THE MERMAID. 219 



A very remarkable story of this kind is one related by 

 Dr. Robert Hamilton in the volume already referred to, 

 and for the general truth of which he vouches, from his 

 personal knowledge of some of the persons connected with 

 the occurrence. In 1823 it was reported that some fisher- 

 men of Yell, one of the Shetland group, had captured a 

 mermaid by its being entangled in their lines. The state- 

 ment was that 



"The animal was about three feet long, the upper part of the body 

 resembling the human, with protuberant mammae, like a woman ; the 

 face, forehead, and neck were short, and resembled those of a monkey ; 

 the arms, which were small, were kept folded across the breast ; the 

 fingers were distinct, not webbed ; a few stiff, long bristles were on the 

 top of the head, extending down to the shoulders, and these it could 

 erect and depress at pleasure, something like a crest. The inferior 

 part of the body was like a fish. The skin was smooth, and of a grey 

 colour. It offered no resistance, nor attempted to bite, but uttered a 

 low, plaintive sound. The crew, six in number, took it within their 

 boat, but, superstition getting the better of curiosity, they carefully 

 disentangled it from the lines and a hook which had accidentally 

 become fastened in its body, and returned it to its native* element. 

 It instantly dived, descending in a perpendicular direction." 



Mr. Edmonston, the original narrator of this incident, 

 was "a well-known and intelligent observer," says Dr. 

 Hamilton, and in a communication made by him to the 

 Professor of Natural History in the Edinburgh University 

 gave the following additional particulars, which he had 

 learned from the skipper and one of the crew of the 

 boat : 



" They had the animal for three hours .within the boat: the body 

 was without scales or hair ; it was of a silvery grey colour above, and 

 white below ; it was like the human skin ; no gills were observed, nor 

 fins on the back or belly. The tail was like that of a dog-fish ; the 

 mammae were about as large as those of a woman ; the mouth and 

 lips were very distinct, and resembled the human. Not one of the 

 six men dreamed of a doubt of its being a mermaid, and it could not 



