390 SEA MONSTERS UNMASKED. 



snake, which appeared at that distance to be as thick as a pipe of 

 wine, and had twenty-five folds. Those kind of snakes only appear 

 at certain times, and in calm weather.' " 



I believe that in every case so far cited from Pontoppidan, 

 as well as that given by Olaus Magnus, the supposed coils 

 or protuberances of the serpent's body were only so many 

 porpoises swimming in line in accordance with their habit 

 before mentioned. If an upraised head, like that of a 

 horse, was seen preceding them, it was either unconnected 

 with them, or it certainly was not that of a snake ; for no 

 serpent could throw its body into those vertical undulations. 

 The form of the vertebrae in the ophidians renders such a 

 movement impossible. All their flexions are horizontal ; 

 the curving of their body is from side to side, not up and 

 down. 



The sea monster seen by Egede was of an entirely 

 different kind ; and his account of it let sceptics deride it 

 as they may is worthy of attention and careful considera- 

 tion. The Rev. Hans Egede, known as " The Apostle of 

 Greenland," was superintendent of the Christian missions 

 to that country. He was a truthful, pious, and single- 

 minded man, possessing considerable powers of observa- 

 tion, and a genuine love of natural history. He wrote two 

 books on the products, people, and natural history of 

 Greenland,* and his statements therein are modest, ac- 

 curate, and free from exaggeration. His illustrations are 

 little, if at all, superior in style of art to the two Japanese 

 wood-cuts shown on page 353, but they bear the same 

 unmistakable signs of fidelity which characterise those of 

 the Japanese. 



* ' Des alien Gronlands neue perlustration] 8vo., Frankfurt, 1730, 

 and * Del Gamle Gronlands nye perlustratione eller Naturel Historie? 

 4to., Copenhagen, 1741. 



