THE SEA-SEEPENT OF NOEWAY. 301 



the animal, when in a boat rowed by eight men, near 

 Molde, in August 1747. The declaration was confirmed 

 by oath, taken before a magistrate, by two of the crew. 

 The animal was described as of the general form of a 

 serpent, stretched on the surface in receding coUs or 

 undulations, with the head, which resembled that of a 

 horse, elevated some two feet out of the water. 



The public papers of Norway, during the summer of 

 1846, were occupied with statements to the following 

 effect : — 



Many highly respectable persons, and of unimpeached 

 veracity, in the vicinity of Christiansand and Molde, [the 

 reader will observe that it is the same locality as that 

 mentioned by Captain de Ferry, a hundred years before,] 

 report that they have lately seen the marine serpent. It 

 has been, for the most part, observed in the larger fjords, 

 rarely in the open sea. In the fjord of Christiansand it 

 is believed to have been seen every year, but only in the 

 hottest part of the summer, and when the sea has been 

 perfectly unruffled. 



Affidavits of numerous persons are then given in de- 

 tail, which, with some discrepancies in minute particulars, 

 agree in testifying that an animal of great length (from 

 about fifty to about a hundred feet) had been seen by 

 them at various times — in many cases more than once. 

 The head, which was occasionally elevated, was compared 

 for size to a ten-gaUon cask, rather pointed, as described 

 by one witness ; by another, as rounded. All agreed that 

 the eyes were large and glaring ; that the body was dark 



