204 



SEA FABLES EXPLAINED. 



elaborate portrait amongst those of the most remarkable 

 fishes of the island* 



This plate and the others in the third volume of his fine 

 work, in which the fishes of the Bornean Archipelago are 

 depicted in gorgeous hues, are copied in smaller size from 

 a series of drawings from nature by Samuel Fallours, 

 which had been previously published in 1717 by Louis 

 Renard, in two handsome volumes, dedicated by him to 



FIG. 13. MERMAID AND FISHES OF AMBOYNA. After Vdlmtijn. 



King George III. of England. These plates are tinted by 

 hand in such resplendent colours that the editor felt it 

 necessary to obtain certificates from clergymen and others 

 that they were true to Nature, and that the brilliancy of 

 the coloration was not exaggerated. Amongst them is the 

 picture of the mermaid reproduced by Valentijn, and the 

 following description is given of it. 



* With the permission and assistance of Messrs. Longman, the. 

 accompanying wood-cut of this picture, and that of the Dugong, on page 

 231, are copied from Sir J. Emerson Tennent's book published in 1861. 



