THE MERMAID. 



217 





skin of a fish of the salmon kind with the head cut off, and 

 the whole was stuffed and highly varnished, the better to 

 deceive the eye." It was said to have been " taken by the 

 crew of a Dutch vessel from on board a native Malacca 

 boat, and from the reverence shown to it, it was supposed 

 to be a representative of one of their idol gods." I am 

 inclined to think that it was of Japanese origin. 



Fig. 1 6 is described in the article above referred to as 

 having been copied from a Japanese drawing, and as being 

 a portrait of one of their deities. Its similarity to one of 

 those of the Assyrians (Fig. 2, 

 page 187) is remarkable. The 

 inscription, however, does not 

 indicate this. The Chinese cha- 

 racters in the centre " Nin 

 giyo " signify " human fish ; " 

 those on the right in Japanese 

 Hira Kana, or running-hand, 

 have the same purport, and 

 those on the left, in Kata Kana, 

 the characters of the Japanese 

 alphabet, mean " Ichi him ike" 



" one day kept alive." The whole legend seems to pretend 

 that 'this human fish was actually caught, and kept alive in 

 water for twenty-four hours, but, as the box on which it is 

 inscribed is one of those in which the Japanese showmen 

 keep their toys, it was probably the subject of a "penny 

 peep-show." 



We need not travel from our own country to find the 

 belief in mermaids yet existing. It is still credited in the 

 north of Scotland that they inhabit the neighbouring seas : 

 and Dr. Robert Hamilton, F.R.S.E., writing in 1839, ex- 

 pressed emphatically his opinion that there was then as 



FIG. 16. A MERMAID. From a 

 Japanese picture. 



