one is aware how
deep the centre of the pond is, and it is said that a white
dragon lives in that pond, and can transform itself into a
bird, which the people of the district call 0-gon-cho, i.e.
golden bird, because, when it becomes a bird, it has a yellow
plumage. The bird flies once in fifty years, and its voice is
like the howling of a wolf. In that year there is famine and
pestilence, and many people die. Just one hundred years
ago, when this bird flew and uttered its cry, there was a
famine and drought and disease, and many people died.
Again, at Tempo-go-nen (i.e. in the fifth year of Tempo),
fifty years back from the present time, the bird flew as before,
and there was once again disease and famine. Hence the
people in that district were much alarmed, as it is now
just fifty years again. They hoped, however, that the bird
would not fly and cry. But at 2 A.M. of the 19th April it is
said that it was seen to do so. The people, therefore, were
surprised, and now are worshipping God in order to avert the
famine and disease. The old farmers say, in the fine weather
the white dragon may occasionally be seen floating on the
water, but that if it sees people it sinks down beneath the
surface." *
As a pendant to this I now quote a memorial from the
Pekin Gazette of April 3rd, 1884, of which a translation is
given in the North China Herald for May 16th, 1884.
" A Postscript Memorial of P'an Yii requests that an addi-
tional title of rank, and a tablet written by His Majesty's
* White snakes are occasionally, although rarely, seen in Japan.
They are supposed to be messengers from the gods, and are never
killed by the people, but always taken and carried to some temple. The
white snake is worshipped in Nagasaki at a temple called Miyo-ken, at
Nishi-yama, which is the northern part of the city of Nagasaki.
THE JAPANESE DRAGON. 253
own hand, may be conferred on a dragon spirit, who has
manifested himself and answered the prayers made to
him.
11 In the Ang-shan mountains, a hundred li from the town
of Kuei-hai, there are three wells, of which one is on the
mountain top, in a spot seldom visited. It has long been
handed down that a dragon inhabits this well. If pieces
of metal are thrown into the well they float, but light
things, as silk or paper, will sink. If the offerings are
accepted, fruits come floating up in exchange. Anything not
perfectly pure and clean is rejected and sent whirling up
again. The spirit dwells in the blackest depths of the water,
in form like a strange fish, with golden scales and four paws,
red eyes and long body. He ordinarily remains deep in
the water without stirring. But in times of great drought,
if the local authorities purify themselves, and sincerely wor-
ship him, he rises to the top. He is then solemnly conveyed
to the city, and prayers for rain are offered to him, which
are immediately answered. His temple is in the district
city, on the To'ang-hai Ling. The provincial and local
histories record that tablets to him have been erected
from the times of the Mongol and the Ming dynasties.
During the present dynasty, on several occasions, as, for
instance, in the years 1845 and 18(53, he has been carried
into the city, and rain has fallen immediately. Last year a
dreadful drought occurred, in which the ponds and tanks
dried up, to the great terror of the people. On the 15th
day of the eighth month, the magistrate conducted the spirit
into the city, and, with the assembled multitude, prayed to
him fervently ; thereupon a gentle rain, falling throughout
the country, brought plenty in the place of scarcity, and
gladdened the hearts of all. At about the same time, the
people of a district in the vicinity, called Chin-yu, also had
recourse to the spirit, with equally favourable results. These
are well-known events, which have happened quite recently.
254 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
" It is the desire of the people of the district that some
mark of distinction should be conferred on the spirit ; and
the memorialist finds such a proceeding to be sanctioned both
by law and precedent ; he therefore humbly lays the wishes
of the people before His Majesty, who, perhaps, will be
pleased to confer a title and an autograph tablet as above
suggested. The Rescript has already been recorded.
"No. 6 of Memorial."
The idea of the transformation of a sea-monster or dragon
into a bird is common both to China and Japan ; for instance,
in The Works of Chuang Tsze, ch. i. p. 1, by F. H. Balfour,
F.B.G.S., we read that-
"In the Northern Sea there was a fish, whose name was
kw'en. It is not known how many thousand li this fish was
in length. It was afterwards transformed into a bird called
p'eng, the size of whose back is uncertain by some thousands
of li. Suddenly it would dart upwards with rapid flight, its
FiG.62. THE HAI Rjvo. (Chi-on-in Monastery, Kioto.)
THE JA PANESE DEAGON. 255
wings overspreading the sky like clouds. When the waters
were agitated [in the sixth moon] the bird moved its abode
to the Southern Sea, the Pool of Heaven. In the book
called Ts'i Hieh, which treats of strange and marvellous
things, it is said that when the p'eng flew south, it first
rushed over three thousand li of water, and then mounted
to the height of ninety thousand li, riding upon the
wind that blows in the sixth moon. The wild horses, i.e.
the clouds and dust of heaven, were driven along by the
zephyrs. The colour of the sky was blue ; yet, is that the
real colour of the sky, or only the appearance produced by
infinite, illimitable depths ? For the bird, as it looked
downwards, the view was just the same as it is to us when
we look upwards."
On the screens decorating the Chi-on-in monastery in
Kioto, are depicted several composite creatures, half-dragon,
half-bird, which appear to represent the Japanese rendering
of the Chinese Ying Lung or winged dragon. They have
dragons' heads, plumose wings, and birds' claws, and have
been variously designated to me by Japanese as the Hai
Itiyo (Fig. 62), the Tobi Tatsu,, and the Schachi Hoko.
FIG. <>3. JAPANESE DRAGON (BRONZE)
256 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
FIG. 64.
CONCLUSION OF DRAGON CHAPTERS.
The numerous quotations given in the above pages, or
in the Appendix, are merely a selection, and by no means
profess to be so extensive as they should be were this work
a monograph on the dragon alone. Having a special object
in view, I have forborne to diverge into those interesting
speculations which relate to its religious significance ; these
I leave to those who deal specially with this portion of its
history. I therefore pass over the many traditions and
legends regarding it contained in the pages of the Memoirs of
Hiouen-Thsang,* of Foe Koue Kifi and similar narratives, and
* Memoires sur les Contrees occidentales, traduits du Sanscrit en Chinois
en Van 648 ; et du Chinois en Francais, par M. Stanislas Julien. 2 vols.,
Paris, 1857.
f Foe Koue Ki, ou Relation des Royaumes Bouddhiques, par Che Fa
CONCLUSION OF DRAGON CHAPTERS. 257
omit quoting folk-lore from the pages of Dennys, Eitel, and
others who have written on the suhject.
For my purpose it would be profitless to collate legends
such as that given in the Apocrypha, in the story of Bel and
the Dragon, and reappearing in the pages of El Edrisi as an
Arab legend, with Alexander the Great as the hero, and the
Canaries as the scene, or to dwell on the Corean and Japanese
versions of dragon stories, which are merely borrowed, and
corrupted in borrowing, from the Chinese. Nor shall I do
more than allude to the fact that dragons are represented
in the Brahminical caves at Ellora, and among the sculptures
of Ancoar Wat in Cambodia.
FIG. 65.
The rude diagrams, Figs. 64, 65, 66, are facsimiles from
a manuscript of folio size in the possession of J. Haas,
Esq., Imperial Austro-Hungarian Vice- Consul for Shang-
hai,' which he kindly placed at my disposal. This unique
volume is at present, unfortunately, unintelligible. It
comes from the western confines of China, and is believed
to be an example of the written Lolo language, that is, of
Hien. Translated from the Chinese by M. Abel Remusat ; Paris, 1836.
This volume contains a number of very interesting dragon legends, and
quaint conceits about them ; but I find nothing in it to supplement my
materialistic argument.
17
258
MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
the language of the aboriginal tribes of China. They suffice
to show that the same respect for the dragon is shown among
these people as in China; but no opinion can be offered
as to whether this belief and respect is original or imported,
until their literature has been examined.
FIG. 66.
I regret that I am unable to give in this volume, as I had
wished, an account of the Persian dragon, which, I am
informed, is contained in a rare Persian work.
In conclusion, I must hope that the reader who has had
the patience to wade through the medley of extracts which I
have selected, and to analyse the suggestive reasoning of the
introductory chapters, will agree with me that there is
nothing impossible in the ordinary notion of the traditional
dragon ; that such being the case, it is more likely to have
once had a real existence than to be a mere offspring of
fancy ; and that from the accident of direct transmission of
delineations of it on robes and standards, we have probably
CONCLUSION OF DRAGON CHAPTERS. 259
a not very incorrect notion of it in the depicted dragon of the
Chinese.
We may infer that it was a long terrestrial lizard, hiber-
nating, and carnivorous, with the power of constricting
with its snake-like body and tail ; possibly furnished with
wing-like expansions of its integument, after the fashion of
Draco volans, and capable of occasional progress on its hind
legs alone, when excited in attack. It appears to have been
protected by armour and projecting spikes, like those found
in Moloch horridus and Megalania prisca, and was possibly
more nearly allied to this last form than to any other which
has yet come to our knowledge. Probably it preferred
sandy, open country to forest land, its habitat was the high-
lands of Central Asia, and the time of its disappearance about
that of the Biblical Deluge discussed in a previous chapter.
Although terrestrial, it probably, in common with most
reptiles, enjoyed frequent bathing, and when not so engaged,
or basking in the sun, secluded itself under some over-
hanging bank or cavern.
The idea of its fondness for swallows, and power of
attracting them, mentioned in some traditions, may not im-
possibly have been derived from these birds hawking round
and through its open jaws in the pursuit of the flies attracted
by the viscid humours of its mouth. We know that at the
present day a bird, the trochilus of the ancients, freely
enters the open mouth of the crocodile, and rids it of the
parasites affecting its teeth and jaws.
J7
260 MYTHICAL MONSTEES.
CHAPTER IX.
THE SEA-SERPENT.
On the dark bottom of the great salt lake
Imprisoned lay the giant snake,
With naught his sullen sleep to break.
Poets of the North, " Oelenschlseger." Translated by
Longfellow.
THAT frank writer, Montaigne, says* :
" Yet on the other side it is a sottish presumption to dis-
daine and condemne that for false, which unto us seemeth to
beare no show of likelihood or truth : which is an ordinarie
fault in those who perswade themselves to be of more suffi-
ciencie than the vulgar sort.
" But reason hath taught me, that so resolutely to con-
demne a thing for false, and impossible, is to assume unto
himself the advantage, to have the bounds and limits of
God's will, and of the power of our common mother Nature
tied to his sleeve : and that there is no greater folly in the
world, than to reduce them to the measure of our capacitie,
and bounds of our sufficiencie.
" If we term those things monsters or miracles to which
our reason cannot attain, how many such doe daily present
* Montaigne, Essays, chap. xxvi f
THE SEA-SERPENT. 261
themselves unto our sight? let us consider through what
cloudes, and how blinde-folde we are led to the knowledge
of most things, that passe our hands : verily we shall finde,
it is rather custome, than Science that remove th the strange-
nesse of them from us : and that those things, were they
newly presented unto us, wee should doubtless deeme
them, as much, or more unlikely, and incredible, than any
other."
Montaigne's remarks seem to me to apply as aptly to the
much-vexed question of the existence or non-existence of the
sea-serpent as though they had been specially written in
reference to it.
The sea-serpent, at once the belief and the denied of
scientific men ; the accepted and ignored, according to
their estimation of the evidence, of reasoners, not scientific
perhaps, but intelligent and educated ; the valued basis for
items to the journalist, and the quintain for every self-
sufficient gobemouche to tilt against ; appearing mysteriously
at long intervals and in distant places ; the sea-serpent has
as yet avoided capture and the honourable distinction of being
catalogued and labelled in our museums.
Yet I do believe this weird creature to be a real solid fact,
and not a fanciful hallucination. This assertion, however,
has to be sustained under many difficulties. The dread of
ridicule closes the mouths of many men who could speak
upon the subject, while their dependent position forces them
to submit to the half-bantering, half-warning expostulations
of their employers. When, for example, an unimaginative
shipowner breaks jests over his unfortunate shipmaster's
head, and significantly hints his hope (as I know to have
been the case) that on his next voyage he will see no more
sea-serpents, or, in other words, that the great monster
belongs to the same genus as the snakes seen in the boots
of a western dram-drinker, we may be sure that an important
barrier is put to any further communication on the subject
262 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
from that source, at least ; * or when, again, some knot of
idle youngsters enliven the monotony of a long voyage by
preparing a deliberate hoax for publication on their arrival,
a certain amount of discredit necessarily attaches to the
monster on the ultimate exposure of the jest.
* " I fully believe in this great marine monster. I have as much
evidence as to its existence as of anything not seen. Some years ago,
Captain Austin Cooper and the officers and crew of the Carlisle Castle,
on a vogage to Melbourne, saw the ' varmint.' A description and sketch
of it were published in the Argus. This, when it arrived in London, it
being the ' silly season ' in journalism, was seized and torn to pieces by
one of the young lions of the Daily Telegraph, in a leading article, in
which much fun was poked at the gallant sailor. ' I don't see any more
sea-serpents,' said my Irish friend to me. ' It is too much to be told
that one of Green's commanders can't tell the difference between a piece
of sea-weed and a live body in the water. If twenty serpents come on
the starboard, all hands shall be ordered, to look to port. No London
penny-a-liner shall say again that Austin Cooper is a liar and a fool.'
After this we softened down over some Coleraine whiskey. Again,
some three years ago, the monster was plainly seen off the great reef of
New Caledonia by Commandant Villeneuve, and the officers of the
French man-of-war, the Seudre. Chassepots were procured to shoot it,
but before it came within easy range it disappeared. During my late
visit to Fiji, Major James Harding, who was an officer in Cakoban's
army when that chief, ' by the grace of God ' was king of Fiji, described
exactly the same creature as passing within a few yards of his canoe on
a clear moonlight night in the Bay of Suva. It swam towards a small
island outside the reef, which is known amongst Fijians as the ' Cave of
the Big Snake.' Major Harding is a cool, brave soldier, who saw much
hot work with Cakoban's men against the hill tribes of Vonua Levu.
He was once riddled by bullets, and left for dead. Accustomed for years
to travel about the reefs in canoes, every phase of the aspect of the
waters was known to him, and he was not likely to be frightened with
false fire. The extraordinary thing is, that the English sailor, the French
commander, and the Fijian soldier, all gave the same account of this
monster. It is something with a head slightly raised out of the water,
and with a sort of mane streaming behind it, whilst the back of a
long body is seen underneath the water. So, from these instances, in
which I know the witnesses, I fully believe in the sea-serpent. What
is there very wonderful in it, after all ? The whale is the largest living
thing. Why shouldn't the waters produce snakes of gigantic size."
THE VAGABOND, in Supplement to the Australasian, September 10, 1881.
THE SEA-SERPENT. 263
Men also occasionally deceive themselves, and while
honestly believing that they have seen his oceanic majesty,
produce a story which, on analysis, crumbles into atoms and
crowns him with disgrace as an impostor.
The hard logic of science, in the hand of one of our
master minds, has also been arrayed against him, but fortu-
nately weighs rather against special avatars than against
his existence absolutely.
Finally, the narratives of different observers disagree so
much in detail that we have a difficulty in reconciling them,
except upon the supposition that they relate to several dis-
tinct creatures, a supposition which I shall hope to show is
not improbable, as well as that the term sea-serpent is an
unwarranted specific differentiation of that of sea-monster,
the various creatures collectively so designated being neither
serpents nor, indeed, always mutually related. In com-
mencing my record, I must bear in mind Mrs. Glasse's pro-
verbially excellent advice, and admit that it is simply a
history of the various appearances of a creature or creatures
too fugitive to admit of specific examination, and that until,
by some remarkable stroke of fortune, specimens are secured,
their zoological status must remain an unsolved, although
closely guessed at, problem.
I have elsewhere stated my conviction that the serpent
Midgard is only a corruption of accounts of the sea-serpent
handed down from times when a supernatural existence was
attributed to it ; and we have in the Sagas probably the
earliest references to it, unless, perhaps, the serpents mentioned
by Aristotle, which attacked and overset the galleys off the
Libyan coast, may have been of this species.
The coast of Norway, deeply indented by fjords, the
channels of which, for a certain breadth, have a depth equal
to that of the sea outside, seldom less than four hundred
fathoms, and corresponding in some degree with the height
of the precipitous cliffs which enclose them, abounding in
264 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
all kinds of fish, and in the season with whales, which at
one time used to number thousands in a shoal, appears,
until within the last thirty years, to have been peculiarly
the favourite haunt of the serpent. Paddle and screw are
probably answerable for his non-appearance on the surface
lately.
The west coast of the Isle of Skye is another locality from
which several reports of it have been received during this
century; less frequently it has been observed upon the
eastern American coast-line, upon the sea-board of China,
and in various portions of the broad ocean. It generally
follows the track of whales, and in two instances observers
affirm that it has been seen in combat with them.
I have no doubt but that the literature of Norway contains
frequent references to it of olden date, but the earliest notice
of it in that country which I have been able to procure is
one contained in A Narrative of the North- East Frosty Seas,
declared by the Duke of Mosconia his ambassadors to a
learned gentlemen of Italy, named Galeatius Butrigarius, as
follows* :
" The lake called Mos, and the Island of Hoffusen in
myddest thereof is in the degree 45.30 and 61. In this
lake appeareth a strange monster, which is a serpent
of huge bigness; and as, to all other places of the world,
blazing stars do portend alteration, so doth this to Norway.
It was seen of late in the year of Christ 152'2, appear-
ing far above the water, rowling like a great pillar, and
was by conjecture far off esteemed to be of fifty cubits in
length."
Pontoppidan, the Bishop of Bergen, who published
his celebrated Natural History of Norway in 1755, and
who had at one time discredited its existence " till that
suspicion was removed by full and sufficient evidence from
* Contained in Eden's Travels.
THE SEA-SERPENT. 265
creditable and experienced fishermen and sailors in Norway,
of which there are hundreds, who can testify that they have
annually seen them," states that the North traders, who came
to Bergen every year with their merchandise, thought it a
very strange question, when they were seriously asked whether
there were any such creatures, as ridiculous, in fact, as if the
question had been put to them whether there be such fish
as eel or cod.
According to Pontoppidan, these creatures continually keep
at the bottom of the sea, excepting in the months of July and
August, which is their spawning time, and then they come to
the surface in calm weather, but plunge into the water again
so soon as the wind raises the least wave.
It was supposed by the Norway fishermen to have a great
objection to castor, with which they provided themselves
when going out to sea, shutting it up in a hole in the stern,
and throwing a little overboard when apprehensive of meet-
ing the sea-snake. The Faroe fisherman had the same idea
with reference to the Tvold whale, which was supposed to
have a great aversion to castor and to shavings of juniper
wood.
Olaus Magnus, in his Histor. Septentrion, chap, xxvii.,
writing not from personal observation but from the relations
of others, speaks of it as being two hundred feet in length
and twenty feet round, having a mane two feet long, being
covered with scales, having fiery eyes, disturbing ships, and
raising itself up like a mast, and sometimes snapping some
of the men from the deck.
Aldrovandus, quoting Olaus Magnus, says that about Nor-
way there occasionally appears a serpent reaching to one
hundred or two hundred feet in length, dangerous to ships
in calm weather, as it sometimes snatches a man from the
ship. It is said that merchant ships are involved by it and
sunk.
Olaus Magnus also figures another serpent, which is said
266
MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
THE SEA-SERPENT. 267
to inhabit the Baltic or Swedish Sea ; it is from thirty to
forty feet in length, and will not hurt anyone unless
provoked.
Arndt. Bernsen, in his account of the fertility of Denmark
and Norway, says that the sea-snake, as well as the Tvold
whale, often sinks both men and boats; and Pontoppidan
was informed by the North traders that the sea-snake has
frequently raised itself up and thrown itself across a boat, and
even across a vessel of some hundred tons burthen, and by
its weight sunk it to the bottom ; and that they would some-
times raise their frightful heads and snap a man out of a
boat; but this Pontoppidan does not vouch for, and, indeed,
says that if anything, however light, be thrown at and touch
them they generally plunge into the water or take another
course.
Hans (afterwards Bishop) Egede, in his Full and Particular
Relation of my Voyage to Greenland, as a Missionary, in the year
1734, figures and describes a sea-monster which showed
itself on his passage. He says : "On the 6th of July 1734,
when off the south coast of Greenland, a sea-monster
appeared to us, whose head, when raised, was on a level with
our main-top. Its snout was long and sharp, and it blew
water almost like a whale ; it had large broad paws ; its body
was covered with scales ; its skin was rough and uneven ; in
other respects it was as a serpent ; and when it dived, its
tail, which was raised in the air, appeared to be a whole
ship's length from its body."
In another work, The New Survey of Old Greenland, Egede
speaks of the same monster, with the addition that the body
was full as thick and as big in circumference as the ship that
he sailed in. The drawing (which I reproduce, Fig. 68)
appears to have been taken by another missionary, Mr. Bing,
who stated that the creature's eyes seemed red, and like
burning tire. The paws mentioned by Egede were probably
paddles like those of the Liassic Saurians.
MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
THE SEA-SERPENT. 269
Pontoppidan considers this to be a different monster from
the Norway sea-serpent, of which he gives a figure furnished
him by the Eev. Hans Strom, made from descriptions of two
of his neighbours at Herroe, who had been eye-witnesses of
its appearance.
Lawrance de Ferry, a captain in the Norwegian Navy,
and commander in Bergen in Pontoppidan's time, actually
wounded one of the Norwegian serpents, and made two of
his men, who were with him in the boat at the time, testify
upon oath in court to the truth of the statement which he
himself made, as follows :
" The latter end of August, in the year 1746, as I was on
a voyage, in my return from Trundheim, in a very calm and
hot day, having a mind to put in at Molde, it happened that
when we were arrived with my vessel within six English
miles of the aforesaid Molde, being at a place called Jule-
Nfs, as I was reading in a book, I heard a kind of mur-
muring voice from amongst the men at the oars, who were
eight in number, and observed that the man at the helm kept
off from the land. Upon this I inquired what was the
matter ; and was informed that there was a sea-snake before
us. I then ordered the man at the helm to keep to the land
again, and to come up with this creature, of which I had
heard so many stories. Though the fellows were under
some apprehensions, they were obliged to obey my orders.
In the meantime this sea-snake passed by us, and we were
obliged to tack the vessel about, in order to get nearer to it.
As the snake swam faster than we could row, I took my gun,
that was ready charged, and fired at it ; on this he imme-
diately plunged under the water. We rowed to the place
where it sank down (which in the calm might be easily
observed) and lay upon our oars, thinking it would come up
again to the surface ; however, it did not. When the snake
plunged down, the water appeared thick and red ; perhaps
some of the shot might wound it, the distance being very
270 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
little. The head of this snake, which it held more than two
feet above the surface of the water, resembled that of a
horse. It was of a greyish colour, and the mouth was quite
black and very large. It had black eyes and a long white
mane,* that hung down from the neck to the surface of the
water. Besides the head and neck, we saw seven or eight
folds or coils of this snake, which were very thick, and, as far
as we could guess, there was about a fathom distance between
each fold. Bergen, 1751."
Pontoppidan remarks on the peculiarity of spouting water
from the nostrils exhibited by the creature seen by Hans
Egede, and states that he had not known it spoken of in
any other instance.
FIG. 09. THE NORWEGIAN SEA-SERPENT. (According to Pontoppidan.')
He also remarks that the Norway sea-snakes differ from
the Greenland ones with regard to the skin, which in the
former is as smooth as glass, and has not the least wrinkle,
except about the neck, where there is a kind of mane, which
looks like a parcel of sea-weeds hanging down to the water.
Summarising the accounts which had reached him, he esti-
mates the length at about one hundred fathoms or six hun-
dred English feet. He states that it lies on the surface of
the water (when it is very calm) in many folds, and that
these are in a line with the head; some small parts of the
back are to be seen above the surface of the water when it
moves or bends, which at a distance appear like so many
* Connected with the breathing apparatus?
THE SEA-SERPENT. 271
casks or hogsheads floating in a line, with a considerable
distance between each of them.
" The creature does not, like the eel or land-snake, taper
gradually to a point, but the body, which looks to be as big
as two hogsheads, grows remarkably small at once just where
the tail begins. The head in all the kinds has a high and
broad forehead, but in some a pointed snout, though in
others that is flat, like that of a cow or horse, with large
nostrils, and several stiff hairs standing out on each side like
whiskers."
" They add that the eyes of this creature are very large,
and of a blue colour, and look like a couple of bright pewter
plates. The whole animal is of a dark brown colour, but it
is speckled and variegated with light streaks or spots that
shine like tortoise-shell. It is of a darker hue about the
eyes and mouth than elsewhere, and appears in that part a
good deal like those horses which we call Moors-heads."
He mentions two places, one at Amunds Vaagen in Nord-
fiord, the other at the island of Karmen, where carcases of it
had been left at high water. He supposes it to be vivi-
parous.
In an account of the Laplanders of Finmark, by Knud
Leems, with the notes of Gunner, Bishop of Drontheim,
(Copenhagen, 1767, 4to., in Danish and Latin),* I find,
" The Sea of Finmark also generates the snake or marine
serpent, forty paces long, equalling in the size of the head
the whale, in form the serpent. This monster has a maned
neck, resembling a horse, a back of a grey colour, the belly
inclining to white.
" On the canicular days, when the sea is calm, the marine
serpent usually comes up, winding into various spirals, of
which some are above, the others below, the water. The
seamen very much dread this monster. Nor while he is
* Pinkerton, Voyages and Travels, vol. i. p. 376.
272 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
coming up do they easily entrust themselves to the dangers
of the deep."
Mr. J. Kamus records a large sea-snake which was seen in
1687 by many people in Dramsfiorden. It was in very calm
weather, and so soon as the sun appeared, and the wind
blew a little, it shot away just like a coiled cable that is sud-
denly thrown out by the sailors ; and they observed that it
was some time in stretching out its many folds.
Captain (afterwards Sir Arthur) de Capell Brooke* col-
lected all accounts he could, during his journey to the
North Cape, respecting the sea-serpent, with the following
results :
" As I had determined on arriving at the coast to make
every inquiry respecting the truth of the accounts which had
reached England the preceding year, of the sea-serpent having
recently been seen off this part of Norway, I shall simply
give the different reports I received during my voyage to the
North Cape, leaving others to their own conclusions, and
without expressing, at least for the present, my opinion
respecting them.
" The fisherman at Pejerstad said a serpent was seen two
years ago in the Folden- Fjord, the length of which, as far as
it was visible, was sixty feet."
At Otersoen, the Postmaster, Captain Schielderup, who
had formerly been in the Norwegian sea service, and seemed
a quick intelligent man, stated that the serpent had actually
been off the island for a considerable length of time during
the preceding summer, in the narrow parts of the sound,
between this island and the continent, and the description he
gave was as follows :
" It made its appearance for the first time in the month
of July 1849 off Otersoen. Previous to this he had often
heard of the existence of these creatures, but never before
* A. de Brooke, Travels to the North Cape,
THE SEA-SERPENT. 273
believed it. During the whole of that month the weather
was excessively sultry and calm ; and the serpent was seen
every day nearly in the same part of the Sound.
" It continued there while the warm weather lasted, lying
motionless, and as if dozing, in the sunbeams.
" The number of persons living on the island, he said,
was about thirty; the whole of whom, from motives of
curiosity, went to look at it while it remained. This was
confirmed to me by subsequent inquiries among the inha-
bitants, who gave a similar account of it. The first time
that he saw it he was in a boat, at the distance of two hun-
dred yards. The length of it he supposes to have been
about three hundred ells or six hundred feet. Of this he
could not speak accurately; but it was of considerable length,
and longer than it appeared, as it lay in large coils above
the water to the height of many feet. Its colour was greyish.
At the distance at which he was, he could not ascertain
whether it were covered with scales ; but when it moved it
made a loud crackling noise, which he distinctly heard. Its
head was shaped like that of a serpent; but he could not tell
whether it had teeth or not. He said it emitted a very strong
odour ; and that the boatmen were afraid to approach near
it, and looked on its coming as a bad sign, as the fish left the
coast in consequence ! Such were the particulars he related
to me.
" The merchant at Krogoen confirmed in every particular
the account of Captain Schielderup, and that many of the
people of Krogoen had witnessed it.
" On the island of Leko I obtained from the son of Peter
Greger, the merchant, a young man who employed himself in
the fishery, still further information respecting the sea-
serpent. It was in August of the preceding year, while
fishing with others in the Viig or Veg-Fjord, that he saw it.
At that time they were on shore hauling in their nets,
and it appeared about sixty yards distant from them, at
18
274 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
which they were not a little alarmed, and immediately re-
treated. What was seen of it above water, he said, appeared
six times the length of their boat, of a grey colour, and
lying in coils a great height above the surface. Their fright
prevented them from attending more accurately to other
particulars. In fact, they all fairly took to their heels when
they found the monster so near to them.
" At Alstahoug I found the Bishop of the Nordlands. The
worthy prelate was a sensible and well-informed man, between
fifty and sixty years of age. To the testimony of others
respecting the existence of the sea-serpent, I shall now add
that of the Bishop himself, who was an eye-witness to the
appearance of two in the Bay of Shuresund or Sorsund, on
the Drontheim Fjord, about eight Norway miles from Dront-
heiin. He was but a short distance from them, and
saw them plainly. They were swimming in large folds, part
of which were seen above the water, and the length of what
appeared of the largest he judged to be about one hundred
feet. They were of a darkish grey colour; the heads hardly
discernible, from their being almost under water, and they
were visible for only a short time. Before that period he
had treated the account of them as fabulous ; but it was now
impossible, he said, to doubt their existence, as such numbers
of respectable people since that time had likewise seen them
on several occasions. He had never met with any person
who had seen the kraken, and was inclined to think it a
fable.
" During the time that I remained at Hundholm, a curious
circumstance occurred. One day, when at dinner at Mr.
BlackhalPs house, and thinking little of the sea-serpent, con-
cerning which I had heard nothing for some time, a young
man, the master of a small fishing-yacht, which had just
come in from Drontheim, joined our party. In the course of
conversation he mentioned that a few hours before, whilst
close to Hundholm, and previous to his entering the harbour,
THE SEA-SERPENT. 275
two sea-snakes passed immediately under his yacht. When
he saw them he was on the deck, and, seizing a handspike,
he struck at them as they came up close to the ve?sel on the
other side, upon which they disappeared. Their length was
very great, and their colour greyish, but for the very short
time they were visible he could not notice any further
particulars.
" He had no doubt of their being snakes, as he called
them, and the circumstance was related entirely of his own
accord."
Captain Brooke sums up the reports he received with the
following general observations :
" Taking upon the whole a fair view of the different
accounts related in the foregoing pages respecting the sea-
serpent, no reasonable person can doubt the fact of some
marine animal of extraordinary dimensions, and in all pro-
bability of the serpent tribe, having been repeatedly seen by
various persons along the Norway and Finmark coasts.
