THE ROMANCE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



the captain was surveying the calm, heavy, ripple- 

 less swell of the sea through his telescope, the 

 ship at the same time heading N.N.W., he per- 

 ceived something right abeam, about half a mile 

 to the westward, stretched along the water to the 

 length of about twenty-five or thirty feet, and 

 perceptibly moving from the ship with a steady, 

 sinuous motion. The head, which seemed to be 

 lifted several feet above the waters, had some- 

 thing resembling a mane, running down to the 

 floating portion, and within about six feet of the 

 tail it forked out into a sort of double fin. Hav- 

 ing read at Colombo the account of the monster 

 said to have been seen by Captain M'Quhae in 

 nearly the same latitude, Mr. Herriman was led 

 to suppose that he had fallen in with the same 

 animal, or one of the genus; he immediately called 

 his chief officer, Mr. Long, with several of the 

 passengers, who, after surveying the object for 

 some time, came to the unanimous conclusion 

 that it must be the sea-serpent seen by Captain 

 M'Quhae. As the Brazilian was making no head- 

 way, Mr. Herriman, determining to bring all 

 doubts to an issue, had a boat lowered down, 

 and taking two hands on board, together with 

 Mr. Boyd of Peterhead, near Aberdeen, one of 

 the passengers, who acted as steersman under the 

 direction of the captain, they approached the 

 monster, Captain Herriman standing on the bow 

 of the boat armed with a harpoon, to commence 

 the onslaught. The combat, however, was not 

 attended with the danger which those on board 

 apprehended, for on coming close to the object it 

 was found to be nothing more than an immense 

 piece of sea- weed, evidently detached from a coral 

 reef, and drifting with the current, which sets con- 

 stantly to the westward in this latitude, and 

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