When The
Elephant Becomes Faint With The Loss Of Blood, He Falls Down Upon The
Serpent, Now Gorged With Blood, And With The Weight Of His Body Crushes
The Dragon To Death.
Thus his own blood and that of the elephant run out
of the serpent now mingled together, which cooling is congealed into
that substance which the apothecaries call _sanguis draconis_ or
cinnabar[214].
But there are other kinds of cinnabar, commonly called
_cinoper_ or vermillion, which the painters use in certain colours.
[Footnote 214: It is surely needless to say that this is a mere
fable. - E.]
There are three kinds of elephants, as of the marshes, the plains, and
the mountains, differing essentially from each other. Philostratus
writes, that by how much the elephants of Lybia exceed in bigness the
horses of Nysea, so much do the elephants of India exceed those of
Lybia, for some of the elephants of India have been seen nine cubits
high; and these are so greatly feared by the others, that they dare not
abide to look upon them. Only the males among the Indian elephants have
tusks; but in Ethiopia and Lybia, both males and females are provided
with them. They are of divers heights, as of 12, 13, or 14 _dodrants_,
the dodrant being a measure of 9 inches; and some say that an elephant
is bigger than three wild oxen or buffaloes. Those of India are black,
or mouse-coloured; but those of Ethiopia or Guinea are brown.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 388 of 842
Words from 105310 to 105559
of 230997