These accounts, for the most part, have been given verbally
from the mouths of the fishermen, a honest and artless class
of men, who, having no motive for misrepresentation, cannot
be suspected of a wish to deceive ; could this idea, however,
be entertained, the circumstance of their assertions having
been so fully confirmed by others, in more distant parts,
would be sufficient to free them from any imputation of this
kind.
" The simple facts are these : In traversing a space of full
seven hundred miles of coast, extending to the most northern
point, accounts have been received from numerous persons
respecting the appearance of an animal called by them a
sea-serpent. This of itself would induce some degree of
credit to be given to it ; but when these several relations
as to the general appearance of the animal, its dimensions,
the state of the weather when it was seen, and other parti-
culars, are so fully confirmed, one by the other, at such con-
18 *
276 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
siderable intervening distances, every reasonable man will feel
satisfied of the truth of the main fact. Many of the infor-
mants, besides, were of superior rank and education; and
the opinions of such men as the Amtmand (Governor) of
Finmark, Mr. Steen, the clergyman of Carlso, Prosten
(Dean) Deinboll of Vadso, and the Bishop of Nordland and
Finmark, who was even an eye-witness, ought not to be
disregarded.
" The Bishop of Nordland has seen two of them about eight
miles from Drontheim, the largest being apparently one hun-
dred feet, and, in 1822, one as bulky as an ox, and a quarter
of a mile in length, appeared off the island of Soro, near
Finmark, and was seen by many people."
Not having the Zoologist at hand, I now quote a resume of
short notices extracted from it, contained in the Illustrated
London News for October 28, 1848, as follows :
" Our attention has been drawn to the Zoologist for the
past year, wherein are several communications tending to
authenticate the existence of the great sea-serpent. Thus,
in the number for February 1847, we find paragraphs quoted
from the Norse newspapers stating that in the neighbourhood
of Christiansund and Molde, in the province of Komsdal, in
Norway, several highly respectable and credible witnesses
have attested the seeing of the serpent. In general, they
state that it has been seen in the larger Norwegian fjords,
seldom in the open sea. In the large bight of the sea at
Christiansund it has been seen every year, though only in
the warmest season, in the dog days, and then only in per-
fectly calm weather and unruffled water.
" Its length is stated at about forty-four feet, and twice as
thick as a common snake, in proportion to the length. The
front of the head was rather pointed, the eyes sharp, and
from the back of the head commenced a mane like that of a
horse. The colour of the animal was a blackish brown. It
swam swiftly, with serpentine movements like a leech. One
THE SEA-SERPENT. 257
of the witnesses describes the body to be two feet in diameter,
the head as long as a brandy anker (ten-gallon cask) and
about the same thickness, not pointed, but round. It had no
scales, but the body quite smooth. The witness acknow-
ledged Pontoppidan's representation to be like the serpent he
saw."
" The writer of this article received letters from Mr. Soren
Knudtzon, stating that a sea-serpent had been seen in the
neighbourhood of Christiansund by several people ; and from
Dr. Hoffmann, a respectable surgeon in Molde, stating that,
lying on a considerable fjord to the south of Christiansund,
Eector Hammer, Mr. Krabt, curate, and several persons,
very clearly saw, while on a journey, a sea-serpent of very
considerable size.
" Four other persons saw a similar animal, July 28th,
1845.
" The next communication, dated Sund's Parsonage,
August 31st, 1846, records the appearance of a supposed
sea-serpent, on the 8th, in the course between the islands of
Sartor Leer and Tos. Early on this day, just as the steamer
Biorgvin passed through Eogne Fjord, towing a vessel to
Bergen, Daniel Solomonson, a cotter, saw a sea-monster
swimming from Eogne Fjord in a westerly direction towards
his dwelling at Gronnevigskiaeset, in the northern part of the
parish of Sund. The head appeared like a Fsering boat
(about twenty feet long) keel uppermost ; and from behind it
raised itself forward in three, and sometimes four and five
undulations, each apparently about twelve feet long. On
the same morning a lad, out fishing in the Eogne Fjord,
saw a serpent, which he describes to have been sixty feet
long."
For further information on the Norwegian sea-serpent, I
am indebted to the excellent chapter, devoted to the question
generally, contained in Mr. Gosse's Eomance of Natural
History, First Series, from which I transfer, without abbre-
278 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
viation, a statement made by the Rev. W. Deinboll, Arch-
deacon of Molde :
" On the 28th of July 1845, J. C. Lund, bookseller and
printer ; G-. S. Krogh, merchant ; Christian Flang, Lund's
apprentice ; and John Elgensen, labourer, were out on Roms-
dalfjord, fishing. The sea was, after a warm sunshiny day,
quite calm. About seven o'clock in the afternoon, a little
distance from shore, near the ballast place and Molde Hove,
they saw a large marine animal which slowly moved itself
forward, as it appeared to them, with the help of two fins on
the fore-part of the body nearest the head, which they judged
from the boiling of the water on both sides of it. The visible
part of the body appeared to be between forty and fifty feet in
length, and moved in undulations like a snake. The body
was round and of a dark colour, and seemed to be several
ells* in thickness. As they discerned a waving motion in
the water behind the animal, they concluded that part of the
body was concealed under water. That it was one connected
animal they saw plainly from its movement. When the
animal was about one hundred yards from the boat, they
noticed tolerably correctly its fore-part, which ended in a
sharp snout ; its colossal head raised itself above the water
in the form of a semi- circle ; the lower part was not visible.
The colour of the head was dark brown, and the skin smooth.
They did not notice the eyes, or any mane or bristles on the
throat. When the serpent came about a musket-shot near,
Lund fired at it, and was certain the shots hit it in the head.
After the shot he dived but came up immediately ; he raised
his head like a snake preparing to dart on its prey. After
he had turned and got his body in a straight line, which he
appeared to do with great difficulty, he darted like an arrow
against the boat. They reached the shore, and the animal,
perceiving it had come into shallow water, dived immediately,
and disappeared in the deep."
* 1 ell=2 feet.
SEA-SERPENT. 279
Mr. Gosse further quotes a statement made by an English-
man, writing under the signature of " Oxoniensis " in the
Times of November 4th, 1848, to the effect that
" A parish priest, residing on Romsdalfjord, about two
days' journey south of Drontheim, an intelligent person,
whose veracity I have no reason to doubt, gave me a cir-
cumstantial account of one which he had himself seen. It
rose within thirty yards of the boat in which he was, and
swam parallel with it for a considerable time. Its head he
described as equalling a small cask in size, and its mouth,
which it repeatedly opened and shut, was furnished with for-
midable teeth ; its neck was smaller, but its body, of which
he supposed that he saw about half on the surface of the
water, was not less in girth than that of a moderate-sized
horse. Another gentleman, in whose house I stayed, had
also seen one, and gave a similar account of it ; it also came
near his boat upon the fjord, when it was fired at, upon
which it turned and pursued them to the shore, which was
luckily near, when it disappeared. They expressed great
surprise at the general disbelief attached to the existence of
these animals amongst naturalists, and assured me that there
was scarcely a sailor accustomed to those inland lakes who
had not seen them at one time or other."
The Rev. Alfred C. Smith, M.A., a naturalist, who visited
Norway in 1850, summarises the result of his investigations
in the words : " and I cannot withhold my belief in the
existence of some huge inhabitant of those northern seas,
when, to my mind, the fact of his existence has been so
clearly proved by numerous eye-witnesses, many of whom
were too intelligent to be deceived, and too honest to be
doubted."
Passing from these numerous narratives, which are dis-
tinguished for a remarkable agreement in the main charac-
teristic described, I will proceed to some of those whose scene
lies on our own coast.
280 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
In 1809, Mr. McLean, the parish minister of Eigg, com-
municated to Dr. Neil, the Secretary of the Wernerian
Society, the following statement : *
" I saw the animal of which you inquire, in June 1808, on
the coast of Coll. Rowing along that coast, I observed, at
about the distance of half a mile, an object to windward,
which gradually excited astonishment. At first view it-
appeared like a small rock ; but knowing that there was no
rock in that situation, I fixed my eyes closely upon it. Then
I saw it elevated considerably above the level of the sea, and,
after a slow movement, distinctly perceived one of its eyes.
Alarmed at the unusual appearance and magnitude of the
animal, I steered so as to be at no great distance from the
shore. When nearly in a line between it and the shore,
the monster, directing its head, which still continued above
water, towards us, plunged violently under water, Certain
that he was in chase of us, we plied hard to get ashore. Just
as we leapt out on a rock, and had taken a station as high
as we conveniently could, we saw it coming rapidly under
water towards the stern of our boat. When within a few
yards of it, finding the water shallow, it raised its monstrous
head above water, and, by a winding course, got, with appa-
rent difficulty, clear of the creek where our boat lay, and where
the monster seemed in danger of being embayed. It con-
tinued to move off, with its head above water and with the
wind, for about half a mile before we lost sight of it. Its head
was somewhat broad, and of form somewhat oval; its neck
somewhat smaller ; its shoulders, if I can so term them, consi-
derably broader, and thence it tapered towards the tail, which
last it kept pretty low in the water, so that a view of it could
not be taken so distinctly as I wished. It had no fins that I
could perceive, and seemed to me to move progressively by
undulation up and down. Its length I believed to be
Transactions of the Wernerian Society, vol. i. p. 442.
THE SEA-SERPENT. 281
between seventy and eighty feet. When nearest to me it did
not raise its head wholly above water, so that, the neck being
under water, I could perceive no shining filaments thereon, if
it had any. Its progressive motion under water I took to be
very rapid. About the time I saw it, it was seen near the
Isle of Canna. The crews of thirteen fishing-boats, I am
told, were so much terrified at its appearance, that they, in a
body, fled from it to the nearest creek for safety. On the
passage from Kum to Canna, the crew of one boat saw it
coming towards them, with the wind, and its head high above
water. One of the crew pronounced the head as large as a little
boat, and its eye as large as a plate. The men were much
terrified, but the monster offered them no molestation."
I next extract, from the pages of the Inverness Courier,
some very pertinent remarks upon a description of the sea-
monster seen by the Rev. Messrs. McRae and Twopeny, con-
tained in the Zoologist, and I add the article there referred
to. I had the advantage of hearing from a gentleman
related to Mr. McRae that he could substantiate his state-
ment, having himself about the same time, and in that
locality, observed the same appearance, though at a greater
distance off.
The following is the article in the Inverness Courier:
" We are glad to see that the two gentlemen who favoured
us last autumn with an account of what they believed to be
a strange animal seen off the west coast, Inverness-shire,
have published in the Zoologist, a monthly journal of natural
history, a careful description of the creature which they saw,
and which seems to resemble the engravings of what is called
the Norwegian sea-serpent. We subjoin the magazine
article entire. There is such a dread of ridicule in appearing
publicly in company with this mysterious and disreputable
monster, that we must commend the boldness of the two
clergymen in putting their names to the narrative ; espe-
cially as we observe that other observers have not been so
282 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
courageous, and that they have been obliged to give some of
their information anonymously.
11 The huge serpent, if serpent it may be called, inva-
riably appears in still warm weather, and in no other.
There are certain Norwegian fjords and narrow seas which it
frequents, and it is scarcely ever seen in the open sea. In
the present case, the limit in which the animal has been seen
on our coast, is Lochduich to the north and the Sound of
Mull to the south, only about a fifth of the space between
Cape Wrath and the Mull of Kintyre ; and it is in that part
it should be most looked for. We beg to draw the attention
of our readers on the West Coast to the fact, now established
on indubitable evidence, of the supposed animal having been
seen there last year, and to the possibility of its appearing
again in similar weather this year. If it chances to turn up
once more, some full and accurate account of the pheno-
menon would certainly be most desirable."
The following is the article in the Zoologist* :
Appearance of an animal, believed to be that which is called the Nor-
wegian Sea-serpent, on the Western Coast of Scotland, in August
1872, by the Rev. John McRae, Minister of Glenelg, Inverness-
shire, and the Eev. David Twopeny, Vicar of Stockbury, Kent.
On the 20th of August 1872 we started from Glenelg in a small
cutter, the Leda, for an excursion to Lochourn. Our party consisted,
besides ourselves, of two ladies, F. and K., a gentleman, G. B., and a
Highland lad. Our course lay down the Sound of Sleat, which on that
side divides the Isle of Skye from the mainland, the average breadth
of the channel in that part being two miles.
It was calm and sunshiny, not a breath of air, and the sea perfectly
smooth. As we were getting the cutter along with oars we perceived a
dark mass about two hundred yards astern of us, to the north. While
we were looking at it with our glasses (we had three on board) another
similar black lump rose to the left of the first, leaving an interval
between ; then another and another followed, all in regular order. We
did not doubt its being one living creature : it moved slowly across
our wake, and disappeared. Presently the first mass, which was
* No. 92, May 1873 ; London, Van Voorst.
THE SEA-SERPENT.
evidently the head, reappeared, and was followed by the rising of the
other black lumps, as before. Sometimes three appeared, sometimes
four, five, or six, and then sank again. When they rose, the head
appeared first, if it had been down, and the lumps rose after it in
regular order, beginning always with that next the head, and rising
gently ; but when they sank, they sank altogether rather abruptly,
sometimes leaving the head visible.
It gave the impression of a creature crooking up its back to sun
itself. There was no appearance of undulation ; when the lumps sank,
other lumps did not rise in the intervals between them. The greatest
number we counted was seven, making eight with head, as shown in
sketch No. 1 [two engravings are given]. The parts were separated from
each other by intervals of about their own length, the head being rather
smaller and flatter than the rest, and the nose being very slightly
visible above the water ; but we did not see the head raised above the
surface either this or the next day, nor could we see the eye. We
had no means of measuring the length with any accuracy ; but taking
the distance from the centre of one lump to the centre of the next to
be six feet, and it could scarcely be less, the whole length of the
portion visible, including the intervals submerged, would be forty-five
feet.
Presently, as we were watching the creature, it began to approach us
rapidly, causing a great agitation in the sea. Nearly the whole of the
body, if not all of it, had now disappeared, and the head advanced at a
great rate in the midst of a shower of fine spray, which was evidently
raised in some way by the quick movement of the animal it did not
appear how and not by spouting. F. was alarmed and retreated to the
cabin, crying out that the creature was coming down upon us. When
within about a hundred yards of us it sank and moved away in the
direction of Syke, just under the surface of the water, for we could trace
its course by the waves it raised on the still sea to the distance of a
mile or more. After this it continued at intervals to show itself,
careering about at a distance, as long as we were in that part of the
Sound ; the head and a small part only of the body being visible on the
surface ; but we did not again, on that day, see it so near nor so well as
at first.
At one time F. and K. and G. B. saw a fin sticking up at a little
distance back from the head, but neither of us were then observing. On
our return the next day we were again becalmed on the north side of the
opening of Lochourn, where it is about three miles wide, the day warm
and sunshiny as before. As we were dragging slowly along in the after-
noon the creature again appeared over towards the south side, at a
greater distance than we saw it the first day. Tt now showed itself in
three or four rather long lines, as in the sketch No. 2, and looked con-
siderably longer than it did the day before ; as nearly as we could com-
284 MYTHICAL MONSTEUS.
pute, it looked at least sixty feet in length. Soon it began careering
about, showing but a small part of itself, as on the day before, and
appeared to be going up Lochourn. Later in the afternoon, when we
were still becalmed in the mouth of Lochourn, and by using the oars
had nearly reached the island of Sandaig, it came rushing past us about
a hundred and fifty yards to the south, on its return from Lochourn.
It went with great rapidity, its black head only being visible through
the clear sea, followed by a long trail of agitated water. As it shot
along, the noise of its rush through the water could be distinctly heard
on board. There were no organs of motion to be seen, nor was there
any shower of spray as on the day before, but merely such a commotion
in the sea as its quick passage might be expected to make. Its progress
was equable and smooth, like that of a log towed rapidly. For the rest
of the day, as we worked our way home northwards through the Sound
of Sleat, it was occasionally within sight of us until nightfall, rushing
about at a distance, as before, and showing only its head, and a small
part of its body on the surface. It seemed on each day to keep about
us, and as we were always then rowing, we were inclined to think it
perhaps might be attracted by the measured sound of the oars. Its only
exit in this direction to the north was by the narrow Strait of Kylerhea,
dividing Skye from the mainland, and only a third of a mile wide, and
we left our boat, wondering whether this strange creature had gone that
way or turned back again to the south. We have only to add to this
narrative of what we saw ourselves, the following instances of its being
seen by other people, of the correctness of which we have no doubt.
The ferrymen on each side of Kylerhea saw it pass rapidly through on
the evening of the 21st, and heard the rush of the water ; they were
surprised, and thought it might be a shoal of porpoises, but could not
comprehend their going so quickly.
Finlay McEae, of Bundaloch, in the parish of Kintail, was within the
mouth of Lochourn on the 2J st, with other men in his boat, and saw the
creature at about the distance of one hundred and fifty yards. Two
days after we saw it, Alexander Macmillan, boat- builder at Dornie, was
fishing in a boat in the entrance of Lochduich, half-way between
Druidag and Castledonan, when he saw the animal, near enough to hear
the noise, and see the ripple it made in rushing along in the sea. He
says that what seemed its head was followed by four or more lumps, or
" half-rounds," as he calls them, and that they sometimes rose and some-
times sank altogether. He estimated its length at not less than between
sixty and eighty feet. He saw it also on two subsequent days in Loch-
duich. On all these occasions his brother, Farquhar, was with him in
the boat, and they were both much alarmed, and pulled to the shore
in great haste.
A lady at Duisdale, in Skye, a place overlooking the part of the Sound
which is opposite the opening of Lochourn, said that she was looking
THE SEA-SERPENT. 285
out with a glass when she saw a strange object on the sea, which
appeared like eight seals in a row. This was just about the time that we
saw it. We were also informed that about the same time it was seen
from the island of Eigg, between Eigg and the mainland, about twenty
miles to the south-west of the opening of Lochourn. We have not
permission to mention the names in these two last instances.
JOHN McE-AE.
DAVID TWOPENY.
P.8. The writers of the above account scarcely expect the public to
believe in the existence of the creature which they ^saw. Bather than
that, they look for the disbelief and ridicule to which the subject
always gives rise, partly on account of the animal having been pro-
nounced to be a snake, without any sufficient evidence, but principally
because of the exaggerations and fables with which the whole subject is
beset. Nevertheless, they consider themselves bound to leave a record
of what they saw, in order that naturalists may receive it as a piece of
evidence, or not, according to what they think it is worth. The animal
will very likely turn up on those coasts again, and it will be always in
that " dead season," so convenient to editors of newspapers, for it is
never seen but in the still warm days of summer or early autumn.
There is a considerable probability that it has visited the same coasts
before.
In the summer of 1871, some large creature was seen for some time
rushing about in Lochduich, but it did not show itself sufficiently for
anyone to ascertain what it was. Also, some years back, a well-known
gentleman of the West Coast, now living, was crossing the Sound of
Mull, from Mull to the mainland, " on a very calm afternoon, when,"
as he writes, " our attention was attracted to a monster which had come
to the surface, not more than fifty yards from our boat. It rose with-
out causing the slightest disturbance of the sea, or making the slightest
noise, and floated for some time on the surface, but without exhibiting
its head or tail, showing only the ridge of the back, which was not that
of a whale or any other sea animal that I had ever seen. The back
appeared sharp and ridge-like, and in colour very dark, indeed black,
or almost so. It rested quietly for a few minutes, and then dropped
quietly down into the deep, without causing the slightest agitation. I
should say that about forty feet of it, certainly not less, appeared on
the surface."
It should be noticed that the inhabitants of that Western Coast are
quite familiar with the appearance of whales, seals, and porpoises, and
when they see them they recognise them at once. Whether the creature
which pursued Mr. McLean's boat off the island of Coll in ]808, and
of which there is an account in the Transactions of the Wernerian
Society (vol, i. p. 442), was one of these Norwegian animals, it is not
286 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
easy to say. Survivors who knew Mr. McLean, say that he could quite
be relied upon for truth.
The public are not likely to believe in the creature till it is caught,
and that does not seem likely to happen just yet, for a variety of
reasons, one reason being that it has, from all the accounts given of it,
the power of moving very rapidly. On the 20th, while we were be-
calmed in the mouth of Lochourn, a steam-launch slowly passed us,
and, as we watched it, we reckoned its rate at five or six miles an hour.
When the animal rushed past us on the next day at about the same
distance, and when we were again becalmed nearly in the same place,
we agreed that it went twice as fast as the steamer, and we thought
that its rate could not be less than ten or twelve miles an hour. It
might be shot, but would probably sink. There are three accounts of its
being shot at in Norway ; in one instance it sank, and in the other two
it pursued the boats, which were near the shore, but disappeared when
it found itself getting into shallow water.
It should be mentioned that when we saw this creature, and made our
sketches of it, we had never seen either Pontoppidan's Natural History
or his print of the Norwegian sea-serpent, which has a most striking
resemblance to the first of our own sketches. Considering the great
body of reasonable Norwegian evidence, extending through a number of
years, which remains after setting aside fables and exaggerations, it
seems surprising that no naturalist of that country has ever applied
himself to make out something about the animal. In the meantime, as
the public will most probably be dubious about quickly giving credit to
our account, the following explanations are open to them, all of which
have been proposed to me, viz. : porpoises, lumps of sea-weed, empty
herring-barrels, bladders, logs of wood, waves of the sea, and inflated
pig-skins ! but as all these theories present to our mind greater difficul-
ties than the existence of the animal itself, we feel obliged to decline
them.
The editor of the Zoologist adds :
I have long since expressed my firm conviction that there exists a
large marine animal unknown to us naturalists ; I maintain this belief
as firmly as ever.
I totally reject the evidence of published representations ; but I do
not allow these imaginary figures to interfere with a firm conviction.
Here, again, we have the same general resemblances,
observed under the same conditions of weather, as in the case
of the Norwegian serpent. As to the pursuit, which may
either have been urged from motives of curiosity or of anger,
it is curious to find a remarkable account of a similar incident
THE SEA-SERPENT. 287
in Kotzebue's Vogages, where it is stated that M. Kriukoff,
while in a boat at Beering's Island, was pursued by an
animal like a red serpent, and immensely long, with a head
like that of a sea-lion, but the eyes disproportionately large.
"It was fortunate," observed M. Kriukoff, " we were so near
land, or the monster would have swallowed us ; he raised his
head far above the surface, and the sea-lions were so terri-
fied, that some rushed into the water, and others concealed
themselves on the shore ! "
The last notice of its appearance in British waters is
extracted from Nature, as follows :
Believing it to be desirable that every well-authenticated observation
indicating the existence of large sea-serpents should be permanently
registered, I send you the following particulars :
About three P.M. on Sunday, September 3, 1882, a party of gentle-
men and ladies were standing at the northern extremity of Llandudno
pier, looking towards the open sea, when an unusual object was
observed in the water near to the Little Orme's Head, travelling
rapidly westwards towards the Great Orme. It appeared to be just
outside the mouth of the bay, and would therefore be about a mile
distant from the observers. - It was watched for about two minutes, and
in that interval it traversed about halt' the width of the bay, and then
suddenly disappeared. The bay is two miles wide, and therefore the
object, whatever it was, must have travelled at the rate of thirty miles
an hour. It is estimated to have been fully as long as a large steamer,
say two hundred feet ; the rapidity of its motion was particularly
remarked as being greater than that of any ordinary vessel. The colour
appeared to be black, and the motion either corkscrew-like or snake-like,
with vertical undulations. Three of the observers have since made
sketches from memory, quite independently, of the impression left on their
minds, and on comparing these sketches, which slightly varied, they
have agreed to sanction the accompanying outline as representing as
nearly as possible the object which they saw. The party consisted of
W. Barfoot, J.P., of Leicester, F. J. Marlow, solicitor, of Manchester,
Mrs. Marlow, and several others. They discard the theories of birds or
porpoises as not accounting for this particular phenomenon.
F. T. MOTT.
Birstall Hill, Leicester,
January lo'th, 1883.
288 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
It must also be mentioned that Dr. Hibbert* states that
the sea-serpent has been seen in the Shetland seas, and
instances one seen off the Isle Stonness, Valley Island, and
Dunvossness.
The first that we hear of the appearance of the sea-serpent
in American waters is of one which appeared on the coast of
Maine, in Penobscot Bay, at intervals, during the thirty years
preceding 1809. The Kev. Abraham Cummings, who reports
this, saw it himself at a distance of about eighty yards, and
considered it to be seventy feet long ; it was seen by the
British in their expedition to Bagaduse, during the first
American war, and supposed to be three hundred feet long.
The next record relates to one appearing in August 1817,
which was frequently seen in the harbour of Gloucester, Cape
Aure, about thirty miles from Boston. It is the subject of
a report, published by a committee appointed by the Linnsean
Society of New England. Dr. Hamilton summarises the
results as follows :
" The affidavits of a great many individuals of unblemished
character are collected, which leaves no room to apprehend
anything like deceit. They do not agree in every minute
particular, but in regard to its great length and snake-like
form, they are harmonious/'
Eleven depositions were taken, in which the length
was variously estimated at from fifty to one hundred
feet. It was either seen lying perfectly still, extended upon
the surface of the water, or progressing rapidly at the rate
of a mile in two, or at the most three, minutes ; the mode of
progression is generally spoken of as vertical undulation. The
tenth deposition states : " On the 20th of June 1815, my boy
informed me of an unusual appearance on the surface of the
sea in the Cove. When I viewed it through the glass, I was
in a moment satisfied that it was some aquatic animal, with
Shetland Islands, p. 565.
THE SEA-SERPENT.
the form, motions, and appearance of which I was not pre-
viously acquainted. It was about a quarter of a mile from
the shore, and was moving with great rapidity to the south-
ward ; it appeared about thirty feet in length. Presently it
turned about, and then displayed a greater length, I suppose
at least one hundred feet. It then came towards me very
rapidly, and lay entirely still on the surface of the water.
His appearance then was like a string of buoys. I saw
thirty or forty of these protuberances, or bunches, which
were about the size of a barrel. The head appeared six or
eight feet long, and tapered off to the size of a horse's head.
He then appeared about one hundred and twenty feet long ;
the body appeared of a uniform size ; the colour deep brown.
I could not discover any eye, mane, gills, or breathing holes.
I did not see any fins or lips/ 5
One of the Committee of the Linnsean Society was himself
an eye-witness, and Colonel Perkins, of Boston, published in
1848 a communication which was a copy of a letter he had
written in 1820, detailing his personal experience in con-
firmation of the Society's Keport, as follows : " In a few
moments after my exclamation, I saw, on the opposite side
of the harbour, at about two miles from where I had first
seen, or thought I saw, the snake, the same object, moving
with a rapid motion up the harbour, on the western shore.
As he approached us, it was easy to see that his motion was
not that of the common snake, either on the land or in the
water, but evidently the vertical movement of the caterpillar.
As nearly as I could judge, there was visible at a time about
forty feet of his body. It was not, to be sure, a continuity
of body, as the form from head to tail (except as the apparent
bunches appeared as he moved through the water) was seen
only at three or four feet asunder. It was very evident,
however, that his length must be much greater than what
appeared, as in his movement he left a considerable wake in
his rear, I had a fine glass, and was within from one-third
19
290 MYTHICAL MONSTEKS.
to half a mile of him. The head was flat in the water,
and the animal was, as far as I could distinguish, of a choco-
late colour. I was struck with an appearance in front of the
head like a single horn, about nine inches to a foot in length,
and of the form of a marline -spike. There were a great
many people collected by this time, many of whom had
before seen the same object, and the same appearance.
From the time I first saw him until he passed by the place
where I stood, and soon after disappeared, was not more
than fifteen or twenty minutes.
" Subsequent to the period of which I have been speaking,
the snake was seen by several of the crews of our coasting
vessels, and in some instances within a few yards. Captain
Tappan, a person well known to me, saw him with his head
above the water two or three feet, at times moving with great
rapidity, and at others slowly. He also saw what explained
the appearance, which I have described, of a horn on the
front of the head. This was doubtless what was observed
by Captain Tappan to be the tongue, thrown in an upright
position from the mouth, and having the appearance which
I have given to it.
16 One of the revenue cutters, whilst in the neighbourhood
of Cape Ann, had an excellent view of him at a few yards'
distance. He moved slowly ; and upon the approach of the
vessel, sank and was seen no more."
Dr. Hamilton* states that an animal of similar appearance
was again seen, in August 1819, off Nahant, Boston, and
remained in the neighbourhood for some weeks. Two hun-
dred persons witnessed it, thirteen folds were counted, and
the head, which was serpent-shaped, was elevated two feet
above the surface. Its eye was remarkably brilliant and
glistening. The water was smooth, and the weather calm
and serene. When it disappeared, its motion was undulatory,
* Jardine's Naturalist's Library, vol. xxv.
THE SEA-SERPENT. 291
making curves perpendicular to the surface of the water, and
giving the appearance of a long moving string of corks. It
appeared again off Nahant in July 1833. " It was first
seen on Saturday afternoon, passing between Egg Eock and
the Promontory, winding his way into Lynn Harbour ; and
again on Sunday morning, heading for South Shores. It
was seen by forty or fifty ladies and gentlemen, who insist
that they could not have been deceived. "
The Zoologist for May 1847 contains an account of a sea-
serpent seen in Mahone Bay, about forty miles east of
Halifax, by five officers of the garrison, when on a fishing
excursion : " We were surprised by the sight of an immense
shoal of grampuses, which appeared in an unusual state of
excitement, and which in their gambols approached so close
to our little craft that some of the party amused themselves
by firing at them with rifles. At this time we were jogging
at about five miles an hour, and must have been crossing
Margaret's Bay, ' when suddenly,' at a distance of from a
hundred and fifty to two hundred yards on our starboard bow,
we saw the head and neck of some denizen of the deep, pre-
cisely like those of a common snake, in the act of swimming,
the head so far elevated and thrown forward by the curve of
the neck, as to enable us to see the water under and beyond
it. The creature rapidly passed, leaving a regular wake,
from the commencement of which to the fore part, which
was out of water, we judged in length to be about eighty
feet, and this within rather than beyond the mark. It is
most difficult to give correctly the dimensions of any object
in the water. The head of the creature we set down at about
six feet in length, and that portion of the neck which we saw
the same ; the extreme length, as before stated, at between
eighty and one hundred feet. The neck in thickness equalled
the bole of a moderate-sized tree. The head and neck of a
dark brown or nearly black colour, streaked with white in irre-
gular streaks, I do not recollect seeing any part of the body."
19 *
292
MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
Considerable interest was excited in 1848 by the account
of a sea-serpent seen by the captain and officers of Her
Majesty's ship Dcedalus while on her passage from the Cape
of Good Hope to St. Helena, in lat. 24 44' S. and long.
