THE GREAT SEA SERPENT. 239 



The medium height of the dry land over the sur- 

 face of the sea is nearly three hundred and thirty 

 yards; in Asia, it is more ; in Africa, it is unknown . 

 in Europe, it is considerably below this estimate ; 

 and in America it is somewhat below it in the north, 

 and very much in excess of it in the south. On the 

 other hand, if the basin of the ocean were levelled, 

 it would lie at a depth of about four miles and a half 

 below the surrounding continents. Depths of the 

 ocean have been sounded to the depth of nearly seven 

 miles, and it is calculated that the sea covers three- 

 fourths of the surface of the globe. If, then, the 

 crust of dry land could be detached and cast into the 

 sea, the most elevated mountains would be insuffi- 

 cient to sound the greatest depths of the basin. 

 What is there, then, surprising, in the supposition 

 that in these unfathomable valleys there lie hid mon- 

 sters of the deep that only visit the surface upon rare 

 and extraordinary occasions?* The ancients, who 

 seem to have been much more favoured than we 

 moderns as to the apparition of these marine monsters, 

 have left behind them records which have frequently 

 been treated as fables, but which I thoroughly be- 

 lieve to be founded on reality. Among those mon- 

 strous creatures whose existence has been verified by 

 evidence which it seems difficult to distrust, is the 

 Kraken, or Mountain Fish, which must be one of the 

 most remarkable creatures in the world, both as re- 



• Vide preceding note. 



