Reptiles. 1607 



raal, which slowly moved itself forward, as it appeared to them, with the help of two 

 fins, on the fore-part of the body nearest the head, which they judged from the boiling 

 of the water on both sides of it. The visible part of the body appeared to be between 

 forty and fifty feet in length, and moved in undulations like a snake. The body was 

 round, and of a dark colour, and seemed to be several ells (an ell two feet) in thick- 

 ness. As they discerned a waving motion in the water behind the animal, they con- 

 cluded that part of the body was concealed under water. That it was one connected 

 animal they saw plainly from its movement. When the animal was about one hun- 

 dred yards from the boat, they noticed tolerably correctly its fore-part, which ended in 

 a sharp snout ; its colossal head raised itself above the water in the form of a semi- 

 circle; the lower part was not visible. The colour of the head was dark brown and 

 the skin smooth. They did not notice the eyes or any mane or bristles on the throat. 

 When the serpent came about a musket-shot near, Lund fired at it, and was certain the 

 shots hit it in the head. After the shot he dived, but came up immediately. He 

 raised his head in the air like a snake preparing to dart on its prey. After he had 

 turned and got his body in a straight line, which he appeared to do with great diffi- 

 culty, he darted like an arrow against the boat. They reached the shore, and the ani- 

 mal perceiving it had come in shallow water, dived immediately, and disappeared in 

 the deep. 



Such is the declaration of these four men, and no one has any cause to question 

 their veracity, or imagine that they were so seized with fear, that they could not ob- 

 serve what took place so near them. There are not many here, or on other parts of 

 the Norwegian coast, who longer doubt the existence of the sea-serpent. The writer 

 of this narrative was a long time sceptical, as he had not been so fortunate as to see 

 this monster of the deep, but after the many accounts he has read, and the relations he 

 has received from creditable witnesses, he does not dare longer to doubt the existence 

 of the sea-serpent. 



Molde, the 29th Nov., 1845. P. W. Deinboll. 



The following gives some later particulars : — 



Sunds Parsonage, August 31, 1846. 



On Saturday, the 8th inst., in the course between the islands of Sartor Leer and 

 Tos, a sea monster, supposed to be a sea-serpent, was seen by several persons. Early on 

 this day just as the steamer Biorgvin passed through Rognefiord towing a vessel to 

 Bergen, Daniel Solomonson, a cotter, saw a sea-monster, whose like he declares he 

 never met with although accustomed to the sea and its inhabitants from his earliest 

 years. The animal came swimming from Rognefiord in a westerly direction towards 

 his dwelling at Gronnevigskiceset, in the northern part of the parish of Sund. The 

 head appeared like a Fcering boat (about twenty feet long) keel uppermost, and from 

 behind it raised itself forward in three, and sometimes four and five undulations, each 

 apparently about twelve feet long : its rate appeared to be that of a light boat rowed by 

 four active men. When it reached Gronnevigskioeset at a distance of two rifle-shots 

 it turned with considerable noise and continued its course towards Lundenoes. Later 

 about eleven o'clock in the same day his wife Ingeborg, in Daniel's absence, heard a 

 loud noise in the sea, and she and two little children saw a great monster, such as de- 

 scribed above, take a northerly course, close by their place at such a rate that the waves 

 were dashed on the shore in the same way as when a steamer is passing by. Neither 

 of them say that they saw anything like eyes or fins, or indeed anything projecting 

 from its round form, but they declare that the colour of the animal was dark brown. 



