DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.634#0147
I 22
A Description os Surat,
Letter III. wise he would have made it plain, Envy had underhand worked,
*-y"V\- what me durst not attempt boldly on a Man of Honour; and for
no other Reason, than that he understood himself as a Soldier, and
in that point would be known.
By this Man's Misfortune might have been seen the dissike that
the Company's Servants bear towards any of equal poisc with
themselves, and not of that Rank; for thereby they count they are
injured, having others put over their heads, as 'tis termed; but if by
chance they convince them of their Folly, it becomes a Crime un-
pardonable : The first ground of this Quarrel being upon unnecesTary
Appendices to the Fort, as Pallisadoes in Mud, so contrived, that
they were rather a means to take than defend it, which afterwards
were all warned away by the Rains; to these some Despight being
added (he being a Man iharp in his Jesss, and blunt in Counsel) it
never ended, till it proved as fatal as Remu/s leaping over his Bro-
ther Romulus his Ditch, cast for a Trench about Old Rome.
a sta-Ttrttise Few days had been spent afore a SeaTortoise was brought to the
taken, ^oxxt in Length Six Feet, the content of his Hut near two BuOiels,
reckoning only that part with which his Back is ssiieldcd, being an
huge Shell of a brown Colour; never to be made transparent as thosc
come from the South-Seas are, nor easily tobecracktbyany weight j
for Experiment, I and two more got upon it, and the Tortoise un-
concerned carried us: Its Head is loricated with Scales, the Neck
reaching as far as the Hut, soft and undefensible; the Fins are
four, placed instead of Legs, by which it crawls as well as swims;
the Belly is covered with a Breasi-plate called the Callapee, soft and
whitish in respeel: of the Back-piece or Callipet; its Tail is ssiort and
wreathed like a Serpent's; altogether it is as lovely as a Toad: It
sighs like a Woman, and weeps like a Child; being taken and turned
on its back, it is ssristlefe.
The Fable os I caused it to be opened, and examined its Heart, which ( con-
ic having trary to the Opinion os the Vulgar) is but One, they asfirming it to
confuwrrtS ^eThree, grounded on this Mirtake; the Auricles being larger than
in other Creatures, equalling almost the Ventricles and whole Body
of the Heart, which is bigger in proportion than belongs to luch an
Animal, being as large as an Ox's; which might be the reason of
itsPusilanimity : The Veins and Arteries were filled with Currents
of cold black Blood: It participates more of Flelh than Fi(h, of a vi-
viparous than oviparous Offspring, yet lays imperfect Eggs without
aCrust (only covered with a Membrane, being most Yolk) buried
by it in the Sands, to receive srom the Sun's heat the perfection of
their Hatching (as the Eggs of Egypt from Furnaces, or others
from Dunghills): It spawns them as Filhdo, in huge quantities, as
much at one time as will more than fill a Seaman's Bonnet ( every
one being as big as an Hen's Egg) By them aboard Ship they are or-
dered like buttered Eggs of a Fowl, though nearer akin to a Ser-
pent's, hanging together ds those do.
For this end they come ashore, and when pursued, cast up with
their Claws a Cloud of Sand to blind their Enemies; when overtaken
some are so big, four men can hardly turn them.
A Description os Surat,
Letter III. wise he would have made it plain, Envy had underhand worked,
*-y"V\- what me durst not attempt boldly on a Man of Honour; and for
no other Reason, than that he understood himself as a Soldier, and
in that point would be known.
By this Man's Misfortune might have been seen the dissike that
the Company's Servants bear towards any of equal poisc with
themselves, and not of that Rank; for thereby they count they are
injured, having others put over their heads, as 'tis termed; but if by
chance they convince them of their Folly, it becomes a Crime un-
pardonable : The first ground of this Quarrel being upon unnecesTary
Appendices to the Fort, as Pallisadoes in Mud, so contrived, that
they were rather a means to take than defend it, which afterwards
were all warned away by the Rains; to these some Despight being
added (he being a Man iharp in his Jesss, and blunt in Counsel) it
never ended, till it proved as fatal as Remu/s leaping over his Bro-
ther Romulus his Ditch, cast for a Trench about Old Rome.
a sta-Ttrttise Few days had been spent afore a SeaTortoise was brought to the
taken, ^oxxt in Length Six Feet, the content of his Hut near two BuOiels,
reckoning only that part with which his Back is ssiieldcd, being an
huge Shell of a brown Colour; never to be made transparent as thosc
come from the South-Seas are, nor easily tobecracktbyany weight j
for Experiment, I and two more got upon it, and the Tortoise un-
concerned carried us: Its Head is loricated with Scales, the Neck
reaching as far as the Hut, soft and undefensible; the Fins are
four, placed instead of Legs, by which it crawls as well as swims;
the Belly is covered with a Breasi-plate called the Callapee, soft and
whitish in respeel: of the Back-piece or Callipet; its Tail is ssiort and
wreathed like a Serpent's; altogether it is as lovely as a Toad: It
sighs like a Woman, and weeps like a Child; being taken and turned
on its back, it is ssristlefe.
The Fable os I caused it to be opened, and examined its Heart, which ( con-
ic having trary to the Opinion os the Vulgar) is but One, they asfirming it to
confuwrrtS ^eThree, grounded on this Mirtake; the Auricles being larger than
in other Creatures, equalling almost the Ventricles and whole Body
of the Heart, which is bigger in proportion than belongs to luch an
Animal, being as large as an Ox's; which might be the reason of
itsPusilanimity : The Veins and Arteries were filled with Currents
of cold black Blood: It participates more of Flelh than Fi(h, of a vi-
viparous than oviparous Offspring, yet lays imperfect Eggs without
aCrust (only covered with a Membrane, being most Yolk) buried
by it in the Sands, to receive srom the Sun's heat the perfection of
their Hatching (as the Eggs of Egypt from Furnaces, or others
from Dunghills): It spawns them as Filhdo, in huge quantities, as
much at one time as will more than fill a Seaman's Bonnet ( every
one being as big as an Hen's Egg) By them aboard Ship they are or-
dered like buttered Eggs of a Fowl, though nearer akin to a Ser-
pent's, hanging together ds those do.
For this end they come ashore, and when pursued, cast up with
their Claws a Cloud of Sand to blind their Enemies; when overtaken
some are so big, four men can hardly turn them.