Page:Cæsarea; or, A Discourse of the Island of Jersey.djvu/86

76 not be much out, for beleeuing that soe many bones of mother Earth were not at first created naked; & consequently that ye Sea hath by degrees at long running worne & diluted that earth wch was about them; leauing onely that part behind which it could not dissolue. This Island is noe lesse annoyed by seuerall sorts of vermine, creeping & crawling things, then damnifyed by the wind & ye water. It is scarce credible what quantity wee haue of Toades, Snakes, slowe wormes, rats & mice, with theire Enemyes the Stoates; but aboue ail of moles, by whose working in the ground it is opened & blowne vp, to the great detriment of corne & grasse, but certainly to ye benefitt of fruite trees, which receiue thereby the more moisture, & beare more plentifully: whereas in Guemczey, where Toades will not liue, nor moles prosper, the trees are not soe fruitfull as with vs. Neither is the Toade or Snake with vs soe venemous as they are taken to be: wee haue them in our orchards & gardens, among our fruit, which lyes on ye ground vngathered whole days & nights, in our waters & springs, & sometimes in our Houses. And children can not but eate of that fruite which they haue troden, and all of vs vse that water which they haue ben in; which is soe farre from being the worse for it that it seemes to be the purer; as if those vgly Creatures did suck & drawe to themselues the worse part of it, leauing the best & purest behind, according to ye Rule, Simile nutritur Simili. Indeed there is not in ye world, to speake generally, purer water, nor colder in summer, nor pleasanter to ye tast, then most of our springs be. As for our greene & yellowe Lizards soe frequent in euery hedge, soe tame & harmelesse, though I place them here, because of theire kind, I doe not take them for any deformity, but on ye contrary a grace & ornam. to this Island.

Of field mice wee haue three kinds: ye comon sort differing nothing from domestick ones, but onely in biggnesse; ye second kind differing both in bignesse collour & parts, being of a midle size betweene a rat & a mouse, of a gray not dunne colour, & of a deeper haire. They haue but foure teeth, two belowe & two aboue, but those belowe twice us long as ye vppermost;