Clifton College Scientific Society. 63 



me that there was scarcely a sailor accustomed to those inland 

 lakes who had not seen them at one time or other.' 



Two years before this, the Eev. P. W. Deiuboll, Archbishop of 

 Molde, published tlie following account : — 



' On the 28t.h of July 1845, J. C. Lund, bookseller and printer ; 

 G. S. Krogh, merchant ; Christian Flang, Lund's apprentice ; and 

 John Elgenses, labourer, were out on Romsdal Fjord fishing. The 

 sea was, after a warm sunshiny day, quite calm. 



' About seven o'clock in the afternoon, a little distance from 

 shore, near the ballast place and Mold Hooe, they saw a large marine 

 animal, which slowly moved itself forward, as it appeared to them, 

 with the help of two fins on the fore part of the body nearest the 

 head, which they judged from the boiling of the water on both 

 sides of it. The visible part of the body appeared to be between 

 forty and fifty feet in length, and moved in undulations like a 

 snake. The body was round and of a dark colour, and seemed to 

 be several ells in thickness. As they discerned a waving motion 

 in the water behind the animal, they concluded that part of the 

 body was concealed under water. That it was one connected 

 animal, they saw plainly from its movement. When the animal 

 was about 100 yards from the boat, they noticed tolerably correctly 

 its fore part, which ended in a sharp snout ; its colossal head raised 

 itself above the water in the form of a semicircle ; the lower part 

 was not visible. The colour of the head was dark brown, and the 

 skin smooth. They did not notice the eyes, or any mane or bristles 

 on the throat. When the serpent came within musket-shot, Lund 

 fired at it, and was certain that the shot hit it in the head, ' After 

 the shot he dived, but came up immediately. 



' He raised his head like a snake preparing to dart on its prey. 

 After he had turned and got his body in a straight line, which he 

 appeared to do with great difficulty, he darted like an arrow 

 against the boat. They reached the shore, and the animal, per- 

 ceiving that it had come into shallow water, dived immediately 

 and disappeared in the deep.' ' 



Such is the declaration of these four men ; and no one has any 

 cause to doubt their veracity, or imagine that they were so seized 

 with fear that they could not observe what took place so near them. 

 This concludes all the Norwegian evidence that I intend to men- 

 tion. My next account is from a report published by the Linnean 

 Society of New England, in 1817, relative to a large marine animal, 

 supposed to be a serpent, seen near Cape Ann, Massachusetts. 



Of the eleven deponents who certified their evidence before 

 magistrates, the serpent form was attested by all ; the length was 

 variously estimated between 50 and 100 feet. No appearance of 

 mane was seen by any. The head was about the size of a horse's. 



