THE GREAT UNKNOWN. 



sixteen feet above the water, and he kept moving 

 it up and down, sometimes shewing his enormous 

 neck, which was surmounted with a huge crest in 

 the shape of a saw. It was surrounded by hun- 

 dreds of birds, and we at first thought it was a 

 dead whale. He left a track in the water like the 

 wake of a boat, and from what we could see of 

 his head ind part of his body, we were led to 

 think he must be about sixty feet in length, but 

 he might be more. The captain kept the vessel 

 away to get nearer to him, and when we were 

 within a hundred yards he slowly sank into the 

 depths of the sea. While we were at dinner he 

 was seen again. " 



Mr. Alfred Newton, of Elveden Hall, an excellent 

 and well-known naturalist, adds the guarantee of 

 his personal acquaintance with one of the recipi- 

 ents of the above letters.* 



It if were not for the spouting— which is not 

 mentioned by one observer, and may possibly 

 have been an illusion — I should be inclined to 

 think that this may have been one of the scab- 

 bard-fishes, specimens of which inhabit the ocean 

 of immense size. They carry a high serrated 

 dorsal fin, and swim with the head out of 

 water.f 



On the 19th February, 1849, Mr. Herriman, 

 commander of the British ship Brazilian, sailed 

 from the Cape of Good Hope, and on the 24th 

 was becalmed almost exactly in the spot where 

 Captain M'Quhae had seen his monster. 



"About eight o'clock on that morning, whilst 



* I note this, because discredit has been undeservedly cast on 

 the phenomena observed, by foolish fabulous stories having 

 been published under fictitious names, for the purpose of hoax- 

 ing. 



t See Colonel Montagu's account, in Yarreirs " British Fishes," 

 vol. i. p. 199 (edit. 1841). 



317 



