316 GREAT SEA-SERPENT. 



eyes closely upon it. Then I saw it elevated con- 

 siderably above the level of the sea, and, after a 

 slow movement, distinctly perceived one of its eyes. 

 Alarmed at the unusual appearance and magnitude 

 of the animal, I steered so as to be at no great dis- 

 tance from the shore. When nearly in a line be- 

 tween it and the shore the monster, directing its 

 head which still continued above water towards us, 

 plunged violently under water. Certain that he was 

 in chase of us, we plied hard to get ashore. Just 

 as we leapt out on a rock, and had taken a station 

 as high as we conveniently could, we saw it coming 

 rapidly under water towards the stern of our boat. 

 When within a few yards of it, finding the water 

 shallow, it raised its monstrous head above water, 

 and, by a winding course, got, with apparent diffi- 

 culty, clear of the creek where our boat lay, and 

 where the monster seemed in danger of being em- 

 bayed. It continued to move oif with its head above 

 water, and with the wind for about half a mile, be- 

 fore we lost sight of it. Its head was somewhat 

 broad, and of form somewhat oval ; its neck some- 

 what smaller ; its shoulders, if I can so term them, 

 considerably broader, and thence it tapered towards 

 the tail, which last it kept pretty low in the water, 

 so that a view of it could not be taken so distinctly 

 as I wished. It had no fins that I could perceive, 

 and seemed to me to move progressively by undu- 

 lation up and down. Its length I believed to be 

 between seventy and eighty feet. When nearest to 

 me it did not raise its head wholly above water, so 



