128 On the Sea-Serpent of the American Seas. 



evidence to that already presented, and of such respectability, 

 as to confirm entirely the truth of the existence of such an 

 animal, — an animal concerning which so many contradictory 

 opinions have been hazarded as to its more immediate nature 

 and structure ; and which, from the mystery in which it has 

 hitherto been wrapped, must be interesting to the most casual 

 admirer of nature : — which must be interesting even from the 

 element in which it lives ; so vast, so unexplored in its inmost 

 recesses. We can have so little information with regard to 

 an animal which has so mighty a habitation, that it acquires a 

 grandeur in our estimation far surpassing those which inhabit 

 the earth. The monsters of the deep appear so independent 

 of our influence, and so far removed from any connection with 

 lis, that any increase of our knowledge in reference to them 

 ■must be highly gratifying. 



It was during the year 1817 that it began to be .correctly 

 reported, that in the neighbourhood of Boston and Gloucester 

 in America, an animal, in general construction nearly resem- 

 bling a serpent, had been frequently seen. These rumours 

 created a good deal of excitement, insomuch that, at a meet- 

 ing of the Linnean Society of New England, it was deter- 

 mined more fully to investigate the matter. The Honourable 

 Lonson Nash of Gloucester was appointed by a committee to 

 gather together all the information which might be obtained. 



It is unnecessary here to dwell at any length upon the evi- 

 dence which his unremitting and meritorious exertions pro- 

 cured. From different quarters, individuals of the highest 

 respectability communicated all the information which it was 

 in their power to proffer, and all declared themselves prepared 

 to take an oath upon the accuracy of their narrations. No 

 testimony was received, excepting from those who professed 

 to have been personal witnesses of the monster : no weight 

 was given to their accounts deduced from the reports which 

 were everywhere circulated : — the unadorned and unexaggera- 

 ted style in which their statements were worded is of itself per- 

 fectly sufficient to win over all to unqualified trust. The wit- 

 nesses, for the most part, unite in ascribing a vertical motion 

 to the creature. Fifty or sixty yards was no uncommon dis- 

 tance between it and the spectators, and it was never seen ex- 



