The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1884-10-18
TABLED MONSTERS.


The geological Eancies of Ancient
and Medieval Writers and Explorers
HOW the Belief in the Phoenix, the
Unicorn. and sea Horse Originated
Wonderful stories q old of the SER
penis with Legs and Lions with
Snake Tails.
At what period fancy began its work
in zoology is a question which Is aus
creetlv avoided or acknowledged
puzzle by those writers who have dill
GENTLY delved through the records OF
all peoples for traces of fabulous deni-
zens of the earth, the sea and the air.
That fascinating terror of the nursery, |
the fiery dragon, it is agreed is probably
the degenerate offspring of the awful
iebthyosauri and plesiosauri OF pre-
historic ages. But though in other Gil
rections their learning was by no means
small, the most ardent Psychologist and
Assvrian student has never claimed Tor
the vanished people of those countries
knowledge of geology which would
enabled them to drag from the rocks
the fragments and piece together in
comprehensive form the remains OF
these prodigous flying lizards. Yet
chiseled on the earliest stone monu-
ments of Egypt and Assyrla and lnaia,
exact representations are tound OIL Che
dragon which st. George overcame IN a
mighty battle, and which the annals OF
Winchester say existed in England IN
such numbers in llN as 10 DC Sre"V
danger and scourge.
st. Georges dragon was 1itty feet
long from the shoulders to the tail, its
scales glistened like silver and were
hard as brass, but Livy's dragon was
,,,,,ch larger and SO terrible that il
stunned the march of the Roman army
in Africa. Diodorus saw one which
was sixty feet long, brought to Alex
sndria by a slave to please Ptolemy
II. St. Michaels dragon, the monkisl
chronicle SAYS, was much larger thai
this. In certain parts of the far East
which was ever rich with geological
fables. the dragon is unknown, but 1t
place is supplied by fanciful creature
even more terrifying and endowed VII
greater powers of wreaking destrueuo
npon mankind The golden pages {
the Arabian Nights have made us Ii
miliar with the great roc. Ihere IS
Persian drawing eXtant which deplc'
this fearful bird shaped like an eagl
fvinp through the air with a
elephant in either claw and an OK
its beak. Marco Polo says he sa
a roc whose outstretched wings mea
Y,red sixteen PAGES from tip to tip. N
to he outdone by the latter, that adVeI
urous Enelishman, Sir John Mandeylll
in his account of his trip around me
of the then known world, relates tn
he beheld one in the Chinese seas, VIM
was besides Polos like a hawk to sps
row. Eel Wardee, the Persian, VIII
that upon an island, in an unnamed 81
there was in his time roc's egg q
hundred cubits high, q firm, win
olistening dome, big enough to serve
Shelter for an army. An island IN
Chinese Sea was marked out as
home of these great BIRDS Slngula
enouoh the roc appears to have b'
FORGOTTEN for thousand years, to
times quite recent again lntefpose
monstrous shape before the sun.
book of travels published within tWeI
five wears mentions that the table
fingers in parts of Persia and on Sc
of the islands of the Chinese seas.
Greeks and Romans had winged g
ture with the head of woman WI
aliphted upon battletields and Tea
upon the flesh of the dead and dy
This was the harry, The morbid
starved Imagination from wn1ch
fable Sprang, was, IL 10 hoo 49,,
trace. the parent also OF hocl
oho,lish creatures, such as the "
wolf human beings that devoured
kind, and the cynocephali, erea
with the body of human and the
and appetite of a dog. Marco
who never failed to come IN col
with all manner of wanderers II
travels. saw a cynocephali in the Is
of Anqamon. His vivid descrlpto
it, perhaps, gave points to the !: g
manager, who few years ago con !
small fortune exhibiting variety OF
little known, as the cynocephalus
ancients. The cockatrice or oa
was an interesting fancy.
perhaps, be more correct 10 say,
this beautiful bird, the fruit OF u
laid Inv a cock seven years DID, Il
believed to be reality among SO
the IGNORANT peasantry OF Europe
cockatrice, SAYS the fable, has the
of a lizard with cock hea1
wings. but instead OF the COMB
crown adorns it. But the pecu
whereon rests it's fame and IN
noets and prose-writers without n
have found valuable comparison
a beautiful eye, flashing, Ike =
with all colors of the RAINBOW.
mon IL was to experience exquis
liGht. which lasted only for an i
or one glance OF that eye XIII