The Digital Ark: Early Modern Collections of Curiosities in England and Scotland, 1580-1700

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Peter Martyr d'Anghiera (2 Feb 1457 - Oct 1526)

Other biography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Martyr_d%27Anghiera Authority - early modern
References in Documents:
Grew, Musaeum Regalis (1685)

The Head of the Manati is like that of an Ox or Cow, (a) Charl. Onom. Zoic. out of Hieron. Benzon. Hist. N. Orb. l. 2. c. 14. from whence the English Name; his Eyes little; his Body long, like that of an Otter; his two Feet like an Elephants. Sometimes he is about thirty five feet or twelve yards long, and four broad. (a) He feeds not on Fishes, but the Grass on the banks of the Creeks and Bays. (b) Calves and suckles her Young (as some other Fishes) with two (b) Traph. Disc. of Jam. Duggs. (c) A certain Indian King kept and fed one of them with Bread six and twenty years in a Lake near his (c) Ibid. House, which grew tame, beyond all that the Antients have written of Dolphins: He would sometimes carry ten people on his Back, with ease, a cross the Lake. (d) (d) Charl. On. Zoic. out of Petr. Martyr. They breed in Hispaniola, Jamaica, Brasile, and other places.