BEAR HUNTING 259 



a full luilt^ toward.^ tlio shore holow iis, keeping- a straight 

 course; but the leviathan, or whatever it was tliat caused 

 the commotion, never showed above the surface. We 

 could only divine it to l)e the KraJcen, or sea-serpent, 

 which old liishop Pontopiddan particularly describes as 

 iiihaltiiinL;' these coasts : "the only place in Europe," as he 

 says, "visited by this lernble creature." Among many 

 other veracious facts in its natural history he mentions 

 that its presence is sometimes discovered by the fishermen, 

 who find a shallow in their fishino- o-round wlien^ none 

 should be. Their surmise is confirmed if they encounter 

 great shoals of fish, on the principle that 



"Great fleas have little lleas 

 Upon their backs to bite 'em, 

 And little fleas have lesser fleas, 

 And so ad infinitum." 



These they haul in a I a great rate — I mean the fishes. Onl}^ 

 if they find, liy the shortening of their lines, that the krahen 

 is rising, they Hee away. Finall}' when the animal appears, 

 " itsback or u[iper part seems to be aliout a mile and a hall" 

 in circumference (some say more, but I choose the less for 

 o'reater ccrlaiiit \) and looks, at lir>t b'ke a iiuutbei' of small 

 islands surrounded willi somctiiinu' liiaL lloats and Ihictu- 

 atcs like seaweed." lio, further (piotes Glaus Magnus, a 

 mu(di older wiitei'. to the eti'ect that it leaves the sea "in 

 moonlight nights to devour calves, sheep and swine. It 

 has a mane two feet long. It is covered with scales and 

 has fiery eyes." ..." It disturbs ships anil raises itself 

 up like a mast anil sometimes snaps some of tlie men from 

 the deck." These are what the good Ih'shop, who go\erued 

 the diocese of Bergen one hundred and fifty years ago, calls 



