2542 Reptiles. 



wind for four days. On the morning of the 24th the ship was becalmed in latitude 

 26° south, longitude 8° east, being about forty miles from the place in which Captain 

 M'Quhae, K.N., is said to have seen the great sea-serpent. About eight o'clock on that 

 morning, whilst the captain was surveying the calm heavy rippleless swell of the sea 

 through his telescope, the ship at the same time heading north-north-west, he perceived 

 something right abeam, about half a mile to the westward, stretched along the water 

 to the length of about twenty-five or thirty feet, and perceptibly moving from the ship 

 with a steady sinuous motion. The head, which seemed to be lifted several feet above 

 the waters, had something resembling a mane, running down to the floating portion, 

 and within about six feet of the tail it forked out into a sort of double fin. Having 

 read at Colombo the account of the monster said to have been seen by Captain M'Quhae 

 in nearly the same latitude, Mr. Herriman was led to suppose that he had fallen in 

 with the same animal, or one of the genus ; he immediately called his chief officer, 

 Mr. Long, with several of the passengers, who, after surveying the object for some time, 

 came to the unanimous conclusion that it must be the sea-serpent seen by Captain 

 M'Quhae. As the Brazilian was making no headway, Mr. Herriman, determining to 

 bring all doubts to an issue, had a boat lowered down, and taking two hands on board, 

 together with Mr. Boyd, of Peterhead, near Aberdeen, one of the passengers, who 

 acted as steersman under the direction of the captain, they approached the monster, 

 Capt. Herriman standing in the bow of the boat, armed with a harpoon, to commence 

 the onslaught. The combat, however, was not attended with the danger which those 

 on board apprehended, for on coming close to the object it was found to be nothing 

 more than an immense piece of sea-weed, evidently detached from a coral reef, and 

 drifting with the current, which sets constantly to the westward in this latitude, and 

 which, together with the swell, left by the subsidence of the gale, gave it the sinuous 

 snakelike motion. 



" But for the calm which afforded Capt. Herriman an opportunity of examining 

 the weed we should have had another ' eye-witness' account of the great sea-serpent ; 

 Mr. Herriman himself admitting that he should have remained under the impression 

 of having seen it. What appeared to be head, crest, and mane of the immensum 

 volumen, was but the large root which floated upwards, and to which several pieces of 

 the coral reef still adhered. The captain had it hauled on board, but, as it began to 

 decay, was compelled to throw it over. He now regrets that he had not preserved it 

 in a water-butt for the purpose of exhibition in the Thames, where the conflicting 

 motion produced by the tide and steamers would in all probability give it a like 

 appearance." 



A curious accident occurred on board the Brazilian during her outward-bound 

 voyage to Colombo. Whilst in latitude 39° south, longitude 28° 30' east, off the Agul- 

 has Bank, at midnight, she was struck by lightning, which killed a seaman named 

 David, on the top gallant-mast, and after destroying some gearing in its descent, and 

 splintering a portion of the deck near the mainmast, descended into the hold, and 

 dissipated itself among the cargo, without doing any other injury than filling the 

 between decks with a suffocating, sulphurous smell. Several others of the crew were 

 struck down and stupified by the shock, but without serious injury. The most extra- 

 ordinary circumstance connected with the accident was the effect the shock had on 

 the compasses of the ship, the polarity of which was totally destroyed, and had only 

 recovered their proper magnetic powers on the arrival of the vessel at Colombo. It is 

 easy to conceive the difficulty which the loss of this valuable index occasioned to 