9 22' E. In this case the usual concomitants of calm
weather and absence of swell are wanting. The official
report to the Admiralty is as follows :
FIG. 70. SEA-SERPENT SEEN BY THE CREW OF H.M.S. " DAEDALUS," IN 1848.
H.M.S. Dcedalus,
Hamoaze, Oct. 11.
SIR, In reply to your letter of this day's date, requiring information
as to the truth of a statement published in the Times newspaper, of a
sea-serpent of extraordinary dimensions having been seen from Her
Majesty's ship Dwdalus, under my command, on her passage from 'the
East Indies, I have the honour to acquaint you, for the information of
my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, that at 5 o'clock P.M. on the
6th of August last, in latitude 24 44' S. and longitude 9 22' E., the
weather dark and cloudy, wind fresh from the N.W., with a long ocean
swell from the S.W., the ship on the port tack, heading N.E. by N.,
something very unusual was seen by Mr. Sartoris, midshipman, rapidly
approaching the ship from before the beam. The circumstance was
immediately reported by him to the officer of the watch, Lieutenant
THE SEA-SERPENT. 293
Edgar Druinmond, with whom and Mr. William Barrett, the master, I
was at the time walking the quarter-deck. The ship's company were at
supper.
On our attention being called to the object, it was discovered to be
an enormous serpent, with head and shoulders kept about four feet
constantly above the surface of the sea; and as nearly as we could
approximate by comparing it with the length of what our main topsail -
yard would show in the water, there was at the very least sixty feet of
the animal a fleur d'eau, no portion of which was, in our perception,
used in propelling it through the water, either by vertical or horizontal
undulation. It passed rapidly, but so close under our lee quarter that
had it been a man of my acquaintance I should have easily recognized
his features with the naked eye ; and it did not, either in approaching
the ship or after it had passed our wake, deviate in the slightest degree
from its course to the S.W., which it held on at the pace of from
twelve to fifteen miles per hour, apparently on some determined purpose.
The diameter of the serpent was about fifteen or sixteen inches behind
the head, which was, without any doubt, that of a snake ; and it was
never, during the twenty minutes that it continued in sight of our
glasses, once below the surface of the water ; its colour, a dark brown
with yellowish white about the throat. It had no fins, but something
like the mane of a horse, or rather a bunch of sea-weed, washed about
its back. It was seen by the quarter-master, the boatswain's mate, and
the man at the wheel, in addition to myself and officers above men-
tioned.
I ani having a drawing of the serpent made from a sketch taken
immediately after it was seen, which I hope to have ready for transmis-
sion to my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty by to-morrow's post.
I have, &c.,
PETER M'QuncE, Gapt.
To Admiral Sir W. H. Gage, G.C.B.,
Devonport.
This drawing was figured in the Illustrated London Neivs
in illustration of a short but very valuable memoir, and is
reproduced upon a smaller scale here.
A similar, perhaps the same, monster was fallen in with
at a slightly later date, 20 further south, as described in a
letter addressed to the editor of the Globe.
Mary Ann of Glasgow.
Glasgow, Oct. 19, 1848.
SIR, I have just reached this port, on a voyage from Malta to
Lisbon, and niy attention having been called to a report relative to an
294 MYTHICAL MONSTEM.
animal seen by the master and crew of Her Majesty's ship Dcedalus, I
take the liberty of communicating the following circumstance :
" When clearing out of the port of Lisbon, upon the 30th of Sep-
tember last, we spoke the American brig Daphne, of Boston, Mark
Trelawny master ; she signalled for us to heave to, which we did, and
standing close round her counter lay to while the mate boarded us with
the jolly boat, and handed a packet of letters, to be despatched per
first steamer for Boston on our arrival in England. The mate told me
that when in lat. 4 11' S., long. 10 15' E., wind dead north, upon the
20th of September, a most extraordinary animal had been seen.
From his description, it had the appearance of a huge serpent or
snake, with a dragon's head.
" Immediately upon its being seen, one of the deck guns was brought
to bear upon it, which, having been charged with spike-nails and what-
ever other pieces of iron could be got at the moment, was discharged
at the animal, then only distant about forty yards from the ship. It
immediately reared its head in the air, and plunged violently with its
body, showing evidently that the charge had taken effect. The Daphne
was to leeward at the time, but was put about on the starboard tack,
and stood towards the brute, which was seen foaming and lashing the
water at a fearful rate. Upon the brig nearing, however, it disappeared,
and, though evidently wounded, made rapidly off at the rate of fifteen
or sixteen knots an hour, as was judged from its appearing several
times upon the surface. The Daphne pursued for some time; but
the night coming on, the master was obliged to put about and
continue his voyage.
From the description given by the mate, the brute must have been
nearly a hundred feet long, and his account of it agrees in every respect
with that lately forwarded to the Admiralty by the master of the Dcedalus.
JAMES HENDERSON, Master.
The account of the creature seen by the officers and crew
of the Dcedalus excited more than the usual attention given
to these stories ; for the professional status of the observers
guaranteed at once the veracity of their statement, and the
probability of their judgment being accurate. Considerable
correspondence ensued, including a very masterly attack
upon the identification of the creature by Professor Owen,
which will be again referred to further on. It also elicited
another sea-serpent story which appeared in the Bombay
Bi-monthly Times for January 1849.
I see, in your paper of the 30th of December, a paragraph in which
a doubt is expressed of the authenticity of the account given by
THE SEA-SERPENT. 295
Captain M'Quhoe of the great " sea-serpent." When returning to
India, in the year 1829, I was standing on the poop of the Royal
Saxon, in conversation with Captain Petrie, the commander of that
ship. We were at a considerable distance south-west of the Cape of
Good Hope, in the usual track of vessels to this country, going
rapidly along (seven or eight knots) in fine smooth water. It was
in the middle of the day, and the other passengers were at luncheon,
the man at the wheel, a steerage passenger, and ourselves being the
only persons on the poop. Captain Petrie and myself, at the same
instant, were literally fixed in astonishment by the appearance, a short
distance ahead, of an animal of which no more generally correct
description could be given than that by Captain M'Quhce. It passed
within thirty-five yards of the ship without altering its course in the
least ; but as it came right abreast of us, it slowly turned its head
towards us. Apparently about one-third of the upper part of its body
was above water, in nearly its whole length ; and we could see the water
curling up on its breast as it moved along, but by what means it moved
we could not perceive. . . . We saw this apparently similar creature in
its whole length, with the exception of a small portion of the tail, which
was under water ; and by comparing its length with that of the Royal
Saxon (about six hundred feet) when exactly alongside in passing, we
calculated it to be in that, as well as its other dimensions, greater than
the animal described by Captain M'Quhce. I am not quite sure of our
latitude and longitude at the time, nor do I exactly remember the date,
but it was about the end of July.
R. DAVIDSON,
Superintending Surgeon,
Kamptu, Nagpore Subsidiary Force.
3rd January 1849.
Again, Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Steele, of the Cold-
stream Guards, wrote to the Zoologist : " I have lately
received the following account from my brother, Captain
Steele, 9th Lancers, who, on his way out to India in the
Barham, saw the sea-serpent. Thinking it might be interest-
ing to you, as corroborating the account of the Dcedalus, I
have taken the liberty of sending you the extract from my
brother's letter : ' On the 28th of August, in long. 40 E.,
lat. 37 16' S., about half-past two, we had all gone down
below to get ready for dinner, when the first mate called us
on deck to see a most extraordinary sight. About five hun-
dred yards from the ship there was the head and neck of an
296 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
enormous snake ; we saw about sixteen or twenty feet out of
the water, and he spouted a long way from his head ; down
his back he had a crest like a cock's comb,* and was going
very slowly through the water, but left a wake of about fifty
or sixty feet, as if dragging a long body after him. The
captain put the ship off her course to run down to him, but
as we approached him he went down. His colour was green,
with light spots. He ivas seen by everyone on board. 9 My
brother is no naturalist ; and I think this is the first time
the monster has ever been seen to spout."
One of the officers of the ship wrote : " On looking over
the side of the vessel I saw a most wonderful sight, which I
shall recollect as long as I live. His head appeared to be
about sixteen feet above the water, and he kept moving it up
and down, sometimes showing his enormous neck, which was
surmounted with a huge crest in the shape of a saw. It
was surrounded by hundreds of birds, and we at first thought
it was a dead whale. He left a track in the water like the
wake of a boat, and from what we could see of his head and
part of his body, we were led to think he must be about
sixty feet in length, but he might be more. The captain
kept the vessel away to get nearer to him ; and when we
were within a hundred yards he slowly sank into the depths
of the sea. While we were at dinner he was seen again."
The Times, of Feb. 5, 1858, contains a statement made
by Captain Harrington, of the ship Castilian, and certified to
by his chief and second officers, as follows :
"Ship Castilian, Dec. 12, 1857; N.E. end of St. Helena,
distant ten miles. At 6.30 P.M., strong breezes and cloudy,
ship sailing about twelve miles per hour. While myself and
officers were standing on the leeside of the poop, looking
towards the island, we were startled by the sight of a huge
marine animal, which reared its head out of the water within
* How this reminds one of the Chinese dragon.
THE SEA-SERPENT. 297
twenty yards of the ship, when it suddenly disappeared for
about half a minute, and then made its appearance in the
same manner again, showing us distinctly its neck and head
about ten or twelve feet out of the water. Its head was
shaped like a long nun-buoy, and I suppose the diameter to
have been seven or eight feet in the largest part, with a kind
of scroll, or tuft of loose skin, encircling it about two feet
from the top ; the water was discoloured for several hundred
feet from its head, so much so that, on its first appearance,
my impression was that the ship was in broken water, pro-
duced, as I supposed, by some volcanic agency since the last
time I had passed the island ; but the second appearance
completely dispelled those fears, and assured us that it was
a monster of extraordinary length, which appeared to be
moving slowly towards the land. The ship was going too
fast to enable us to reach the masthead in time to form a
correct estimate of its extreme length ; but from what we
saw from the deck, we conclude that it must have been over
two hundred feet long. The boatswain and several of the
crew who observed it from the topgallant forecastle, state
that it was more than double the length of the ship, in which
case it must have been five hundred feet. Be that as it may,
I am convinced that it belonged to the serpent tribe ; it was
of a dark colour about the head, and was covered with
several white spots."
A. writer in the New York Sun (I have the clipping, but,
unfortunately, not the date), discussing the best authenti-
cated stories, says : " The Lynn sea-serpent appears to be
the most authentic, the writer having seen several persons
who saw it from the beach, and knowing others personally or
by reputation. The first animal of this kind seen about
Lynn was in 1638, and was seen by Dr. John Josselyn ; and
again another was observed, in 1819, by Mr. Cabot. Amos
Lawrance, one of the pillars of old Boston, said : ' I have
never had any doubt of the existence of the sea-serpent
298 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
since the morning he was seen off Nahant by old Marshal
Prince through his famous masthead spy-glass. For within
the next two hours I conversed with Samuel Cabot and
Daniel P. Parker, I think, and one or more persons besides,
who had spent a part of that morning in witnessing its
movements. In addition, Colonel Harris, the commander
at Fort Independence, told me that the creature had been
seen by a number of his soldiers while standing sentry at
early dawn, some time before this show at Nahant ; and
Colonel Harris believed it as firmly as though the creature
were drawn up before us in State Street, where we then
were.' Such is the history of the Lynn sea-serpent; and
the following is an extract from the report of the Linnasan
Society of Boston, made by Dr. Bigelow and F. C. Gray :
' The monster was from eighty to ninety feet long ; his head
usually carried about two feet above the water ; the body of
a dark brown colour, with thirty or forty more protuberances,
compared by some to four-gallon kegs, by others to a string
of buoys, and called, by some, bunches on the back. Motions
very rapid faster than those of a whale ; swimming a mile
in three minutes, and sometimes more, leaving a wake
behind him ; chasing mackerel, herrings, and other fish,
which were seen jumping out of the water fifty at a time as
he approached. He only came to the surface of the sea in
calm and bright weather. A skilful gunner fired at him from
our boat, and, having taken good aim, felt sure he must have
hit him on the head. The creature turned towards him,
then dived under the boat, and reappeared a hundred yards
on the other side/ In February of 1846 a letter was printed
in the various newspapers, signed by Captain Lawson, giving
a description of a monstrous snake seen by him from his
vessel off Capes Charles and Henry. The length was stated
at one hundred feet, and on the back were seen sharp
projections. The head was small in proportion to the
length."
THE SEA-SERPENT. 299
I next append a few short statements which have appeared
at various dates in the public prints.
The News of the World, Sept. 28, 1879, states that Captain
J. F. Cox, master of the British ship Privateer, which arrived
at Delaware breakwater on Sept. 9, from London, says : " On
August 5, one hundred miles west of Brest (France), weather
fine and clear, at 5 P.M., as I was walking the quarter-deck,
I saw something black rise out of the water, about twenty
feet, in shape like an immense snake of three feet diameter.
It was about three hundred yards from the ship, coming
towards us. It turned its head partly from us, and went down
with a great splash, after staying up about five seconds, but
rose again three times at intervals of ten seconds, until it had
turned completely from us, and was going from us at a great
speed, and making the water boil all round it. I could see
its eyes and shape perfectly. It was like a great eel or snake,
but as black as coal tar, and appeared to be making great
exertions to get away from the ship. I have seen many
kinds of fish, in five different oceans, but was never favoured
with a sight of the great sea-snake before."
The Singapore Daily News, April 6, 1878, in its Australian
news quotes from Wellington (New Zealand), Feb. 26 (this
month corresponds with August north of the Line) : " The
captain of the steamship Durham reports having seen a
monster serpent off Nerowas Island. Thirty feet of the
monster was visible out of the water. The crew and pas-
sengers corroborate the report."
The Australian Sketcher for November 24, 1877, states :
" Captain W. H. Nelson, of the American ship Sacramento,
which arrived in this port from New York on October 20,
reported that he saw the sea-serpent on his voyage. The
Argus paragraph on the subject stated : * The date on which
the creature was seen was on July 30, the ship then being in
lat. 31 59' N. and long. 37 W. The man at the wheel was
the first to observe the monster, and he at once called Captain
300
MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
Nelson, telling him what he saw ; but the latter, having the
same feeling of incredulity with regard to the sea-serpent as
most other people, did not hurry from below. On coming on
deck, however, he was rewarded with a distant glimpse of
the supposed sea-serpent, which the helmsman, for his part,
FIG. 71. SEA-SERPENT SEEN FROM THE SHIP " SACRAMENTO," JULY 30, 1877.
(From the " Australian Sketches")
declared he saw quite plainly. Some forty feet of the
monster was alleged to be observable. It appeared to be
about the size of a flour-barrel in girth, and its colour was
yellowish ; the head is described as being flat. The eyes
THE SEA-SERPENT. 301
were plainly visible. Captain Nelson is convinced that what
he saw was some extraordinary marine monster.' We have
obtained from John Hart, the man at the wheel, a pencil
sketch of the creature, of which we give an engraving. The
sketch is accompanied with a further description, in which
the writer says : ' This is a correct sketch of the sea-serpent
seen by me while on board the ship Sacramento, on her pas-
sage from New York to Melbourne, I being at the wheel at
the time. It had the body of a very large snake ; its length
appeared to me to be about fifty feet or sixty feet. Its head was
like an alligator's, with a pair of flippers about ten feet from
its head. The colour was of a reddish brown. At the time
seen it was lying perfectly still, with its head raised about
three feet above the surface of the sea, and as it got thirty or
forty feet astern, it dropped its head.' "
I confess that I do not attach much weight to this last
example, from the suspicious resemblance which the illustra-
tion given in the Sketcher bears to an alligator, suggesting
that possibly such a creature may have been blown by winds
or carried by currents to the position where it was seen. It
is true that Mr. Gosse quotes the size of the largest alligator
on record as only seventeen feet and a half, whereas the esti-
mated length of the supposed sea-serpent in this instance was
from forty to sixty. But against that may be argued the
difficulty of estimating lengths or heights when you have
but a short inspection, and no object immediately near with
which to institute a comparison* ; while I am by no means
certain that Mr. Gosse 's maximum is correct. Dr. Dennys,
of Singapore, has assured me that some years back an alli-
gator, approaching thirty feet in length, haunted for some
* Within a few days of writing these lines I made one of a party of
four to visit the waterfalls of Taki-kwannon, near Nagasaki. I asked
for estimates of the height of the fall, which was variously guessed, by
different members of the party, at from forty-three to one hundred and
fifty feet.
302
MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
days the small tidal creek which runs through, and for some
miles above, that town ; while I very well remember Mr.
Gregory, the Survey or- General of Queensland, informing me
that in the rivers in the north of that colony there were alli-
gators equalling in length a whale-boat, say twenty-eight
feet.
The Graphic of April 19th, 1879, contains a drawing of " a
marine monster seen from S.S. City of Baltimore, in the Gulf
of Aden, January 28th." The descriptive letter-press is as
follows :
" The following is an abstract of the account given by our
correspondent, Major H. W. I. Senior, of the Bengal Staff
Corps, to whom we are indebted for the sketch from which
PIG, 72. SEA-SERPENT SEEN FROM THE S.S. " CITY OP BALTIMORE," IN THE GULF OF
ADEN, JAN. 28, 1879. (From the Graphic" of April 19, 1879.)
our engraving is taken: ' On the 28th January 1879, at about
10 A.M., I was on the poop deck of the steamship City of
Baltimore, in latitude 12 28' N., longitude 43 52' E. I
observed a long black object a-beam of the ship's stern on
the starboard side, at a distance of about three-quarters of a
mile, darting rapidly out of the water and splashing in again
with a noise distinctly audible, and advancing nearer and
THE SEA-SERPENT. 303
nearer at a rapid pace. In a minute it had advanced to
within half-a-mile, and was distinctly recognisable as the
" veritable sea-serpent." I shouted out " Sea-serpent ! sea-
serpent ! Call the captain!" Dr. C. Hall, the ship's
surgeon, who was reading on deck, jumped up in time to see
the monster, as did also Miss Greenfield, one of the pas-
sengers on board. By this time it was only about five hun-
dred yards off, and a little in the rear, owing to the vessel
then steaming at the rate of about ten knots an hour in a
westerly direction. On approaching the wake of the ship,
the serpent turned its course a little way, and was soon lost
to view in the blaze of sunlight reflected on the waves of the
sea. So rapid were its movements, that when it approached
the ship's wake, I seized a telescope, but could not catch
a view, as it darted rapidly out of the field of the glass before
I could see it. I was thus prevented from ascertaining
whether it had scales or not; but the best view of the
monster obtainable, when it was about three cables' length,
that is, about five hundred yards, distant, seemed to show
that it was without scales. I cannot, however, speak with
certainty. The head and neck, about two feet in diameter,
rose out of the water to a height of about twenty or thirty
feet, and the monster opened its jaws wide as it rose, and
closed them again as it lowered its head and darted forward
for a dive, reappearing almost immediately some hundred
yards ahead. The body was not visible at all, and must
have been some depth under water, as the disturbance on
the surface was too slight to attract notice, although occa-
sionally a splash was seen at some distance behind the head.
The shape of the head was not unlike pictures of the
dragon I have often seen, with a bull-dog appearance of the
forehead and eye-brow. When the monster had drawn its
head sufficiently out of the water, it let itself drop, as it were,
like a huge log of wood, prior to darting forward under the
water.' "
304 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
Major Senior's statement is countersigned by the two
persons whom he mentions as co- witnesses.
When in Singapore, in 1880, I received the personal tes-
timony of Captain Anderson, at that time chief officer of the
Pluto (property of the Straits Government) and formerly a
commander in the P. and 0. Company's service.
Captain Anderson assured me that he had twice seen large
sea-serpents. Once off Ushant, when he was chief officer of
the Delta in 1861. No account was entered in the log nor
any notice sent to the newspapers, for fear of ridicule. On
that occasion the whole ship's company saw it ; it was five (?)
miles distant, and showed fifteen feet of its body out of the
water. It resembled a snake with a large fringe round the
neck. It appeared to be travelling, and moved its head to
and fro like a snake. It never spouted, and was observed
for a quarter of an hour.
The second occasion was in the Red Sea, when he was in
command of the Sumatra, on the outward trip in October or
November 1877. Off Mocha he saw an animal, five miles
distant, that lifted the body high out of the water like a
snake. All exclaimed, " There is the sea-serpent ! " but no
entry was made in the log, or report made of it. The same
creature was, however, seen shortly after by a man-of-war
close to Suez and reported.
In 1881 I once more had the personal testimony of an
eye-witness.
Mr. J. H. Hoar, of the pilot station, Shanghai, China,
informed me that he saw a sea-serpent some years previously,
when he was stationed at Ningpo, on the China coast-line,
a little south of the embouchure of the Yangtse-kiang. He
was at the time on the look-out for a vessel, from the top of
the bank of Lowchew Island, Chinsang, on the southern side
of the island fronting the six-mile passage. This island lies
east of Worth Point. The hill he was on was about one
hundred and fifty feet high, the snake distant about two
THE SEA-SERPENT. 305
hundred and fifty yards, the depth of water seven fathoms.
His attention was directed to it by a group of Chinamen
calling out " She," which means " snake." He saw it lying on
the surface of the water, resembling two masts of a junk end
to end, but with a slight interval. Presently it rose slightly,
and then appeared all in one, extended flat upon the surface
of the water. He examined it with his glass, and noticed the
eye, which appeared to be as big as a coffee saucer, and slate -
coloured. The head was flat on the top. He estimated the
length at from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and
forty feet.
He learned that it was the third occasion of its being seen
in that place within eight years. An account was published
in one of the local journals, by Mr. Sloman, from the state-
ments of the Chinese observers. Mr. Hoar was prevented
from doing the same by the fear of being ridiculed. I may
note that there is a bay, not far from this spot, among the
Chusan islands, which has long been credited with being the
abode of a great sea-dragon, and in passing over which junks
take certain superstitious precautions.
I have little doubt of the identity of the sea-serpent with
the sea-dragon of the Chinese. Dr. Dennys* says : " Of
course our old friend, the sea-serpent, turns up on the coasts
of China, and the description of him does not greatly differ
from that recorded elsewhere. According to a popular legend,
the Chien Tang river was at one time infested by a great kiau
or sea-serpent, and in 1129 A.D., a district graduate is said
to have heroically thrown himself into the flood to encounter
and destroy the monster. It has been already noted that
most of the river gods are supposed to appear in the form of
water-snakes, and that the sea-serpents noticed in Chinese
records have always infested the mouths of rivers."
The Rev. Mr. Butler, of the Presbyterian Mission in Ningpo,
* Folklore of China, p. 113.
20
306 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
informed me that a dragon which threatened boats was sup-
posed by the Chinese to infest a narrow passage called Quo
Mung, outside of Chinaye. Formerly there were two of them
in the neighbourhood, which were very furious, and frequently
upset boats. They had to be appeased by a yearly offering
of a girl of fair appearance and perfect body. At last, one of
the literati determined to stop this. He armed himself, and
jumped into the water ; blood rose to the surface. He had
killed one of the dragons. The other retired to the narrow
place. A temple was erected to the hero at Peach Blossom
ferry.
It may be noted that both the Malays and the Chinese
attribute the origin of ambergris to either a sea-dragon or a
sea-serpent. Thus, in the description of Ambergris Island or
Dragon Spittle Island, contained in the History of the Ming
Dynasty, Book 325, from which an extract is given (in trans-
lation) by Mr. W. P. Groeneveldt, in his Notes on the Malay
Archipelago and Malacca, compiled from Chinese sources,*
we find it stated that " this island has the appearance of a
single mountain, and is situated in the Sea of Lambri, at a
distance of one day and one night from Sumatra. It rises
abruptly out of the sea, which breaks on it with high waves."
" Every spring numerous dragons come together to play
on this island, and they leave behind their spittle. The
natives afterwards go in canoes to the spot and collect this
spittle, which they take with them.
" The dragon-spittle is at first like fat, of a black and
yellow colour, and with a fishy smell ; by length of time it
contracts into large lumps ; and these are also found in the
belly of a large fish, of the size of the Chinese peck, and
also with a fishy smell. When burnt it has a pure and
delicious fragrance.
* Vide Verhandelingen van Het Bataviaasch Genoofschap van Kunsten
en Weten Schappen, Deel xxxix., lere Stuk,, Batavia, 1877,
THE SEA-SERPENT. 307
" It is sold in the market of Sumatra, one tael, official
weight, costing twelve golden coins of that country, and one
cati,* one hundred and ninety -two of such pieces, equal to
about nine thousand Chinese copper cash ; and so it is not
very cheap."
Dr. F. Porter Smithf states that there can be no doubt
that the costly, odorous, light yellow, gummy substance,
found floating on the sea, or procured from the belly of some
large fish in the Indian Ocean, and known by the Chinese
of the present day as lung sin, or dragon's spittle, is actually
ambergris. The dragon is said to cough it up.
" A similar substance, called fah-tiau-chi, brought from
Canton and Foochow in former days, is said to be the egg of
the dragon or a kind of sea-serpent named kih tiau. The
name kih tiau is singularly like the Greek name for a sea-
monster."
One of the most remarkable accounts of sea-monsters,
which I believe to be thoroughly trustworthy, is of an animal
seen in the Malacca Straits in 1876.
The first notice of it appeared in the Straits Times
Overland Journal for September 18th, 1876, in the form of a
short editorial.
4< Our friend Mr. Henry Lee, of Land and Water, who in
his late work has taken so much trouble to enter into and
describe the habits and peculiarities of the sea-serpent, J will
* About 1 Ib. avoirdupois.
f Contributions to Materia Medica and Natural History of China, by
F. P. Smith, M.B., London ; Shanghai and London, 1871.
I give, in the appendix to this chapter, some accounts of a reputed
monster, the Shan, the description of which by Chinese authors, although
vague, appears to me to point to the sea-serpent. I only insert a por-
tion of the latter part of the legends regarding it which I find in my
authority, as they are perfectly valueless. The sample given may, how-
ever, be interesting as an example of how the Taouists compiled their
absurd miraculous stories.
I For sea-serpent read octopus.
20 *
308 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
be glad to hear that the passengers and officers of the S.S.
'Nestor, which arrived here this morning, are unanimous in
the conclusion, and vouch for the fact, that an extraordinary
sea-monster was seen by them between Malacca and Penang
on their voyage to this port, on Monday, about noon. It was
about two hundred and fifty feet long, about fifty feet broad,
square -headed, with black and yellow stripes, closely
resembling a salamander."
This was followed, on the succeeding day, by a letter from
the captain.
SIR, In reference to your paragraph in your yesterday's issue, rela-
ting to our having seen a sea-monster answering to the popular notion
of a sea-serpent, I am prepared to vouch for the correctness of the
statement already made to you by the doctor and a passenger by my
ship.
Being on the bridge at the time (about 10 A.M.) with the first and
third officers, we were surprised by the appearance of an extraordinary
monster going in our course, and at an equal speed with the vessel, at
a distance from us of about six hundred feet. It had a square head and
a dragon black and white striped tail, and an immense body, which was
quite fifty feet broad when the monster raised it. The head was about
twelve feet broad, and appeared to be occasionally, at the extreme,
about six feet above the water. When the head was placed on a level
with the water, the body was extended to its utmost limit to all
appearance, and then the body rose out of the water about two feet, and
seemed quite fifty feet broad at those times. The long dragon tail with
black and white scales afterwards rose in an undulating motion, in
which at one time the head, at another the body, and eventually the
tail, formed each in its turn a prominent object above the water.
The animal, or whatever it may be called, appeared careless of our
proximity, and went our course for about six minutes on our starboard
side, and then finally worked round to our port side, and remained in
view, to the delight of all on board, for about half an hour. His length
was reckoned to be over two hundred feet.
JOHN W. WEBSTER,
Singapore, Commander, S.S. Nestor.
18th Sepember 1876.
Mr. Cameron, proprietor of the journal, subsequently
informed me that he had specially warned Captain Webster
of the certain doubt that would be cast upon his statement,
THE SEA-SERPENT, 309
but he still insisted on its publication. It was confirmed by
Mr. H. K. Beaver, a merchant of Singapore, and other
persons who were passengers by the boat.
The same newspaper (Straits Times Overland Journal), on
November 2, 1876, had the following extract from the China
Mail :
16 It is more than probable that Captain Webster, of the
steamer Nestor, will be ' interviewed ' very extensively when
he reaches a berth in London Docks. A genuine sea-serpent
is not met with every day, and as the observations made by
the officers of the ship have, we understand, been set down in
some formal way before Consul Medhurst at Shanghai, to be
forwarded to the Field, the naturalists will be in a position
to pursue their researches when the captain arrives. Com-
petent authorities are now of opinion that the part of the
monster formerly supposed to have been its head, must have
been a hump ; and that its head's being under water would
account for the supreme contempt with which it treated the
passage of the steamer. The undulating motion of the huge
animal would explain the statement that this knob or hump
rose occasionally about six feet out of the water. The alter-
nate yellow and black stripes which covered all that could be
seen of the body, appear to have conveyed the impression
that the tail was like that of a dragon covered with scales,
although that conclusion need not necessarily be looked upon
as certain. If the head of this unknown ( shape ' was actually
under water, then the length becomes proportionately greater.
It was over two hundred feet long before, it must now be
regarded as measuring, say, two hundred and fifty feet, which,
with forty-five or fifty feet beam, gives a leviathan of some-
thing like the dimensions of an old-fashioned frigate."
A correspondent of the Celestial Empire, of Shanghai, wrote
thus to the journal :
SIR, If it is true that one of those who observed the marine monster
from the Nestor is still here, it is very desirable that he should give
310 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
some fuller account of what he saw. Only a sciolist will deny the pos-
sibility of such a beast, and Professor Owen himself has remarked that
the only absolutely incredible part of the accounts of those who have
seen it, is the statement of its vertical sinuosity, which is impossible to
any of the serpent tribe.
The monster seen by the Nestor, however, was probably one of the
Chelonidse, " the father of all the turtles," as he is fitly called by the
natives of Sumatra, who fully believe in his existence, and to whom he
occasionally appears. Indeed, Baumgarten, in his Malaysi&n, published
at Amsterdam in 1829, describes the monster, and estimates its length
and breadth at one hundred and twenty and thirty cubits respectively,
measurements which agree very nearly with those given by Captain
Webster. Baumgarten* adds that it is a general belief in Sumatra
(vol. ii. p. 321, Ed. 1820), that whosoever sees him will die within the
year. " This," he says naively enough, " I have not been able to
prove."
