Chap, xvii.] ENCxLISH MYTHICAL ANIMALS. 371 



distinction, commonly drawn between men and the higher 

 monkeys, is an error of high civiHzation and comparatively 

 recent. Less civilized races make no such distinction. To 

 the Dyack, the great ape of Borneo is simply the Man of the 

 Woods, " Orang Utan." 



The belief in various mythical animals in England is still 

 very strong. We are probably not far in advance of the Chinese 

 in this matter. So strong is the belief, that several of the 

 animals in question could not be mentioned here without pre- 

 judice. The Sea Serpent, however, is always open to criticism. 

 This wonderful animal has hardly ever been seen alike by any 

 two sets of observers. It is nearly always easy to a naturalist 

 to understand the stories told. Sometimes it is a pair of whales 

 that is seen ; sometimes, as when the animal was seen off the 

 Scotch coast, and figured in the Illustrated London News, a 

 long mass of floating seaweed deceives the distant observer; 

 sometimes the Serpent has large eyes and a crest behind the 

 head, then it is a Ribbon Fish * {Gyninetnis). 



I myself am one of the few professed naturalists who have 

 seen the Serpent. It was on a voyage to Rotterdam from 

 the Thames. An old gentleman suddenly started up, shouting, 

 " There's the Sea Serpent ! " gesticulating with his umbrella. 

 All the passengers crowded to the ship's side and gazed with 

 astonishment at a black line, undulating with astonishing rapidity 

 along the water at some distance. It was a flock of Cor- 

 morants, which was flying in line behind the waves, and which 

 was viewed in the intervals between them with a sort of thau- 

 moscopic effect. 



The extremely untrustworthy nature of the descriptions sent 

 home is a constant feature in the natural history of the Sea ^ 

 Serpent. Not long ago he was seen near Singapore (evidently , 

 a very large Cuttle-fish on this occasion). He was described * 

 as with large eyes, spotted with brown, and tvithoiit artns or 

 legs, but with a very long tail, and was yet said to be like a 

 frog. 



Ordinary sailors know nothing about whales or fish, and 

 easily imagine they see wonders. Often, of course, the Sea 

 Serpent stories are entirely without foundation in fact, and 

 sometimes apparently ships from which they emanate are laden 

 with rum. 



Amongst the rough figures in the Shan Hoi Sing, the small 

 book, from which the illustrations already given are taken, is 

 one of a rat-like animal and a bird which lives in the same 



* As first, I believe, pointed out by Mr. J. M. Jones, F.L.S., in " An 

 Account of a Ribbon Fish, 16 ft. 7 ins. in length, obtained at Bermuda." 

 Proc. Zool. Soc. i860, p. 187. 



