THE KRAKEN. 377 



nothing by repetition, and within a week the fabled Kraken 

 would be the result. 



The existence, in almost every sea, of calamaries capable 

 of playing their part in such a scene has been fully proved, 

 and this vexed question of marine zoology set at rest for 

 ever. The " much greater light on this subject " which, as 

 Pontoppidan sagaciously foresaw, was "reserved for pos- 

 terity," has been thrown upon it by the discoveries of the 

 last few years ; and the " further experience which is 

 always the best instructor," and which he correctly antici- 

 pated would be possessed by the " future writers," to whom 

 he bequeathed the completion of his "sketch," has been 

 obtained. Viewed by their aid, and seen in the clearer 

 atmosphere of our present knowledge, the great sea monster 

 which loomed so indefinitely vast in the mist of ignorance 

 and superstition, stands revealed in its true form and 

 proportions its magnitude reduced, its outline distinct, 

 and its mystery gone and we recognise in the supposed 

 Kraken, as the Norwegian bishop rightly conjectured that 

 we should, an " animal of the Polypus (or cuttle) kind, and 

 amongst the largest inhabitants of the ocean." 



