THE SQUID AND OCTOPUS — BARTSCH. 



365 



sharp suout, and spouted water like a whale, and very broad paws. The body 

 seemed to be covered with scales, and the skin was uneven and wrinkled, and 

 the lower part was formed like a snake. 



After some time the creature plunged backward into the water and then 

 turned its tail up above the surface a whole ship length from the head. The 

 following evening we had very bad weather. So far INIr. Egede. The drawing 

 annexed gives me the greatest reason to conclude (what by other accounts I 

 have thought probable) that there ai-e sea snakes, like other fish, of different 

 sorts. That which Mr. Egede saw, and probably all those who sailed with him, 

 had under its body two flaps, or perhaps two broad fins ; the head was longer 

 and the body thicker and nnich shorter than those sea snakes of which I have 

 had the most consistent accounts. Though one can not have an opportunity 

 of taking the exact dimensions of this creature, yet all that have seen it are 

 unanimous in affirming, as far as they can judge at a distance, it api^ears to 

 be of the length of a cable, i. e., 100 fathoms, or 600 English feet ; that it lies 

 on the surface of the water (when it is very calm) in many folds, and that 

 there are, in a line with the head, some small parts of the back to be seen above 



Fig. 7. — Giant squid in rOle of sea serpent. 



the surface of the water when it moves or bends. These at a distance appear 

 like so many ca.sks or hogsheads floating in a line, with a considerable distance 

 between each of them. Mr. Tuchsen, of Herroe, whom I mentioned above, is 

 the only person, of the many correspondents I have, that informs me he has 

 observed the difference between the body and the tail of this creature as to 

 thickness. It appears that this creature does not, like the eel or land snake, 

 taper gradually to a point, but the body, which looks to be as big as two 

 hogsheads, gixtws remarkably small at once just M^here the tail begins. The 

 head in all the kinds has a high and broad forehead, but in some a pointed 

 snout, though in others that is flat, like that of a cow or a horse, with large 

 nostrils, and several stiff hairs standing out on each side like whiskers. 



It is supposed that the sea snakes have a very quick smell, which we may 

 conclude from this, that they are observed to fly from the smell of castor. 

 Upon this account, those that go out on Stor-Eggen to fish in the summer, 

 always provide themselves with these animals. They add, that the eyes of this 

 creature are very large, and of a blue color, and look like a couple of bright 

 pewter plates. The whole animal is of a dark-brown color, but it is speckled 

 and variegated with light streakes or spots, that shine like tortoise shell. It is 

 of a darker hue about the eyes and mouth than elsewhere, and appears in that 

 part a good deal like those horses, which we call moors heads. 



