THE GREAT UNKNOWN. 



who saw the animal, and to whom the body ap- 

 peared straight, considers that the appearance of 

 protuberances was due to the vertical bendings of 

 the body during energetic motion. 



That there were other witnesses of the same ap- 

 pearance of the stranger in 1817, was generally 

 stated at the time ; and one of these, whose testi- 

 mony is of value, was brought out by the report 

 of Captain M'Quhae, and the correspondence 

 that ensued upon it. In the Boston (U.S.) Dnily 

 Advertiser for November 2.*>, 1848, appeared a 

 long communication from the Hon. T. H. Per- 

 kins of that city, attesting his own personal 

 observation of the marine serpent at Gloucester 

 Harbour, near Cape Ann, in 1817. The com- 

 munication mainly consisted of a copy of a 

 letter which Colonel Perkins had written to a 

 friend in 1820. 



". . . . Wishing to satisfy myself on a subject 

 on which there existed a great difference of opin- 

 ion, I myself visited Gloucester with Mr. Lee. On 

 our way down we met several persons returning, 

 who had visited the place where he was said to 

 have exhibited himself, and who reported to us 

 that he had not been seen for two or three days 

 past. We, however, continued our route to Glou- 

 cester, though with fears that we should not be 

 gratified with the sight of the monster which we 

 sought. I satisfied myself, from conversation 

 with several persons who had seen him, that the 

 report in circulation was not a fable. All the 

 town were, as you may suppose, on the alert; 

 and almost every individual, both great and 

 small, had been gratified, at a greater or less dis- 

 tance, with a sight of him. The weather was 

 fine, the sea perfectly smooth, and Mr. Lee and 

 myself were seated on a point of land which pro- 

 19 289 



