Taken from : Man and the beasts (De animalibus, books 22-26), transl: James J. Scanlan

 

Book 22

Track 2 The Quadrupeds

4. Ana (?Giraffe) is said to be an Eastern animal with long, strong, sharp teeth and pointed hooves, a formidable animal indeed. It displays great affection for its fellows and consequently travels in communal herds, avoiding contact with other animals. When approached by a strange animal, the herd closes ranks and attacks the intruder, slaying it or causing it to flee. Should any of them wander apart from the flock and in isolation face the depredations of a stronger foe, they often use their teeth and hooves as defensive weapons and make their escape.

 

5. Anabula (Giraffe), as Pliny (6) writes, is a beast of Ethiopia. Today some Arabs and Italians prefer the name “seraph”. It has the head of a camel, the neck of a horse and bovine legs and feet. The entire body has a reddish color speckled with white spots. There is a wondrous grace in its long neck, towering forelegs and shorter hind legs. Giraffe pelts are sold at high prices because of their elegant decorative fur. During our times the Emperor Frederick kept one of them in captivity.

 

19. Camelopardulus (Giraffe) is an Ethiopian beast, reddish in color, with an equine neck, a head like a camel and feet resembling those of a deer or cow.

 

27. Chymera (Giraffe) is supposed to be a monstrous beast, tall in front and low to the ground in its hindparts, reputedly found in parts of Babylonia in Chaldea (1). According to the story, it is given to histrionic gestures and strutting about in grand style, clothed in rich ornate garments.

 

32. Cathapleba (Gnu) is a medium-sized animal which holds its head low to the ground, seemingly because of the effort required to raise its weight. It resides along the banks of the Nile near the river's source which is called the Nigris.

 

87. Oraflus (Giraffe) surpasses all other animals in the beautiful variety of its coloration. The front of its body is very tall, so when it extends its heads it reaches a height of twenty cubits (5). The rear portion of the body is much lower and resembles a deer with its cervine feet and tail. Its neck is markedly elongated and its head has an equine appearance, though somewhat smaller than the horse. Its coat displays many colors, predominately white and reddish. When it realizes onlookers are admiring its unusual form, it turns this way and that to offer the best possible profile. This animal, known in Arabic as a "seraf," was observed (by us) during our lifetime.

 

Book 24

The Nature of Aquatic Animals

 

32. Cocodrillus (Crocodile)………………

……According to Pliny (6), a tribe of small-statured men called Tyntiri live on an island in the Nile and have developed a technique of swimming out on the crocodiles, leaping on their backs, thrusting  short lengths of wood into the beasts’ mouths to prevent their jaws from closing, and then taking them captive to the banks of the river, and sometimes compelling them to disgorge their lately taken prey.

 

Albertus Magnus: De Natura Locorum. (Nature of Places) (d1280)

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Taken from : An appraisal of the geographical works of Albertus Magnus and his contributions to geographical thought; by Jean Paul Tilmann, Saint Albertus (Magnus)

 

Chapter 3: Concerning the Diversity of the Accidents of Those Things which are Generated according to predetermined Diversities.

