*56 



M E R M A I D. 



^Mermaid, class, it is covered with scales. There is the like dif- 



s "Y""* ference regarding the real figure of the animal, which 



is said either to have a single or divided tail ; or to 



have none as seems to be the case with that alluded to 



by Artedl. 



In an early account of Newfoundland, the narrator 

 describes a " man-maid, or mareman," which he ob- 

 served within the length of a pike, as a strange crea- 

 ture, which came swimming swiftly towards him, 

 " looking cheerfully on my face, as it had been a wo- 

 man. By the face, eyes, nose, mouth, chin, ears, neck, 

 and forehead, it seemed to be so beautiful, and in those 

 parts so well proportioned, having round about the 

 head many blue streaks resembling hair, but certainly 

 it was no hair." The observer further remarked, that 

 the shoulders and back, down to the middle, were 

 square, white, and smooth as the back of a man : and 

 from the middle to the end, it tapered like a broad- 

 hooked arrow. This animal put both its hands on the 

 side of the boat wherein he sat, and strove much to 

 get in, but was repelled by a blow. (See VVhitbourne's 

 l)hcourse of Newfoundland in fine.) Probably the narra- 

 tor's imagination has embellished the appearance and the 

 boldness of the animal. In the year 1671, another marine 

 animal was seen by six negroes, who being strictly exa- 

 mined on the subject, agreed in general, that from 

 the head to the middle it resembled a man, and from 

 thence downwards a fish, terminating in a forked tail; 

 the head, face, eyes, and mouth were like those of a 

 man : the nose extremely flat. Its hair, which was 

 grey, hung over the shoulders; and the beard, also 

 grey, was about seven or eight inches long. Grey 

 hair covered the breast, but the throat and rest of the 

 body were rather white. The size of the animal was 

 about equal to that of a youth of 16 or 17. It stood 

 half out of the water, looking boldly on the negroes, 

 and raising its hand as if to wipe its face : it was with- 

 in a few paces of them ; and, after showing itself three 

 times, plunged into the sea. De Maillet, Teltiamcd, 

 torn. ii. p. 320. 



Nearly about the same period, there was given a 

 very distinct account of an animal referred to this 

 tribe, though the author, an English surgeon, does 

 not design it by any name. About three leagues 

 from the mouth of the river Rappahanock in America, 

 while alone in a vessel, he observed, at the distance of 

 about half a stone throw, " a most prodigious creature, 

 much resembling a man, only somewhat larger, stand- 

 ing right up in the water, with his head, neck, shoul- 

 ders, breast, and waist, to the cubits of his arms, above 

 water ; his skin was tawny, much like that of an In- 

 dian ; the figure of his head was pyramidal and sleek, 

 without hair ; his eyes large and black, and so were 

 his eye-brows ; his mouth very wide, with a broad 

 black streak on the upper lip, which turned upwards 

 at each end like mustachios. His countenance was 

 grim and terrible. His neck, shoulders, arms, breast, 

 and waist, were like unto the neck, arms, shoulders, 

 breast, and waist of a man. His hands, if he had any, 

 were under water. He seemed to stand with his eyes 

 fixed on me for some time, and afterwards dived down ; 

 and a little after rose at somewhat a greater distance, 

 and turned his head towards me again, and then im- 

 mediately fell a little under water, that I could discern 

 him throw out his arms, and gather them in as a man 

 does when he swims. At last he shot with his head 

 downwards, by which means he cast his tail above the 

 water, which exactly resembled the tail of a fish with 

 broad fane at the end of it." Glover's Account of 

 Virginia, Ap. Phil. Trans, vol. xi. p. 625, for 1676. 



The mermaid is not confined to any quarter of the Mermaid^ 

 globe; for according to Debes, in 1670 one stood near "*~v~* 

 the shore of the Faroe Islands, in sight of many of the 

 inhabitants, during two hours and a half, up to the 

 navel in the water. '* Long hair hung from her head all 

 around her, down to the surface ; and she held a fish 

 in her right hand." The modern historian of these is- 

 lands, Landt, is silent on this subject. 



Pontoppidan, a credulous author indeed, yet willing 

 to take a comprehensive view of doubtful subjects, 

 affirms, that if the existence of European mermaids be 

 called in question, it proceeds entirely " from the fa- 

 bulous stories being generally mixed with the truth." 

 Hundreds of persons, of credit and reputation, in the 

 diocese of Bergen, maintained, with the strongest as- 

 surances, that they had seen this creature, sometimes 

 at a distance, sometimes quite close to their boats, 

 standing upright. It was formed like a human being 

 down to the middle, but they could not see the rest. 

 Nevertheless, Pontoppidan could find only a single 

 person who had actually seen and handled one out of 

 the water. His informer, a clergyman, said, that in 

 the year 1719, a merman had been cast up dead on 

 the shore, along with other fish. It was much longer 

 than any others described. " The face resembled that 

 of a man, with mouth, forehead, eyes. The nose was 

 flat, and as it were pressed down to the face, in which 

 the nostrils have ever been very visible. The breast 

 was not far from the head ; the arms seemed to hang 

 to the side, to which they were joined by a thin skin, 

 or membrane. The hands were, in appearance, like 

 to the paws of a sea-calf." Natural History of Nor- 

 way, vol. ii. p. 190, 191. Pontoppidan observes, that 

 the most recent account of the animal related to the 

 year 1723, when three ferrymen affirmed on oath, that 

 one had been seen by them at the distance of not more 

 than 7 or 8 fathoms. In appearance, it resembled an 

 old man with strong limbs and broad shoulders: its 

 skin was coarse, and very hairy. The head was small 

 in proportion to the body, and had short curled black 

 hair, which did not reach below the ears. The face 

 was meagre, the eyes deep sunk, and the beard black. 

 It stood in the same place half a quarter of an hour, 

 exposed down to the breast, and the tail was remark- 

 ed to taper like that of a fish. The men, beginning to 

 be alarmed, retreated, when the animal, inflating its 

 cheeks, made a kind of roaring noise, and plunged 

 into the water. One of the same ferrymen affirmed, 

 that 20 years before he had seen a mermaid with 

 long hair and large breasts. Pontoppidan adds, that a 

 creature is often caught on the hooks of fishermen, 

 which he inclines to call the offspring of the merman, 

 some being as large as a child of three years old. One 

 had been taken recently, which, in the upper parts, 

 resembled a child, but the rest of it was like a fish. 

 Vol. ii. p. 195. 



Torfseus maintains, that mermaids are seen near the 

 southern coast of Iceland ; and according to Olafsen, 

 two have been taken in the surrounding seas ; the first 

 in the earlier periods of the history of that island, and 

 the second in 1733. The latter was found in the belly 

 of a shark. Its lower parts were consumed, but the 

 upper were entire. This creature was as large as a 

 boy eight or nine years old ; the head shaped like that 

 of a man with a very prominent occiput ; and the fore- 

 head broad and round. The ears were situated far 

 back, and had large lobes. On the head was long stiff 

 black hair, hanging down to the shoulders, pretty 

 much resembling \hefucusjttiformis. The skin above 

 the eyelids was greatly wrinkled, and bald ; and 



