242 SALMONIA. 



puts himself in the power of the whaler; 

 whereas, if he knew his force, and was to 

 swim on the surface in a straight line, he 

 would easily break or destroy the machinery 

 by which he is arrested, as easily as a salmon 

 breaks the single gut of a fisher when his 

 reel is entangled. 



Poiet. — My amusement in such a voyage 

 would be to look for the kraken and the sea 

 snake. 



Hal. — You have a vivid imagination, and 

 might see them. 



Poiet. — Then you do not believe in the 

 existence of these wonderful animals ? 



Hal. — No more than I do in that of the 

 merman, or mermaid. 



Poiet. — Yet we have histories, which 

 seem authentic, of the appearance of these 

 monsters, and there are not wanting persons 

 who assert that they have seen the mermaid 

 even in these islands. 



Hal. — I disbelieve the authenticity of 

 these stories. I do not mean to deny the 

 existence of large marine animals having 

 analogies to the serpent, the conger we know 



