Research source

Harris, in his Collection of Voyages,[221] gives a singular resumé

Date of account: Published 1886
Source: Mythical Monsters
Reference: Mythical Monsters · selected passage 84
Rights: public_domain
Language: English
Record updated: 2026-08-24

Record summary

Published source text

Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.

Source passage

Source text · mention only

Harris, in his _Collection of Voyages_,[221] gives a singular _resumé_. He says:--"We have, in an ancient author, a very large and circumstantial account of the taking of a dragon on the frontiers of Ethiopia, which was one and twenty feet in length, and was carried to Ptolemy Philadelphus, who very bountifully rewarded such as ran the hazard of procuring him this beast.--Diodorus Siculus, lib. iii.... Yet terrible as these were they fall abundantly short of monsters of the same species in India, with respect to which St. Ambrose[222] tells us that there were dragons seen in the neighbourhood of the Ganges nearly seventy cubits in length. It was one of this size that Alexander and his army saw in a cave, where it was fed, either out of reverence or from curiosity, by the inhabitants; and the first lightning of its eyes, together with its terrible hissing, made a strong impression on the Macedonians, who, with all their courage, could not help being frighted at so horrid a spectacle.[223] The dragon is nothing more than a serpent of enormous size; and they formerly distinguished three sorts of them in the Indies, viz.

Historical context

Contextual commentary · mention only

This is a historical compilation of unusual-animal reports and argument. Witness testimony, repetition between publications and the author's zoological assumptions all affect independence and reliability.

Modern context

Contextual commentary · mention only

Lattice compares morphology, behaviour and setting while keeping misidentification, folklore, exaggeration, error and known animals available as alternatives.

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