The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci (82 page)

1244.

The bite of the tarantula fixes a man's mind on one idea; that is on
the thing he was thinking of when he was bitten.

These punish those who are scoffing at them by pecking out their
eyes; for nature has so ordered it, that they may thus be fed.

1245.

The huge elephant has by nature what is rarely found in man; that is
Honesty, Prudence, Justice, and the Observance of Religion; inasmuch
as when the moon is new, these beasts go down to the rivers, and
there, solemnly cleansing themselves, they bathe, and so, having
saluted the planet, return to the woods. And when they are ill,
being laid down, they fling up plants towards Heaven as though they
would offer sacrifice. —They bury their tusks when they fall out
from old age.—Of these two tusks they use one to dig up roots for
food; but they save the point of the other for fighting with; when
they are taken by hunters and when worn out by fatigue, they dig up
these buried tusks and ransom themselves.

1246.

They are merciful, and know the dangers, and if one finds a man
alone and lost, he kindly puts him back in the road he has missed,
if he finds the footprints of the man before the man himself. It
dreads betrayal, so it stops and blows, pointing it out to the other
elephants who form in a troop and go warily.

These beasts always go in troops, and the oldest goes in front and
the second in age remains the last, and thus they enclose the troop.
Out of shame they pair only at night and secretly, nor do they then
rejoin the herd but first bathe in the river. The females do not
fight as with other animals; and it is so merciful that it is most
unwilling by nature ever to hurt those weaker than itself. And if it
meets in the middle of its way a flock of sheep

1247.

it puts them aside with its trunk, so as not to trample them under
foot; and it never hurts any thing unless when provoked. When one
has fallen into a pit the others fill up the pit with branches,
earth and stones, thus raising the bottom that he may easily get
out. They greatly dread the noise of swine and fly in confusion,
doing no less harm then, with their feet, to their own kind than to
the enemy. They delight in rivers and are always wandering about
near them, though on account of their great weight they cannot swim.
They devour stones, and the trunks of trees are their favourite
food. They have a horror of rats. Flies delight in their smell and
settle on their back, and the beast scrapes its skin making its
folds even and kills them.

1248.

When they cross rivers they send their young ones up against the
stream of the water; thus, being set towards the fall, they break
the united current of the water so that the current does not carry
them away. The dragon flings itself under the elephant's body, and
with its tail it ties its legs; with its wings and with its arms it
also clings round its ribs and cuts its throat with its teeth, and
the elephant falls upon it and the dragon is burst. Thus, in its
death it is revenged on its foe.

These go in companies together, and they twine themselves after the
manner of roots, and with their heads raised they cross lakes, and
swim to where they find better pasture; and if they did not thus
combine

1249.

they would be drowned, therefore they combine.

The serpent is a very large animal. When it sees a bird in the air
it draws in its breath so strongly that it draws the birds into its
mouth too. Marcus Regulus, the consul of the Roman army was
attacked, with his army, by such an animal and almost defeated. And
this animal, being killed by a catapult, measured 123 feet, that is
64 1/2 braccia and its head was high above all the trees in a wood.

This is a very large snake which entangles itself round the legs of
the cow so that it cannot move and then sucks it, in such wise that
it almost dries it up. In the time of Claudius the Emperor, there
was killed, on the Vatican Hill,

1250.

one which had inside it a boy, entire, that it had swallowed.

This beast is born in Scandinavia. It has the shape of a great
horse, excepting that the great length of its neck and of its ears
make a difference. It feeds on grass, going backwards, for it has so
long an upper lip that if it went forwards it would cover up the
grass. Its legs are all in one piece; for this reason when it wants
to sleep it leans against a tree, and the hunters, spying out the
place where it is wont to sleep, saw the tree almost through, and
then, when it leans against it to sleep, in its sleep it falls, and
thus the hunters take it. And every other mode of taking it is in
vain, because it is incredibly swift in running.

1251.

This beast is a native of Paeonia and has a neck with a mane like a
horse. In all its other parts it is like a bull, excepting that its
horns are in a way bent inwards so that it cannot butt; hence it has
no safety but in flight, in which it flings out its excrement to a
distance of 400 braccia in its course, and this burns like fire
wherever it touches.

These keep their claws in the sheath, and never put them out unless
they are on the back of their prey or their enemy.

When the lioness defends her young from the hand of the hunter, in
order not to be frightened by the spears she keeps her eyes on the
ground, to the end that she may not by her flight leave her young
ones prisoners.

1252.

This animal, which is so terrible, fears nothing more than the noise
of empty carts, and likewise the crowing of cocks. And it is much
terrified at the sight of one, and looks at its comb with a
frightened aspect, and is strangely alarmed when its face is
covered.

This has the form of the lioness but it is taller on its legs and
slimmer and long bodied; and it is all white and marked with black
spots after the manner of rosettes; and all animals delight to look
upon these rosettes, and they would always be standing round it if
it were not for the terror of its face;

1253.

therefore knowing this, it hides its face, and the surrounding
animals grow bold and come close, the better to enjoy the sight of
so much beauty; when suddenly it seizes the nearest and at once
devours it.

The Bactrian have two humps; the Arabian one only. They are swift in
battle and most useful to carry burdens. This animal is extremely
observant of rule and measure, for it will not move if it has a
greater weight than it is used to, and if it is taken too far it
does the same, and suddenly stops and so the merchants are obliged
to lodge there.

1254.

