THE GREAT UNKNOWN. 



large snake or eel. No one in the ship has ever 

 seen anything similar, so it is at least extraordi- 

 nary. It was visible to the naked eye for five 

 minutes, and with a glass for perhaps fifteen more. 

 The weather was dark and squally at the time, 

 with sea running."* 



The pictorial sketch alluded to in Captain 

 M'Quhae's report, as well as one representing the 

 animal in another aspect, was published in the 

 Illustrated London News, of October 28, 1848, 

 "under the supervision of Captain M'Quhac, and 

 with his approval of the authenticity of the de- 

 tails as to position and form." These drawings 

 will be criticised presently. 



As I have already said, a good deal of popular 

 curiosity and interest was immediately awakened ; 

 and the public papers were for a while filled with 

 strictures, objections, suggestions, and confirma- 

 tions. Among the last, Captain Beechey, the 

 eminent navigator, mentioned an extraordinary 

 appearance which had occurred to him during the 

 voyage of the Blossom, in the South Atlantic. 

 "I took it for the trunk of a large tree, and before 

 I could get my glass it had disappeared." 



Mr. J. D. Moiries Stirling, a gentleman long 

 resident in Norway, communicated to the Secre- 

 tary to the Admiralty important confirmatory 

 evidence of the existence of the animal on the 

 coasts of that country, collected by a scientific 

 body at Bergen, of which he was one of the 

 directors. In the course of this communication, 

 the writer points out certain points of resemblance 

 borne by the Norwegian animal to the great fossil 

 reptiles known to geologists as the Enaliosauri :— 

 "In several of the fossil reptiles somewhat ap- 

 proaching the sea-serpent in size and other char- 

 * Zoologist, p. 3306. 



290 



