Caesar cut her
open with a knife, to see where those wounds were that had been
reported to him, and why she did not die of 'em. But I shall now
relate a thing that, possibly, will find no credit among men;
because 'tis a notion commonly received with us that nothing can
receive a wound in the heart and live: but when the heart of this
courageous animal was taken out, there were seven bullets of lead in
it, the wound seamed up with great scars, and she lived with the
bullets a great while, for it was long since they were shot. This
heart the conqueror brought up to us, and 'twas a very great curiosity
which all the country came to see; and which gave Caesar occasion of
many fine discourses of accidents in war and strange escapes.
At other times he would go a-fishing; and discoursing on that
diversion, he found we had in that country a very strange fish, called
a numb eel (an eel of which I have eaten) that, while it is alive,
it has a quality so cold that those who are angling, though with a
line of ever so great a length, with a rod at the end of it, it shall,
in the same minute the bait is touched by this eel, seize him or her
that holds the rod with a numbness that shall deprive 'em of sense for
a while; and some have fallen into the water, and others dropped as
dead on the banks of the rivers where they stood, as soon as this fish
touches the bait. Caesar used to laugh at this, and believed it
impossible a man could lose his force at the touch of a fish; and
could not understand that philosophy, that a cold quality should be of
that nature; however, he had a great curiosity to try whether it would
have the same effect on him it had on others, and often tried, but
in vain.
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