THE MERMAID. 25 



earnestly on the men. A little after a sea came and over- 

 turned her. From the navel upward, her back and breasts 

 were like a woman's, as they say that saw her ; her body as 

 big as one of us, her skin very white, and long hair hanging 

 down behind, of colour black. In her going down they saw 

 her tail, which was like the tail of a porpoise and speckled 

 like a mackarel's. Their names that saw her were Thomas 

 Hilles and Robert Rayner." 



Steller, who was a zoologist of some repute, reports 

 having seen in Behrings Straits a strange animal, which he 

 calls a "sea-ape," and in which one might almost recog- 

 nise Pontoppidan's " Sea-Quoyas-Morrov." It was about 

 five feet long, had sharp and erect ears and large eyes, 

 and on its lips a kind of beard. Its body was thick and 

 round, and it tapered to the tail, which was bifurcated, with 

 the upper lobe longest. It was covered with thick hair, 

 grey on the back, and red on the belly. No feet nor paws 

 were visible. It was full of frolic, and sported in the 

 manner of a monkey, swimming sometimes on one side of 

 the ship and sometimes on the other. It often raised one- 

 third of its body out of the water, and stood upright for a 

 considerable time. It would frequently bring up a sea- 

 plant, not unlike a bottle-gourd, which it would toss about 

 and catch in its mouth, playing numberless fantastic tricks 

 with it. 



Somewhat similar accounts have been brought from the 

 Southern Hemisphere, two, at least, of which arc worth 

 transcribing. 



Captain Colnett, in his ' Voyage to the South Atlantic,' 

 says : — "A very singular circumstance happened off the 

 coast of Chili, in lat. 24° S., which spread some alarm 

 amongst my people, and awakened their superstitious ap- 

 prehensions. About 8 o'clock in the evening an animal 



