400 SEA MONSTERS UNMASKED. 



did not notice the eyes, or any mane or bristles on the throat. When 

 the serpent came about a musket-shot near, Lund fired at it, and was 

 certain the shots hit it in the head. After the shot it dived, but came 

 up immediately. It raised its neck in the air, like a snake preparing 

 to dart on his prey. After he had turned and got his body in a 

 straight line, which he appeared to do with great difficulty, he darted 

 like an arrow against the boat. They reached the shore, and the 

 animal, perceiving it had come into shallow water, dived immediately 

 and disappeared in the deep. Such is the declaration of these four 

 men, and no one has cause to question their veracity, or imagine that 

 they were so seized with fear that they could not observe what took 

 place so near them. There are not many here, or on other parts of 

 the Norwegian coast, who longer doubt the existence of the sea 

 serpent. The writer of this narrative was a long time sceptical, as he 

 had not been so fortunate as to see this monster of the deep ; but after 

 the many accounts he has read, and the relations he has received from 

 credible witnesses, he does not dare longer to doubt the existence of 



the sea serpent 



"P. W. DEINBOLT. 

 "Molde, 29th Nov., 1845." 



We may at once accept most fully and frankly the 

 statements of all the worthy people mentioned in this 

 series of incidents. There is no room for the shadow of a 

 doubt that they all recounted conscientiously that which 

 they saw. The last quoted occurrence, especially, is most 

 accurately and intelligently described so clearly, indeed, 

 that it furnishes us with a clue to the identity of the 

 strange visitant. 



Here let me say and I wish it to be distinctly under- 

 stood that I do not deny the possibility of the existence 

 of a great sea serpent, or other great creatures at present 

 unknown to science, and that I have no inclination to 

 explain away that which others have seen, because I 

 myself have not witnessed it. " Seeing is believing," it is 

 said, and it is not agreeable to have to tell a person that, in 

 common parlance, he " must not trust his own eyes." It 

 seems presumptuous even to hint that one may know 



