[200] In reference to colours so bright as to be inconsistent with our knowledge of the ordinary colours of reptiles, it may be of interest to compare the description by D'Argensola--who wrote the history of the successive conquests of the Moluccas, by the Spaniards, Portuguese and Dutch--of a blue and golden saurian existing upon a volcanic mountain in Tarnate. "Il y a aussi sur cette montagne un grand lac d'eau douce, entouré d'arbres, dans lequel on voit de crocodiles azurés et dorés qui ont plus d'un brasse de longueur, et qui se plongent dans l'eau lors qu'ils entendent des hommes."--D'Argensola, vol. iii. p. 4, translated from the Spanish, 3 vols.; J. Desbordes, Amsterdam, 1706. And Pliny, _Nat. Hist._, Book viii. chap. xxviii., speaks of lizards upon Nysa, a mountain of India, twenty-four feet long, their colour being either yellow, purple, or azure blue. [201] Ovid, _Fasti_, Book iv. 501. [202] These wood-cuts occur on pp. 239, 240. [203] Broderip, _Zoological Recreations_, p. 332. [204] Lucan, _Pharsalia_, Book ix. 726-32. [205] Book xvi. chap. x. [206] Book xv. chap. v.; A.D. 355. [207] Lord Lytton, _King Arthur_, Book i. Stanza 4. [208] _Chamber's Cyclopædia_, 1881. [209] J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_, vol. ii. p. 653. [210] A dragon without wings is called a lintworm or lindworm, which Grimm explains to mean a beautiful or shining worm (here again we have a corroboration of the idea of the gold and silver dragon given _ante_.) [211] Brewer's _Dictionary of Phrase and Fable_. [212] Rev. Dr. Brewer, _Dictionary of Phrase and Fable_, London. [213] _The Harleian Collection of Travels_, vol. ii. p. 457. 1745. [214] The italics are mine. [215] Churchill, _Collection of Voyages_, vol. v. p. 213; London, 1746. [216] Ulyssis Aldrovandi _Serpentum et Draconum Historiæ_; Bononiæ, 1640. [217] Scaliger, lib. iii. Miscell. cap. i. See _ante_, p. 182, "Winged Serpents." [218] _De Naturâ Rerum_, lib. vii., cap. 29. [219] Athanasii Kircheri _Mundus Subterraneus_, Book viii. 27. [220] Probably many of my readers are acquainted with Schiller's poem based on this story, and with the beautiful designs by Retsch illustrating it. [221] Harris, _Collection of Voyages_, vol. i. p. 474; London, 1764. [222] _De Moribus Brachmanorum_, p. 63. Strabo, lib. 16, p. 75. Bochart Hieroz, p. 11, lib. 3, cap. 13. [223] Ælian, _De Animal._, lib. xv. cap. 21. [224] Strabo, lib. xvi. [225] Gosse tells us that it is still a common belief in Jamaica that crested snakes exist there which crow like a cock. [226] Strabo, lib. xvi. [227] Jonston, _Theatr. Animal._, tome ii. p. 34, "De Serpentibus." Note.--It is interesting to record that in China, to the present day, the tradition of the gold and silver scaled species of dragons remains alive. Two magnificent dragons, 200 feet and 150 feet long, representing respectively the gold and silver dragon, formed part of the processions in Hongkong in December 1881, in honour of the young princes.