P101-102

Those things which are born in the hottest places are the hottest, and exceedingly wrinkled from dryness, as a pepper seed (peppercorn), and very black on account of their heat as are the Ethiopians whose first seed of generation is hot and so is the womb of women hot and dry, and the semen which is conceived is burned by the very strong heat, and their bodies grow dark on account of the scorching of the body; for it gives off a fine moisture and it burns the earthly mass which remains, and generates blackness. The earthly members which are inside them, as bones, become very white as is apparent in their teeth. Their flesh is suffused with blood as if they are glowing coals, as is apparent in their tongues and throats when their mouths are open. And they have prominent mouths, thick lips, reddened eyes, veins and eye lids on account of the heat. And because their bodies are surrounded by very hot air, it is necessary that they be porous and dry, since the moisture evaporates continually from them. For this reason their bodies are light and agile. Because of evaporation their hearts are made timid and cold having few humors. For this reason they do not fear fevers since nature takes care of itself because there is not much matter in them of corrupted moisture. And such as these age very quickly on account of the defect of natural strength which evaporates with the spirit, so their life span is thirty years; and then they are old and feeble. Because they have thin bodies, the moisture evaporates on account of the heat of the place, as we have said, and the earthy, dry, burned material remains, which if it is light and can come forth makes a red bile; and if it is unnaturally scorching, then it makes a black bile (choleric). The bodies of the Ethiopians are characterized more by these two humors, than by the phlegmatic and the melancholic. Indeed warm bodies due to the heat of the place are always relaxed and exceedingly pliable, for which reason, their women easily give birth, although due to dryness and weakness, they do not easily conceive. On account of the refinement of their spirits, they thrive more than the living things who are under the equator, and they excel more in ingenuity on account of the moving heat, and the keenness of their spirits. Of which this is the sign (proof) : there have been distinguished philosophers in India especially in mathematics and the magic arts, on account of the power of the stars over those climates over which the planets project perpendicular rays. This, however, is in the first clime under the equator, and not under the second clime which is under Cancer (7), on account of the intemperance of the heat as we have shown above. The very black Ethiopians are indeed slight in body, frivolous in mind on account of the weakness and evaporation of the spirit. Moreover, the dryness and the heat also are the reasons why their hairs are thin and curly in the manner of grains of mustard. Granted, however, black people of this kind are sometimes born in other climes as in the fourth and fifth, nevertheless, they take their blackness from their first ancestors who are complexioned in the first and second climes, and a little at a time, they are altered to whiteness when they are transferred to other climes…………

 

P135-136

………..This quarter has two rivers, the Nile and Bagradas. The Nile, which is called Hion ("Gion" in the Albertus Manuscript) , has its source in the lower part of the earth which is below the Equator, but its beginning seems to be in Ethiopia, and makes a great lake which is a vast stagnant swamp extending for one hundred fifty- three miles. And flowing from the standing water it proceeds toward the inland cataracts for four hundred seventy-four miles. The Bagradas River (2) is the grand, noble, and unique river of this province, and it is not without reason that this river is placed ...

 

……….. In this region is Upper Egypt in which is the Nile which seems to burst forth from the shore of the beginning of the Red Sea in a place which is called Mosylon (3). Flowing west for a long time, it forms an island, Meroe (4), in its midst, and then flowing north, it increases having been swollen by seasonal floods and due to its increase, the river overflows its banks across Egypt. Some cosmographers say that the Nile rises not far from the Atlas Mountains and it sinks immediately to the earth. Then, joined by a very wide lake within a short time, it glides through the desert of Ethiopia and overflows into the Eastern Ocean. However, returning again, it flows on the left toward Egypt. Indeed, it is known to be true that the renowned and magnificent river which has such a source and flow is the Nile. This river, near whose source the barbarians rule, gives rise to monsters. And the barbarians call it the Nile. However, this river in the region of those tribes which are called Libyan Egyptians originates in an immense lake not far from that river which we said springs forth from the shore of the Red Sea. Yet, perchance, it may be said that it arises from a hidden passage in its channel which flows down from the east. Lower Egypt has Syria and Palestine on the east, Libya on the west. On the north there is the Mediterranean Sea,………..

(1) Chaldea: a country that existed between the late 10th or early 9th and mid-6th centuries BCE, after which the country and its people were absorbed and assimilated into Babylonia.

(2) Bagradas River: river to the north of Tunis (in Tunisia) where several Punic and other wars were fought.

(3) Mosylon: Mosylon was the most prominent emporium on the Red Sea coast, as outlined in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. (in modern day Somalia).

(4) Meroe = Capital of Kush kingdom in Sudan on the Nile.

(5) cubits: Distance from fingers to elbow (45cm).

(6) Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 – AD 79), called Pliny the Elder was a Roman author, naturalist, natural philosopher, and naval and army commander.

(7) Cancer: is one of the twelve constellations of the zodiac and is located in the Northern celestial hemisphere. Its name is Latin for crab and it is commonly represented as one.