170 Sea^Serpents 



for instance a scoop, at it, when the animal generally 

 plunges into the deep. But most fishermen are in 

 the habit of taking castoreum with them, for the 

 Serpent cannot abide the smell of it. . . .' And in 

 his tenth paragraph, trying to answer the question 

 why those larger serpents only frequent the northern 

 seas, he says : * To this question I answer that the 

 Creator of all beings disposes of the dwellings of His 

 creatures in different places by His wise intentions, 

 which are not known to us. Why won't the reindeer 

 thrive anywhere but in the high and cold mountains ? 

 Why do the whales frequent only the North Pole ? (!!) 

 Why are India and Egypt almost the only countries 

 where men have to fear crocodiles ? No doubt be- 

 cause it pleases the wise Creator ! ' Here Pontoppidan 

 takes leave of the Sea-serpent, and begins to treat of 

 the large snakes mentioned by Plinius and other 

 ancient authors, and we too will take leave of our 

 honest and trustworthy bishop, who has so often been 

 laughed at for what he relates in his chapter on mon- 

 sters. And yet two of his monsters, the mermaid 

 and the kraken, being unmasked, why cannot his third 

 be accounted for ? 



It should not be forgotten that the date of this 

 dehghtful book is 1892 ! The author quotes, with 

 evident approval, Olaus Magnus writing in 1555 — 



* They who, either to trade, or to fish, sail along 

 the shores of Norway, relate with concurring evidence 

 a truly admirable story, namely, that a very large 

 Serpent of a length of upwards of two hundred feet, 

 and twenty feet in diameter, lives in rocks and holes 

 near the shore of Bergen ; it comes out of its caverns 

 only on summer nights and in fine weather to devour 

 calves, lambs, and hogs, or goes into the sea to eat 

 cuttles, lobsters, and all kinds of sea-crabs. It has 