Mr. David Aitken, of Singapore, wrote to the Daily Times
as follows :
DEAK SIB, Like many others, I have been astonished at the dimen-
sions given by you of the sea-serpent. They are certainly enormous,
and they far surpass anything I have ever seen or heard of. The largest
snake ever I authentically heard about was one which passed between
the surveying brigs Krishna and Menx when under the command of
Lieutenant Ward, of the Indian Navy, when surveying off the coast of
Sumatra, about the years 1858 and 1859. This monster passed by the
brigs one Sunday morning when they were moored somewhere opposite
Malacca. Its length was variously estimated at from the length of the
Krishna to one hundred feet. Sixty feet was the moderate length set
down for its frame.
In or near the same place, another monster had been seen by a
previous surveying party.
Mr. Stephen Cave, M.P. for Shoreham, in 1861, commu-
nicated to Mr. Gosse a short statement, which throws some
light upon the food of the monster. It is in the form of an
\
* I must also add, on the information of Mr. H. C. Syers, of
Selangor, that Captain Douglas, late Resident of Perak, had a large sea-
serpent rise close to him, somewhere off Perak, when in a boat manned
by Malays. Mr. Syers had the account both from Captain Douglas and
from the cr.ew ; and he tells me that there is a universal belief in the
existence of some large sea- monster among the Malays of the western
coast of the Peninsula.
THE SEA-SERPENT. 311
extract from his journal written during a voyage to the West
Indies, in 1846, as follows :
" Thursday, December 10, off Madeira, on board K.M.S.
Thomas, made acquaintance with a Captain Christmas, of the
Danish Navy, a proprietor in Santa Cruz, and holding some
office about the Danish court. He told me he once saw a
sea-serpent between Iceland and the Faroe islands. He was
lying-to in a gale of wind, in a frigate of which he had the
command, when an immense shoal of porpoises rushed by the
ship as if pursued ; and, lo and behold, a creature with a neck
moving like that of a swan, about the thickness of a man's
waist, with a head like a horse, raised itself slowly and grace-
fully from the deep, and, seeing the ship, it immediately dis-
appeared again, head foremost, like a duck diving. He only
saw it for a few seconds. The part above the water seemed
about eighteen feet in length. He is a singularly intelligent
man, and by no means one to allow his imagination to run
away with him."
Witty journalists had a good time over the publication of
the story of the serpent seen by Captain Drevar, with which
I shall wind up my list of apparitions. As will be seen,
however, the captain stuck manfully to his guns, and I, for
one, am of the belief that he really saw the incident which he
narrates. I have not met the captain himself, but I did, in
Singapore, meet with many who had heard the whole story
from his own lips, and whose impression was that he was a
truthful man.
The Barque " Pauline " Sea-serpent.
To the Editor of the Calcutta Englishman.
SIR, As I am not sure that my statement respecting the sea-serpent
reached the Shipping Gazette in London, I enclose a copy that may be
interesting to your numerous readers. I have been sent plenty of
extracts from English papers, nearly all of them ridiculing my state-
ment. I can laugh and joke on the subject as well as anyone, but I
can't see why, if people can't fairly refute my statement, they should
use falsehood to do so. The Daily Telegraph says, " The ribs of the ill-
312
MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
fated fish were distinctly heard cracking one after the other, with a
report like that of a small cannon ; its bellowings ceased, &c. To use
the eloquent words of the principal spectator, it ' struck us all aghast
with terror.' " If the writer knew anything of sailors, he would not write
such bosh. Fear and terror are not in Jack's composition ; and such
eloquent words he leaves to such correspondents as described the ever-
doubtful " man-and-dog-fight." I am just as certain of seeing what I
described, as that I met the advertisement that the Telegraph has
the largest circulation in the world staring me at every street corner in
London. It is easy for such a paper to make any man, good, great, or
interesting, look ridiculous. Little wonder is it that my relatives write
saying that they would have seen a hundred sea-serpents and never
reported it ; and a lady also wrote that she pitied anyone that was
related to anyone that had seen the sea-serpent. It is quite true that it
is a sad thing for any man to see more, to feel more, and to know
more, than his fellows ; but I have some of the philosophy that made
O'Connell rejoice in being the most abused man in the United Kingdom,
for he also had the power of giving a person a lick with the rough side
of his tongue. If I had any such power I would not use it, for contempt
is the sharpest reproof ; and this letter is the only notice I have taken
of the many absurd statements, &c. &c. &c.
GEORGE DREVAR,
Barque Pauline, Master of the Pauline.
Chittagong, January 15, 1876.
FIG. 73. SEA-SERPENT ATTACKING WHALE, AS SEEN BY CAPT. DREVAR,
OF THE BARQUE " PAULINE," IN 1876.
Barque Pauline, January 8th, 1875, lat. 5 13' S., long. 35 W., Cape
Eoque, north-east corner of Brazil distant twenty miles, at
11 A.M.
The weather fine and clear, the wind and sea moderate. Observed
some black spots on the water, and a whitish pillar, about thirty-five
feet high, above them At the first glance I took all to be breakers, as
the sea was splashing up fountain-like about them, and the pillar, a
THE SEA-SERPENT.
313
pinnacle rock bleached with the sun ; but the pillar fell with a splash,
and a similar one rose. They rose and fell alternately in quick succes-
sion, and good glasses showed me it was a monster sea-serpent coiled
twice round a large sperm whale. The head and tail parts, each about
thirty feet long, were acting as levers, twisting itself and victim around
with great velocity. They sank out of sight about every two minutes,
coming to the surface still revolving, and the struggles of the whale and
two other whales that were near, frantic with excitement, made the sea
in this vicinity like a boiling cauldron ; and a loud and confused noise
was distinctly heard. This strange occurrence lasted some fifteen
FIG. 74. SEA-SERPENT ATTACKING WHALE. THE END OF THE STRUGGLE.
minutes, and finished with the tail portion of the whale being elevated
straight in the air, then waving backwards and forwards, and laving
[lashing?] the water furiously in the last death-struggle, when the
whole body disappeared from our view, going down head-foremost
towards the bottom, where, no doubt, it was gorged at the serpent's
leisure ; and that monster of monsters may have been many months in
a state of coma, digesting the huge mouthful. Then two of the largest
sperm whales that I have ever seen moved slowly thence towards the vessel,
their bodies more than usually elevated out of the water, and not
spouting or making the least noise, but seeming quite paralysed with
fear ; indeed, a cold shiver went through my own frame on beholding
the last agonising struggle of the poor whale that had seemed as help-
less in the coils of the vicious monster as a small bird in the talons of
a hawk. Allowing for two coils round the whale, I think the serpent
was about one hundred and sixty or one hundred and seventy feet long,
and seven or eight in girth. It was in colour much like a conger eel,
and the head, from the mouth being always open, appeared the largest
part of the body I think Cape San Eoque is a landmark for
whales leaving the south for the North Atlantic I wrote thus
far, little thinking I would ever see the serpent again ; but at 7 A.M., July
13th, in the same latitude, and some eighty miles east of San Roque, I
was astonished to see the same or a similar monster. It was throwing
its head and about forty feet of its body in a horizontal position out
314 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
of the water as it passed onwards by the stern of our vessel. I began
musing why we were so much favoured with such a strange visitor, and
concluded that the band of white paint, two feet wide above the
copper, might have looked like a fellow- serpent to it, and, no doubt,
attracted its attention While thus thinking, I was startled by
the cry of "There it is agaio," and a short distance to leeward,
elevated some sixty feet in the air, was the great leviathan, grimly look-
ing towards the vessel. As I was not sure it was only our free board it
was viewing, we had all our axes ready, and were fully determined,
should the brute embrace the Pauline, to chop away for its backbone
with all our might, and the wretch might have found for once in its
life that it had caught a Tartar. This statement is strictly true, and
the occurrence was witnessed by my officers, half the crew, and myself ;
and we are ready, at any time, to testify on oath that it is so, and that
we are not in the least mistaken A vessel, about three years
ago, was dragged over by some sea-monster in the Indian Ocean.
GEORGE DREVAR,
Master of the Pauline.
Chittagong, January 15, 1876.
Captain George Drevar, of the barque Pauline, appeared on Wed-
nesday morning at the Police-court, Dale- street, before Mr. Baffles,
stipendiary magistrate, accompanied by some of his officers and part
of the crew of the barque, when they made the following decla-
ration :
"We, the undersigned, captain, officers, and crew of the barque
Pauline, of London, do solemnly and sincerely declare that on July
8th, 1875, in latitude 5 13', longitude 35 W., we observed three large
sperm whales, and one of them was gripped round the body with two
turns of what appeared to be a large serpent. The head and tail
appeared to have a length beyond the coils of about thirty feet, and its
girth eight or nine feet. The serpent whirled its victim round and
round for about fifteen minutes, and then suddenly dragged the whale
to the bottom, head first.
" GEORGE DREVAR, Master,
" HORATIO THOMPSON,
" HENDERSON LANDELLO,
" OWEN BAKER,
" WILLIAM LEWAN.
" Again, on July 13th, a similar serpent was seen about two hundred
yards off, shooting itself along the surface, head and neck being out of
the water several feet. This was seen only by the captain and one
ordinary seaman.
" GEORGE DREVAR, Master.
THE SEA-SERPENT. 3l5
" A few moments after, it was seen elevated some sixty feet perpen-
dicularly in the air by the chief officer and the following able seamen,
Horatio Thompson, Owen Baker, William Lewan. And we make this
solemn declaration, conscientiously believing the same to be true.
" GEORGE DREVAR, Master.
" WILLIAM LEWAN, Steward.
" HORATIO THOMPSON, Chief Officer,
" JOHN HENDERSON LANDELLO, 2nd Officer,
" OWEN BAKER."
Some confirmation of Captain Drevar's story is afforded by
one quoted by the Eev. Henry T. Cheeves, in The Whale
and his Captors. The author says :
" From a statement made by a Kinebeck shipmaster in
1818, and sworn to before a justice of the peace in Kinebeck
county, Maine, it would seem that the notable sea-serpent
and whale are sometimes found in conflict. At six o'clock
in the afternoon of June 21st, in the packet Delia, plying
between Boston and Hallowell, when Cape Ann bore west-
south-west about two miles, steering north-north-east,
Captain Shuback West and fifteen others on board with him
saw an object directly ahead, which he had no doubt was
the sea-serpent, or the creature so often described under that
name, engaged in fight with a large whale
" The serpent threw up its tail from twenty-five to thirty
feet in a perpendicular direction, striking the whale by it with
tremendous blows, rapidly repeated, which were distinctly
heard, and very loud, for two or three minutes ; they then
both disappeared, moving in a south-west direction ; but after
a few minutes reappeared in-shore of the packet, and about
under the sun, the reflection of which was so strong as to
prevent their seeing so distinctly as at first, when the ser-
pent's fearful blows with his tail were repeated and clearly
heard as before. They again went down for a short time,
and then came up to the surface under the packet's larboard
quarter, the whale appearing first, and the serpent in pur-
suit, who was again seen to shoot up his tail as before, which
316
MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
he held out of water for some time, waving it in the air
before striking, and at the same time his head fifteen or
twenty feet, as if taking a view of the surface of the sea.
After being seen in this position a few minutes, the serpent
and whale again disappeared, and neither was seen after by
any on board. It was Captain West's opinion that the
FIG. 75. SEA- SERPENT ATTACKING WHALE. (From Sketches by Capt. Davidson,
S.S. " Kiushiu-maru.")
whale was trying to escape, as he spouted but once at a time
on coming to the surface, and the last time he appeared he
went down before the serpent came up."
A remarkable and independent corroboration of modern
date comes from the Japan seas. It was reported both in
THE SEA-SERPENT. 317
local papers and in the San Francisco Calif ornian Mail- Bag
for 1879, from which I extract the notice and the illustrative
cuts (Fig. 75).
" The accompanying engravings are fac-similes of a sketch
sent to us by Captain Davidson, of the steamship Kiushiu-
maru,* and is inserted as a specimen of the curious drawings
which are frequently forwarded to us for insertion. Captain
Davidson's statement, which is countersigned by his chief
officer, Mr. McKechnie, is as follows :
" ' Saturday, April 5th, at 11.15 A.M., Cape Satano distant
about nine miles, the chief officer and myself observed a
whale jump clear out of the sea, about a quarter of a mile
away.
" * Shortly after it leaped out again, when I saw there
was something attached to it. Got glasses, and on the next
leap distinctly saw something holding on to the belly of the
whale. The latter gave one more spring clear of the water,
and myself and chief officer then observed what appeared to
be a creature of the snake species rear itself about thirty feet
out of the water. It appeared to be about the thickness of a
junk's mast, and after standing about ten seconds in an
erect position, it descended into the water, the upper end
going first. With my glasses I made out the colour of the
beast to resemble that of a pilot fish."
There is an interesting story f of a fight between a water -
snake and a trout, by Mr. A. W. Chase, Assistant United
States Coast Survey, which, magnis componere parva, may be
accepted as an illustration of how a creature of serpentine
form would have to deal with a whale ; only, as on the sur-
face or in mid-water it would be prevented from grasping any
rocks by which to anchor itself, we may readily conceive it
* This is one of the fleet of the important Japanese Mitsu Bish
Company, the equivalent of the P. and O. Company in Japan,
f Pop. Sci. Monthly, No. 56, December 1876, p. 234.
318 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
holding on with a tenacious grip of its extended jaws, and
drawing itself up to the enemy until it could either embrace
it in its coils or stun it with violent blows of the tail.*
" The trout, at first sight, was lying in mid-water, heading
up stream. It was, as afterwards appeared, fully nine inches
in length This new enemy of the trout was a large
water- snake of the common variety, striped black and yellow.
He swam up the pool on the surface until over the trout,
when he made a dive, and by a dexterous movement seized
the trout in such a fashion that the jaws of the snake closed
its mouth. The fight then commenced. The trout had the
use of its tail and fins, and could drag the snake from the
surface ; when near the bottom, however, the snake made use
of its tail by winding it round every stone or root that it
could reach. After securing this tail-hold, it could drag the
trout towards the bank, but on letting go the trout would
have a new advantage. This battle was continued for full
twenty minutes, when the snake managed to get its tail out
of the water and clasped around the root of one of the
willows mentioned as overhanging the pool. The battle was
then up, for the snake gradually put coil after coil around
the root, with each one dragging the fish toward the land.
When half its body was coiled it unloosed the first hold,
and stretched the end of its tail out in every direction,
and finding another root, made fast ; and now, using both,
dragged the trout on the gravel bank. It now had it under
control, and, uncoiling, the snake dragged the fish fully
ten feet up on the bank, and, I suppose would have gorged
him," &c. &c.
* It must be remembered that it is with a blow of its powerful tail
that the alligator stuns its prey and knocks it into the water (when any
stray animal approaches the bank), and it is with the tail that the
dragon, in the fable related by Julian, chastises, although gently,
its mistress, and constricts, according to Pliny, the elephant in its
folds.
THE SEA-SERPENT. 319
Captain Drevar follows Pontoppidan (probably unwit-
tingly) in identifying the sea-serpent with the leviathan of
Scripture, quoting Isaiah xxvii. 1, " In that day the Lord
with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish
leviathan, the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked
serpent ; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the
sea." As I read the above passage, it is the dragon that
is in the sea, and not the leviathan, which should be
identified with the sea-serpent, unless the two, dragon
and leviathan, are in apposition, which does not seem to
be the case.
These various narratives which I have collected are, for
the most part, well attested by the signature, or declaration
on oath, of well-known and responsible people. Captain
Drevar, in the small pamphlet which he had printed for
private circulation, says : " Does any thinking person
imagine I could keep command over men with a deliberate lie
in our mouths ? " and a similar question may be asked, with,
I think, the possibility of only one reply, in the case of the
narratives of Captain M'Quhce and other officers and com-
manders in various navies and merchant vessels, and of the
numerous other reputable witnesses who have affirmed,
either as a simple statement or on oath, that they have seen
sundry remarkable sea-monsters. I used the expression,
"I think," because, of course, there is the possibility of
scepticism.
" Authority, in matters of opinion, divides itself (say) into
three principal classes : there is the authority of witnesses ;
they testify to matters of fact. The judgment upon these is
commonly, though not always, easy ; but this testimony is
always the substitution of the faculties of others for our
own, which, taken largely, constitutes the essence of
authority.
" This is the kind which we justly admit with the smallest
jealousy. Yet not always ; one man admits, another refuses,
320 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
the authority of a sea-captain and a sailor or two on the
existence of a sea-serpent." *
I, for my part, belong to the former of these two categories.
I believe in the statements that I have recorded, and in the
following reasoning address only those who do likewise.
That mistakes have occasionally occurred is undoubted.
Mr. Gosse records two instances in which long patches of
sea-weed so far excited the imagination of captains of
vessels as to cause them to lower boats and proceed to the
attack.
The credibility of ghost stories generally is much affected
when supposed apparitions are investigated and traced to
some simple cause ; and the hypersceptical may argue on
parallel grounds that the transformation, in some few
instances, of a supposed sea-serpent into sea-weed, or the
admission of the plausible suggestion that it has been simu-
lated by a seal, a string of porpoises, or some other very
ordinary animals, largely affects the whole question.
And this would undoubtedly be the case if the conditions
of the several examples were at all similar. But the hesita-
tion or temporary misapprehension of captains or crews, in a
thousand instances, as to the nature of a string of weed,
supine on the surface, and lashed into fantastic motion by
the surge of the ocean waves, has absolutely no bearing on
the positive stories of a creature which is seen in calm fjords
and bays to roll itself coil after coil, uplift its head high
above the water, exhibit capacious jaws armed with teeth,
conspicuous eyes, and paws or paddles, which pursues and
menaces boats, presents a tangible object to a marksman,
and when struck disappears with a mighty splash.
The probability of a gigantic seal, or of a string of por-
* Nineteenth Century, March 1877, p. 20. Article on "Authority
in Matters of Opinion/' by G. Cornewall Lewis. Reviewed by W, E,
Gladstone.
THE SEA-SERPENT. 321
poises, being mistaken for a sea-serpent by post-captains
and their officers in the Navy is small, but becomes almost,
if not quite, impossible when the observers are fishermen on
coasts like those of Norway, who have been in the habit of
seeing seals and porpoises almost every day of their lives.
We may, therefore, freely grant that occasional mistakes
have arisen, just as we have admitted that undoubtedly
many hoaxes have been indulged in.
A rational and commonplace explanation is quite possible
in some cases, as, for example, in that of a creature of
abnormal appearance seen by the crew of Her Majesty's
yacht, the Osborne, in the Mediterranean, which was sug-
gested, with great probability, to have been, if I remember
correctly, some species of shark; while the supposed sea-
serpent, washed up on the Isle of Stronsa, in 1808, proved,
on scientific examination, to be a shark of the genus Selache,
probably belonging to the species known as " the barking
shark.""
The great oceanic bone shark, known to few except whalers,
which has been stated to reach as much as sixty feet in
length, may also occasionally have originated a misconcep-
tion ; and there must be still remaining in the depths of the
ocean undescribed species of fish, of bizarre form, and pro-
bably gigantic size, the occasional appearance of which would
puzzle an observer.
For example, in November 1879, an illustration was given
in the Graphic of " another marine monster," professing to
be a sketch in the Gulf of Suez from H.M.S. Philomel, accom-
panied by the following descriptive letter-press :
"This strange monster," says Mr. W. J. Andrews,
Assistant Paymaster, H.M.S. Philomel, " was seen by the
officers and ship's company of this ship at about 5.30 P.M.
on October 14, when in the gulf of Suez, Cape Zafarana
bearing at the time N.W. seventeen miles, lat. 28 56' N.,
long. 32 54' E.
21
322
MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
" When first observed it was rather more than a mile
distant on the port bow, its snout projecting from the surface
of the water, and strongly marked ripples showing the posi-
tion of the body. It then opened its jaws, as shown in the
sketch, and shut them again several times, forcing the water
from between them as it did so in all directions in large jets.
From time to time a portion of the back and dorsal fin
appeared at some distance from the head. After remaining
some little time in the above-described position, it dis-
FIG. 76. ANOTHER MARINE MONSTER. A Sketch in the Gulf of Suez, from
H.M.S. " Philomel," Oct. 14, 1879. (From the " Graphic," Nov. 1879.)
appeared, and on coming to the surface again it repeated the
action of elevating the head and opening the jaws several
times, turning slowly from side to side as it did so.
" On the approach of the ship the monster swam swiftly
away, leaving a broad track like the wake of a ship, and dis-
appeared beneath the waves.
" The colour of that portion of the body that was seen was
black, as was also the upper jaw. The lower jaw was grey
round the mouth, but of a bright salmon colour underneath,
like the belly of some kinds of lizard, becoming redder as it
approached the throat. The inside of the mouth appeared to
THE SEA-SERPENT. 323
be grey with white stripes, parallel to the edges of the jaw,
very distinctly marked. These might have been rows of
teeth or of some substance resembling whalebone. The
height the snout was elevated above the surface of the
water was at least fifteen feet, and the spread of the jaws
quite twenty-five feet."
Strangely enough, a proximate counterpart of this fish,
but of mimic size, was made known to science in 1882. My
attention was called by Mr. Streich, of the German Consulate
in Shanghai, to a description of this in the Daheim, an
illustrated family paper, published in Leipzig, with an illus-
trative figure, from which I inferred that the monster seen by
the crew of the Philomel was only a gigantic and adult spe-
cimen of a species belonging to the same order, perhaps to
the same genus, as the Eurypharynx, adapted to live in the
depths of the ocean, and only appearing upon the surface
rarely and as the result of some abnormal conditions. I
give fac -similes of both engravings, in order that my readers
may draw their own comparison. The letter-press of the
Daheim is as follows :
"A New Fish.*
" The deep-sea explorations of last year, which extended
over eight thousand metres in depth, brought to light some
very extraordinary animals, of which, up to the present date,
we have no idea. The most curious one was found by the
French steamer Le Travailleur, on which there was a staff of
naturalists, and of the number was M. Milne Edwards. They
were entirely devoted to deep-sea dredging.
" Between Morocco and the Canary Islands, at two thou-
sand three hundred metres depth, the dredge caught a most
wonderful animal, which at the first glance nobody thought
* From the Daheim, No. 17, Supplement. January 27th, 1883.
Leipzig.
21 *
324 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
to be a fish. This fish, of which we give here a picture,
dwells on the bottom of the sea where the water is +5
Celsius,* in a kind of red slime composed of the shells of
small Globigerinse. On account of its curious mouth it has
been called Eurypharynx Pelicanoides, i.e. the Pelican-like
Broad-jaws. This creature is distinguished from all its class
by the peculiar construction of its mouth, its under jaw being
of a structure different from that of any other fish, possess-
ing only two small teeth and a big pouch of most expansible
FIG. 77. EURYIMIAIIYNX PELIOANOIDKS. (From, the Daheim.')
skin, similar to the sac which a pelican has on its under jaw.
In this sac it (the Broad-jaw) collects its food, and as its
stomach is of very small dimensions, we may, from analogy
with other fishes, conclude that it digests partly in this
sac.
" The swimming apparatus of this fish is not much deve-
loped, and reduced to a number of spines erect from the back
and the belly.
* 41 Fahrenheit.
THE SEA-SERPENT. 325
" The pectoral fins, which are immediately behind the
eye, are also very small, so that we may conclude from
this that this fish does not move much, and is not a good
swimmer.
" It only inhabits the bottom of the sea. Its body
decreases gradually backwards till it finishes in a string-like
tail. The organs for breathing are not much developed.
Six slits (gill apertures ?) allow the water to enter.
" The colour of the fish (the size of which we do not find
in our authority) is velvet black."
Before proceeding further I must point out that we may
dismiss from our minds the possibility of the so-called sea-
serpent being merely a large example of those marine ser-
pents of which several species and numerous individuals are
known to exist on the coast of many tropical countries, for
these are rarely more than from four to six feet in length,
although Dampier* mentions one which he saw on the
northern coast of Australia, which was long (but the length
is not specified) and as big as a man's leg. He gives a
curious instance of these biters being bit, which he observed
not far from Scoutens Island, off New Guinea :
" On the 23rd we saw two snakes, and the next morning
another passing by us, which was furiously assaulted by two
fishes that had kept in company five or six days. They were
shaped like mackerel, and were about that bigness and
length, and of a yellow-greenish colour. The snake swam
away from them very fast, keeping his head above water.
The fish snapped at his tail ; but when he turned himself
that fish would withdraw and another would snap ; so that
by turns they kept him employed. Yet he still defended
himself, and swam away at a great pace, till they were out of
sight."
* A Collection of Voyages, in 4 volumes. J. J. Kuapton, London,
1729.
326 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
Leguat* speaks of a marine serpent, over sixty pounds in
weight, which he and his comrades in misfortune captured
and tasted, when marooned by order of the Governor of
the Mauritius on some small island off the harbour, about six
miles from the shore. He says :
66 It was a frightful sea-serpent, which we in our great
simplicity took for a large lamprey or eel. This animal
seemed to us very extraordinary, for it had fins, and we knew
not that there were any such creatures as sea-serpents.
Moreover, we had been so accustomed to discover creatures
that were new to us, both at land and at sea, that we did not
think this to be any other than an odd sort of eel that we
never had seen before, yet which we could not but think
more resembled a snake than an eel. In a word, the monster
had a serpent or crocodile's head, and a mouth full of hooked,
long and sharp teeth When our purveyors came we
related to them what had happened to us, and showed them
the eel's head, but they only said they had never seen the
like. 5 '
In spite of Leguat's impression, I think it was only some
species of conger eel.
Marine serpents are abundant on the Malay coast, and
particularly so in the Indian Ocean. Niebuhr says :
" In the Indian Ocean, at a certain distance from land, a
great many water- serpents, from twelve to fifteen inches in
length, are to be seen rising above the surface of the water.
When these serpents are seen they are an indication that the
coast is exactly two degrees distant. We saw some of these
serpents, for the first time, on the evening of the 9th of
September; on the llth we landed in the harbour of
Bombay." f
* A Voyage to the East Indies, by Francis Leguat. London, 1708.
f I find the following note in Maclean's Guide to Bombay, for 1883 :
" Since the first edition of this Gazette was published, Captain Dundas,
of the P. and O. Company's steamer Cathay, has informed me that the
THE SEA-SERPENT. 327
These sea-snakes are reputed to be mostly, if not entirely,
venomous. Their motion in the water is by undulation in
a horizontal, not in a vertical, direction ; they breathe with
lungs ; their home is on the surface, and they would perish
if confined for any considerable period beneath it.
FIG. 78. SCOLIOPHIS ATLANTICUS. Killed on the Sea-shore near Boston, in 1817, and
at that time supposed to be the young of the Sea-Serpent.
It is an open question whether conger eels may not exist,
in the ocean depths, of far greater dimensions than those of
the largest individuals with which we are acquainted. Major
Wolf, who was stationed at Singapore while I was there in
1880, gave me information which seems to corroborate this
idea. He stated that when dining some years before with a
retired captain of the 39th Regiment, then resident at
Wicklow, the latter informed him that, having upon one
occasion gone to the coast with his servant in attendance on
him, the latter asked permission to cease continuing on with
the captain in order that he might bathe. Having received
permission, he proceeded to do so, and swam out beyond
the edge of the shallow water into the deep. A coastguards-
man, who was watching him from the cliff above, was hor-
rified to see something like a huge fish pursuing the man
after he had turned round towards the shore. He was afraid
to call out lest the man should be perplexed. The man,
statements of old travellers regarding these serpents are quite accurate.
The serpents are not seen excepting during the south-west monsoon
the season in which alone voyages used to be made to India. In Hors-
burgh's Sailing Directions, shipmasters are warned to look out for the
serpents, whose presence is a sign that the ship is close to land. Captain
Dundas says that the serpents are yellow or copper-coloured. The
largest ones are farthest out to sea. They lie on the surface of the
water, and appear too lazy even to get out of a steamer's way.
328 MYTHICAL MONSTEKS.
however, heard some splash or noise behind him, and looked
round and saw a large head, like a bull-dog's head, project-
ing out of the water as if to seize him. He made a frantic
rush shoreways, and striking the shallow ground, clambered
out as quickly as possible, but broke one of his toes from the
violence with which he struck the ground. This story was
confirmed by a Mr. Burbidge, a farmer, who stated that on
one occasion when he himself was bathing within a mile or
so of the same spot, the water commenced swirling around
him, and that, being alarmed, he swam rapidly in, and was
pursued by something perfectly corresponding with that
described by the other narrator, and which he supposed to
be a large conger eel. In each case the length was estimated
at twenty feet. Mr. Gosse gives the greatest length recorded
at ten feet.
Were we only acquainted with a small and certain
proportion of the sea-serpent stories, we might readily
imagine that they had been originated by a sight of
some monstrous conger, but there are details exhibited
by them, taken as a whole, which forbid that idea. We
must therefore search elsewhere for the affinities of the sea-
serpent.
And first as to those authorities who believe and who dis-
believe in its existence.
Professor Owen, in 1848, attacked the Dcedalus story in
a very masterly manner, and extended his arguments so as
to embrace the general non -probability of other stories which
had previously affirmed it. He was, in fact, its main scien-
tific opponent.
Sir Charles Lyell, upon the other hand, was, I believe,
persuaded of its existence from the numerous accounts which
he accumulated on the occasion of his second visit to
America, especially evidence procured for him by Mr. J. W.
Dawson, of Pictou, as to one seen, in 1844, at Arisaig,
near the north-east end of Nova Scotia, and as to
THE SEA-8EEPENT. 329
another, in August 1845, at Merigomish, in the Gulf of
St. Lawrence.
Agassiz also gave in his adhesion to it. " I have asked
myself, in connection with this subject, whether there is not
such an animal as the sea-serpent. There are many who
will doubt the existence of such a creature until it can be
brought under the dissecting knife ; but it has been seen by
so many on whom we may rely, that it is wrong to doubt
any longer. The truth is, however, that if a naturalist had
to sketch the outlines of an icthyosaurus or plesiosaurus
from the remains we have of them, he would make a drawing
very similar to the sea-serpent as it has been described.
There is reason to think that the parts are soft and perish-
able, but I still consider it probable that it will be the good
fortune of some person on the coast of Norway or North
America to find a living representative of this type of reptile,
which is thought to have died out."
Mr. Z. Newman was the first scientific man to absolutely
affirm his belief in its existence, and to indicate its probable
zoological affinities ; and he was ably followed by Mr. Gosse,
who, in the charming work* already frequently quoted, ex-
haustively discusses the whole question.
Mr. Gosse, however, to my mind, forgoes a great
portion of the advantage of his argument by a too
limited acceptance of authorities, and leaves untouched, as
have all who preceded him, the question of the breathing
apparatus of the creature, and also omits insisting, as he
might well have done, on the remarkable coincidence of
the seasons and climatic conditions at and under which
the creature ordinarily exhibits itself, which may be
quoted first as an argument in favour of the reality of
the different stories, and, secondly, as affording indica-
* The Romance of Natural History, P. H. Gosse, F.R.S., First Series,
London, 1880, 12th edition ; Second Series, 1875, 5th edition.
