28 



SEA FABLES EXPLALXED. 



ivor>' or bone. The head is like that of a small monkey, and 

 a little wool covers the crown, so thinly and untidily that if 

 the mermaid possessed a crystal mirror she would see the 

 necessity for the vigorous use of her comb of pearl. The 

 teeth are those of some fish — apparently of the cat-fish, 

 {Anarchicas luptcs). These Japanese artificial mermaids have 

 brought many a dollar into the pockets of Mr. Barnum and 

 other showmen. 



Somewhat different in appearance from this, but of the 

 same kind, was an artificial mermaid described in the 

 Saturday Magazine of June 4th, 1836. 

 Fig. 14 is a facsimile of the woodcut 

 which accompanied it. This grotesque 

 composition was exhibited in a glass 

 case, some years previously, " in a 

 leading street at the west end " of 

 London. It was constructed " of the 

 skin of the head and shoulders of a 

 monkey, which was attached to the 

 dried skin of a fish of the salmon kind 

 with the head cut off, and the whole 

 was stuffed and highly varnished, the 

 better to deceive the eye." It was 

 said to have been " taken by the crew 

 of a Dutch vessel from on board a 

 native Malacca boat, and from the 

 reverence shown to it, it was supposed 

 to be a representative of one of their idol gods." I am 

 inclined to think that it was of Japanese origin. 



Fig. 15 is described in the article above referred to as 

 having been copied from a Japanese drawing, and as being 

 a portrait of one of their deities. Its similarity to one of 



FIG. 14. — AN ARTIFICIAL 

 MERMAID, PROBABLY 

 JAPANESE. 



