Wednesday 5 March 2014

HOW FAR HAVE WE COME IN 459 YEARS ?

from ....THE DECADES OF THE NEW WORLDE OR WEST INDIA, 1555

On the lefte syde of Hispaniola towarde the southe , near unto the haven Beata , there lythe an islande named Portus Bellus .
They tell marvellous thynges of the monsters of the sea aboute this island , and especially of the tortoyles.
 For they saye that they are bygger then greate rounde targettes .
 At suche tyme as the heate of nature moveth theym too generation , they come foorthe of the sea : And makynge a deepe pytte in the sande , they lay three or foure hundredth egges therein .
 When they have thus emptied their bagge of conception , they putte as much of the sande ageyne into the pytte , as maye suffice to cover the egges ; And soo resorte ageyne to the sea , nothing carefull of their succession .
At the daye appopynted of nature to the procreation of these beauties , there escapeth owte a multitude of tortoyles , as it were pissemares swarming owte of an ante hyll :
And this onely by the heate of the soone withowte any helpe of their parentes .
They saye that their egges are in a maner as byge as geese egges.
They also compare the flesh of these tortoyles , to be equall with veale in taste...

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