330 MYTHICAL MONSTEUS.
tions of the nature and habits of the creature to which they
relate.
Both Mr. Newman and Mr. Gosse, moreover, laboured
under the disadvantage of being unacquainted with some of
the later stories, such as that of the Nestor sea-serpent seen
in the Straits of Malacca, which appears to amply substan-
tiate the general conclusion at which they had already,
happily, as I conceive, arrived.
In nearly all the cases quoted, and in all of those where
the creature has appeared in the deep fjords of Norway or
in the bays of other coasts, the date of its appearance has
been some time during the months of July and August, and
the weather calm and hot. These last summer conditions, in
high latitudes, do not obtain for long together, so that the
auspices favourable to the appearance of the creature would
probably not exist for more than a few weeks in each
season, and during the remainder of the year it would rest
secluded in the depths of the fjords, presuming those to be
its permanent habitation, or in some oceanic home, if, as
would seem more likely to be the case, its appearance in
the bays and fjords was simply due to a temporary visit,
made possibly in connection with its reproduction; for,
were its habitation in the fjords constant, we should expect
it to make its appearance annually, instead of at irregular
and distant intervals.
We must also infer that it is a non-air-breathing creature.
Professor Owen, in his very able discussion of the Dcedalus
story, bases his main argument against the serpentine
character of the creature seen in this and other instances on
there being either no undulation at all of the body, or a ver-
tical one, which is not a characteristic of serpents, and on
the fact of no remains having ever been discovered washed
up on the Norway coasts. He says :
" Now, a serpent, being an air-breathing animal, with long
vesicular and receptacular lungs, dives with an effort, and
THE SEA-SERPENT. 381
commonly floats when dead, and so would the sea-serpent,
until decomposition or accident had opened the tough integu-
ment and let out the imprisoned gases During life
the exigencies of the respiration of the great sea-serpent
would always compel him frequently to the surface ; and,
when dead and swollen, it would
Prone on the flood, extended long and large,
Lie floating many a rood.
Such a spectacle, demonstrative of the species if it existed,
has not hitherto met the gaze of any of the countless voyagers
who have traversed the seas in so many directions."
But, assuming it to be neither a serpent nor an air-
breathing creature, the very cogent arguments which he
applied so powerfully fall to the ground, and I may at once
state that a review of the whole of the reported cases of its
appearance entirely favours the first assumption, while a little
reflection will show the necessity of the latter. No air-
breathing creature, or rather a creature furnished with lungs,
could possibly exist, even for a season only, in the inland bays
of populous countries like Norway and Scotland without con-
tinually exposing itself to observation ; but this is not the
case. Whereas there is no difficulty in conceiving that a
creature adapted to live in the depths of the ocean could
breathe readily enough at the surface, even for considerable
periods ; for we know that fish of many kinds, and notably
carp, can retain life for days, and even weeks, when removed
from the water, provided they happen to be in a moist
situation.
Again, a power of constriction, a characteristic of boas and
pythons, and therefore implying an alliance with them, is not
necessarily indicated, as might be supposed, even by the
action affirmed in Captain Drevar's story ; for a creature of
serpentine form, attacking another, might coil itself round
for the mere purpose of maintaining a hold while it tore its
332 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
victim open with its powerful jaws and teeth. This action is
simply that of an eel which, on being hooked, grasps weeds
at the bottom to resist capture.
Nor are we bound to accept in any way the captain's
suggestion that the monster gorged its victim after the fashion
of a land-serpent. It may as readily have torn it open and
fed on it as an eel might ; and it is, indeed, not unreasonable
to suppose that so powerful a monster would find its prey
among large creatures, such as seals, porpoises, and the
smaller cetacese.
That the sea-serpent was formerly more frequently seen
on the Norwegian coasts than now I consider probable, as
also that its visits were connected with its breeding season,
and discontinued in consequence of the greater number and
larger size of vessels, and especially of the introduction of
steam. As a parallel instance, I may mention that, in the
early days of the settlement of Australia, sperm whales
resorted to the harbours along its coasts for calving pur-
poses, and were sufficiently numerous to cause the mainte-
nance of what were called " bay whaling stations " at Hobart
Town, Spring Bay, and many other harbours of Tasmania
and South Australia. At the present time, the sperm whale
rarely approaches within ten miles of the coast, and the small
whaling fleet finds scanty occupation in the ocean extending
south from the great Australian bight to the south cape
of Tasmania. Mr. Gosse eliminates from his concluding
analysis of sea-serpent stories all those recorded by Norwe-
gian and American observers, and argues only upon a selected
number resting on British evidence.
By this contraction he loses as a basis of argument a
number of accounts which I consider as credible as those he
quotes, and from which positive deductions might be drawn,
more weighty than those of similar, but merely inferential,
character which he employs.
The account of the monster seen by Hans Egede, for
THE SEA-SERPENT. 333
example, where the creature exhibited itself more completely
than it did in any of the instances selected by Mr. Gosse,
specifically indicated the possession of paws, flippers, fins or
paddles, while this can only be surmised at, in the latter
cases to which I refer, from the progressive steady motion of
the creature, with the head and neck elevated above the
surface, and apparently unaffected by any undulatory motion
of the body. This at once removes it from the serpent class,
without any necessity for the additional confirmation which
the enlarged proportions of the body in comparison with
those of the neck, as given in Egede's amended version,
afford us.
The creature seen in the Straits of Malacca, and one
quoted by Mr. Newman, in the Zoologist, exhibit characters
which confirm Egede's story. In the latter instance,
" Captain the Hon. George Hope states that, when in
H.M.S. Fty, in the Gulf of California, the sea being perfectly
calm and transparent, he saw at the moment a large marine
animal, with the head and general figure of an alligator,
except that the neck was much longer, and that instead of
legs the creature had four large flappers, somewhat like those
of turtles, the anterior pair being larger than those of the
posterior. The creature was distinctly visible, and all its
movements could be observed with ease. It appeared to be
pursuing its prey at the bottom of the sea. Its movements
were somewhat serpentine, and an appearance of annulations
or ring-like divisions of the body were distinctly perceptible."
Mr. Gosse, commenting on this story, says : " Now, unless
this officer was egregiously deceived, he saw an animal which
could have been no other than an Enaliosaur, a marine reptile
of large size, of sauroid figure, with turtle-like paddles."
In the former case the creature was far more gigantic and
robust, in contradistinction to the slender and serpentine
form more usually observed, and we must consequently infer
that there is not merely one but several distinct species of
334 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
marine monster, unknown and rarely exhibiting themselves,
belonging to different genera, and perhaps orders, but all
popularly included under the title of " sea-serpent."
The attempt to classify these presents difficulties. Mr.
Gosse, however, has very ably reviewed the somewhat scanty
materials at his command, and, agreeing with the suggestion
made originally by Mr. Newman, has elaborated the argu-
ment that one of the old Enaliosaurs exists to the present
day. This form, Palaeontology tells us, commenced in the
Carboniferous, attained its maximum specific development in
the Jurassic, and continued to the close of the Cretaceous
periods. This rational suggestion is supported by the colla-
teral argument that some few Ganoid fishes and species of
Terebratula, have continuously existed to t the present time ;
that certain Placoid fishes, of which we have no trace, and
which consequently must have been very scarce during Ter-
tiary periods, reappear abundantly as recent species ; that the
Iguanodon is represented by the Iguana of the American
tropics, and that the Trionychidae, or river tortoises, which
commenced during the Wealden, and disappeared from
thence until the present period, are now abundantly repre-
sented in the rivers of the Old and the New World.
The points of resemblance between the northern and most
often seen form of the sea-serpent and certain genera of the
Enaliosaurs, such as Plesiosaurus, are a long swan -like
neck, a flattened lizard-like head and progress by means of
paddles. A difficulty in this connection arises, however, in
respect to the breathing apparatus. Palaeontologists favour
the idea that the Plesiosaurus and its allies were air-breathing
creatures with long necks, adapted to habitual projection
above the surface. Such a construction and habit is, as I
have before said, to my mind, impossible in the case of an
animal of so scarce an appearance as the sea-serpent ; and I
am incapable of estimating how far the theory is inflexible
in regard to the old forms that I have mentioned. May
THE SEA-SERPENT. 335
there not be some large marine form combining some of the
characters of the salamander and the saurians ; may not the
pigmy newt of Europe, the large salamander tenanting the
depths of Lake Biwa in Japan, and the famous fossil form,
the Homo Diluvii Testis of Sheuzberg, have a marine cousin
linking them with the gigantic forms which battled in the
Oolitic seas ? May not the tuft of loose skin or scroll en-
circling its head have some connection with a branchial
apparatus analagous to that of the Amphibia ; and was not
the large fringe round the neck, like a beard, noticed on
the one seen by Captain Anderson when in the Delta in
1861, of a similar nature ?
In conclusion, I must strongly express my own convic-
tion, which I hope, after the perusal of the evidence contained
in the foregoing pages, will be shared by my readers, that,
let the relations of the sea-serpent be what they may ; let
it be serpent, saurian, or fish, or some form intermediate
to them ; and even granting that those relations may never
be determined, or only at some very distant date ; yet, never-
theless, the creature must now be removed from the regions
of myth, and credited with having a real existence, and that
its name includes not one. only, but probably several very
distinct gigantic species, allied 'more or less closely, and
constructed to dwell in the depths of the ocean, and which
only occasionally exhibit themselves to a fortune-favoured
wonder-gazing crew.
NOTE.
It is with great pleasure that I add the following testimony of a belief
in the existence of the sea-serpent, from a country which has not
hitherto been supposed to have any traditions relating to it. My
inquiries in Burmah, as to a belief among its inhabitants in sundry
so-called mythical beings, led me unexpectedly on the track of the fol-
lowing information, for which I am indebted to the scholarship and
336 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
courtesy of F. Ripley, Esq., Government Translator in the Secretariat
Department, Rangoon.
EXTRACT from the Kavilakhana depane, pp. 132-133.
[Author Mingyi Thiri Mahazeyathu, the Myaunghla Myoza, Nanig-
ngan-gya Wundauk, or Sub-Minister for Foreign Affairs to His
Majesty the late King of Burmah.]
" The creature Nyan is called in the Magadha language Tanti-gdha,
in the Bengali Gara ; in the Sakkata, Grdha or Avagrdh ; and in the
Burmese, Nyan.
11 Hence are to be found the following passages, viz. :
" ' Tanti-gdha The creature Nyan, of the immense length of one
or two hundred fathoms,' in "the Shri Sariputtara Apadan.
" ' Graho or Avagraho a predatory monster, in shape like an
earthworm,' in the Amarakosha Abhidhan ;
and
" ' Dvagar samudda maha nady sanga mela tdkd yazantu vigera
itichate,' in the commentary of the Amarakosha Abhidhan.
" From these works, which contain definitions of two words designa-
tive of the creature Nyan, it will be gathered that there does exist a
predatory monster in the form of an earthworm, which inhabits estuaries
and the mouths of great rivers.
" Regarding the predatory instincts of this creature, it should be
understood that it attacks even such animals as elephants. Hence the
Dhammathats, in dealing with the decision of cases of hire of live-stock,
wishing to point out that no fault lies through losses owing to natural
accidents, make the following remarks :
" * There shall be no fault held if oxen die by reason of a snake gliding
under them.'
*' ' There shall be no fault held, if buffaloes die by reason of a dove
resting on their horns.'
" * There shall be no fault held if oxen and buffaloes die of their having
eaten a grasshopper.'
" ' There shall be no fault held if elephants die by reason of their
having been encoiled in the folds of a Nyan.'
" * There shall be no fault held if horses die by reason of their having
been sucked by bilas.'
" The Poetical Version of the Pokinnaka Dhammathat, which is a com-
pilation of several Dhammathats, in the same strain, says :
[Here follows a verse, the same in effect as the above.]
" From such passages it will be seen that there is a frightful monster
of extraordinary strength, which is capable of capturing even such
animals as elephants,"
THE SEA-SERPENT. 337
" In the form of oath of fealty administered by successive kings to
their feudatories and vassals, the following imprecation is to be
found :
" ' May I die through being seized by alligators and Nyans.' "
[Here follows an explanatory note respecting the four species of
danger to be found in the ocean.]
" In the reign of King Alaung-mindara-gye, the founder of the city
of Eatana Singha when he went on an expedition against Ayudhara or
Yodhaya (Siam) and was crossing the Martaban river, he lost some two
or three elephants, which were destroyed as soon as they had entered
the water. The King ascertained from the lower country inhabitants
that they had been captured and bitten by the creature Nyan. Two or
three elephants were similarly lost in Ava, when it was also ascertained
that they had been captured by the Nyan. There goes a saying that
the Nyan is some one to two hundred fathoms long. The form of oath
of fealty contains an imprecation in which the Nyan is to fulfil a part.
And there are writings which make mention of its existence."
22
338 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
CHAPTEK X.
THE UNICORN.
A BELIEF in the unicorn, like that in the dragon, appears to
have obtained among both Eastern and Western authors, at
a very early period. In this case, however, it has survived
the revulsion from a fatuous confidence in the fables and
concocted specimens of the Middle Ages, and even now the
existence or non-existence of this remarkable animal remains
a debateable question.
Until within a late period occasional correspondents of the
South African journals continued to assert its existence,
basing their communications on the reports of hunters from
the interior, while but a few hundred years since travellers
spoke of actually seeing it or of passing through countries in
which its existence was absolutely affirmed to them. Horns,
generally those of the narwhal, but occasionally of one species
of rhinoceros, were brought home and deposited in museums
as those of the veritable unicorn, or sold, under the same
pretext, for large sums, on account of their reputed valuable
medicinal properties.* The animal is variously described as
resembling a horse or some kind of deer ; this description
* " At length, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, they were
thrown open for examination by the desire which then existed in
Germany to possess the ebur fossile, or * unicorn's horn/ a supposed
infallible specific for the cure of many diseases. The unicorn horn was
to be found in the caves, and the search for it revealed the remains of
lions, hyaenas, elephants, and many other tropical and strange animals."
Pop. Sci. Monthly, No. 32.
THE UNICORN. 839
may possibly refer to some animal of a type intermediate to
them, now almost, if not quite, extinct. In some instances it
is supposed that a species of rhinoceros is indicated.
There has been much discussion as to the identity of the
animal referred to in many passages of the Bible, the Hebrew
name of which, Reem, has been translated " unicorn." Mr.
W. Smith considers that a species of rhinoceros could not
have been indicated, as it is spoken of in one passage as a
sacrificial animal, whereas the ceremonial ritual of the Jews
forbade the use of any animal not possessing the double
qualifications of chewing the cud and being cloven-footed.
The qualities attributed to it are great strength, an indomit-
able disposition, fierce nature, and an active and playful dis-
position when young. He considers that the passage, Deut.
xxxiii. 17, should be rendered " his horns are like the horns
of a unicorn," and not, as it is given, " horns of unicorns " ;
and is of opinion that some species of wild ox is intended.
Among profane Western authors we first find the unicorn
referred to by Ctesias, who describes it as having one horn,
a cubit long. Herodotus also mentions it in the passage,*
" For the eastern side of Libya, where the wanderers dwell,
is low and sandy, as far as the river Triton ; but westward
of that, the land of the husbandmen is very hilly and abounds
with forests and wild beasts, for this is the tract in which
the huge serpents are found, and the lions, the elephants,
the bears, the aspicks, and the horned asses " ; and again,
" Among the wanderers are none of these, but quite other
animals, as antelopes, &c. &c,, and asses, not of the horned
sort, but of a kind which does not need to drink/'
Aristotle f mentions two unicorn animals. " There are
only a few [animals] that have a solid hoof and one horn,
as the Indian ass and the oryx."
* Book iv. ch. cxci. and cxcii.
f Book ii. ch. ii. 8.
22 *
340 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
Pliny* tells us that the Orsaean Indians hunt down a very
fierce animal called the monoceros, which has the head of
the stag, the feet of the elephant, and the tail of the boar,
while the rest of the body is like that of the horse. It makes
a deep lowing noise, and has a single black horn, projecting
from the middle of its forehead, and two cubits in length.
This animal, it is said, cannot be taken alive. In speaking
of the Indian ass, he says,t " the Indian ass is only a one-
horned animal " ; and of the oryx of Africa, J "the oryx is
both one-horned and cloven -footed. "
,ZElian transfers the locality back again from Africa to
Asia, and it may be presumed, in the following quotation,
that he indicates the country north of the Himalaya, Thibet,
and Tartary, which still has the reputation of being one of
the homes of the unicorn.
" They say that there are mountains in the innermost
regions of India inaccessible to men, and full of wild beasts ;
where those creatures which with us are domesticated,
such as sheep, dogs, goats, and cattle, range about at their
own free will, free from any charge by a shepherd or herds-
man.
" Both historians, and the more learned of the Indians,
among whom the Brahmins may be specified, declare that
there is a countless number of these beasts. Among them
they enumerate the unicorn, which they call cartazonon, and
say that it reaches the size of a horse of mature age, pos-
sesses a mane and reddish yellow hair, and that it excels in
swiftness through the excellence of its feet and of its whole
body. Like the elephant, it has inarticulate feet, and it has
a boar's tail ; one black horn projects between the eyebrows,
* Book viii. ch. xxxii.
f Book xi. ch. cvi.
{ Ibid.
Julian, De Naturd Animalium, Book xvi. ch f xx,
THE UNICORN. 341
not awkwardly, but with a certain natural twist, and termi-
nating in a sharp point.
" It has, of all animals, the harshest and most contentious
voice. It is said to be gentle to other beasts approaching it,
but to fight with its fellows. Not only are the males at
variance in natural contention amongst themselves, but they
also fight with the females, and carry their combats to the
length of killing the conquered ; for not only are their
bodies generally indued with great strength, but also they
are armed with an invincible horn. It frequents desert
regions and wanders alone and solitary. In the breeding
season it is of gentle demeanour towards the female, and
they feed together; when this has passed and the female
has become gravid, it again becomes fierce and wanders
alone.
" They say that the young, while still of tender age, are
carried to the King of the Prasians for exhibition of their
strength, and exposed in combats on festivals ; for no one
remembers them to have been captured of mature age."
Csesar* records the reputed existence in his day, within
the bounds of the great Hercynian Forest, of a bull, shaped
like a stag, with one horn projecting from the middle of its
forehead and between the ears.
CosmaSjt surnamed Indicopleustes, a merchant of Alex-
andria, who lived in the sixth century, and made a voyage to
India, and subsequently wrote works on cosmography, gives
a figure of the unicorn, not, as he says, from actual sight of
it, but reproduced from four figures of it in brass contained
in the palace of the King of Ethiopia. He states, from
report, that "it is impossible to take this ferocious beast
alive ; and that all its strength lies in its horn. When it
finds itself pursued and in danger of capture, it throws
* De Bello Gallico, ch. ii. p. 26.
t Vide Chartoii's Voyageurs du Moyen Ages, vol. ii. p. 25.
342 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
itself from a precipice, and turns so aptly in falling, that it
receives all the shock upon the horn, and so escapes safe
and sound." It is noteworthy that this mode of escape is
attributed, at the present day, to both the musk ox and the
Ovis Ammon.
Marco Polo may or may not indicate a rhinoceros in the
passage, " Apres avoir descendu ces deux journees et demie,
on trouve une province au midi qui est sur les confins de
Flnde, on Pappelle Amien on marche quinze journees par
des lieux desertes et par de grands bois ou il y a beaucoup
d'elephants et de licornes et d'autres betes sauvages. II n'y
a ni hommes ni habitations aussi, nous laisserons ce lieu."
But no such inference can be attached to the descriptions
of the Ethiopian unicorn by Leo and Ludolphus.
The first says :*
" The unicorn is found in the mountains of high Ethiopia.
It is of an ash colour and resembles a colt of two years old,
excepting that it has the head of a goat, and in the middle of
its ;forehead a horn three feet long, which is smooth and
white like ivory, and has yellow streaks running along from
top to bottom.
" This horn is an antidote against poison, and it is
reported that other animals delay drinking till it has soaked
.its horn in the water to purify it. This animal is so nimble
that it can neither be killed nor taken. But it casts its horn
like a stag, and the hunters find it in the deserts. But the
truth of this is called in question by some authors/*
Ludolphusf says :
" Here is also another beast, called arucharis, with one
horn, fierce and strong, of which unicorn several have been
seen feeding in the woods."
* Harris' Voyages, vol. i. p. 362 ; " Africa," by John Leo.
f Pinkerton's Voyages, vol. i. p. 392 ; " Ethiopia," by Jobus Ludol-
phus.
THE UNICORN. 343
Coming down to later days we find the unicorn described
by Lewes Vertomannus* he who, having visited, among
other places, the site of the legend of St. George and the
Dragon, f and undergone a variety of adventures, visits, in
the course of them, the temple of Mecca, and, as follows,
gives a description " of the unicorns"of the Temple of Mecha,
which are not seen in any other place."
" On the other part of the temple are parks or places
enclosed, where are seen two unicorns, named of the Greeks
monocerotse, and are there showed to the people for a miracle,
and not without good reason, for the seldomness and strange
nature. The one of them, which is much higher than the
other, yet not much unlike to a colt of thirty months of
age ; in the forehead groweth only one horn, in manner
right foorth, of the length of three cubits. The other is
much younger, of the age of one year, and like a young
colt ; the horn of this is of the length of four handfulls.
" This beast is of the colour of a horse of weesell colour,
and hath the head like a hart, but no long neck, a thynne
mane hanging only on the one side. Their leggs are thin
and slender like a fawn or hind. The hoofs of the fore-feet
are divided in two, much like the feet of a goat. The outer
part of the hinder feet is very full of hair.
" This beast doubtless seemeth wild and fierce, yet tem-
pereth that fierceness with a certain comeliness.
" These unicorns one gave to the Sultan of Mecha as a most
precious and rare gift. They were sent him out of Ethiope
by a king of that country who desired by that present to
gratify the Sultan of Mecha."
Visiting the interior of Arabia from Aden, and afterwards
* The Navigation and Voyage of Lewes Vertomannus, of Rome, into
Arabia, Egypt, &c., in 1503, contained in " The History of Travayle in the
East and West Indies" done into English by Richard Eden. London,
1577.
f Berynto, a city on the seacoast of Syria, Phoenicia.
344 , MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
starting for Persia, Vertomannus was driven back by a
contrary wind to Zeila (in Africa), which he describes as
being an important city with much merchandise when again
he says, " I saw there also certain kyne, having only one
horn in the middle of the forehead, as hath the unicorn, and
about a span in length, but the horn bendeth backwards.
They are of bright shining red colour."
In an account of the travels of Johann Grueber, Jesuit
(about 1661), contained in Astley's collection of voyages, we
find:
" Sining* is a great and populous city, built at the vast
wall of China, through the gate of which the merchants from
India enter Katay or China. There are stairs to go a-top of
the wall, and many travel on it from the gate at Sining to
the next at Soochew, which is eighteen days' journey, having
a delightful prospect all the way, from the wall, of the innu-
merable habitations on one side, and the various wild beasts
which range the desert on the other side.
" Besides wild bulls, here are tigers, lions, elephants,
rhinoceroses, and monoceroses, which are a kind of horned
asses.
" Thus the merchants view the beasts free from danger,
especially from that part of the wall which, running southward,
approaches Quang-si, Yunnan, and Tibet; for at certain times
of the year they betake themselves to the Yellow Eiver, an<7
parts near the wall which abound with thickets, in order to
get pasture and seek their prey."
Father Jerome Lobo, a Portuguese Jesuit, who embarked
for Abyssinia in the year 1622,t states that
" In the province of Agaus has been seen the unicorn ;
that beast so much talked of and so little known. The
prodigious swiftness with which the creature runs from one
* Sining is on the western frontier of Kansuh, towards Kokonor,
f Pinkerton's Voyages, vol. xv. p. 23 -
THE UNICORN. 345
wood into another has given me no opportunity of examin-
ing it particularly ; yet I have had so near a sight of it as
to be able to give some description of it.
" The shape is the same with that of a beautiful horse,
exact and nicely proportioned, of a bay colour, with a black
tail, which in some provinces is long, in others very short ;
some have long manes hanging to the ground. They are so
timorous that they never feed but surrounded with other
beasts that defend them.
" Deer and other defenceless animals often herd about the
elephant, which, contenting himself with roots and leaves,
preserves the beasts that place themselves, as it were, under
his protection, from the others that would devour them."
There is a somewhat doubtful story contained in the
Narrative of a Journey from St. Petersburg, in Russia, to Peking,
in China, in 1719,* to the effect that between Tobolsky and
Tomski
" Our baggage having waited at Tara till our arrival, we
left that place on the 18th, and next came to a large Russian
village sixty versts from Tara, and the last inhabited by
Russians till you pass the Baraba and come to the river Oby.
.... One of these hunters told me the following story,
which was confirmed by several of his neighbours, that in the
year 1713, in the month of March, being out a-hunting, he
discovered the track of a stag, which he pursued. At over-
taking the animal he was somewhat startled on observing it
had only one horn, stuck in the middle of its forehead.
Being near this village, he drove it home, and showed it, to
the great admiration of the spectators. He afterwards killed
it, and ate the flesh, and sold the horn to a comb-maker in
the town of Tara, for ten alteens, about fifteen pence
sterling.
" I inquired carefully about the shape and size of this
* Pinkerton's Voyages, vol. vii. p. 333.
346 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
unicorn, as I shall call it, and was told that it exactly
resembled a stag.
" The horn was of a hrownish colour, about one archaeon
or twenty-eight inches long, and twisted from the root till
within a finger's length of the tip, where it was divided, like
a fork, into two points, very sharp."
One of the most trustworthy of observers, the Abbe Hue,
speaks very positively on the subject of the unicorn.* He
says : " The unicorn really exists in Thibet. . . . We had
for a long time a small Mongol Treatise on Natural History,
for the use of children, in which a unicorn formed one of the
pictorial illustrations. . . . The Chinese Itinerary says, on
the subject of the lake you see before your arrival at Atzder
(going from east to west), ' The unicorn, a very curious
animal, is found in the vicinity of this lake, which is forty li
long/ "
The unicorn is known in Thibet by the name of serou ; in
Mongolia, by that of here ; while in a Thibetan manuscript
examined by the late Major Lattre, it is called the one-horned
tsopo.
Mr. Hazlitt, in his notes appended to the statement by
Hue as to the unicorn, states that Mr. Hodgson, of Nepaul,
sent to Calcutta the skin and horn of a unicorn that died in
the menagerie of the Kajah of Nepaul.
It was described as being very fierce, and abundant in the
plains of Tingri, in the southern part of the Thibetan province
of Tsang, watered by the Arroun ; it assembled round salt
beds. The form is graceful, colour reddish, two tufts of hair
project from the exterior of each nostril, and there is much
down round the hair and mouth. The hair is rough and
seems hollow. Doctor Able designated it Antelope Hodgsonii.
Baron von Miiller described,! through the medium of M.
* Travels in Tartary, Thibet, and China. Hue and Gabet. Trans-
lated by W. Hazlitt, vol. ii. p. 245.
f Gosse, Romance of Natural History.
THE UNICOHN. 347
Antoine d'Abbadie, a unicorn animal which he had received
when at Melpes in Kordofan :
" I met, on the 17th of April 1848, a man who was in the
habit of selling to me specimens of animals. One day he
asked me if I wished also for an a'nasa, which he described
thus : ' It is the size of a small donkey, has a thick body and
thin bones, coarse hair, and tail like a boar. It has a long
horn on its forehead, and lets it hang when alone, but erects
it immediately on seeing an enemy. It is a formidable
weapon, but I do not know its exact length. The anasa is
found not far from here (Melpes), towards the south-south-
west. I have seen it often in the wild grounds, where the
negroes kill it, and carry it home to make shields from its
skin.' N.B. This man was well acquainted with the rhino-
ceros, which he distinguished, under the name of fetit, from
the anasa.
te On June the 14th I was at Kursi, also in Kordofan, and
met there a slave merchant who was not acquainted with
my first informer, and gave me spontaneously the same
description of the a'nasa, adding that he had killed and eaten
one long ago, and that its flesh was well flavoured."
This creature is mentioned by Kupell, under the name of
Niltekma or Arase, as indigenous to Kordofan, and, by
Cavassi, as known in Congo under that of Abada.
Mr. Freeman, in the South African Christian Recorder
(vol. i.), gives the native account of an animal not uncommon
in Makooa, and called the Ndzoodzoo, described as being
about the size of a horse, extremely fleet and strong, with a
single horn from two feet to two and a half feet in length,
projecting from its forehead, which is said to be flexible
when the animal is asleep, and capable of being curled up at
pleasure, but becoming stiff and hard under the excitement of
rage. It is extremely fierce, and invariably attacks a man
when it discerns him. The female is without a horn.
Our latest information as to this species comes from Pre-
348 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
jevalski,* who, speaking of it as the orongo, says that it has
elegant black horns standing vertically above the head ; the
back is dun-coloured ; the middle of the breast, stomach, and
rump, white ; seen at a distance it appears white ; it is very
numerous in Northern Thibet. He adds : " Another preva-
lent superstition is that the orongo has only one horn growing
vertically from the centre of the head. In Kansu and Kokonor
we were told that unicorns were rare, one or two in a thou-
sand. The Mongols in Tsaidan deny it, but say it may be
so in south-west Thibet."
Turning to the Chinese classics and books of antiquity, we
find references, sometimes vague and mythical, sometimes
exact, to several distinct unicorn animals. These may be
enumerated as :
f 1. The Ki-Lin, represented in Japan by the Kirin.
2. The King.
3. The Kioh Twan.
4. The Poh.
5. The Hiai Chai.
6. The Too Jon Sheu.
Besides these there are clear descriptions of the rhinoceros,
which cannot in any way be confounded with the above. The
only one of these popularly familiar is the Ki-Lin, the history
of which is interwoven with that of remote ages. The first
mention of it is made in the Bamboo Books only in that
part, however, of them which is apparently a commentary,
note, or subsequent addition, though some authorities hold
it to be a portion of the actual text. The work states that,
during the reign of Hwang- Ti (B.C. 2697), Ki-Lins appeared
in the parks.
Their appearance was generally supposed to signalise the
reign of an upright monarch, and Confucius considered that
* Prejevalski's Mongolia, vol. ii. p. 207 ; London, 1876.
f See 'Rh Ta and Yuen Keen Luy Han, vol. ccccxxix. p. L
THE UNICORN.
349
the appearance of one during his epoch was a bad omen, as
it did not harmonise with the troubled state of the times.
The name Ki-Lin is a generic or dual word, composed of
those of the Ki and the Lin, the respective male and female
of the creature.
FIG. 70. THE Ki-Lra. (After a modern Chinese painting.)
