2i 4 CURIOUS CREATURES. 



Curiosities, both male and female, have been taken at 

 Amboyna : and he cites a special one, of which he gives 

 a portrait, that was captured by a district visitor of the 

 Church, and presented by him to the Governor. 



This last animal enjoyed European fame, as in 1716, 

 whilst Peter the Great was the guest of the British 

 Ambassador at Amsterdam, the latter wrote to Valentyn, 

 asking that the marvel should be sent over for the 

 Czar's inspection but it came not. Valentyn also tells 

 how, in the year 1404, a mermaid, tempest-tossed, was 

 driven through a breach in a dyke at Edam, in Holland, 

 and was afterwards taken alive in the lake of Parmen, 

 whence she was carried to Haarlem. The good Dutch 

 vrows took kindly care of her, and, with their usual 

 thriftiness, taught her a useful occupation, that of spin- 

 ning ; nay, they Christianised her and she died a 

 Roman Catholic, several years after her capture. 



The authentic records, if trust can be placed in them, 

 are various and many but are hardly worth recapitu- 

 lating because of their sameness, and the smile of 

 incredulity which their recital provokes. 



Let us therefore turn to the monarch of the deep, the 

 Whale and of this creature we get curious glimpses 

 from the Northern Naturalists ; but, before investigating 

 this authentic denizen of ocean, we will examine some 

 whose title to existence is not quite so clearly made out. 

 Olaus Magnus gives us an introduction to some of 

 " The horrible Monsters of the Coast of Norway. There 

 are monstrous fish on the Coasts or Sea of Norway, of 

 unusual Names, though they are reputed a kind of 

 Whales; and, if men look long on them they will fright 

 and amaze them. Their forms are horrible, their heads 

 square, all set with prickles, and they have sharp and 



