34 



had done so several times, and calling liim, desired him to 

 tcU mc at once all about them. 



I iind from my notes that the date of our conversation was 

 September, 1870, and that young Francis McPartland, who 

 was an extremely intelligent and apparently truthful youth, 

 stated that " two years previously he had several times seen 

 water animals in the lake at different places ; he had a good 

 view of thein off the shore of Swan Bay ; going from the 

 station towards Mr. Smith's Neck. They were within a- 

 stone's throw of the shore, and seemed to be three or four 

 feet long, they were three or four in number, and seemed to. 

 be playing about ; they did not jump out, but were splashing 

 about, and sometimes threw the water seven or eight feet up 

 in the air. They showed their backs -above water, also their 

 heads, which were round, " round like a bull dog." They 

 were darkish in colour ; he had seen them several times, once 

 one alone, but generally two together ; they swam about, 

 keeping the head above the water, you can also see the 

 shoulders ; they show the back when they are splashing. 

 These were always seen by McPartland in some part or other 

 of Swan Bay ; sometimes near the shore, sometimes in the 

 middle. 



Immediately on my return I asked Mr. John Forster to 

 favour me with a few lines to the chief constable of the lake 

 district, and through his hands I received the following, 

 statement : — 



Steppes, 



25th October, 1870. 



Sir, — With regard to your memo, of the 23rd of September last, 

 relative to animals reported to have been seen in the Great Lake 

 by young McPartland, and supposed to be seals, having made 

 their way from the sea up the Derwent and Shannon Rivers, 



I now beg to inform you that I have made enquiries amongst 

 the shepherds in the vicinity of the Lake, and I find that several 

 of them have seen an animal swimminaj in the Lake very much, 

 resembling a black sheep dog with only its head above the water. 

 I cannot find that more than one has been seen at a time. I do 

 not think it possible for seals to make their way from the sea to the 

 Great Lake, in consequence of a very considerable water -fall being 

 in the Shannon near its junction with the Ouse, unless being 

 amphibious they could escape the faU and reach the river above by 

 land. 



The people that have seen this animal in the Lake maintain that 

 it is not a platypus, but twice as large and much darker, but as 

 it has never been very plainly seen, and considering the difficulty 

 of any sea animal getting as far as the Lake, I think it must un- 

 doubtedly be a very large platypus. Mr. Headlam's shepherd saw 

 one at the very top of the Lake, which he say was four or five feet 

 longjwith a very large black head. A shepherd of Kermode's also 



