y person doing or intending to do harm, they wind
themselves in such a manner around them as to make them prisoners, and
then command their young ones to give notice to their masters, that they
may come and secure the thieves. But if the thieves be numerous, or the
wild beasts of too much strength, so that the serpents dare not encounter
them, they go to their masters house, and if it happen to be in the
night, they give many strokes with their tails, so as to awaken their
masters, that they may provide for their defence[29].

A certain Italian, named Aloisius Cadamosta, relates, that when he was
upon the discovery of Guinea, and resided in the house of Bisboral, the
grandson of king Budomel, he heard one night, when in bed, a great noise
and many blows given about the house, upon which Bisboral arose and went
out; and, upon his return, Cadamosta demanded of him where he had been,
and he answered that he had been with his cobras or snakes, which called
him[30]. In the Indies there are many snakes, and some of them very full
of poison; yet the Indians carry them about their necks, and put them in
their bosoms, and under their arms, without fear or injury; and at
certain sounds, the snakes will dance, and do many other strange things
at command.

I was informed by a certain Portuguese, who had been beyond the Cape of
Good Hope, towards Sofala, Quiloa, and Melinda, that there were certain
birds in that country, which would come to the negroes on a call, and as
the negroes moved on through the woods, the birds would do the same from
tree to tree, till at length they would alight on a tree whence they
would not remove: And, on examining that tree, the negroes were sure to
find wax and honey, but knew not whether it grew there naturally or
not[31]. In the same country, they find much wax and honey in ant-holes,
made by the ants, but somewhat bitter. In the seas of that coast, there
are certain fish, known to the fishermen, which commonly swim upright in
the water, having the faces and breasts of women[32].

In the year 355 before Christ, the Spaniards are said to have gone by sea
to the flats of India, Arabia, and the adjoining coasts, to which they
carried various merchandizes in great ships; and sailing to the north-
west they came to certain flats which are covered by the tide, and left
bare by the ebb, where they caught many _tunnies_ of great size; which
fishing turned out to their great profit, as they were very abunda