LKiiENDAHY MARINE MONSTERS. 217 



the hie of Satan. According to Arab traditions, a 

 great hand rose every night from the sea, near the 

 latter island, and, seizing the inhabitants, plunged 

 them into a dark abyss. Myths of the highest anti- 

 quity refer to the Atlantic Ocean as the abode of the 

 blest and the kingdom of the dead, and traces of 

 these legends are preserved even to the present day 

 in Scotland and Ireland. 



On a certain occasion a fishing-boat, in the northern 

 seas, was engaged in the fishing of bishop -fish and 

 monk-fish. The kraken, a monster of many square 

 leagues in size, rose from the bottom of the sea ; the 

 vessel, receiving a shock as if it had struck on a rock, 

 was sunk with all its crew and equipage. 



Another form of monster, dreaded by the fearful 

 and superstitious, had immense suckers and arms ; a 

 huge mouth in the midst of his tentaculse swallowed 

 all that he could seize ; his arms were supposed to 

 be hundreds of feet in length, and so powerful that 

 they could enfold and crush ships of considerable 

 size. The gigantic poulpe, or devil-fish, and the sea- 

 serpent, have been the subjects of the most marvel- 

 lous stories, which in our day have been reduced to 

 their just value. These terrible monsters generally 

 resolve into immense cordons, or vast fields of alga?, 

 interlaced one with another, and waving hither and 

 thither at the mercy of every breath of wind which 



