History of Sea-Serpentism, 355 



Day after day he cruised over tracts where the sea-serpent 

 had, according to information, been observed, without dis- 

 covering any thing hke him. At length, a creature vi^as des- 

 cried, which some of the men on board said they had seen 

 before, and that it was the sea-serpent. The captain pursu- 

 ed the game a considerable time longer, with much vigilance 

 and patience, until it was at a distance near enough to be 

 harpooned. He was taken on board, and found to be a fish 

 of the Mackerel family. I saw the preparation of it in the 

 Greenwood Museum, and satisfied myself that it was an in- 

 dividual of a well known species called Tunny in the Medi- 

 terranean, and Albicore in the Atlantic sea. 



After the capture of the fish, the persons who, when they 

 saw him in the water, declared positively that he was the 

 sea-serpent, now changed their minds, and swore he was not. 



At length the man of successful exertion arrived with his 

 prize ; and unexpectedly and unfortunately drew upon him 

 the displeasure of his employers for attempting to impose 

 upon them a Horse- Mackerel (as they call it) for a Sea-Ser- 

 pent ! He told me the story himself 



(e) In this fervor of opinion, it was supposed for a time 

 that a sea-serpent existed in Lake Ontario. A coasting nav- 

 igator, somewhere between Kingston and York, had several 

 times during his trips observed among the islands and rock 

 something that appeared to be a long animal with vertical 

 flexures of the back, resembling lumps or humps of variega- 

 ted black and white hues. He told some of his acquaintan- 

 ces what peculiar appearances had presented themselves to 

 his vievv^ ; and that he intended the next opportunity to take 

 a more close and correct survey. He did so, shortly after, 

 when the whole phenomenon ascended into the air ! It turn- 

 ed out to be a speckled mother-duck, with a numerous brood 

 of young ones. They swam in a line, with the parent bird 

 at the head. And as they rose and descended on the undu- 

 lations, gave an appearance so like that ascribed to the sea- 

 serpent, that the captain, though a wary man, would have 

 solemnly declared, until he was undeceived, his belief in the 

 existence of a sea-serpent there ! 



(f ) Lake Erie brought forward pretensions too for a sea- 

 serpent. One of the coasting vessels, navigated by three 

 men, as she was steering eastward from Detroit, discovered 

 something afloat on the hither side of the islands called 

 " The Sisters," vi'hich, when she arrived at the place of her 



