432 SEA MONSTERS UNMASKED. 



line in her wake, but not one that will swim from twenty- 

 five to forty miles in an hour, and present the same appear- 

 ance after travelling that distance. 



Amongst the known living objects of the sea met with 

 near our coasts I can only suggest three, the appearance of 

 which at a little distance would accord with that witnessed 

 by Mr. Highton, viz., a great calamary ; one of the whales, 

 or a flight of ducks. It might have been either of these ; 

 but I will not presume to say that it was one of them. 

 Possibly, as in the case of the Osborne, explanatory in- 

 formation concerning this incident may some day be 

 given. 



This brings us face to face with the question : " Is it then 

 so impossible that there may exist some great sea creature, 

 or creatures, with which zoologists are hitherto unacquainted, 

 that it is necessary in every case to regard the authors of 

 such narratives as wilfully untruthful, or mistaken in their 

 observations, if their descriptions are irreconcileable with 

 something already known ? " I, for one, am of the opinion 

 that there is no such impossibility. Calamaries or squids 

 of the ordinary size have, from time immemorial, been 

 amongst the commonest and best known of marine 

 animals in many seas ; but only a few years ago any one 

 who expressed his belief in one formidable enough to cap- 

 size a boat, or pull a man out of one, was derided for his 

 credulity, although voyagers had constantly reported that 

 in the Indian seas they were so dreaded that the natives 

 always carried hatchets with them in their canoes, with 

 which to cut off the arms or tentacles of these creatures, if 

 attacked by them. We now know that their existence is 

 no fiction ; for individuals have been captured measuring 

 more than fifty feet, and some are reported to have 

 measured eighty feet, in total length. As marine snakes 



