Understanding That Elephants Flesh Was Eaten
By The Negroes, I Had Some Both Roasted And Boiled, Of Which I Tasted,
That I might be able to say that I had fed upon the flesh of an animal
which had never
Been eaten by any of my countrymen; but I found it hard,
and of an unpleasant relish. I brought one of the legs and a part of the
trunk on board our caravel, together with some of the hair from its body,
which was a span and a half long, of a black colour, and very thick. On my
return to Portugal, I presented this hair to Don Henry, together with a
part of the flesh salted up for that express purpose, which he received
with much satisfaction, as it was the first of the kind that had been
brought from the countries that were discovered under his auspices. The
foot of the elephant is round, like that of a horse, but without hoofs;
instead of which it is covered by a very thick, hard, black skin, and
defended by five nails on the fore part, which are round and of the size
of a _grossone_[3]. Though young, the foot of this elephant measured a
span and a half in diameter. From the same Negro lord I received the foot
of a full-grown elephant, the sole of which was three spans and an inch in
diameter; which, together with a tooth of twelve spans long, I presented
to Don Henry on my return, who sent it afterwards as a great curiosity to
the Dutchess of Burgundy.
In the river Gambia, and in other rivers on this coast, besides the
_Calcatrici_[4] and other animals, there is one called the _river horse_,
or hippopotamus, of the same nature almost with the sea cow, and which
lives both on land and in the water. This animal is as large in the body
as a cow, with very short legs and cloven feet, having a large head like
that of a horse, and two huge teeth like the tusks of a wild boar, some of
which I have seen upwards of two spans long. This animal, when it gets out
of the river, walks on the land like any other fourfooted beast; and, so
far as I know, was never before discovered by any Christian traveller,
except perhaps in the Nile. We saw likewise a number of bats, or rather
owls, upwards of three spans long; and many other birds, quite different
from those of our country, both in appearance and taste, yet very good to
eat.
[1] The meaning of this expression is obscure. Perhaps it implies that
their Mahometan teachers had no mosques, because the Negroes were
ignorant of the means and method of construction. The knowledge of God
among the northern Negroes was assuredly due exclusively to the
Mahometan missionaries. - E.
[2] Called Gnumi-Mensa in Grynaeus. According to Jobson, Mensa, or Mansa,
signifies a king in the Mandingo language.
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