This peculiar species of word formation is adopted in
other instances in reference to birds and animals ; thus we
have the male Fung and the female Hwang united in the
Fung Hwang, or so-called Chinese phoenix, and the Yuen
and Yang in the Yuen Yang, or mandarin duck.
Sometimes the word Lin alone is used with the same
generic meaning.
The 'Rh Ya, in the original text, defines the Lin as having
a Kiun's body (the Kiun is a kind of muntjack or deer), an
ox's tail, and one horn. The commentary states that the
350
MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
tip of the horn is fleshy, and that the King Yang chapter of
the " Spring and Autumn Annals " of Confucius defines it as
a horned Kiun.
FIG. 80. THE LIN (FEMALE OF THE" CHINESE UNICORN). (From the'Rh Ya.)
The preface to the Shi Shu quotes Li Shin to the effect
that the Lin is an auspicious and perfect beast.
Sun Yen says it is a spiritual beast. The Shwoh Wan says
THE UNICORN. 351
the Lin is the female of the K'i and the K'i is a beast
endowed with goodness, possessing a Kiun's body, an ox's
tail, and one horn. According to the Shwoh Wan, the Lin
may be considered as a large female deer. Now the Shu King
considers that many of these beasts are comprised under the
Ki-Lin, only the characters, though retaining the sound, have
become altered in form.
Cheu Nau calls it Lin-che-chi and Man Chw'en says that
the Lin is truthful, and reducible to rule.
The Li Yuen says : "If the unicorn can once be tamed,
then the other beasts will not show terror."
Ta Tai, in the Li Ki, quoting the Yih [King], says there
are 360 kinds of hairy creatures, and the Ki-Lin is the chief
of them.
The Li Ki, commenting on the King Fang I Chw'en,
says : " The Lin has a Kiun's body, an ox's tail, a horse's
hoof, and is of five colours. It is twelve feet high." *
Again, in commenting on Fuh Kien's Ho Chwen, it says :
" The Lin springs from the earth's central regions. It is a
beast of superior integrity, is attached to its mother, and
reducible to rule. The Shu King, quoting Luh Li, says the
Lin has a Kiun's body, an ox's tail, a horse's feet, and a
yellow colour, round hoofs, and one horn ; the tip of the
horn is erect and fleshy.
" Its call in the middle part thereof is like a monastery bell.
Its pace is regular ; it rambles only on selected grounds and
after it has examined the locality. It will not live in herds,
or be accompanied in its movements. It cannot be beguiled
into pitfalls, or captured in snares. When the monarch is
virtuous, this beast appears."
At present there are Lin existing on the frontiers of Ping
* This height will have to be reduced in accordance with the differ-
ence between the magnitude of old and new standards of measurement.
352 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
Cheu. Even the large or small Lin are always like deer, so
that this species is not the auspicious Ying Lin ; although
Tsz Ma Siang Su,* in his odes on the shooting of the Mi
and trapping Lin, says that it is.
The top of the horn being fleshy is a characteristic of the
Lin, and Mao Chw'en says that the Lin's horn is an emblem
of goodness. Ching Tsien says that the horn has a fleshy
termination, indicating the peaceful character of the beast,
and that it has no use for it.
The s( Book of Rites,'' quoting the Kwang Ya, says that
on account of its elegant style it takes place, par excellence,
among the large-horned beasts ; the existing edition of the
Kwang Ya omits this.
The Kung Yang Chw'en says the Kiun also has horns.
Kung Ssun Tsz, in the annals of the fourteenth year of
the Duke Ngai (State of Lu), says that the Kiun has fleshy
horns.
Kwoh, in his preface, proves the Lin to have a Kiun's
body.
The 'Rh Ya gives the drawing of a unicorn animal called the
Ki ; but no reference to the horn is given in the text, which
simply describes it as a large Kiun with a yak's tail and
dog's feet.
The Ki is not defined in the 'Rh Ya, and the only infor-
mation I have as to it is derived from Williams' dictionary,
where it is stated to be " a fabulous auspicious animal, which
appears when sages are born ; the male of the Chinese
unicorn. It is drawn like a piebald scaly horse, with one
horn and a cow's tail, and may have had a living original in
some extinct equine animal." But there is a very full
account of an animal called the King. It is not impossible
that it is identical with the King which, in the usual brief
* A poet, native of Hang Cheu.
THE UNICORN.
353
style of the original text of the 'Rh Ya, is epitomised as a
large Biao (a kind of stag), with an ox's tail and one horn;
and the several commentaries on it are as follows :
FIG. 81. THE Ki.
" In the time of the Emperor Wu, of the Han dynasty,
during the worship of heaven and earth at the solstices at
Yung, there was captured a unicorn beast like a Piao ; it
23
354
MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
was at that time designated the Lin ; it was, however, a Piao
related to the Chang (a kind of deer)."
The Shwoh Wan says : " The King is a large stag with an
FIG. 82. THE KI.VG. (From the Rk Ya.}
ox's tail and one horn." It may be a large form of the
Piao. The Wang Hwu Analects say that the Piao is an
object of the chase, and that it is as swift as a stag.
THE UNICORN. 355
Kwan Tsz, in the Ti Yuen volume, says that as there are
Mi and Piao and many species of deer, so also the Piao is a
species of deer.
The " Shi Ki," in the book Fung Shen, says that during
the worship at the solstices at Yung, there was captured a
one-horned beast like a Piao, and that the local authorities
assert that as His Majesty was making reverential invoca-
tions on the country altar to the Supreme Being, he was
recompensed for the sacrifice by a beast which was a
unicorn.
Wu Chao's preface to the Loh Yiu says : " The body is
like that of a muntjack, and it has one horn"; while the
Spring and Autumn (Annals) allude to this animal in speak-
ing of the horned Kiun.
The inhabitants of Ch'u say the Kiun is a Piao. Kwoh,
in his preface, says that the capture made in the time of Wu,
of the Han dynasty, was actually a Piao, as demonstrated by
the Han books. The Chung Kiun narrative states that in
Shang Yung was captured a white Lin bearing one horn,
of which the tip was fleshy. At the present day nothing has
been heard of a Piao with a fleshyjtip, therefore these must be
different beasts.
Kwoh also says that the Piao is identical with the Chang,
and the Chang with the Kiun. This corresponds with what
Wei Chao So had already stated, that the people of Ch'u
assert that the Kiun is a Piao, and that the Piao is certainly
a kind of deer.
Its meat is eminently savoury.
Luh Ki says that of all four-footed creatures, the Piao is
the most excellent.
Yeu Shi states in the Kiao Sz annals (" Sacrifices to
Heaven and Earth "), that the Piao is a kind of deer. Its
body exactly resembles that of the Chang.
Finally, the explanatory prefaces of many classical works,
when commenting on the 'Rh la, say that the Piao is
23 *
356
MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
THE UNICORN. 357
identical with the Chang and of a black colour ; and they
confirm Kwoh's opinion, although the 'Rh Ya forgets to
allude to the three characters denoting the black colour.
It was probably some unicorn animal which is referred to
in the General History of China, called the Tong Kien Rang
Mu (vide Pere de Mailla's translation), as having been pre-
sented to the Emperor Yung Loh of the Ming dynasty, in
A.D. 1415, by envoys from Bengal. De Mailla says it was
called a Ki-Lin by the Chinese out of flattery.
Again, the same History says that in the succeeding year
the kingdom of Malin sent as tribute a Ki-Lin similar to that
from Bengal.
The Ki-Ein, a Japanese version of the Ki-Lin, is simply
borrowed from Chinese sources. It is figured in the illustrated
edition of the great Japanese Encyclopaedia Kasira gaki zou
vo Sin mou dzu wi tai sei,* and represented, as in the Chinese
drawings, as covered with scales ; but it must be noted that
nothing in any of the texts of either country warrants this
furniture of the body.f
The same encyclopaedia figures another unicorn beast
under the name of the Kai Tsi, and describes it as being an
animal of foreign countries, resembling a lion, and having a
single horn. It is also called the Sin You or divine sheep.
It is able to distinguish between right and wrong. When
Kau You exercised criminal jurisdiction, he handed over
those whose crime was doubtful to the Kai Tsu, and it is said
that this animal destroyed the guilty and spared the innocent.
* Vide the translation into French by L. Serrurier, Leyden, 1875.
f " The Chinese have a tradition that this animal skips, and is so
holy or harmless that it won't even tread upon an insect, and that it is
to come in the shape of an incomparable man, a revealer of mysteries,
supernatural and divine, and a great lover of all mankind, who is
expected to come, about the time of a particular constellation in the
heavens, on a special mission for their benefit. The Japanese unicorn
answers the description of the animal bearing that name, and supposed
to be still extant in Ethiopia, and which is equal to the size of a small
358
MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
This is described in the Chinese work Yuen Kien Lei Han,*
under the name of the Hiai Chai, and similar powers of
discrimination are there attributed to it.
FIG. 84. THE Sz, OR MALAYAN RHINOCEROS. (From the 'JRh Ya.)
horse, reddish in colour, and slender as a gazelle, the male having one
horn. The unicorn is the ancient crest of the kings of Israel, and is still
retained by the Mikado." Epitome of the Ancient History of Japan,
p. 116 ; N. McLeod, Nagasaki, 1875.
* Vol. ccccxxx. p. 18.
THE UNICOBX. 359
A synonym for it was the Chiai Tung. It states that,
according to the Si Yang Y Shu, a one-horned spiritual lamb
was born in the Ping Shen district, and in the twenty-first
year of Kai Yuen. The horn was fleshy, and the top of the
head covered with white hair. The second chapter on the
same subject says that, in ancient times, if parties were at
law, the judge brought this animal out, and it would gore
at the guilty one.
The Kioh Twan is yet another unicorn animal described
in the Yuen Kien Lei Han* which is said to have the
appearance of a deer with the tail of a horse, but to be of a
greenish colour, with one horn above the nose, and to be
capable of traversing eighteen thousand li in one day.
The Li Kau Sing Sha Shao says that the Emperor Yuen
Ti Su sent his ambassadors to the western part of India, who
procured animals several tens of feet in height, f unicorn,
like the rhinoceros. The rumour went that these were
inauspicious for the Emperor, and they were immediately
returned.
The Poh.
The Shan Hal King describes an animal as existing among
the plains of Mongolia, having the appearance of a horse,
with a white body, black tail, one horn, teeth and claws like
a tiger, which howls like the roll of a drum, devours tigers
and leopards, and is capable of being used instead of soldiers ;
it is called Poh.
The 'Bh Ya describes the same animal as like a horse,
with saw teeth, existing on tigers and leopards.
The " History of the North " says that in the Kingdom
of Peh Chi (?) a magistrate named Chung Wa held office,
* Vol. ccccxxxii. p. 38.
f This will have to be reduced by nearly one-half, to equate it with
the present measures of length.
360 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
who was very equitable in his rule. His district was invaded
by some ferocious animals. Suddenly six of the Poh came
and killed and devoured them as a reward for his good rule.
The Sung History says that a man named Leu Chang,
an ambassador, arrived at a district called Shen Su, where
the mountains contained a strange animal, in appearance
like a horse, but capable of eating tigers and leopards.
The people were unacquainted with it, and asked Leu Chang
what it was, who said it was called the Poh, and referred
them to the Shan Hai King for a description of it.
FIG. 85. TARGET IN THE FORM OF A SPHYNX. (From the San Li
The arrows were discharged upwards and fell into the cylinder behind the figure.
Among other remarkable and interesting drawings which
have come down from antiquity in the San Li T'u,* or
illustrated edition of the three (ceremonial) rituals, are some
representing the various targets used by officials of different
* San Li T'u, vol. viii. p. 3. The San Li T'u is an illustrated,
modern, edition by Nieh Tsung I. of the old San Li-, it was written
during the reign of the great patron of literature, Kang Hi (A..D. 1661
to 1723).
THE UNICORN.
361
ranks in the military examinations, in which the arrows had
to be lodged by shooting upwards from a distance. These
are fashioned in the form of animals, one realising the idea
FIG. 86. THE Lu TARGET. (From the San Li T'u.)
of the sphynx, and two representing unicorn animals, called
respectively the Lu which, according to some, is like an ass
with one horn, but, according to others, differing from a
donkey in having a cleft hoof and the Sz, which is said to
be like an ox with one horn.
FIG. 87. THE Sz TARGET. (From the San Li TV)
MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
FIG. 88. THE Too Jou SHBN. (From the Ming Tombs.)
The Too Jou Shen is the name of an animal with a lion-
like body and head, cloven hoofs, and a blunt short horn
projecting from the centre of the fore-
head. Two pairs of these form a
portion of the avenue of stone figures
of animals leading up to the Ming
tombs, about eighty miles north of
Pekin. I have not found it described
in any book.
A writer in the China Review* endea-
vours to prove that the Ki-Lin is a
reminiscence of the giraffe, which he
supposes may once have spread over Asia, and, in addition to
various passages included among those which I have quoted
above, adduces one from the Wu Tsah Tsu, which states that,
" In the period Yung Loh of the Ming dynasty (1403-1425)
a Ki-Lin was caught, and a painter was ordered to make a
sketch and hand it up to the high magistrates. According
to the picture, the body was perfectly shaped like that of a
FIG. 89. THE Too Jou
SHBN.
(From the Ming Tombs.)
Vol. vii. No. 1, p. 72.
THE UNICORN. 363
deer, but the neck was very long, perhaps three or four feet." I
must admit that I cannot agree with him in his conclusions.
Harris* has given much better arguments in favour of the
unicorn being merely a species of oryx. He appears to me,
however, to speak too absolutely, to make his facts too
pliant, and to base his main belief on the untenable theory
that the myth, tradition, or theory is based on the profile
drawing of an oryx, exhibiting one horn only. We might
* Harris, Game and Wild Animals of Southern Africa. The Oryx
Capensis The Gemsbock.
" The figure of the renowned unicorn can be traced in all the ancient
ear-rings, coins, and Latin heraldic insignia, to some one of the
members of the oryxine family ; of all the whimsies of antiquity,
whether emanating from the unbridled and fertile fancies of the people
of Egypt and Persia, or devised by the more chaste and classic taste
which distinguished Greece and Eome, the unicorn unquestionably
the most celebrated is the chimera which has in modern ages engrossed
the largest portion of attention from the curious.
" The rhinoceros is supposed to be the animal so often alluded to in
Scripture under the name of reem or unicorn, yet the combination pre-
sented in the oryx of the antelopine and equine characters, the horns
and cloven hoof of the one, blended with the erect mane, general contour
and long switch tail of the other, corresponds in all essential particulars
with the extant delineations and descriptions of the heraldic unicorn,
which is universally represented to have been possessed of a straight
slender horn, ringed at the base, and to have the hoof divided ; to
have worn a mane reversed, a black flowing tail, and a turkey-like tuft
on the larynx, whilst both the size and ground colour were said to be
those of the ass, with the addition of sundry black markings, imparting
to the face and forehead a piebald appearance.
" The alterations required to reduce the African oryx to the standard
of this model, are slight and simple, nor can it be doubted that they
have been gradually introduced by successive copyists ; the idea of the
single horn having been derived in the first instance from profile repre-
sentations of that animal given in bas-relief on the sculptured monuments
of ancient Egypt and Nubia They have in their aspect a certain
bovine expression ; and Arabs and other natives never consider them
as antelopes but as a species of buffalo The oryx boldly
defends itself when pressed by the hunters, is quarrelsome during the
rutting season, and it is said that even the lion dreads an encounter
with it."
364 MYTHICAL MONSTE&S.
just as soon expect people to start stories of two-legged cows
or horses, or one-legged races of men, if so slender a basis
for forging a species were sufficient. What the zoological
status of the unicorn may be I am not prepared to show, but
I find it impossible to believe that a creature whose existence
has been affirmed by so many authors, at so many different
dates, and from so many different countries, can be, as
mythologists demand, merely the symbol of a myth. There
is a possible solution, which does not appear to have struck
previous writers on the subject, viz., that the unicorn may be
merely a hybrid produced occasionally and at more or less
rare intervals.
By accepting this view we could explain the extraordinary
combinations of character assigned to it, and the discrepancy
which exists between the qualities of courage and gentleness
ascribed to it by Western and Chinese authors. A valuable
chapter remains to be written by naturalists and progression-
ists on the limits within which hybridization exists in a state
of nature among the higher animals ; its prevalence among
the lower and among plants is, of course, well known. A
cross between some equine and cervine species might readily
result in a unicorn offspring, and either the courageous
qualities of the sire* or the gentleness of the dam might
preponderate, according to the relations of the species in
each of the instances.
As an alternative, we may speculate on the unicorn being
a generic name for several distinct species of (probably) now
extinct animals ; missing links between the three families,
the EquidsB, Cervidse, and Bovidse ; creatures which were the
contemporaries of prehistoric man, and which, before they
* Even the patient ass, in a state of nature, is endowed with great
courage. Baharan, one of the early Persian monarchs, received the
surname Baharan Guz from his transfixing, with one arrow, a wild ass
and a lion engaged in active combat.
THE UNICORN. 365
finally expired, attracted the attention of his descendants,
during early historic times, by the rare appearance of a few
surviving individuals.
The supernatural qualities ascribed to these by various
nations must be considered merely the embroidery of fancy,
designed to enrich and adorn an article esteemed rare and
valuable.
MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
CHAPTEK XI.
THE CHINESE PH(ENIX.
FBOM the date of the earliest examination of the literature
of China, it has been customary among Sinologues to trace a
fancied resemblance between a somewhat remarkable bird,
which occupies an important position in the early traditions
of that Empire, and the phoenix of Western authors. Some
mythologists have even subsequently concluded that the
Fung Hwang of the Chinese, the phoenix of the Greeks,
the Roc of the Arabs, and the Garuda of the Hindoos, are
merely national modifications of the same myth. I do not
hold this opinion, and, in opposing it, purpose, in the future,
to discuss each of these birds in detail, although in the
present volume I treat only of the Fung Hwang.
The earliest notice of it is contained in the 'Rh Ya, which,
with its usual brevity, simply informs us that the male is
called Fung and the female Hwang ; the commentator, Kwoh
P'oh, adding that the Shui Ying bird (felicitous and perfect
a synonym for it) has a cock's head, a snake's neck, a
swallow's beak, a tortoise's back, is of five different colours,
and more than six feet high. The ' Rh Ya Chen I, a later
and supplementary edition of the former work, quotes the
Shwoh Wan to the effect that the united name of the male
and female bird is Fung Hwang, and that Tso's commentary
on the 17th year of the Chao, says one appeared in the time
of the Emperor Che (dynastic title, Shaou Haou). The
THE CHINESE PHCEN1X.
367
FIG. W. TEMPLE MEDALS FKOM CHINA: DRAGON AND PHCENIX.
MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
original passage in the Tso Chuen is so interesting that I
quote in extenso Dr. Legge's translation of it :
" When my ancestor, Shaou-Haou Che, succeeded to the
kingdom, there appeared at that time a phoenix, and there-
fore he arranged his government under the nomenclature of
birds, making bird officers, and naming them after birds.
There were so and so Phoenix bird, minister of the calendar ;
so and so Dark bird [the swallow], master of the equinoxes ;
so and so Pih Chaou [the shrike], master of the solstices;
so and so Green bird [a kind of sparrow], master of the
beginning (of spring and autumn) ; and so and so Carnation
bird [the golden pheasant], master of the close (of spring
and autumn). . . . The five Che [Pheasants] presided over
the five classes of mechanics.
4 * So in previous reigns there had been cloud officers, fire
officers, water officers, and dragon officers, according to
omens."
I think there is some connection between this old usage
and the present or late system of tribe totems among the
North American Indians. Thus we have Snake, Tortoise,
Hare Indians, &c., and I hope some day to explain some
of the obscure and apparently impossible passages of the
Shan Hai King, in reference to strange tribes, upon what I
may call the totem theory.
The Kin King, a small work devoted to ornithology, and
professing to date back to the Tsin dynasty [A.D. 265 to
317], opens its pages with a description of the Fung Hwang,
because, as it states, the Fung is the principal of the three
hundred and sixty different species of birds. According to
it, the Fung is like a swan in front and like a Lin behind ;
it enumerates its resemblances pretty much as the commen-
tator in the 'Eh Ya gives them ; but we now find a com-
mencement of extraordinary attributes. Thus the head is
supposed to have impressed on it the Chinese character
expressing virtue, the poll that for uprightness, the back
THE CHINESE PHCENIX. 369
that for humanity ; the heart is supposed to contain that of
sincerity, and the wings to enfold in their clasp that of
integrity ; its foot imprints integrity ; its low notes are
like a bell, its high notes are like a drum. It is said that
it will not peck living grass, and that it contains all the five .
colours.*
When it flies crowds of birds follow. When it appears,
the monarch is an equitable ruler, and the kingdom has
moral principles. It has a synonym, "the felicitous yen. 19
According to the King Shun commentary upon the 'Eh Ya, it
is about six feet in height. The young are called Yoh Shoh,
and it is said that the markings of the five colours only
appear when it is three years of age.f
There appears to have been another bird closely related
to it, which is called the Lwan Shui. This, when first
hatched, resembles the young Fung, but when of mature age
it changes the five colours.
The Shdng Li Ten Wei I says of this, that when the world
is peaceful its notes will be heard like the tolling of a bell, Pien
Lwan [answering to our (t ding-dong "]. During the Chao
dynasty it was customary to hang a bell on the tops of
vehicles, with a sound like that of the Lwan.]: From another
passage we learn that it was supposed to have different names
according to a difference in colour. Thus, when the head '
* Black, red, azure (green, blue, or black), white, yellow.
f Many species of bird do not attain their mature plumage until long
after they have attained adult size, as some among the gulls and birds
of prej . I think I am right in saying that some of these latter only
become perfect in their third year. We all know the story of the ugly
duckling, and the little promise which it gave of its future beauty.
J According to Dr. Williams, the Lwan was a fabulous bird described
as the essence of divine influence, and regarded as the embodiment of
every grace and beauty, and that the argus pheasant was the type
of it.
Dr. Williams says that it was customary to hang little bells from the
phcenix that marked the royal cars,
24
370 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
and wings were red it was called the red Fung ; when blue,
the Yu Siang ; when white, the Hwa Yih ; when black, the
Yin Chu ; when yellow, the To Fu. Another quotation is
to the effect that, when the Fung soars and the Lwan
flies upwards, one hundred birds follow them. It is also
stated that when either the Lwan or the Fung dies, one
hundred birds peck up the earth and bury them.
Another author amplifies the fancied resemblances of the
Fung, for in the Lun Yu Tseh Shwai Shing we find it stated
that it has six resemblances and nine qualities. The former
are : 1st, the head is like heaven ; 2nd, the eye like the
sun ; 3rd, the back is like the moon ; 4th, the wings like
the wind ; 5th, the foot is like the ground ; 6th, the tail is
like the woof. The latter are : 1st, the mouth contains
commands ; 2nd, the heart is conformable to regulations ;
3rd, the ear is thoroughly acute in hearing ; 4th, the tongue
utters sincerity ; 5th, the colour is luminous ; 6th, the comb
resembles uprightness ; 7th, the spur is sharp and curved ;
8th, the voice is sonorous ; 9th, the belly is the treasure of
literature.
When it crows, in walking, it utters " Quai she " [return-
ing joyously] ; when it stops crowing, " T'i fee" [I carry
assistance?]; when it crows at night it exclaims " Sin "
[goodness] ; when in the morning, " Ho si " [I congratulate
the world] ; when during its flight, "Long Tu che wo " [Long
Tu knows me] and " Hwang che chu sz si" [truly Hwang
has come with the Bamboos].* Hence it was that Confucius
wished to live among the nine I [barbarian frontier countries]
following the Fung's pleasure.
The Fung appears to have been fond of music, for, accord-
ing to the Shu King, when you play the flute, in nine cases
out of ten the Fung Wang comes to bear you company ;
while, according to the Odes, or Classic of Poetry, the Fung,
* In reference to Hwang Ti (?) writing the Bamboo Books ?
THE CHINESE PHCENIX. 371
in flying, makes the sound hwui hwui, and its wings carry
it up to the heavens ; and when it sings on the lofty moun-
tain called Kwang, the Wu Tung tree flourishes,* and its
fame spreads over the world.
The presence of the Fung was always an auspicious augury,
and it was supposed that when heaven showed its displea-
sure at the conduct of the people during times of drought,
of destruction of crops by insects (locusts), of disastrous
famines, and of pestilence, the Fung Wang retired from the
civilised country into the desert and forest regions.
It was classed with the dragon, the tortoise, and the
unicorn as a spiritual creature, and its appearance in the
gardens and groves denoted that the princes and monarch
were equitable, and the people submissive and obedient.
Its indigenous home is variously indicated. Thus, in the
Shan Hai King, it is stated to dwell in the Ta Hueh moun-
tains, a range included in the third list of the southern
mountains ; it is also, in the third portion of the same work
(treating of the Great Desert), placed in the south and in
the west of the Great Desert, and more specifically as west
of Kwan Lun.
There is also a tradition that it came from Corea ; and
the celebrated Chinese general, Sieh Jan Kwei, who invaded
and conquered that country in A.D. 668, is said to have
ascended the Fung Hwang mountain there and seen the
phoenix.
According to the Annals of the Bamboo Books phoenixes,
male and female, arrived in the autumn, in the seventh
month, in the fiftieth year of the reign of Hwang Ti (B.C.
2647), and the commentary states that some of them abode
* The Wu Tung is the Eleococca verrucosa, according to Dr. Williams ;
others identify it with the Sterculia platanifolia. There is a Chinese
proverb to the effect that without having Wu Tung trees you cannot
expect to see phcenixes in your garden.
24 *
372 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
in the Emperor's eastern garden ; some built their nests
about the corniced galleries (of the palaces), and some sung
in the courtyard, the females gambolling to the notes of the
males.
The commentary of the same work adds that (among a
variety of prodigies) the phoenix appeared in the seventieth
year of the reign of Yaou (B.C. 2286), and again in the first
year of Shun (B.C. 2255).
Kwoh P'oh states that, during the times of the Han
dynasty (commencing B.C. 206 and lasting until A.D. 23),
the phoenixes appeared constantly.
In these later passages I have adopted the word phoenix,
after Legge and other Sinologues, as a conventional admis-
sion ; but, as will be seen from all the extracts given, there
are but few grounds for identifying it, whether fabulous or
not, with the phoenix of Greek mythology. It reappears in
Japanese tradition under the name of the Ho and (male
and female), and, according to Kempfer, who calls it the
Foo, " it is a chimerical but beautiful large bird of paradise,
of near akin to the phoenix of the ancients. It dwells in
the high regions of the air, and it hath this in common with
the Ki-Rin (the equivalent of the Chinese Ki-Lin), that it
never comes down from thence but upon the birth of a sesin
(a man of incomparable understanding, penetration, and
benevolence) or that of a great emperor, or upon some
such other extraordinary occasion."
It is a common ornamentation in the Japanese temples ;
and I select, as an example, figures from some very beautiful
panels in the Nichi-hong-wanji temple in Kioto. They
depart widely from the original (Chinese) tradition, every
individual presenting a different combination of gorgeous
colours; they only agree in having two long central tail
feathers projecting from a plumose, bird-of-paradise-like
arrangement.
These can only be accepted as the evolution of an artist's
THE CHINESE PHCENIX.
373
fancy ; nor can any opinion be arrived at from the figure of
it illustrating the 'Eh Ya, of which I reproduce a fac-simile.
I have already stated that Kwoh P'oh's illustrations have been
lost.
FIG. 91. THE FUNG HWANG, (from the 'Rh la.)
The frontispiece to this volume is reduced from a large
and very beautiful painting on silk, which I was fortunate
enough to procure in Shanghai, by an artist named Fang
374 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
Heng, otherwise styled Sien Tang ; it professes to be made
according to the designs of ancient books. The original is,
I believe, of some antiquity.
In this case the delineation of the bird shows a combina-
tion of the characters of the peacock, the pheasant, and the
bird of paradise ; the comb is like that of a pheasant. The
tail is adorned with gorgeous eyes, like a peacock's, but
fashioned more like that of an argus pheasant, the two
middle tail feathers projecting beyond the others, while stiff-
ened plumes, as I interpret the intention of the drawing,
are made to project from the sides of the back, and above
the wings, recalling those of the Semioptera Wallacii. The
bird perches, in accordance with tradition, on the Wu-Tung
tree. Without pretending to assert that this is an exact
representation of the Tung, I fancy that it comes nearer to
it than the ordinary Chinese and Japanese representations.
Looking to the history of the appearance of the Fung,
the general description of its characteristics, and disregard-
ing the supernatural qualities with which, probably, Taouist
priests have invested it, I can only regard it as another
example of an interesting and beautiful species of bird which
has become extinct, as the dodo and so many others have,
within historic times.
Its rare appearance and gorgeousness of plumage would
cause its advent on any occasion to be chronicled, and a
servile court would only too readily seize upon this pretext
to flatter the reigning monarch and ascribe to his virtues a
phenomenon which, after all, was purely natural.
APPENDICES,
APPENDIX I.
THE DELUGE TKADITION ACCOKDING TO BEKOSUS.*
"Obartes Elbaratutu being dead, his son Xisuthros (Khasisatra)
reigned eighteen sares (64,800 years). It was under him that the great
Deluge took place, the history of which is told in the sacred documents
as follows : Cronos (Ea) appeared to him in his sleep, and announced
that on the fifteenth of the month of Daisies the Assyrian month
Sivan a little before the summer (solstice) all men should perish by a
flood. He therefore commanded him to take the beginning, the middle,
and the end of whatever was consigned to writing, and to bury it in
the city of the Sun, at Sippara ; then to build a vessel and to enter it
with his family and dearest friends ; to place in this vessel provisions
to eat and drink, and to cause animals, birds, and quadrupeds to enter
it ; lastly, to prepare everything for navigation. And when Xisuthros
inquired in what direction he should steer his bark, he was answered
' Toward the gods,' and enjoined to pray that good might come of it
for men.
"Xisuthros obeyed, and constructed a vessel five stadia long and
five broad ; he collected all that had been prescribed to him, and em-
barked his wife, his children, and his intimate friends.
" The Deluge having come, and soon going down, Xisuthros loosed
some of the birds. These, finding no food nor place to alight on,
returned to the ship. A few days later Xisuthros again let them free,
but they returned again to the vessel, their feet full of mud. Finally,
loosed the third time, the birds came no more back.
" Then Xisuthros understood that the earth was bare. He made an
* Berosus lived in the time of Alexander the Great, or about B.C. 330-260, or 300
years after the Jews were carried captive to Babylon.
376 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
opening in the roof of the ship, and saw that it had grounded on the
top of a mountain. He then descended with his wife, his daughter,
and his pilot, who worshipped the earth, raised an altar, and there
sacrificed to the gods ; at the same moment he vanished with those who
accompanied him.