This beast is a native of Hyrcania, and it is something like the
panther from the various spots on its skin. It is an animal of
terrible swiftness; the hunter when he finds its young ones carries
them off hastily, placing mirrors in the place whence he takes them,
and at once escapes on a swift horse. The panther returning finds
the mirrors fixed on the ground and looking into them believes it
sees its young; then scratching with its paws it discovers the
cheat. Forthwith, by means of the scent of its young, it follows the
hunter, and when this hunter sees the tigress he drops one of the
young ones and she takes it, and having carried it to the den she
immediately returns to the hunter and does

1255.

the same till he gets into his boat.

It is found in Ethiopia near to the source Nigricapo. It is not a
very large animal, is sluggish in all its parts, and its head is so
large that it carries it with difficulty, in such wise that it
always droops towards the ground; otherwise it would be a great pest
to man, for any one on whom it fixes its eyes dies immediately.
[Footnote: Leonardo undoubtedly derived these remarks as to the
Catoblepas from Pliny, Hist. Nat. VIII. 21 (al. 32):
Apud Hesperios
Aethiopas fons est Nigris
(different readings),
ut plerique
existimavere, Nili caput.——-Juxta hunc fera appellatur catoblepas,
modica alioquin, ceterisque membris iners, caput tantum praegrave
aegre ferens; alias internecio humani generis, omnibus qui oculos
ejus videre, confestim morientibus.
Aelian,
Hist. An.
gives a far
more minute description of the creature, but he says that it poisons
beasts not by its gaze, but by its venomous breath. Athenaeus 221 B,
mentions both. If Leonardo had known of these two passages, he would
scarcely have omitted the poisonous breath. (H. MULLER-STRUBING.)]

This is found in the province of Cyrenaica and is not more than 12
fingers long. It has on its head a white spot after the fashion of a
diadem. It scares all serpents with its whistling. It resembles a
snake, but does not move by wriggling but from the centre forwards
to the right. It is said that one

1256.

of these, being killed with a spear by one who was on horse-back,
and its venom flowing on the spear, not only the man but the horse
also died. It spoils the wheat and not only that which it touches,
but where it breathes the grass dries and the stones are split.

This beast finding the lair of the basilisk kills it with the smell
of its urine, and this smell, indeed, often kills the weasel itself.

This has four movable little horns; so, when it wants to feed, it
hides under leaves all of its body except these little horns which,
as they move, seem to the birds to be some small worms at play. Then
they immediately swoop down to pick them and the Cerastes suddenly
twines round them and encircles and devours them.

1257.

This has two heads, one in its proper place the other at the tail;
as if one place were not enough from which to fling its venom.

This lies on trees, and flings itself down like a dart, and pierces
through the wild beast and kills them.

The bite of this animal cannot be cured unless by immediately
cutting out the bitten part. This pestilential animal has such a
love for its mate that they always go in company. And if, by mishap,
one of them is killed the other, with incredible swiftness, follows
him who has killed it; and it is so determined and eager for
vengeance that it overcomes every difficulty, and passing by every
troop it seeks to hurt none but its enemy. And it will travel any
distance, and it is impossible to avoid it unless by crossing water
and by very swift flight. It has its eyes turned inwards, and large
ears and it hears better than it sees.

1258.

This animal is the mortal enemy of the asp. It is a native of Egypt
and when it sees an asp near its place, it runs at once to the bed
or mud of the Nile and with this makes itself muddy all over, then
it dries itself in the sun, smears itself again with mud, and thus,
drying one after the other, it makes itself three or four coatings
like a coat of mail. Then it attacks the asp, and fights well with
him, so that, taking its time it catches him in the throat and
destroys him.

This is found in the Nile, it has four feet and lives on land and in
water. No other terrestrial creature but this is found to have no
tongue, and it only bites by moving its upper jaw. It grows to a
length of forty feet and has claws and is armed with a hide that
will take any blow. By day it is on land and at night in the water.
It feeds on fishes, and going to sleep on the bank of the Nile with
its mouth open, a bird called

1259.

trochilus, a very small bird, runs at once to its mouth and hops
among its teeth and goes pecking out the remains of the food, and so
inciting it with voluptuous delight tempts it to open the whole of
its mouth, and so it sleeps. This being observed by the ichneumon it
flings itself into its mouth and perforates its stomach and bowels,
and finally kills it.

Nature has given such knowledge to animals, that besides the
consciousness of their own advantages they know the disadvantages of
their foes. Thus the dolphin understands what strength lies in a cut
from the fins placed on his chine, and how tender is the belly of
the crocodile; hence in fighting with him it thrusts at him from
beneath and rips up his belly and so kills him.

The crocodile is a terror to those that flee, and a base coward to
those that pursue him.

1260.

This beast when it feels itself over-full goes about seeking thorns,
or where there may be the remains of canes that have been split, and
it rubs against them till a vein is opened; then when the blood has
flowed as much as he needs, he plasters himself with mud and heals
the wound. In form he is something like a horse with long haunches,
a twisted tail and the teeth of a wild boar, his neck has a mane;
the skin cannot be pierced, unless when he is bathing; he feeds on
plants in the fields and goes into them backwards so that it may
seem, as though he had come out.

This bird resembles a crane, and when it feels itself ill it fills
its craw with water, and with its beak makes an injection of it.

These creatures when they feel themselves bitten by the spider
called father-long-legs, eat crabs and free themselves of the venom.

1261.

This, when fighting with serpents eats the sow-thistle and is free.