2 o8 SEA FABLES EXPLAINED. 



this "transaction" it was ascertained that "the creature 

 was no other than an Indian of the country diverting 

 himself with swimming, and having a high cap upon his 

 head made of split wood, in the manner of our basket-work, 

 to keep up his hair." 



Thormodus Torfseus * maintains that mermaids are 

 found on the south coast of Iceland, and, according to 

 Olafsen,f two have been taken in the surrounding seas, 

 the first in the earlier part of the history of that island, and 

 the second in 1733. The latter was found in the stomach 

 of a shark. Its lower parts were consumed, but the upper 

 were entire. They were as large as those of a boy eight or 

 nine years old. Both the cutting teeth and grinders were 

 long and shaped like pins, and the fingers were connected 

 by a large web. Olafsen was inclined to believe that these 

 were human remains, but the islanders all firmly main- 

 tained that they were part of a " marmennill," by which 

 name the mermaid is known among them. 



Of course the worthy bishop of Bergen, Pontoppidan, 

 has something to tell us about mermaids in his part of the 

 world. 



"Amongst the sea monsters," he say s,$" which are in the North 

 Sea, and are often seen, I shall give the first place to the Hav-manden, 

 or merman, whose mate is called Hav-fruen, or mermaid. The 

 existence of this creature is questioned by many, nor is it at all to be 

 wondered at, because most of the accounts we have had of it are 

 mixed with mere fables, an may be looked upon as idle tales." 



As such he regards the story told by Jonas Ramus in 

 his ' History of Norway,' of a mermaid taken by fishermen 

 at Hordeland, near Bergen, and which is said to have sung 

 an unmusical song to King Hiorlief. In the same category 



* Historia rerum Norvegicarum. 



t Voyage en Islands, torn. iii. p. 223. 



t * Natural History of Norway,' vol. ii. p. 190. 



