Reptiles. 2361 



opinion. The wharf is 100 feet in length. It is to be observed that the person above 

 spoken of had been such an unbeliever in the existence of this monster, that he had 

 not given himself the trouble to go from his house to the harbour where the report was 

 first made of such an animal being there. Subsequent to the period of which I have 

 been speaking, the snake was seen by several of the crew of our coasting vessels, and 

 in some instances within a few yards. Captain Tappan, a person well known to me, 

 saw him with his head above water two or three feet, at times moving with great ra- 

 pidity and at others slowly. He also saw what explained the appearance which I 

 have described of a horn on the front of the head. This was doubtless what was ob- 

 served by Capt. Tappan to be the tongue, thrown in an upright position from the 

 mouth, and having the appearance which I have given to it. 



" One of the revenue cutters, whilst in the neighbourhood of Cape Ann, had an 

 excellent view of him at a few yards distance : he moved slowly, and upon the ap- 

 proach of the vessel, sank and was seen no more. 



" Besides the instances I have mentioned, there were many others reported of his 

 having been seen the same year. In that year, 1818, although there were several re- 

 ports of his having been seen, yet they were not well authenticated, nor do I place 

 any confidence in them. 



" In the month of August, in the last year, he again made his appearance in our 

 vicinity, and under very satisfactory circumstances. The weather being hot, many of 

 our citizens resorted to Nahant to pass a few weeks. Of the number were Mr. and 

 Mrs. Cabot and their children. Mr. Cabot had a view of him for more than half an 

 hour at one time. He was in a chair, and had reached what is termed the long beach, 

 when he saw several persons collected half a mile from him, which called his attention 

 to the object which occupied them. Mr. C. had heard me often describe the view I 

 had had of the serpent in 1817, and recognized in what was visible just without the 

 breakers, and within a quarter of a mile, the monster which was supposed by many to 

 exist nowhere but in the imaginations of those who had reported to have seen him. 

 Mr. Cabot immediately rode back to Nahant, took Mrs. Cabot into his chair and re- 

 turned to the beach ; but the animal was no longer visible. By this time the inha- 

 bitants of Lynn had assembled to the number of some hundreds, on and near the 

 beach, and all the visitors of Nahant were upon the alert. Having given over the 

 hope of seeing him, Mr. Cabot was returning to leave his wife at her lodgings, when, 

 to their mutual delight, he came in view just without the surf of the little beach, and 

 within a quarter of a mile or less of where they stood. 



" Marshal Prince, James Magee, and many persons of my acquaintance, had a 

 fine sight of him, and all agreed in their account of him in the principal particulars. 

 They all agreed as to the rapidity of his movements, being very much beyond any- 

 thing living they had ever seen. The apparent bunches on his back they consider as 

 arising from the construction of his body, and that the movement was vertical and not 

 horizontal. At one time his head was about two or three feet above water, but soon 

 depressed to the level of the sea. When not seeming to be in pursuit of his prey, 

 his motion was not rapid. They saw him turn and bring his body into a letter S, the 

 head being at right angles with the tail. From fifteen to twenty-three bunches, or 

 apparent bunches, were counted by the different persons who saw him, and his size 

 round they thought to be that of a common firkin or half barrel. 



" No one thought they saw the whole of the body at a time, the tail seeming 



