304 THE GREAT UNKNOWN. 



ensis " in The Times for November 4, 1848, on the occa- 

 sion of the celebrated account of Captain M'Quhse, pre- 

 sently to be given. 



"There does not appear," says this writer, "to be a 

 single well-authenticated instance of these monsters having 

 been seen in any southern latitudes ; but in the north of 

 Europe, notwithstanding the fabulous character so long 

 ascribed to Pontoppidan's description, I am convinced that 

 they both exist and are frequently seen. During three 

 summers in Norway, I have repeatedly conversed with the 

 natives on this subject. A parish priest, residing on Eoms- 

 dal-fjord, about two days' journey south of Drontheim — 

 an intelligent person, whose veracity I have no reason to 

 doubt — gave me a circumstantial account of one which 

 he had himself seen. It rose within thirty yards of the 

 boat in which he was, and swam parallel with it for a 

 considerable time. Its head he described as equalling a 

 small cask in size, and its mouth, which it repeatedly 

 opened and shut, was furnished with formidable teeth ; 

 its neck was smaller, but its body — of which he supposed 

 that he saw about half on the surface of the water — was 

 not less in girth than that of a moderate-sized horse. 

 Another gentleman, in whose house I stayed, had also 

 seen one, and gave a similar account of it ; it also came 

 near his boat upon the fjord, when it was fired at, upon 

 which it turned and pursued them to the shore, which 

 was luckily near, when it disappeared. They expressed 

 great surprise at the general disbelief attaching to the 

 existence of these animals amongst naturalists, and assured 



