156 Bigelow on the Sea Serpent. 
long beach about an hour, the animal disappeared, and f 
proceeded on towards Nahant; but on passing the second 
beach, I met Mr. James Magee, of Boston, with several 
ladies in a carriage, prompted by curiosity to endeavor to 
see the animal, and we were again gratified beyond even 
what we saw in the other bay ; which I concluded he had 
left in consequence of the number of boats in the offing m 
pursuit of him—the noise of whose oars must have disturbed 
him, as he appeared to us to be a harmless timid animal. 
We had more than a dozen different views of him, and each 
similar to the other ; one however so near, that the coach- 
man exclaimed, ‘“‘ Oh, see his glistening eye.” ‘Thinking 
T might form some calculation of his length by the time and 
distance of each turn; and taking an angle with my two 
hands of the length he exhibited, that is to say, from his 
head to his last protuberance, and applying the same angle 
to other objects, I feel satisfied of the correctness of my 
decision that he is sixty feet long, unless the ripple of his 
wake deceived me—nor my dear sir, do I undertake to say 
he was of the snake or eel kind, though this was the gene- 
val impression of my family, the spectators, and myself. 
Certainly it is a very strange animal. I have been accus- 
tomed to see whales, sharks, grampuses, porpoises, and 
other large fishes, but he partook of the appearance of none 
of these. ‘The whale and the grampus would have spouted 
—ihe shark never raises his head out of water, and the por- 
poise skips and plays; neither of these has such appearances 
on the back or such a head as this animal. he shark, 
it is true, has a fin on his back, and often the fluke of his 
tail is out of the water; but these appendages would not 
display the form, and certainly not the number of protu- 
berances, which this animal exhibited ; nor is it the habit 
of the shark to avoid a boat. The water was extremely 
smooth, and the weather clear: we had been so habituated 
to see him, that we were cool and composed—the time 
occupied was from a quarter past eight to half past eleven 
——a cloud of witnesses exceeding two hundred, brought 
together for a single purpose, were all alike satisfied and 
united as to appearances, and as to the length and size of 
the animal; but you must deduct the influence which his 
passage through the water and the manner he propelled 
himself might have as to the apparent protuberances on his 
