Reptiles. 6985 



before it has had time to be carried into the system ; and that the 

 blood which Mr. Faraday detected in the specimen submitted to him 

 was that of the Indian on whose person the effect was ej^hibited, on 

 the occasion to which my informant was an eye-witness. The snake- 

 charmers from the coast of Ceylon profess to prepare the snake stones 

 for themselves and preserve the composition as a secret. Dr. Davey, 

 on the authority of Sir Alexander Johnson, says the manufacture of 

 them is a lucrative trade, carried on by the monks at Manilla, who 

 supply the merchants of India, and his analysis confirms that of Mr. 

 Faraday." 



Edward Newman. 



The Great Sea Serpent. — The following extract from the log of the " British 

 Banner," which arrived at Liverpool on Sunday 18lh March last, appeared in 

 the ' Liverpool Daily Post' of March 20th. " On the 25lh April, in latitude 12° 7" 

 east, and longitude 93° 52" south, felt a strong sensation as if the ship were trembling. 

 Sent second mate to see what was up ; the latter called out to me to go up the fore- 

 rigging and look over the bows. I did so, and saw an enormous serpent shaking the 

 bowsprit with his mouth. There was about thirty feet of the serpent out of the water, 

 and I could see his tail in the water abaft of our stern; must have been at least three 

 hundred feet long ; was about the circumference of a very wide crinoline petticoat, 

 with black back, shaggy mane, horn on his forehead, and large glaring eyes, placed 

 rather near the nose, and jaws about eight feet long. He did not observe me, and 

 continued to shake the bowsprit and to throw the sea alongside into a foam until, the 

 former came clear away of the ship. The serpent was powerful enough, although the 

 ship was carrying all sail, and going at about six knots at the time he attacked us, to 

 stop her way completely. When the bowsprit with the jibboom sails and rigging went 

 by the board, the monster swallowed the foretopmast staysail and flying jib, with the 

 greatest apparent ease ; he also snapped the thickest of the rigging asunder like 

 thread. He sheered off a little after this, and returned apparently to scratch himself 

 against the side of the ship, making a most extraordinary noise resembling that on 

 board a steamer when the boilers are blowing oflT. A whale breached within a mile of 

 the ship at this time, and the serpent darted off after it like a flash of lightning, 

 striking the vessel with his tail, and staving in all the starboard quarter galley. Saw 

 no more of it, but caught a young one in the afternoon, and brought it on to Mel- 

 bourne. — William Taylor, Master, British Banner.''' (The " British Banner" arrived 

 here on Sunday, and is now in the Albert Dock. Captain Taylor declares that the 

 above statement is perfectly correct. — Editor Daily Post). 



[It is impossible for any story to read more like a hoax than this, but I had ready 

 means of procuring, through a friend at Lloyd's, the information that there is such a 

 ship as the " British Banner," that she is commanded by Mr. William Taylor, 

 a respectable and trustworthy gentleman, and that she did arrive at Liverpool 

 on Sunday, 18th March, last past, and is now in the Albert Dock. Armed with this 

 information, I wrote to Captain Taylor, who has replied in the most 'courteous 



XVIII. 2 c 



