THE ROMANCE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



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 Christian- 

 sand 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 detail, 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-gallon 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 brown, and comparatively 

 slender ; and that a diffusive mane of long spread- 

 ing hair waved behind the head. The movements 

 were in vertical undulations, according to prepon- 

 derating testimony; but some attributed to the 

 animal lateral undulations also. The deponents 

 were of various positions in society,— a workman, 

 a fisherman, a merchant, a candidatus theologize, 

 a sheriff, a surgeon, a rector, a curate, &c. 



Later in the season, the Rev. P. W. Deinboll, 

 archdeacon of Molde, published the following 

 statement:— "On the 28th of July, 1845, J. C. 

 Lund, bookseller and printer; Gr. S. Krogh, mer- 

 chant; Christian Flang, Lund's apprentice; and 

 John Elgenses, labourer; were out on Romsdal- 

 fjord, fishing. The sea was, after a warm sun- 

 shiny day, quite calm. About seven o'clock in the 

 afternoon, a little distance from shore, near the 

 ballast place and Molde Hooe, they saw a large 

 marine animal, which slowly moved itself for- 

 ward, as it appeared to them, with the help of 

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