ME Davidson's evidence. 835 



persons on the poop. Captain Petrie and myself, at the 

 same instant, were literally fixed in astonishment by the 

 ap23earance, a short distance ahead, of an animal of which 

 no more generally correct description could be given than 

 that by Captain M'Quhse. It passed within thirty-five 

 yards of the ship, without altering its course in the least ; 

 but as it came right abreast of us, it slowly turned its head 

 towards us. Apparently about one-third of the uj)per part 

 of its body was above water, in nearly its whole length, 

 and we could see the water curling up on its breast as it 

 moved along, but by what means it moved we could not 

 perceive. We watched it going astern with intense in- 

 terest until it had nearly disappeared, when my com- 

 panion, turning to me with a countenance exjDressive of 

 the utmost astonishment, exclaimed, ' Good heavens ! 

 what can that be ?' It was strano-e that we never thouoht 

 of calling the party engaged at luncheon to witness the 

 extraordinary sight we had seen ; but the fact is, we were 

 so absorbed in it ourselves, that we never spoke, and 

 scarcely moved, until it had nearly disappeared. Captain 

 Petrie, a superior and most intelligent man, has since 

 perished in the exercise of his profession. Of the fate of 

 the others then on deck I am ignorant ; so the story 

 rests on my own unsupported word, but I pledge that 

 word to its correctness. Professor Owen's supposition, 

 that the animal seen by the officers of the Dcedalus was 

 a gigantic seal, I believe to be incorrect, because we saw 

 this apparently similar creature in its whole length, with 

 the exception of a small portion of the tail, which was 



