Note 150 — GOMES EANNES DE AZURARA; (continued 3)
C. Raymond (Charles Raymond) Beazley translation
(p. 185). Crocodiles.—Here we have an original MS. note.—[This is an animal, as Pliny relateth, which breedeth in the Nile, and whose custom and nature is to live by day on land and by night in the water; in the water to feed on the fish upon which it liveth and maintaineth itself, and on the land to sleep and refresh itself. But when it cometh out in the morning to the bank, if it findeth a boy or a man it quickly killeth him, and it is said that it swalloweth them whole. And it is a very evil and very dangerous beast.]
Compare other original notes of MS. written in the same character on pp. 7, 8, 13, etc. On the Nile and its crocodiles and other wonders, as conceived by mediæval writers, we may also compare Solinus, ch. xxxii.
On Azurara's reference to Cæsarea (Cherchel) immediately preceding, Santarem remarks as follows:—[This is Julia Cæsarea, now Cherchel, as is proved by various Roman inscriptions discovered there lately, and communicated to the Institute of France (Royal Academy of Inscriptions) by M. Hase. This city was one of the busiest of the ancient Regency of Argel.]