parts of the world.  As the elephant is a well-known animal, I shall only observe in general, that those of Africa are of a very large size, as may be easily conceived by the size of their teeth, which are imported into Europe.  Of these large teeth, or tusks rather, each elephant has two in the lower jaw, the points of which turn down, whereas those of the wild boar are turned up.  Before my voyage to Africa I had been told that the elephant could not bend its knee, and slept standing; but this is an egregious falsehood for the bending of their knees can be plainly perceived when they walk, and they, certainly lie down and rise again like other animals.  They never shed their large teeth before death; neither do they do any harm to man unless provoked.  In that case the elephant makes his attack with his trunk, which is a kind of nose, protruded to a great length.  He can contract and extend this proboscis at pleasure, and is able to toss a man with it as far as a sling can throw a stone.  It is in vain to think of escape by running, let the person be ever so swift, in case the elephant pursues in earnest, as his strides are of prodigious length.  They are more dangerous when they have young ones in their company than at any other time; of which the females have only, three or four at a birth.  They feed on the leaves and fruit of trees, pulling down the large boughs with their trunks, and bringing them to their mouths.  This trunk is composed of a very thick cartilage, and is pliable in every direction.

There are many kinds of birds in this country, and parrots are particularly numerous, which are much hated by the negroes, because they do much damage to their crops of pulse and millet.  There are said to be several kinds of parrots, but I never saw more than two.  One of these is like the kind which is brought into Italy from Alexandria in Egypt, but rather smaller.  The other kind is much larger, having a brown head, neck, bill, and legs, with a yellow and green body.  I procured a considerable number of both sorts, particularly of the smaller kind, many of which died; but I brought 150 back to Portugal, where I sold them for half a ducat each.  These birds are very industrious in constructing their nests, which they build with bulrushes and the small leaves of the palm, and other trees, in a very curious and ingenious manner.  Choosing the slenderest branch of a tree, the parrot fastens a bulrush of about two spans long to its outer extremity, at the depending end of which rush it weaves its nest in a most beautiful manner, suspended like a ball, and having only one passage for entering.  By this means they contrive to preserve their young from being devoured by the serpents, as the small twigs from which the nests are suspended are unable to bear the weight of the serpents.  There are likewise abundance of those birds called Pharaoh’s hens[4] in Europe, which come to us out of the Levant.  They have likewise other birds, both large and small, which are quite different from any that are known in Italy.