" Meanwhile those who had remained in the vessel, not seeing
Xisuthros return, descended too, and began to seek him, calling him
by his name. They saw Xisuthros no more ; but a voice from heaven
was heard commanding them piety towards the gods ; that he, indeed,
was receiving the reward of his piety in being carried away to dwell
thenceforth in the midst of the gods, and that his wife, his daughter,
and the pilot of the ship shared the same honour. The voice further
said that they were to return to Babylon, and, conformably to the
decrees of fate, disinter the writings buried at Sippara, in order to
transmit them to men. It added that the country in which they found
themselves was Armenia. These, then, having heard the voice, sacri-
ficed to the gods and returned on foot to Babylon. Of the vessel of
Xisuthros, which had finally landed in Armenia, a portion is still to be
found in the Gordyan mountains in Armenia, and pilgrims bring thence
asphalte that they have scraped from its fragments. It is used to
keep off the influence of witchcraft. As to the companions of Xisuthros,
they came to Babylon, disinterred the writings left at Sippara, founded
numerous cities, built temples, and restored Babylon."
The large amount of work done by the few followers of Xisuthros,
seems very surprising, but easily accounted for if we take the version
of the Deluge given by Nicolaus Damascenus (a philosopher and his-
torian of the age of Augustus, and a friend of Herod the Great).
" He mentions that there is a large mountain in Armenia, which
stands above the country of the Minyae, called Baris. To this it was
said that many people betook themselves in the time of the Deluge,
and were saved. And there is a tradition of one person in particular
floating in an ark, and arriving at the summit of the mountain."*
* Encyclopaedia Britannica.
APPENDIX II. 377
APPENDIX II,
THE DRAGON.
DE NATURA ANIMALIUM.
BOOK II. ch. 26.
The dragon [which is perfectly fearless of beasts], when it hears
the noise of the wings of an eagle, immediately conceals itself in
hiding-places.
BOOK II. ch. 21.
Ethiopia generates dragons reaching thirty paces long; they have
no proper name, but they merely call them slayers of elephants, and
they attain a great age. So far do the ^Ethiopian accounts narrate.
The Phrygian history also states that dragons are born which reach
ten paces in length ; which daily in midsummer, at the hour when the
forum is full of men in assembly, are wont to proceed from their caverns,
and [near the river Rhyndacus], with part of the body on the ground,
and the rest erect, with the neck gently stretched out, and gaping
mouth, attract birds, either by their inspiration, or by some fascina-
tion, and that those which are drawn down by the inhalation of their
breath glide down into their stomach [and that they continue this
until sunset,] but that after that, concealing themselves, they lay in
ambush for the herds returning from the pasture to the stable, and
inflict much injury, often killing the herdsmen and gorging themselves
with food.
BOOK VI. ch. 4.
When dragons are about to eat fruit they suck the juice of the
wild chicory, because this affords them a sovereign remedy against
inflation. When they purpose lying in wait for a man or a beast,
they eat deadly roots and herbs ; a thing not unknown to Homer, for
he makes mention of the dragon, who, lingering and twisting himself
in front of his den, devoured noxious herbs.
378 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
BOOK VI. ch. 21.
In India, as I am told, there is great enmity between the dragon
and elephant. Wherefore the dragons, aware that elephants are
accustomed to pluck off boughs from trees for food, coil themselves
beforehand in these trees, folding the tail half of their body round
the limbs, and leaving the front half hanging like a rope. When
an elephant approaches for the purpose of browsing on the young
branches, the dragon leaping on him, tears out his eyes, and then
squeezing his neck with his front part and lashing him with his tail,
strangles him in this strange kind of noose.
BOOK VI. ch. 22.
The elephant has a great horror of the dragon.
BOOK VI. ch. 17.
In Idumea, or Judaea, during Herod's power, according to the
statement of the natives of the country, a very beautiful, and just
adolescent, woman, was beloved by a dragon of exceptional magnitude ;
who visited her betimes and slept with her as a lover. She, indeed,
although her lover crept towards her as gently and quietly as lay in
his power, yet utterly alarmed, withdrew herself from him ; and to the
end that a forgetfulness of his passion might result from the absence
of his mistress, absented herself for the space of a month.
But the desire of the absent one was increased in him, and his
amatory disposition was daily so far aggravated that he frequently
came both by day and night to that spot, where he had been wont to
be with the maiden, and when unable to meet with his inamorata,
was afflicted with a terrible grief. After the girl returned, angry at
being, as it were spurned, he coiled himself round her body, and softly
and gently chastised her on the legs.
BOOK VI. ch. 63.
A dragon whelp, born in Arcadia, was brought up with an Arcadian
child ; and in process of time, when both were older, they entertained a
mutual affection for one another. The friends of the boy, seeing how
the dragon had increased in magnitude in so short a time, carried him,
while sleeping with the boy in the same bed, to a remote spot, and,
leaving him there, brought the boy back. The dragon thereon remained
in the wood [feeding on growing plants and poisons], preferring a soli-
tary life to one in towns and [human] habitations. Time having rolled
on, and the boy having attained youth, and the dragon maturity, the
former, while travelling upon one occasion through the wilds in the
neighbourhood of his friend, fell among robbers, who attacked him
with drawn swords, and being struck, either from pain, or in the hopes
APPENDIX II. 379
of assistance, cried out. The dragon being a beast of acute hearing and
sharp vision, as soon as he heard the lad with whom he had been brought
up, gave a hiss in expression of his anger, and so struck them with fear,
that the trembling robbers dispersed in different directions, whom
having caught, he destroyed by a terrible death. Afterwards, having
cared for the wounds of his ancient friend, and escorted him through
the places infested with serpents, he returned to the spot where he
himself had been exposed not showing any anger towards him on
account of his having been expelled into solitude, nor because ill-feeling
men had abandoned an old friend in danger.
BOOK VIII. ch. 11.
Hegemon, in his Dardanic verses, among other things mentions,
concerning the Thessalian Alevus, that a dragon conceived an affec-
tion for him. Alevus possessed, as Hegemon states, golden hair,
which I should call yellow, and pastured cattle upon Ossa near the
Thessalian spring called Hsemonium [as Anchises formerly did on
Ida]. A dragon of great size fell violently in love with him, and
used to crawl up gently to him, kiss his hair, cleanse his face by
licking it with his tongue, and bring him various spoils from the
chase.
BOOK X. ch. 25.
Beyond the Oasis of Egypt there is a great desert which extends
for seven days' journey, succeeded by a region inhabited by the Cyno-
prosopi, on the way to .^Ethiopia. These live by the chase of goats
and antelopes. They are black, with the head and teeth of a dog, of
which animal, in this connection, the mention is not to be looked upon
as absurd, for they lack the power of speech, and utter a shrill hissing
sound, and have a beard above and below the mouth like a dragon ;
their hands are armed with strong and sharp nails, and the body is
equally hairy with that of dogs.
BOOK X. ch. 48.
Lycaonus, King of Emathia, had a sou named Macedon, from
whom eventually the country was called, the old name becoming obso-
lete. Now, one of Macedon's sons, named Pindus, was indued both with
strength of mind and innate probity, as well as a handsome person,
whereas his other children were constituted with mean minds and less
vigorous bodies.
When, therefore, these latter perceived Pindus' s virtue and other
gifts, they not only oppressed him, but in the end ruined themselves in
punishment for so great a crime.
Pindus, perceiving that plots were laid for him by his brothers,
abandoning the kingdom which he had received from his father, and
380 MYTHICAL MONSTEES.
being robust and taking pleasure in hunting, not only took to it himself,
but led the others to follow his example.
Upon one occasion he was pursuing some young mules, and, spurring
his horse to the top of its powers, drew away a long distance from
those who were hunting with him. The mules passing into a deep
cavern, escaped the sight of their pursuer, and preserved themselves
from danger. He leaped down from the horse, which he tied to the
nearest tree, and whilst he was seeking with his utmost ability to dis-
cover the mules, and probing the dens with his hands, heard a voice
warning him not to touch the mules. Wherefore, when he had long
and carefully looked about, and could see no one, he feared that the
voice was the result of some greater cause, and, mounting his horse,
left the place. On the next day he returned to the spot, but, deterred
by the remembrance of the voice he had heard, he did not enter the
place where they had concealed themselves.
When, therefore, he was cogitating as to who had warned him from
following his prey, and, as it appeared, was looking out for mountain
shepherds, or hunters, or some cottage a dragon of unusual magnitude
appeared to him, creeping softly with a great part of its body, but
raising up its neck and head a little way, as if stretching himself
but his neck and head were of such height as to equal that of the tallest
man.
Although Pindus was alarmed at the sight, he did not take to flight,
but, rallying himself from his great terror, wisely endeavoured to appease
the beast by giving him to eat the birds he had caught, as the price of
his redemption.
He, cajoled by the gifts and baits, or, as I may say, touched, left the
spot. This was so pleasing to Pindus, that, as an honourable man,
and grateful for his escape, he .carried to the dragon, as a thank-
offering, whatever he could procure from his mountain chases, or by
fowling.
Nor were these gifts from his booty without return, for fortune
became immediately more favourable to him, and he achieved success
in all his hunting, whether he pursued ground or winged game.
Wherefore he achieved a great reputation, both for finding and quickly
catching game.
Now, he was so tall that he caused terror from his bulk, while from
his excellent constitution and beautiful countenance he inflamed women
with so violent an affection for him, that the unmarried, as if they
were furious and bacchantes, joined his hunting expeditions; and
married women, under the guardianship of husbands, preferred passing
their time with him, to being reported among the number of goddesses.
And, for the most part, men also esteemed him highly, as his virtue
and appearance attracted universal admiration. His brothers only held
a hostile and inimical feeling towards him. Wherefore upon a certain
APPENDIX II. 381
occasion they attacked him from an ainbush, when he was hunting
alone, and having driven him into the denies of a river close by, when
he was removed from all help, attacked him with drawn swords and
slew him.
When the dragon heard its friend's outcries (for it is an animal with
as sharp a sense of hearing as it has quickness of vision), it issued from
its lair, and at once, casting its coils round the impious wretches,
suffocated them.
It did not desist from watching over its slain [friend] with the
utmost care, until those nearest related to the deceased came to him,
as he was lying on the ground ; but nevertheless, although clad in
proper mourning, they were prevented through fear of the custodian
from approaching and interring the dead with proper rites, until it,
understanding from its profound and wonderful nature, that it was
keeping them at a distance, quietly departed from its guard and station
near the body, in order that it might receive the last tokens of esteem
from the bystanders without any interruption.
Splendid obsequies were performed, and the river where the murder
was effected received its name from the dead man.
It is therefore a peculiarity of these beasts to be grateful to those
from whom they may have received favours.
BOOK XI. ch. 2. Dragon Sacred to Apollo.
The Epirotes, both at home and abroad, sacrifice to Apollo, and
solemnise with extreme magnificence a feast yearly in his honour,
There is a grove among them sacred to the god, and inclosed with a
wall, within which are dragons, pleasing to the god. Hither a sacred
virgin comes alone, naked, and presents food to the dragons. The
Epirotes say that these are descended from the Delphic python. If
they regarded the virgin ministering to them with favour, and took the \
food promptly, they were believed to portend a fertile and healthful
year ; if they were rude towards her, and would not accept the proffered
food, some predicted, or at least expected, the contrary for the coming
year.
BOOK II. ch. 16. Dragon in Lavinium.
There is a peculiar divination of the dragon, for in Lavinium, a town
of the Latins but in Lavinium, there is a large and dense sacred grove,
and near it the shrine of the Argolic Juno. Within the grove is a cave
and deep den, the lair of a dragon.
Sacred virgins enter this grove on stated days, who carry a barley
cake in their hands, with bandaged eyes. A certain divine afflatus
leads them accurately to the den, and gently, and step by step, they
proceed without hindrance, and as if their eyes were uncovered. If
they are virgins, the dragon admits the food as pure and fit for a deity.
382 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
If otherwise, it does not touch, it, perceiving and divining them to be
impure.
Ants, for the sake of cleansing the place, carry from the grove the
cake left by the vitiated virgin, broken into little pieces, so that they
may easily carry it. When this happens, it is perceived by the inha-
bitants, and those who have entered are pointed out and examined, and
whoever proves to have forfeited her virginity is punished with the
penalties appointed by the laws.
" The masculine sex also seems to be privileged by nature among
brutes, inasmuch as the male dragon is distinguished by a crest and
hairs, with a beard."
BOOK XVI. ch. 39.
Onesicritus Astypalseus writes that there were two dragons in India
[nurtured by an Indian dancer], one of forty-six and the other of eighty
cubits, and that Alexander (Philip's son) earnestly endeavoured to see
them. It is affirmed in Egyptian books that, during the reign of Phil-
adelphus, two dragons were brought from Ethiopia into Philadelphia
alive, one forty, the other thirty cubits in magnitude.
Three were also brought in the time of King Evergetis, one nine and
another seven cubits. The Egyptians say that the third was preserved
with great care in the temple of ^Esculapius.
It is also said that there are asps of four cubits in length. Those
who write the history of the affairs of Chios say that a dragon of
extreme magnitude was produced in a valley, densely crowded and
gloomy with tall trees, of the Mount Pelienaeus in that island, whose
hissing struck the Chians with horror.
As none either of the husbandmen or shepherds . dare, by approach-
ing near, estimate its magnitude, but from its hissing judged it to be
a large and formidable beast, at length its size became known by a
remarkable accident. For the trees of the valley being struck by a
very strong wind, and the branches ignited by the friction, a great
fire thence arising, embraced the whole spot, and surrounded the
beast, which, being unable to escape, was consumed by the ardour of
the flame. By these means all things were rendered visible in the
denuded place, and the Chians freed, from their alarms, came to inves-
tigate, and lighted on bones of unusual magnitude, and an immense
head, from which they were enabled to conjecture its dimensions when
living.
BOOK XI. ch. 17.
Homer was not rash in his line,
Terrible are the gods when they manifest themselves.
For the dragon, while sacred and to be worshipped, has within himself
something still more of the divine nature of which it is better to remain
in ignorance.
APPENDIX II. 383
Indeed, a dragon received divine honours in a certain tower in
Melita in Egypt. He had his priests and ministers, his table and
bowl. Every day they filled the bowl with flour kneaded with honey,
and went away ; returning on the following day, they found the bowl
empty.
Upon one occasion, a man of illustrious birth, who entertained an
intense desire of seeing the dragon, having entered alone, and placed
the food, went out ; and when the dragon commenced to feed at the
table, he opened suddenly and noisily the doors, which according to
custom he had closed.
The dragon indignantly left ; but he who had desired to see him, to
his own destruction, being seized with an affliction of the mind, and
having confessed his crime, presently lost his speech, and shortly after
died.
BOOK XII. ch. 39.
When Halia, the daughter of Sybasis, had entered the grove of
Diana in Phrygia, a certain sacred dragon of large size appeared and
copulated with her ; whence the Ophiogense deduce the origin of their
race.
BOOK XV. ch. 21. Concerning the Indian Dragon.
Alexander (while he attacked or devastated some portions of India,
and also seized others), lighted on, among other numerous animals, a
dragon, which the Indians, because they considered it to be sacred, and
worshipped it with great reverence, in a certain cave, besought him
with many entreaties to let alone, which he agreed to. However, when
the dragon heard the noise made by the passing army (for it is an
animal endowed with a very acute sense of hearing as well as of vision) ,
it frightened and alarmed them all with a great hissing and blowing.
It was said to be seventy cubits long.
It did not, however, show the whole of itself, but only exposed its
head from the cave. Its eyes were said to have been of the size (and
rotundity) of a Macedonian shield.
384 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
APPENDIX III.
ORIGINAL PREFACE TO " WONDERS BY LAND AND SEA "
("SHAN HAI KING").
The Classic containing " Wonders by Land and Sea " has been
praised by all who have read it, for its depth, greatness, far sighted-
ness and completeness ; since the narratives therein contained are all
wonderful and different from ordinary things. Moreover, the truth or
veracity of the book is a matter of doubt to nearly all men, and I there-
fore think it fit that I should give my opinion on the subject. It has
been said by the philosopher Chuang that " the things that men do know
can in no way be compared, numerically speaking, to the things that are
unknown," thus in reading " Wonders by Land and Sea," the force of
his remark becomes apparent to me.
Now, since heaven and earth are vast, it follows that the beings which
inhabit them must reasonably be numerous. The positive and nega-
tive elements being heated by vernal warmth, produce myriads of
living beings of classes innumerable. When the essence of ether
combines, motion becomes apparent and generates into wondrous and
roving spirits, which, floating about and coming into contact with
anything, enter into it and thus create wonderful beings, whether
they be inhabitants of mountain or sea, or wood or stone; yea, so
numerous are they, that it is an impossible task for me to give them
in detail.
The evolution of the essence of the elements generates sound, which
by development produces a certain image. When we call a thing won-
derful, it is because we do not know the reasons attending its origin,
and what we do not call wonderful, we still are unaware why it is not
so. And why ? A thing is, per se, not wonderful, it is because we wish
to consider it so ; the wonder is in ourselves and not in the thing. For
instance, when a savage looks at the cotton cloth we wear, he calls it
hemp ; and when an inhabitant of Yiich (Soochow and vicinity) sees a
rug, he calls it fur or hair. The reason may be found in this : we
believe only those things to which we have been educated, and any-
APPENDIX III. 385
thing which might not be perfectly understood by us we deem won-
derful. Hence the shortsightedness of human nature. I will now give
a passing remark of what is known amongst us. A place called Ping
Shui (?) produces fire, while the Yen mountain produces rats. Now all
men know these facts, and ^yet when we read and speak of the classic
treating of the " Wonders by Land and Sea," we call it wonderful !
When a thing is really wonderful, we do not consider it so ; and what is
not wonderful, we persist in considering it to be so. Such being the
case, if, what should be wondered at, we do not call it so, then there
cannot be a single wonder in the whole Universe ; and if we call a thing
wonderful which in truth is not so, then up to the present time there
can be nothing wonderful. Moreover, if what is unknowable appears
clear to our minds, it follows that all things on earth should be under-
stood by us.
According to the Bamboo Annals of Chi Chuen, and the records of
King Miih, it is said that when that King went to visit the Fairy
Queen of the West, he took with him as gifts to her, beautiful jade
stones, and the best of raw and embroidered silks ; while, on the other
hand, the Fairy Queen gave a banquet in honour of the King, on the
banks of the lake formed by white jade stones. During the banquet
they composed and spoke their thoughts in verse, and the sentiments
embodied therein were beautiful. Then the royal pair repaired to the
hillock adjoining the Kiien Lun mountain, and roamed over the palaces
of King Hsiien Yuan, which were situated there, and thence to the
artificial terraces of the Chung hill, and gazed on the precious and
wonderful things collected by that king. Returning to the residence
of the Fairy Queen, King Miih had a stone tablet engraved recording
the event, and erected it in the Queen's magic garden. On King
Miih's return home, he brought with him to the Middle Kingdom
beautiful wood and magnificent flowers, precious stones and elegant
jades, golden oils and silver candles. In his travels, King Miih rode
in a chariot drawn by eight splendid horses ; the right-hand horses
were of a dark colour, while those on the left hand were greenish.
Tsao Fu was the charioteer, and Pen Yung, who stood on the King's
right, was the body-guard. Myriads of Us could thus be traversed.
They went over barren wastes and over celebrated mountains and large
rivers, yet none of them barred their onward course. To the east
they came across the Halls of the G-iants ; to the west they arrived at
the mansions of the Fairy Queen ; to the south they crossed over a
bridge composed of immense tortoises ; and to the north they drove
over streets made of layers of feathers. Traversing these, then, King
Miih commenced his journey homeward full of joy. History informs
us that " King Miih, riding in a chariot drawn by eight magnificent
horses, with Tsao Fu as charioteer, made a journey to the west, in
search of adventures in hunting, and, coming to the Fairy Queen of
25
386 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
the West, was so happy, that he almost forgot to return home." These
words are similar to those recorded in the " Bamboo Annals " of Chi
Chuen. The classic called " Spring and Autumn," says that " King
Miih was a man of vast ambition, and desired that the whole world
should bear the tracks of his cart-wheels, and receive the imprints of
his horse's hoof," and the " Bamboo Annals " illustrate this ambition.
The disciples of Ts'ian Chow were all eminent scholars of famous
attainments, but they were all sceptical as to the veracity of the adven-
tures of King Miih, and say that in looking over history they are con-
vinced of their fallacy. Sz Ma Tseen also, in writing the preface to the
" Eecords of Ta Wan," says that when Chang Ch'ien went on his mission
to Ta Hsia, he traversed the whole length of the Huang Ho up to its
very source, but never came across the Kiien Lun mountain. Moreover,
Sz Ma Tseen in his own history also says, in referring to the " Book of
Wonders by Land and Sea," that, "As to the wonders described in
that work, I, for my part, dare not vouch for their truth." In the face,
therefore, of all these authorities, is it not a hard task for me to prove
the contrary ? If the " Bamboo Annals " of a thousand years ago be
not taken at the present day as a truthful record of the past, then,
indeed, most of the narratives contained in the " Book of Wonders by
Land and Sea " must be false. Now, Tung Fang Shun knew of Pe
Fang ; Lin Tsz Chen proved satisfactorily the existence of Tao Chea
by a corpse from that kingdom. Wang Ch'i had an interview with men
having two distinct faces on their heads, and a man from the sea coast
picked up a dress having two very long sleeves. In carefully studying,
therefore, these books, I am convinced that their stories mainly coincide
with the tales in the " Book of Wonders by Land and Sea." Behold
these evidences then, ye who doubt, and place some credence in the
narrations contained in this book.
The Sage King made exhaustive researches into these wondrous
beings, and then drew their images. It is indeed impossible to hide
the existence of these wonders ! The " Book of Wonders by Land and
Sea" was compiled seven dynasties ago (up to the Tsin dynasty),
a space of 3,000 years. During the Han dynasty this book received
the closest attention, and was elucidated for the benefit of its readers ;
but shortly after it again fell into neglect. Moreover, since then, the
names of some mountains and rivers have undergone changes. At the
present day, teachers and expounders are unable to explain these
wonders, and hence through disuse their reasons given at an earlier
age have almost sunk into oblivion. Alas, for the loss of Reason!
Fearing, therefore, that it will be entirely lost, I have written the
accompanying work, making lucid the points that are obscure, and
erasing those that are useless ; pointing out what would not be
noticeable, and explaining the parts that are deep. I shall endeavour
to reclaim what has almost become obsolete, that it may stand for
APPENDIX III. 387
thousand of ages, and the wonders herein recorded shall not, from the
present day, be lost. Thus the works of the Emperor Yii of the Hsia
dynasty will not be lost in the future, and the records of the Barren
Wastes beyond the boundaries of this Empire will be transmitted to
posterity. Will not this be a laudable object ?
Insects that spring from grassy ground cannot soar as high as the
birds of the air, nor can the living beings that inhabit the sea rise
up heavenwards like the dragon. A man of medium abilities in music
can never be a member of the Orchestra in the Halls of Chuen Tien,
nor can the water-buffalo traverse the watery deeps to which even
ships dare not venture. Hence, unless a person be of the highest
understanding, it would be a hard task to converse with him intelli-
gently of the " Wonders by Land and Sea." And I sigh because it is
only the learned and intelligent man that can read understandingly the
tales in this work.
KWOH P'OH,
Assistant Secretary and an Official of the 6th Rank,
of the Tsin Dynasty.
25
388 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
APPENDIX IV.
A MEMORIAL PRESENTED BY LIU HSITJ, BY ORDER OF
HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY THE EMPEROR, ON THE
"BOOK OF WONDERS BY LAND AND SEA."
The Memorialist, an officer of the Fourth Rank and Charioteer
to His Majesty the Emperor, having received commands to comment
upon and make right wonderful books, now reports that an officer
named Wang, a subordinate in the Board of Civil Office, had already
made comments and set right thirty -two chapters of the "Book of
Wonders by Land and Sea," but which the memorialist has reduced to
eighteen chapters. This book was compiled during the time of the
three Emperors (Yao, Shun, and Yii). At that time there was a great
flood, insomuch that the people had no places to live, but only in caves
and holes in the rocks, and upon the tops of trees.
The father of Yii, by name K'un, being ordered by the Emperor
to assuage the floods, was unable to do so ; the Emperor Yao therefore
ordered Yii, the son, to do so. Yii used four things in his journey
around to make the floods flow away. He first cut away the trees on
high mountains to obtain a view of the surrounding country ; and having
settled as to which was the highest mountain, and which the largest
river, Yih and Peh Ye undertook to drive away the wild beasts and
birds abounding in the country, and named the mountains and rivers,
and classified the fauna of the country, and pointed out which was
water and which was land. The feudal lords assisted Yii in his work,
and thus he traversed the four quarters of the Empire, where foot-
print of man seldom could be found, and where boats and carts scarcely
reached. He named the five mountain divisions of the Empire and
eight seas that bound it. He noted where each kind of precious stone
could be found, and the wonderful things he had seen. The abode of
animals of land and sea, flora of the country, birds of the air, and
beasts of the field, worms, the unicorn, and the phoenix, all these he
fixed, and also made known their hiding-places ; also the furthest
removed kingdom of the earth, and men who were different from
APPENDIX IV. 389
human beings. Yii divided the Empire into nine divisions, and deter-
mined upon the tribute to be given by each division, and Yih and his
comrade noted which was hurtful and which was harmless for the
" Book of Wonders by Land and Sea."
All the deeds handed down to us of the sages are clearly noted
in the Maxims of the Ancients. The work therein expressed is a
matter that can be believed in. During the reign of Shiao Wu
there was commonly seen a rare bird, which would eat nothing.
Tung Fang Suh saw this bird, and gave its name ; he also told what
it would eat. His words being attended to, the bird ate what was given
it. Someone asked Suh how he knew of it ; he said he had read of the
bird in the " Book of Wonders by Land and Sea." During the reign
of Shiao Hsiien, a large stone was broken in Shang Chuen, which
then sank into the ground and displayed a house of stone ; in the house
was a man of Tao Chia, with his arms tied. At that time the memo-
rialist's father, named Hsiang, was a Censor, and he said that this
Tao Chia man was a traitor to his king. Being questioned by the Em-
peror how he could know it, he said that he had read of it in the " Book
of Wonders by Land and Sea," which says, " A traitor having killed his
king in Tao Yii, he was chained and confined in a mountain, his right
leg was cut off, and both his arms tied behind his back." The Emperor
was much surprised at this. All scholars acknowledge that this book
is perfectly wonderful, and all intelligent men should read it, and be
able to speak upon these wonderful beings and things, and learn the
customs of far-off kingdoms and their inhabitants. Hence the Yi
King says, " In speaking of the products of the empire, care should be
taken to avoid confusion,'* and learned men, therefore, may not be
doubtful.
A memorial presented to the Throne by
LIU HSIU.
390 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
APPENDIX V.
AFTEE PEEFACE TO THE " BOOK OF WONDEES BY
LAND AND SEA."
In the sayings of the philosopher Tso, the following remarks may
be found : " Virtue existed during the times of the Hsia dynasty ;
drawings of all animals far and wide were made, and the metal from
which the urn was made, for the purpose of engraving thereon the
images of these animals, was presented as tribute by the feudal lords of
the Nine Kingdoms. This urn contained the images of all manner and
kinds of animals. This was for the purpose of letting the people know
about their existence, so that they might avoid them in entering the
mountains and forests, and the genii of the mountains and rivers.
Hence the object of the classic treating on the ' Wonders by Land and
Sea.' " When Yii assuaged the floods, the Emperor presented him
with a red-coloured wand made of jadestones, and then abdicated his
throne in his favour ; on this account he ordered a tribute of metals
from the feudal lords of the Nine Kingdoms, wherewith to cast the urn,
on which were engraved all kinds of animals from far and wide, such
as the wonderful animals and beings of mountains, rivers, grass, and
wood, as well as the wonders to be found among walking animals and
inhabitants of the air. Yii, when Emperor, caused the forms of these
wonders to be described, how produced, and their natures ; he also had
them classified. When he had described those wonders, whether seen
or heard of, or common or uncommon, or rarely heard of, all these he
had described minutely, whereby, when the people heard of them, an
exceeding fear fell on them. All animals and beings that were common
in those days were described in the Annals of Yii, but such as were
wonderful and rare were engraved on the nine urns. These urns when
completed were placed in those parts of the empire where these
wonders originally came from, in order that the people of that age
might learn and see daily the things that were either heard of or seen
by others.
The things brought by tribute -bearers from afar were also added
APPENDIX V. 391
unto the nine urns. Indeed, this made wonders an ordinary matter.
That the people might learn these things was the idea of the sage
King Yii. Hence, even though at that time all things were described
honestly, still the works of that period are far deeper than those of the
Chow dynasty. At the time of the last Emperor of the Hsia dynasty,
the historiographer Chung Ku, fearing that that Emperor might destroy
the books treating of the ancient and present time, carried them in
flight to Yin. History also says that K'ung Kiah compiled into a book
all the things that were engraved on the vases and dishes from the
time of Hwang Ti and his ministers, Yao and Sz. And the Annals
treating on the animals described on the nine urns were due to such
men as Chung Ku and K'ung Kiah. These Annals are now known as
the classic treating on " Wonders by Land and Sea." The nine urns
were extinct at the time of Tsing, but the pictures and classic still
existed. During the Tsin dynasty, T'ao Chang and his school of poets
gazed upon the pictures of the " Wonders of Land and Sea." In the
" Seven Commentaries " of the Yuen family, there is observed a case
of Chang Sun Yao's pictures of these wonders. These cases may be
cited as proofs of the authenticity of the wonders. At the present
time, the classic treating on these wonders still exists, but the pictures
have become extinct. This classic has been treated upon and com-
mented on and made intelligent by the people that have come after it,
insomuch that the names of different districts of the Tsing and Han
dynasties have been made to correspond with some of the names
mentioned in the " Book of Wonders by Land and Sea." Hence the
readers of this book are divided into the believing and the doubting.
The believers base their belief upon the fact that it was the Emperor
Yii who compiled it and explained its origin. The doubtful base their
doubt on the probable fact of the book having been written by people
who existed after Yu, and therefore unreasonable. This is indeed a
base calumny. Liu Hsiu of the Han dynasty makes mention of the
book in his seven chapters treating on it. And his style of composi-
tion might be said to be very ancient. Kwoh P'oh of the Tsin dynasty
in his preface and notes on this book, states these wonders. The honour
of transmitting this book to posterity is due to Liu Hsiu and Kwoh
P'oh ; but, to prevent learners from considering that the notes made by
the two scholars are of no importance, I have therefore written this
preface.
YANG SUN,
Of the Ming Dynasty.
392 MFTHICAL MONSTERS.
APPENDIX VI.
