THE KRAKEN. 327 



collecting evidence relating to the " great beasts " living in 

 " the great and wide sea," was influenced, as he tells us, by 

 " a desire to extend the popular knowledge of the glorious 

 works of a beneficent Creator." He gave too much 

 credence to contemporary narratives and old traditions of 

 floating islands and sea monsters, and to the superstitious 

 beliefs and exaggerated statements of ignorant fishermen ; 

 but if those who ridicule him had lived in his day and 

 amongst his people, they would probably have done the 

 same ; for even Linnaeus was led to believe in the Kraken, 

 and catalogued it in the first edition of his * Systema 

 Naturae,' as * Sepia Microcosmos? He seems to have after- 

 wards had cause to discredit his information respecting it, 

 for he omitted it in the next edition. The Norwegian 

 bishop was a conscientious and painstaking investigator 

 and the tone of his writings is neither that of an intentional 

 deceiver nor of an incautious dupe. He diligently en- 

 deavoured to separate the truth from the cloud of error and 

 fiction by which it was obscured ; and in this he was to a 

 great extent successful, for he correctly identifies, from the 

 vague and perplexing descriptions submitted to him, the 

 animal whose habits and structure had given rise to so 

 many terror-laden narratives and extravagant traditions. 



The following are some of his remarks on the subject of 

 this gigantic and ill-defined animal. Although I have 

 greatly abbreviated them, I have thought it right to quote 

 them at considerable length, that the modest and candid 

 spirit in which they were written may be understood :* 



" Amongst the many things," he says, " which are in the ocean, and 

 concealed from our eyes, or only presented to our view for a few 

 minutes, is the Kraken. This creature is the largest and most sur- 

 prising of all the animal creation, and consequently well deserves such 



* * Natural History of Norway/ vol. ii., p. 210. 



