NATURAL HISTORY. 



8o3 



the following accounts, after pre- 

 mising that my cousin, whose name 

 is affixed along with mine, was 

 one of the four witnesses who be- 

 held with me this uncommon spec- 

 tacle. 



While she and I were walking 

 by the sea-shore, on the 12th of 

 January, about noon, our atten- 

 tion was attracted by seeing three 

 people who were on a rock at 

 some distance, showing signs of 

 terror and astonishment at some- 

 thing they saw in the water ; on 

 approaching them, wedistinguished 

 that the object of their wonder was 

 a face resembling the human coun- 

 tenance, which appeared floating on 

 the waves ! at that time nothing 

 but the face was visible ; it may not 

 be improper to observe, before 

 [ proceed farther, that the face, 

 throat, and arms, are all I can 

 attempt to describe, all our endea- 

 vours to discover the appearance 

 and position of the body being un- 

 availing. The sea at that time 

 run very high, and as the waves 

 advanced, the mermaid gently 

 sunk under them, and afterwards 

 re-appeared. 



The face seemed plump and 

 round, the eyes and nose were 

 small, the former were of a light 

 grey colour, and the mouth was 

 large, and from the shape of the 

 jaw-bone, which seemed straight, 

 tlie face looked short ; as to the 

 inside of the mouth I can say no- 

 thing, not having attended to it, 

 though sometimes open. The head 

 was exceedingly round, the hair 

 thick and long, of a green oily cast, 

 and appeared troublesome to it, 

 the waves generally thmwing it 

 down over the face, it seemed to 

 feel the annoyaDce, and a3 thu 



waves retreated, with both its 

 hands frequently threw back the 

 hair, and rubbed its throat, as if to 

 remove any soiling it might have 

 received from it. The throat was 

 slender, smooth, and white ; we did 

 not think to observe whether it had 

 elbows, but, from the manner in 

 which it used its arms, I must con- 

 clude that it had. The arms were 

 very long and slender, as were the 

 hands and fingers, the latter were 

 not webbed. The arms, one of 

 them at least, were frequently ex- 

 tended over its head, as if to 

 frighten a bird that hovered over 

 it, and seemed to distress it much ; 

 when that had no effect, it some- 

 times turned quite round several 

 times successively. At a little dis- 

 tance we obser\'ed a seal. It some- 

 times laid its right hand under its 

 check, and in this position floated 

 for some time. We saw nothing 

 like hair or scales on any part of 

 it, indeed the smoothness of the 

 skin particularly caught our atten- 

 tion. The time it was discernible 

 to us was about an hour. The sun 

 was shining clearly at the time ; it 

 was distant from us a few yards 

 only. These are the few observa- 

 tions made by us during the ap- 

 pearance of this strange pheno- 

 menon. 



If they afford you any satisfac- 

 tion, I shall be particularly happy; 

 I have stated nothing but what I 

 clearly recollect ! as my cousin and 

 I had frequently, previous to this 

 period, combated an assertior, 

 which is very common among the 

 lower class here, that mermaids 

 had been frequently seen on this 

 coast, our- evidence cannot be 

 thought biassed by any former 

 prejudice in favour of the cxi^t- 



enc» 



