244 SALMONIA. [NINTH DAY. 



a story of this kind, and he seems to claim for his 

 native country the honour of possessing this extraor- 

 dinary animal; but the mermaid of Caithness was 

 certainly a gentleman, who, happened to be travelling 

 on that wild shore, and who was seen bathing by 

 some young ladies at so great a distance, that not 

 only genus but gender was mistaken. I am acquainted 

 with him, and have had the story from his own 

 mouth. He is a young man fond of geological 

 pursuits, and one day in the middle of August, 

 having fatigued and heated himself by climbing a 

 rock, to examine a particular appearance of granite, 

 he gave his clothes to his Highland guide, who was 

 taking care of his pony, and descended to the sea. 

 The sun was just setting, and he amused himself for 

 some time by swimming from rock to rock, and 

 having unclipt hair and no cap, he sometimes threw 

 aside his locks, and wrung the water from them on 

 the rocks. He happened the year after to be at 

 Harrowgate, and was sitting at table with two young 

 ladies from Caithness, who were relating to a wonder- 

 ing audience the story of the mermaid they had seen, 

 which had already been published in the newspapers. 

 They described her as she usually is described by 

 poets, as a beautiful animal, with a remarkably fair 

 skin and long green hair. The young gentleman 

 took the liberty, as most of the rest of the company 



