CURIOUS CREATURES. 219 



themselves. I was among those who were amusing them- 

 selves upon the shores of the island, and the passengers 

 were assembled to eat and drink, and play and sport. 

 But while we were thus engaged, lo, the master of the 

 ship, standing upon its side, called out with his loudest 

 voice, ' O ye passengers, whom may God preserve ! come 

 up quickly into the ship, hasten to embark, and leave 

 your merchandise, and flee with your lives, and save 

 yourselves from destruction ; for this apparent island 

 upon which ye are, is not, in reality, an island, but it is 

 a great fish that hath become stationary in the midst of 

 the sea, and the sand hath accumulated upon it, so that 

 it hath become like an island, and trees have grown upon 

 it, since times of old ; and, when ye lighted upon it the 

 fire, it felt the heat, and put itself in motion, and now it 

 will descend with you into the sea, and ye will all be 

 drowned ; then seek for yourselves escape before de- 

 struction, and leave the merchandise ! ' The passengers, 

 therefore, hearing the words of the master of the ship, 

 hastened to go up into the vessel, leaving the merchan- 

 dise, and their other goods, and their copper cooking- 

 pots, and their fire-pots ; and some reached the ship, 

 and others reached it not. The island had moved, and 

 descended to the bottom of the sea, with all that were 

 upon it, and the roaring sea, agitated with waves, closed 

 over it." 



Olaus Magnus, too, tells of sleeping whales being 

 mistaken for islands : " The Whale hath upon its Skin 

 a superficies, like the gravel that is by the sea side ; so 

 that oft times when he raiseth his back above the waters, 

 Sailors take it to be nothing else but an Island, and sayl 

 unto it, and go down upon it, and they strike in piles 

 upon it, and fasten them to their ships : they kindle 



