CHAPTER IX: THE ISLAND OF BLOODTHIRSTY QUADRUPEDS

A BEAUTIFUL island next came in view, in which they saw, at a distance, multitudes of large animals shaped like horses. The voyagers, as they drew near, viewed them attentively, and soon observed that one of them opened his mouth and bit a great piece out of the side of the animal that stood next him, bringing away skin and flesh. Immediately after, another did the same to the nearest of his fellows. And, in short, the voyagers saw that all the animals in the island kept worrying and tearing each other from time to time in this manner ; so that the ground was covered far and wide with the blood that streamed from their sides.
In needless strife they oft contend,
A cruel, mutua -mangling brood;
Their flesh with gory tusks they rend,
And crimson all the isle with blood.