118
BEZOAR book ii
very
tall, and having line hair, like silk. As soon as tiic goats were
safely in my hall, the eldest of the three merchants who had brought
them, began by paying me a compliment, and told me that since I had not
been willing to take the present which they wished to make me, for
having procured the sale of so large a parcel of bezoar, at the least I
would not refuse these six goats which they gave me with their whole
hearts ; but as I did not wish to take them entirely as a gift, as they
desired, I asked what the value of them was ; and, after having made
great difficulty about telling me, I was at length much surprised and
thought they were joking when they said that one of the goats which
they pointed out was worth three rupees, that each of the two next were
worth four rupees, and each of the three which remained four and a
quarter rupees. Upon which I asked them why some of the goats were
dearer than others, and I learnt that it was because one had only one
bezoar in the stomach, and the others had two or three or four of them
; this they made me see for myself, forthwith, by tapping the belly, as
I have above described. These six goats had 17 bezoars, and a half one,
like the half of a nut. The inside was like the soft dropping of a
goat, as these bezoars grow amongst the food in the belly of the goat.
Some have told me that bezoars originate close to the liver, others
maintain that it is close to the heart, but I was never able to
ascertain the truth.1
Both
in the East and West there are an abundance of bezoars obtained from
cows, and there are some which weigh up to 17 or 18 ounces, such an one
having been given to the Grand Duke of Tuscany. But nothing is thought
of this kind of bezoar, six grains of the other having a greater effect
than thirty of it.
As
for the bezoar obtained from monkeys, as some believe, it is so strong
that two grains of it do as much as six from that of the goat; but it
is very rare, and it is found particu-
1
That Tavernier was not well versed in anatomy is sufficiently apparent
from this passage, but at the period at which he wrote it, more than
two centuries ago, such references to the heart and liver, and their
communication with the stomach, would probably have passed without
criticism.
