THE ROMANCE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



were startled into a ready compliance, and saw 

 an object which banished all other thoughts, save 

 wonder and surprise. 



"At the distance of from a hundred and fifty to 

 two hundred yards on our starboard bow, we 

 saw the head and neck of some denizen of the 

 deep, precisely like those of a common snake, in 

 the act of swimming, the head so far elevated and 

 thrown forward by the curve of the neck, as to 

 enable us to see the water under and beyond it. 

 The creature rapidly passed, leaving a regular 

 wake, from the commencement of which, to the 

 fore part, which was out of water, we judged its 

 length to be about eighty feet; and this within, 

 rather than beyond the mark. We were, of course, 

 all taken aback at the sight, and, with staring 

 eyes and in speechless wonder, stood gazing at it 

 for full half a minute. There could be no mistake, 

 no delusion, and we were all perfectly satisfied 

 that we had been favoured with a view of the 

 'true and veritable sea-serpent,' which had been 

 generally considered to have existed only in the 

 brain of some Yankee skipper, and treated as a 

 tale not much entitled to belief. Dowling's ex- 

 clamation is worthy of record, — 'Well, I've sailed 

 in all parts of the world, and have seen rum 

 sights too in my time, but this is the queerest 

 thing I ever seer and surely Jack Dowling was 

 right. It is most difficult to give correctly the 

 dimensions of any object in the water. The head 

 of the creature we set down at about six feet in 

 length, and that portion of the neck which we 

 saw, at the same; the extreme length, as before 

 stated, at between eighty and one hundred feet. 

 The neck in thickness equalled the bole of a mod- 

 erate sized tree. The head and neck of a dark 

 brown or nearly black colour, streaked with 

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