1606 Reptiles. 



occasionally fast and slow, which latter was the case when it neared my boat ; I could 

 clearly observe it ; it was serpent-like, and moved up and down. The few undulations 

 which those parts of the body and tail that were out of the water made, were scarcely a 

 fathom in length. These undulations were not so high that I could see between them 

 and the water. When Lars Johnoen had given this explanation, he was shown the 

 drawing which Pontoppidan has given of this animal. He looked at it with astonish- 

 ment, smiled, and said he found a great resemblance between it and the animal he had 

 seen. He likewise said, that some of the other sea-serpents he had seen were a great 

 deal longer than the one above described. 



Mr. William Knudtzon and Candidatus Theologian Bochlum, gave the following 

 written account : We together saw the sea-serpent in a narrow fjord, at a distance of 

 about one-sixteenth of a mile (half an English mile), for about a quarter of an hour ; 

 afterwards it dived, and came up so far from us that we could not see it plainly. The 

 water was smooth as a mirror, and the animal had, as it moved on the surface, the ap- 

 pearance of a serpent. Its motions were in undulations, and so strong that white foam 

 appeared before it, and at the side, which stretched out several fathoms. It did not 

 appear very high above the water, and its length was quite discernible. Once it 

 stretched its head quite erect in the air. The body was somewhat dark, and the head 

 nearly black, it had nearly the form of an eel, or snake, and a length of about 100 feet, 

 and in proportion to it an inconsiderable thickness. The breadth diminished remark- 

 ably from the head, so much so that the tail ended in a point. The head was long 

 and small in proportion to the throat, as the latter appeared much greater than the for- 

 mer, probably as it was furnished with a mane. Foged (Sheriff) Gottsche made the 

 following remarks : I saw the sea-serpent for some time in a small fjord, first from a 

 boat, afterwards from the beach, several minutes, at a distance of from thirty to thirty- 

 six feet. In the beginning it swam round the fjord at Torvig, afterwards it went into 

 the deeps. I saw its head stretched considerably out of the water. I remarked as 

 well two or three undulations of the fore-part of the body. Its motion was not like 

 that of an eel, but consisted in waving undulations, up and down. They were exces- 

 sively strong, and caused tolerable large waves ; they were largest at the fore-part of 

 the animal, and towards the back gradually lessened. The traces of them I discerned 

 in a length of eight to ten fathoms, and a breadth of two to three fathoms. The head 

 seemed blunted, and had the size and form of a ten-gallon cask, the undulations of 

 the body were round and about the dimensions of a good timber stock (twelve to four- 

 teen inches square). The entire length of the animal I could not judge, as it was not 

 possible to observe the extremity. Its colour appeared to be dark gi'ay. At the back 

 of the head there was a mane, which was the same colour as the rest of the body. 



The writer of this article received letters from Mr. Soren Knudtzon, stating that a 

 sea-serpent had been seen in the neighbourhood of Christiansand by several people, 

 and from Dr. Hoffmann, a respectable surgeon in Molde, lying on a considerable 

 fjord to the south of Christiansand, Rector Hammer, Mr. Kraft, curate, and several 

 persons, very clearly saw, while on a journey, a sea-serpent of considerable size. 



The llev. Mr. Deinboll, Archdeacon of Molde, gives the following account of one 

 which was seen last summer near Molde. The 28th of July, 1845, J. C. Lund, book- 

 seller and printer ; G. S. Krogh, merchant ; Christian Flang, Lund's apprentice ; and 

 John Elgenses, labourer, were out on llomsdalc-fjord, fishing. The sea was, after a 

 warm sunshiny day, quite calm. About seven o'clock in the afternoon, a little dis- 

 tance from shore, near the ballast place and Molde Hooe, they saw a long marine ani- 



