[Sca-cooks] Description of the Beaver

[Kathleen Gormanshaw]

On Wed, Nov 24, 2010 at 7:00 AM, Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com> wrote:
>  "I might here intreat largely of other vermin, as the polecat, the miniver,
> the weasel, stote, fulmart, squirrel, fitchew, and such like, which Cardan
> includeth under the word Mustela: also of the otter, and likewise of the
> beaver, whose hinder feet and tail only are supposed to be fish.

>  from Modern History Sourcebook: William Harrison (1534-1593): Description
> Of England, 1577 (from Holinshed's Chronicles)

A strong example of the different world-view people had in the middle
ages.  It would never occur to me to think part of an animal could be
a fish.

Eyrny