344 THE GREAT UNKNOWN. 



a cross sea, and within five points of a fresh breeze, with 

 such velocity that the water was surging under its chest, 

 as it passed along at a rate probably of ten miles per 

 hour. Captain M'Quhse's first impulse was to tack in 

 pursuit, . . . but he reflected that we could neither lay up 

 for it nor overhaul it in speed. There was nothing to be 

 done, therefore, but to observe it as accurately as we could 

 with our glasses, as it came up under our lee quarter and 

 passed away to windward, at its nearest position being 

 not more than two hundred yards from us ; the eye, the 

 mouth, the nostril, the colour and form, all being most 

 distinctly visible to us. . . . My impression was that it 

 was rather of a lizard than a serpentine character, as its 

 movement was steady and uniform, as if propelled by fins, 

 not by any undulatory power."* 



Further correspondence ensued, but no additional light 

 of any importance was shed on the matter, except that 

 Captain Smith stated that the diameter of his sea-weed 

 capture in the water, before it was " divested of its extra- 

 ordinary-looking living appendages," was three feet. 



A large mass of evidence has been accumulated ; and 

 I now set myself to examine it. In so doing, I shall 

 eliminate from the inquiry, all the testimony of Norwegian 

 eye-witnesses, that obtained in Massachusetts in 1817, 

 and various statements made by French and American 

 captains since. Confining myself to English witnesses 

 of known character and position, most of them being 

 * The Times of Feb. 16, 1858. 



