THE EOMANCE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



"I have lately received the following account 

 from my brother, Captain Steele, 9th Lancers, 

 who, on his way out to India in the Barhnir, 

 saw the sea-serpent. Thinking it might be inter- 

 esting to you, as corroborating the account of the 

 Daedalus, I have taken the liberty of sending you 

 the extract from my brother's letter:— 'On the 

 28th of August, in long. 40' E., lat. 37 16' S., 

 about half-past two, we had all gone down below 

 to get ready for dinner, when the first mate called 

 us on deck to see a most extraordinary sight. 

 About five hundred yards from the ship there was 

 the head and neck of an enormous snake; we saw 

 about sixteen or twenty feet out of the water, 

 and he spouted a long way from his head ; down 

 his back he had a crest like a cock's comb, and 

 was going very slowly through the water, but 

 left a wake of about fifty or sixty feet, as if drag- 

 ging a long body after him. The captain put the 

 ship off her course to run down to him, but as we 

 approached him, he went down. His colour was 

 green, with light spots. He was seen by every 

 one on board.' My brother is no naturalist, and 

 I think this is the first time the monster has been 

 ever seen to spout." 



The second statement is contained in a letter 

 from one of the officers of the ship :— 



"You will be surprised to hear that we have 

 actually seen the great sea-serpent, about which 

 there has been so much discussion. Information 

 was given by a sailor to the captain just as we 

 were going to dinner. I was in my cabin at the 

 time, and from the noise and excitement, I 

 thought the ship was on fire. I rushed on deck, 

 and on looking over the side of the vessel I saw 

 a most wonderful sight, which I shall recollect as 

 long as I live. His head appeared to be about 

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