204 PLEASAN7 WAYS IN SCIENCE. 



the noise again ; he rose a second time, but still saw nothing. 

 Conceiving, however, the possibility of a boat being upset, 

 and that some of the crew might be clinging to detached 

 rocks, he walked along the beach a few steps and heard the 

 noise more distinctly but in a musical strain. Upon search- 

 ing around, he saw an object lying on a rock a dozen yards 

 from the shore, at which he was somewhat frightened. The 

 face and shoulders appeared of human form and of a reddish 

 colour ; over the shoulders hung long green hair ; the tail 

 resembled that of the seal, but the extremities of the arms 

 he could not see distinctly. The creature continued to 

 make a musical noise while he gazed about two minutes, and 

 on perceiving him it disappeared in an instant Immedi- 

 ately, when the man saw his officer, he told this wild tale, 

 and to add weight to his testimony (being a Romanist) he 

 made a cross on the sand, which he kissed, as making oath 

 to the truth of his statement When I saw him he told the 

 story in so clear and positive a manner, making oath to its 

 truth, that I concluded he must really have seen the animal 

 he described, or that it must have been the effects of a dis- 

 turbed imagination." 



In this story all is consistent with the belief that the 

 sailor saw an animal belonging to the seal family (of a 

 species unknown to him), except the green hair. But the 

 hour was not very favourable to the discerning of colour, 

 though daylight had not quite passed away, and as Gosse 

 points out, since golden-yellow fur and black fur are found 

 among Antarctic seals, the colours may be intermingled in 

 some individuals, producing an olive-green tint, which, by 

 contrast with the reddish skin, might be mistaken for a full 

 green. Considering that the man had been roused from 

 sleep and was somewhat frightened, he would not be likely 

 to make very exact observations. It will be noticed that it 

 was only at first that he mistook the sounds made by the 

 creature for human cries ; afterwards he heard only the same 

 noise, but in a musical strain. Now with regard to the 

 musical sounds said to have been uttered by this creature, 