EXTRACTS FROM "SOCIAL LIFE OF THE CHINESE,"
BY JUSTUS DOOLITTLE.
Ch. II., p. 264.
" The dragon holds a remarkable position in the history and govern-
ment of China. It also enjoys an ominous eminence in the affections
of the Chinese people. It is frequently represented as the great bene-
factor of mankind. It is the dragon which causes the clouds to form
and the rain to fall. The Chinese delight in praising its wonderful
properties and powers. It is the venerated symbol of good.
" The Emperor appropriates to himself the use of the true dragon,
the one which has five claws on each of its four feet. On his dress of
state is embroidered a likeness of the dragon. His throne is styled
'the dragon's seat/ His bedstead is the l dragon's bedstead.' His
countenance is ' the dragon's face.' His eyes are ' the dragon's eyes.'
'\ His beard is ' the dragon's beard.'
" The true dragon, it is affirmed, never renders itself visible to mortal
vision wholly at once. If its head is seen, its tail is obscured or hidden.
If it exposes its tail to the eyes of man, it is careful to keep its head
out of sight. It is always accompanied by or enshrouded in, clouds,
when it becomes visible in any of its parts. Water-spouts are
believed by some Chinese to be occasioned by the ascent and descent of
the dragon. Fishermen and residents on the border of the ocean are
reported to catch occasional glimpses of the dragon ascending from the
water and descending to it.
" It is represented as having scales, and without ears ; from its fore-
head two horns project upwards. Its organ of hearing seems to be
located in these horns, for it is asserted that it hears through them. It
is regarded as the king of fishes.
Proclamations emanating directly from the Emperor, and published
on yellow paper, sometimes have the likenesses of two dragons facing
each other, and grasping or playing with a pearl, of which the dragon
is believed to be very fond.
APPENDIX VI. 393
Oh. II. p. 338.
" The sagacious geomancer is also careful to observe the mountain or
hill on the right and left sides of the spot for a lucky grave. The left-
hand side is called the black dragon ; the right-hand side is called
the white tiger. The lucky prospects, in a Chinese sense, on the hills
situated to the left, should clearly surpass the prospects of the hills
on the right. And the reason for this is manifest, for the black dragon
is naturally weaker than the white tiger.
Ch. I. p. 275.
r
" The common belief is that the dragon and the tiger always fight
when they meet ; and that when the dragon moves, the clouds will
ascend and rain will soon fall.
" Hence, in a time of drought, if the bones of a tiger should be let
down into this well called the ' dragon's well,' and kept there for three
days at the most, there will, it is sagely affirmed, most likely be rain
soon.
" The tiger's bones are used to stir up or excite the dragon."
394 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
APPENDIX VII.
EXTEACTS FKOM THE " PAN TSAOU KANG MU."
THE KiAO-LuNG. (The four-footed coiled Dragon. The Iguanodon.
Eitel.)
This animal, according to Shi Chan, belongs to the dragon family.
Its eye-brows are crossed, hence its name signifies " the crossed reptile."
The scaled variety is called the Xiao-Lung, the winged the Ying-Lung.
The horned kind are called K'iu, the hornless kind Li. In Indian
books it is called Kwan-P'i-Lo.
Shi Chan, quoting from the Kwan Cheu Ki, says : " The Iguanodon (?)
is more than twelve feet long ; it resembles a snake, it has four feet,
and is broad like a shield. It has a small head and a slender neck, the
latter being covered with numerous protuberances. The front of its
breast is of a red colour, its back is variegated with green, and its sides
as if embroidered. Its tail is composed of fleshy rings ; the larger ones
are several. Its eggs are also large. It can induce fish to fly, but if a
turtle is present they will not do so.
" The Emperor Chao, of the Han, when fishing in the river Wei,
caught a white Iguanodon. It resembled a snake, but was without
scales. Its head was composed of soft flesh, and tusks issued from the
mouth. The Emperor ordered his ministers to get it preserved. Its
flesh is delicious ; bones green, flesh red."
From the above it may be seen the Iguanodon is edible.
THE CEOCODILE.
"The T'o Fish, we call it the Earth Dragon, and have correctly
written the character. It resembles the dragon, its voice is terrible,
APPENDIX VII. 395
and its length is a ctiang (a hundred and forty-one English inches).
When it breathes it forms clouds, which condense into rain. Being
a dragon, the term ' fish ' should be done away with."
Shi Chan says the To character in appearance resembles the head,
the belly, and the tail. One author says that an animal, which is
identified with the crocodile, is found in the lagoons and marshes of
the Southern Sea, at no fixed time. Its skin is made into drums. It
is very tenacious of life. Before it can be flayed quantities of boiling
water have to be poured down its throat. Another author states that
the crocodile is of a sleepy disposition, with the eyes (nearly) always
shut. It is of immense strength. It frequently dashes itself against
the river bank. Men dig them out of their caves. If a hundred men
dig them out, a hundred men will be required to pull them out ; but if
one man dig, one man may pull them out ; but the event in either case
is very uncertain. Another author states that recently there were found
in the lakes and estuaries many animals resembling lizards and pango-
lins in appearance, which utter dreadful cries during the night, to the
great terror of sailors. Shi Chan says crocodiles' dens are very deep,
and that bamboo ropes are baited in order to catch him ; after he has
swallowed the bait he is gradually pulled out. He flies zigzag, but
cannot fly upwards. His roar is like a drum's, and he responds to the
striking of the watches of the night, which is called the crocodile drum,
or the crocodile watch. The common people, when they hear it, predict
rain. The nape of the neck is bright and glistening, more brilliant
than those of fish. It lays a large number of eggs, as many as a
hundred, which it sometimes eats. The people of the South appreciate
the flesh, and use it at marriage festivities. One author states that the
crocodile has twelve different varieties of delicious flesh ; but the tail,
like serpent's flesh, is very poisonous. The crocodile's flesh cures quite
a host of diseases.
THE JAN SHE, or SOUTHEEN SNAKE. (Mai-Teu-She= closed up
(concealed) head snake.)
Shi Chan says : " This snake is a reptile (having a wriggling motion).
Its body is immense, and its motion is wrig-wriggling (jan-jan)* and
slow ; hence its name, Jan-She. Another author says its scales have
hair like moustaches (jan). It lives in Kwangtung and Kwangsi
(literally, South of the Hills). Those that do not lift their head are
the true kind ; in this way they were called the ' Concealed Head
Snake.' "
* Jan-jan means a gradual but imperceptible advance.
396 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
Sung quotes T'ao Hung King to the effect that its habitat is in Tsin-
ngan (Fukien), and also Su Kung, who says that it is found in
Kweicheu and Kwangcheu, towards the south, at Kaocheu and Hoiin.
At several places in the south of the Hills they are still found. Hung
King says the large ones (in their coils ?) are several fathoms in cir-
cumference. Those that walk without raising their heads are the
genuine ones. Those that conceal their heads are not genuine. Its
fat and gall can be mixed together. The large ones are more than a
foot in diameter and more than twelve feet long. It is a snake, but it
is short and bulky. Su Kung remarks that its form resembles a
mullet's and its head a crocodile's. Its tail is round and without scales.
It is very tenacious of life. The natives cut up its flesh into slices, and
esteem it as a great delicacy. Another says : When steeped in vinegar
the slices curl round the chop-sticks, and cannot be released ; but
when the chop- sticks are made of grass stems (mong'tsd), then it is
practicable.
Another says : " This snake is a hundred and forty-four feet long ;
it often swallows a deer. When the deer is completely digested, then
it coils round a tree, when the bones of the deer in the stomach pro-
trude through the interstices of the scales. . . . If a woman's dress is
thrown towards it, it will coil round and will not stir."
Shi Chan, quoting "The Wonderful Eecords," says: "The boa is
sixty to seventy feet long, and four to five feet in circumference; the
smaller ones from thirty-six to forty-eight feet long. Their bodies are
striped like a piece of embroidery. In spring and summer it frequents
the recesses of forests, waiting for the deer, to devour them. When
the deer is digested the boa becomes fat. Someone says that it will
eat a deer every year."
Another author says : " The boa, when it devours a deer or wild
boar, begins with the hind legs. The poisonous breath of the boa
comes in contact with the horns ; these fall off. The galls, the smaller
they are the better they are." Another says : " Boas abound in Wang
Cheu (Kwangsi). The large ones are more than a hundred and forty
feet long. They devour deer, reducing the horns and bones to a pulp.
The natives use the dolishos and rattans to fill up the entrance to its
den. The snake, when it smells them, becomes torpid. They then dig
him out. Its flesh is a great delicacy. Its skin may be made into a
drum, and for ornamenting swords, and for making musical instru-
ments."
The Tu Hang Chi says : "Eustic soldiers in Kwangsi, when capturing
boas, stick flowers in their heads, which when the snake observes, it
cannot move. They then come up to it and cut off its head. They then
wait till it exhausts itself by its jumping about and dies. They then take
it home and feast on it." Compare .ZBlian \_De Naturd Animalium, lib.
vi. chap, xxi.] : " They hung before the mouth of the Dragon's den a
APPENDIX VII. 397
piece of stuff flowered with gold, which attracted the eyes of the beast,
till by the sound of soft music they lulled him to sleep, and then cut
off his head."
The Hhan Hai King says : " The Pa snake can eat an elephant, the
bones of which, after three years, are got rid of. Gentlemen that eat
of this snake will be proof against consumption." Kwoh P'oh, in his
commentary, says the boa of to-day is identical with the Pa snake.
398 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
APPENDIX VIII.
EXTEACT FROM THE "YUEN KEEN LEI HAN."
THE DRAGON. CHAP. I.
The Shwoh Wan says : " The dragon is the chief of scaly reptiles : in
the spring he mounts the heavens, in the autumn he frequents the
streams. This is favourable." Again, " When the dragon walks he is
called sah, when he flies he is a yao"
The Kwang Ya says : " When he has scales he is a Kiao* when he has
wings a Ying-Lung^ when horns a Kiu~Lung,$ without horns a Chili-
Lung.
The Ming Wuli Kiai of the Odes says the dragon has horns at five
hundred years, at one thousand years he is a Ying-Lung.
The P'i Ya Kwang Yao says : " The dragon has eighty-one scales. This
is nine times nine, nine is the yang (male principle). The dragon is
produced from an egg, in which he is enfolded." Again, it says that the
Nei Tien says : " Dragon-fire comes in contact with moisture and there
is smoke, with water and it is consumed (i.e. a man may extinguish it
with water)."
The Fang Yen says : " Before the dragon has ascended to heaven he is
a P'an Lung." The Yih King says : " When his clouds move the rain
falls, and the various things put forth their forms at the time he rides
upon the six dragons and ascends the heavens." " The first nine :
The hidden dragon is inactive. The diagram indicates that the subtile
ether is below. The second nine : When the dragon is seen in the
* Defined by Williams " as the dragon of morasses and thickets, which has scales and
no horn, corresponding very nearly to the fossil iguanodon." Vide the description
(ante) from the Pan-Tsaou-Kang-mu, &c.
f Ying correct, true.
J According to Williams, this is a young dragon without a horn, although others, as
in the text, say with one.
P'an to curl up, to coil.
APPENDIX VIII. 399
fields it is profitable to meet the great man. The diagram indicates
that virtue is extended. Fifth nine : The flying dragon appears in the
heavens : The diagram indicates the great man creates." Again, " The
dragons contend in the wilds, their blood is azure and yellow." Again,
" Thunder is a dragon."
The Yuen-Ming- Pao section of the Ch'un ts'iu says : " The dragons
begin to speak, yin and yang* are commingled" ; thence, it is said, the
dragon ascends and clouds are multiplied. The Yih King, in all the
diagrams, clearly says : " The summer winds arise and the dragon
mounts the skies."
In the Yuen-Shdn-K ( i of the Hiao King it is said : " Virtue approaches
the fountains and the yellow dragon appears. It is the Prince's
image."
In the " Tso-K'i " of the Hiao King it is said : " The Emperor is filial,
the heavenly dragon bears the plans and the earthly tortoise issues a
book." The Ho-t l u says : " Yellow gold after one thousand years pro-
duces a yellow dragon, azure gold after one thousand years, the azure
dragon ; red and white dragon is also thus. Black gold after one thou-
sand years produces the black dragon."
The Twan-ying-t'u says : " The yellow dragon is the chief of the four
dragons, the true beauty of the four regions. He can be large or small, >
obscure or manifest, short or long, alive or dead ; the king cannot drain
the pool and catch him. His intelligence and virtue are unfathomable ;
moreover he ensures the peaceful air, and sports in the pools." Again,
it says : " The yellow dragon does not go in company, and does not live
in herds. He certainly waits for the wind and rain, and disports himself
in the azure air. He wanders in the wilds beyond the heavens. He
goes and comes, fulfilling the decree ; at the proper seasons if there is
perfection he comes forth, if not he remains (unseen)."
The Shi Ki says : " The bright moon pearl is concealed in the oyster,
the dragon is there."
Books of the after Wei dynasty say, " Persia has three pools." They
narrate that a dragon lives in the largest, his wife in the second, and
his child in the third. If travellers sacrifice, they can pass; if they do
not sacrifice they encounter many storms of wind and rain.
Lii-lan asserts that Confucius said, " The dragon feeds in the pure
(water) and disports in the clear (water)."
Sun-k'ing-tsz says : " The accumulated waters form the streams, the
Kiao-Lung is brought forth." Han-Fei-shwoh-nan says : " Now as the
dragon is a reptile he can be brought under control and ridden.f But
below his throat are tremendous scales, projecting a foot. If a man
should come in contact with them he would be killed."
* The male and female principle.
f See the notices in the body of the work from the Shan Hai King.
400 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
Kwan-tsz says : " The dragon's skin has five colours, and he moves like
a spirit ; he wishes to be small and he becomes like a silkworm ; great,
and he fills all below heaven ; he desires to rise, and he reaches the
ether ; he desires to sink, and he enters the deep fountains. The times
of his changing are not fixed, his rising and descending are undeter-
mined ; he is called a god (or spirit)."
Hwai-nan-tsz says : " The dragon ascends and the brilliant clouds
follow." Again, he says : " This Kiao-Lung is hidden in the streams,
and his eggs are opened at the mound. The male cries above and the
female cries below, and he changes ; his form and essence are of the
most exalted (kind). Man cannot see the dragon when he flies aloft.
He ascends, and wind and rain escort him."
The Tilling P'ien says : " Wings beautiful grow for the flying dragon ;
hair soft like that of a calf on the ying dragon ; scales only for the
Kiao-Lung. Only in pools is found the Sien-Lung" Chang-hang said :
"How the T$ ( ang-Lung meets the summer and aspires to the clouds,
and shakes his scales, accomplishing the season. He passes the winter
in the muddy water, and, concealed, he escapes harm." Pan-ku, answer-
ing Pin-hi, said : " The Ying-Lung hides in the lakes and pools. Fish
and turtle contemn him, and he does not observe it. He can exert his
skill and intelligence, and suddenly the clear sky appears. For this
reason the Ying-Lung, now crouching in the mud, now flying in the
heavens, appears to be divine."
Lun-hang says, "When the dragon is small, all the fish are small ;
this is divine."
Pao-poh-tz says : " There are self -existent dragons and there are
worms which are changed into dragons." Again, he says : " Among the
hills the Ch'an day, called the rain master, is a dragon." Hwai-nan-
tsz said : " The Ghuh-Lung is north of the goose gate concealed in the
Wei-U mountain." The Shan-hai-Jcing says the god of the Ohung-shan
is called Chuh-Lung. When he opens his eyes it is day, when he shuts
his eyes it is night. His body is three thousand li long.
The Shui-Jcing-chu says : " The Yulung considers the autumn days as
night. But the dragon descends in the autumn and hibernates in the
deep pools ; how then can he say that autumn is night ? " It also says :
" There is a Jivine dragon in the vermilion pools at Kiao-chew. When-
ever there was a drought, the village people obstructed the upper tribu-
taries of the pool, and many fish died ; the dragon became enraged at
such times, and caused much rain."
The Kwah-ti-t'u says : "At the dragon pool there is a hill with four
lofty sides, and within them is a pool seven hundred li square ; a herd
of dragons live there, and feed upon the many different kinds of trees.
# See the description of the dragon from the P'au-Tsaou-Kang->/m
APPENDIX VIII. 401
It is beyond Hwui-ki forty-five thousand li." Again, it says : " If you
do not ride on a dragon you cannot reach the weak waters* of the Kwan-
lun hill."
The Poh- Wuh-Chi says : "If you soak the dragon's flesh in an acid
(and eat it), you can write essays." Again, it says : " The Tiao-sheh is
in form like a dragon, but smaller. It likes danger ; hence it is ap-
pointed to guard decayed timber." Again, it says : " The dragon lays
three eggs. The first is Ki-tiao. He goes ashore and cohabits with the
deer or deposits his semen at the water's edge, where it becomes
attached to passing boats or floating wood and branches. It appears
like a walnut, it is called Tsz-ckao flower, and constitutes what is men-
tioned in the Tao-ch'u as dragon-salt." Again, it says : " Below the
dragon-gate every year in the third month of spring, yellow carps, twof
fish, come from the sea, and all the streams, with speed to the contest.
But seventy-one can ascend the dragon- gate in a year ; when the first
one ascends the dragon- gate there is wind and rain. It is followed by
fire which burns his tail, and then he is a dragon."
The Shih-I-Ki says : " East of the hills 'of Fang-chang there is a
dragon plain where there are dragon skins and bones like a mountain :
spread out they would cover one thousand five hundred acres. To meet
him when he sloughs his bones is like the birth of a dragon. Or it is
said the dragons constantly wrangle at this place. It is enriched with
blood like flowing water."
The 8huh-I-Ki says : " In the Puning district there are the isles where
the dragons are buried. Fu-loo says the dragons shed their bones at
these isles, the water now contains many dragon-bones, in these moun-
tains, hills, peaks, and gorges. The dragons make the wind and rain.
There are dragons' bones everywhere, whether in the deep or shallow
places ; there are many in the ground. Teeth, horns, vertebral columns,
feet, it seems as though they are everywhere. The largest measure one
hundred feet or exceed one hundred feet. The smallest are two feet or
three or four inches. The bones are everywhere. Constantly when
looking for anything they are seen." Again, it says : " It is told of the
Kuh mountains in Ki-cheu that when the dragon is a thousand years
old, he enters the mountains and casts his bones. Now there is a
dragon hill, from the midst of the hill issues the dragon's brains."
The K'ie-Lan Records at Loh-yang$ say : " You cannot trust the hills
in the west. They are too cold. There is snow both winter and
summer. In the hills there is a pool where a bad dragon lives ; long
ago some merchants rested near the pool, until the dragon became
enraged, abused, and killed them. A priest, Pan-T'o, heard of it, and,
leaving his seat to the pupils, went to the kingdom of Wuchang to
* Waters of such specific gravity that even a feather would sink.
t Probably a pair from each stream.
{ In Foh-kien.
Probably equivalent to " abbot."
402 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
learn the Po-lo-man incantations ; he mastered them in four years,
and returned to his seat. He went to the pool and invoked the
dragon. The dragon was transformed into p a man, repented, and fol-
lowed the king. The king then removed." Again, it says": " To the
west of the kingdom of Wuchang there is a pool in which the dragon
prince dwells. There is a monastery on the banks of the pool, in
which there are more than fifty priests. Whenever the dragon prince
does anything marvellous, the king comes and beseeches him, using
gold, precious stones, pearls, and valuables, throwing them into the
pool. Afterwards they are cast up and the priests gather them. This
monastery relies upon the dragon for food and clothing and the
means to assist people. Its name is ' Dragon Prince Monastery.' "
The Ts'i-ti records say there is a well in the city of Ch'ang-ping at
the brambles ; when the water is disturbed a spiritual dragon comes
and goes. So the city is called the dragon city.
The Shi-San-Tsin records say Ho-li has also the name Dragon
Gate. Great fish collect below it, in number one thousand. They
cannot ascend. If one ascends it is a dragon.v Those which do not
ascend are fish. Hence it is called the " Pao-sai-lung-man. (Great
carp ascend the dragon gate and become dragons ; those which do not
ascend prick the forehead and strike the cheek.) Again, it says : " The
Lung-sheu mountains are sixty li long ; the head enters the Wei waters,
the tail extends to the Fan streams. This head is two hundred feet
high ; his tail descends gradually to a height of fifty or sixty feet. It
is said that long ago a strange dragon came out from south of the
mountains to drink the Wei waters. The road he travelled became
mountain. Hence the name."
The Kiao-Cheu-Ki says : " In Kiao-chiat Fung-ki-hien there is a dyke
with a dragon gate ; the water is one hundred fathoms deep. Great
fish ascend this gate and become dragons. Those which cannot pass,
strike the cheek and puncture the forehead, until the blood flows. This
water is continually like the Vermilion pool."
The annals of Hwa-yang say : " Only at Wu-ch'ing district does the
earth meet the gate of heaven ; the dragon which mounts to heaven and
does not reach it, falls dead to this place, hence when excavating you
find dragon-bones."
The I-Tung-Ghi says : " Twenty li west of Lin-fung-hien is a stone
dragon, among the cliffs is a rock like a dragon. In a year of drought
wash it, and it rains." Again, it says : " At Yen-T'ang there is a pond
called Smoky Pond ; it is north-east of the city ten li. Its depth has
never been ascertained. It is reported that long ago a man caught a
white eel, and was about to cook it, when an old man said, 'This
is the dragon of the river Siang ; I fear calamity will follow.' The
man was angry, and, regarding the words as vain, proceeded. The
next day the whole village was submerged."
APPENDIX VIII. 403
The Kwoh-Shi-Pu says : " At the time of the spring rains the carp '
springs through the dragon gate and becomes transformed. At the
present time, in Fan-cheu of Shansi, there is a cave in the mountains ;
in it are many cast bones and horns of dragons. They are collected
for medicine, and are of five colours. It is recorded in the Ghw f en
that north of the Wu-t'ai hills, below the terrace, is Azure Dragon
Pool, about one-third of an acre in extent. The Buddhist books say
five hundred evil dragons are confined (here). Whenever it is mid-day
a thick mist gradually arises. A pure priest and candidates for the
priesthood may see it. If a nun or females approach then there is
great thunder, lightning, and tempest. If they come near the pool, he
certainly will belch forth poisonous breath and they will die at once.
Foreigners say that in Piolosz there is a spiritual dragon which goes
and comes among the granaries, When a servant comes for rice the
dragon vanishes. If the servant comes constantly for rice the dragon
does not suffer it. If there is no rice in the granaries, the servant wor-
ships the dragon, and the granaries are filled."
Yuin-Ghu-Tsih records: " If one sees a dragon's egg in the lake or
river there will certainly be a flood."
The Nan- Pu- Sin- Shu says : " The dragon's disposition is ferocious,
and he fears bees'- wax, loves jade, and the King-ts'mg delight to eat
the flesh of cooked sparrows. For this reason men who eat sparrows do
not cross the sea."
The Pah-mung-so-yen says : " The perverse dragon, when rain is
wanted, sneaks away into old trees or into the beams of houses. The
thunder god pulls him out."
Wu-ch'an-tsah-ch'ao says : " There is a great dragon which sloughed
his skin on the brink of the Great Lake. Insects come out from his
scaly armour. Instantly they are transformed into dragon-flies of a red
colour. If men gather them they get fever and ague. If men now-a-
days see these red dragon-flies they call them dragon-armour, also
dragons' grandsons, and are unwilling to hurt them."
Pi-shu-suh-hwa says : " In Suh-chan and Hang-cheu the twentieth day
of the fifth month is called the day of the separation of the dragons.
Therefore, in the fifth and sixth months, whenever there is thunder, and
the clouds crowd together, if they see a tail bent down, and stretching
to earth from among the clouds, moving like a serpent, they say,
' The dragon is suspended.' "
Tsu-tz say : " The spiritual dragon leaves the water and dwells in the
dry place, and the mole, crickets, and ants annoy him."
Kung Sun Hung replied to Tung Fang Shoh, saying : " Before the
dragon has ascended he is of assort with fish and turtles ; after he has
ascended the heavens his scales cannot be seen."
Siu Tsung Yuen answered an inquirer, sayingj: " The Kiao-Lung
ascends to the heavenly fountain. He pervades the six regions (North,
404 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
South, East, West, Above, Below). He moistens all things. Shrimps
and the leech cannot depart one foot from the water."
The Shwoh-Wan says: "The Kiao belongs to the dragon species.
When a fish attains three thousand six hundred [years ?] it becomes a
Kiao ; on attaining this much the dragon flies away." Again, it says :
" [Dragons] without horns are Kiao"
The P'i-Ya says : " The Kiao's bones are green, and they can bring
their heads and tails together and constrict anything ; hence they are
called Kiao. A popular name for them is ' the horse's lasso.' " Another
author says the Kiao's tail has fleshy rings ; they are able to compress
any creature, and then tear it with the head.
The Shuh-I-Ki says the eye-brows of a Kiao unite, and their uniting
is a proof that it is a Kiao.
The Siang-Shu (Book of Physiognomy) says that when the eye-brows
unite the epithet Kiao is applied, because the Kiao Shan has crossed
eye-brows.
The Yueh-kiu (Divisions of Seasons) says that the season of autumn
is unfavourable to the Kiao.
The Kia- Yu (Family Discourses) says that if a stream contains fish,
then no Kiao will stay in it.
Hwai-nan-tsze says that no two Kiao will dwell in one pool.
The Shan-Hai-King says the Kiao is like a dragon and snake, with a
small head and fine neck. The neck has white ornamentations on it.
The girth (?) is five cubits ; the eggs of the capacity of three catties ;
and it can swallow a man.
405
APPENDIX IX,
APPENDIX TO THE CHAPTER ON THE SEA-SERPENT.
THE SHAN.*
" The Shan belongs to the snake species."
" The Tsah Ping Shu (Work on Military Science) says : ' In drilling
an army,f when you arrange it like the Shan expelling its breath, its
appearance is like that of a snake, but the waist is large ; below there
are scales, running backwards.'
" One says that its form is like that of the Ch'i-lung, which has ears
and horns and a mane of a red colour. When it exhales its breath, it
forms a cloud just like a palace or tower, looking as if its walls are
moving in a cloud of mist, or like a weary bird flying above. This makes
everyone feel very happy until the exhalation or snorting of the breath
is finished.
" There is a popular saying about building a Shan tower. When the
sky appears to rain you can see a resemblance of it.
" The Shi-Ki (Book of Odes or Classical Poetry) uses the expression,
The Shan's breath forms a tower ' ; it is in allusion to this.
" At the present day it is said that the Chi (a pheasant or francolinj)
and the snake copulate and produce the Shan.
11 The oily substance of Shan combined with wax makes the Chinese
wax candles, the fragrance of which, when burning, can be recognized
for one hundred feet in all directions ; and the smoke emitted from the
flame forms the appearance of a tower."
" The Pih Tan (Familiar Stories) says that at Tang-cheu (in Shan-
tung), in the midst of the sea, there are often clouds arise and appear
* Extract from the Yuen Keen Lei Han, vol. ccccxxxviii., p. 23.
f In drilling an army there are names for all positions of the army. Thus., the
general says : " Arrange yourselves like a snake, or like a dragon, or any other
imaginable shape."
J Williams gives this translation only, but I think there must be another meaning ;
probably some sort of reptile is indicated.
406 MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
like the imperial palace, or towers of the city walls, and there is also an
appearance of people, carriages, and horses busily engaged [mirage?].
They call this phenomenon l the market of the sea,' while others say it
is but the breath of the Shan Kiao.
" The Wu Lei Siang Kan Chi says the Shan is but another sort of
dragon, and can be found in some of the ponds and wells. They
throw out the air, forming rain as in the locality of Wu San Yin.
" The P'i Ya Kwang Yao says, when a snake transforms it becomes a
shtin, in the likeness of the Kiao, but without paws."
SECTION II.
" The twelfth chapter of Ohing Kiiin Chw'en says that Hii Ching
Kiiin, author of the above book, met a youth, quite handsome in his
apparel. The youth pretended to be very modest, Hu Kiiin knowing all
the time that he was & Kiao in another form. So he told his followers,
' I regret to think that the province of Kiang-si will often meet with
the misfortune of inundation if we do not exterminate that Kiao Shan,
and are not careful to prevent its escape.' But the Shan knew what Hu
Kiiin was saying, and gradually slipped away to a place called Sung-sha-
cheu, where he transformed himself into a yellow ox. But at the same
time Ching Kiiin also transformed himself into a black ox, tying a hand-
kerchief over his neck to distinguish him from the other ox, and ordered
his disciple, Shi Tai Tu, to use his sword, and thrust at the left thigh,
because he had entered within the city wall, in the western part
of which there is a well. By jumping this well he found a road to
Tau-cheu, and once more transformed himself into a handsome youth,
and by so doing got married to the daughter of a magistrate called
Ku Yu, with plenty of jewels and gold. Then Ching came to see Ku
Yu and said, ' I hear that you have a very noble son-in-law. May I
see him ? ' Ku answered ' Yes,' and told him to come out. But he
excused himself upon account of sickness, and hid himself. Then Ching
Kiiin, saying, ' The dangerous things of the rivers and the lake are old
devils, and they dare to transform themselves into human beings,'
ordered the son-in-law to transform himself into his original form, and
hid himself beneath the table. Then the* magistrate said, ' Kill this,'
and they did so. Then Kiiin sprinkled water on the two sons, and they
were immediately transformed into Shdn. [There must be children born
from the marriage. Translator.'] He advised Ku Yu that he must put
them away immediately, or the whole house would be in danger of
breaking."
" The Tai Ping Kwang Ki says that the lake of Wan Tun, at Fi Chi,
contains a Shdn which often fought with the Shan of Lake Su. Near
this lake is a place called Yao, where there lived a man called Ch'ang
Sing Shan, of great bravery, and an expert archer. He once dreamed
that a Shan snake was transformed into a Taouist, and then it said to
APPENDIX IX. 407
him : ' I am endangered by the Shan of the lake of Lu. Can your
honour assist me ? if so I will reward you heavily. The tight white
chain is me.' Next day Sing Shan went with a youth of Yao to the
shore of the lake and dreamed. He waited until the waves rose and
the surf struck the shore, making a noise like thunder. He saw two
oxen coming, one with a white belly and legs ; then Sing Shan discharged
an arrow at it, and it turned out to be a Shan. The water immediately
turned into blood, and the Shan, after receiving the wound, tried to
return to the lake of Lu, but died before it reached there."
Kang Hi Dictionary.
" The Shan Kiao belongs to the Kiao species, and also has the appear-
ance of a snake. It has horns like a dragon ; the mane is red below the
waist ; all the scales are projecting. It eats swallows, and can emit an
air which appears like a tower.
" Again, any turtle when old enough may be called a Shan."
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