66 STELLER'S JOURNAL 



On August II, as we were by now out of the bay, we sailed 

 westerly with a light southeast wind. On the I2th, however, it 

 was calm, and a sea council was held in which it was decided, 

 because of the approaching autumn and of the long distance, to 



to recognize any of them after watching it for two hours, sometimes so 

 near that it could be reached with a pole. It is hardly necessary to 

 affirm that there is no animal in the sea or on land which combines the 

 characters assigned to it by Steller. But if purely imaginary, from where 

 did he get the general idea and the details of his vision? 



Steller suggests the resemblance of the alleged animal to Gesner's 

 account in his "Historia animalium" of a Sitnia marina danica, or 

 Danish sea monkey. A search through Gesner's work (Konrad von 

 Gesner: Historia animalium, 4 vols., Zurich, 1551-58) fails to disclose 

 any description or illustration which even remotely recalls the general 

 habitus of Steller's creature. In the chapter headed "De simia marina" 

 (p. 1053), it is true, Gesner speaks of a "fish" of which a picture is given 

 which was sent from Denmark (i. e. Dania) to his friend lo. Kentmann 

 under the name of "Meeraff," or sea ape. The woodcut (on p. 1054) 

 unquestionably represents the chimaera {Chimaera monstrosa Linn.) 

 and in no feature whatever recalls Steller's account, as it has large front 

 fins, a long whip-shaped tail, no mustache, and no ears. Moreover, the 

 chimaera is not a surface fish at all. It is evident that Steller did not 

 have this picture in mind, and that his wonderful memory failed him in 

 this particular. However, Steller had a faculty for remembering just 

 such things (Pallas' note, pp. 59-60, above). It was therefore natural to 

 search Gesner's book for the prototype of Steller's sea ape. No single 

 picture, however, corresponds to it, but several of the most prominent 

 features are recognizable in various woodcuts. Thus the pointed ears 

 are a very prominent feature in the "monstrum marinum" on p. 522, 

 which also has hair on the head, if not on the body. On p. 1248 there is 

 a chapter "De vulpe marina, Bellonius, ipse quidem simiam marinam 

 appellavit" with a picture of a shark showing a most extravagantly 

 elongated upper lobe of the caudal fin, exactly as described by Steller, 

 In none of Gesner's figures of sea monsters do we find the "beard hang- 

 ing down from both the upper and the lower lips," except possibly in the 

 grotesque figure on p. 246 of the "bearded whale." The only feature 

 which cannot be matched is the lack of fore limbs. 



The behavior of the strange creature, it should be added, recalls other 

 accounts of the playfulness of the sea otter. Are we permitted to sup- 

 pose that Steller had this fantastic vision at dusk and that, having had 

 up to that time no opportunity to watch a sea otter at close quarters, 

 though otherwise familiar with it, he did not recognize the details of the 



