WOULD-BE SEA-SERPENTS. 65 
“Kirkwall, Nov. 19, 1808.” 
“Compeared John Peace, tenant in Dounatoun in Rothiesholm ; 
and being interrogated, solemnly declares, That on the 26th. day 
of September last, he went a fishing off the east part of Rothies- 
holm-head, when he perceived as he imagined, a dead whale, on 
some sunk rocks, about a quarter of a mile from the Head: That 
his attention was first directed to it by the sea-fowl screaming and 
flocking about it; and on approach of it, in his boat, he found 
the middle part of it above the surface of the water: That he 
then observed it to be different from a whale, particularly in 
having fins or arms, one of which he raised with his boat-hook 
above the surface of the water: That this was one of the arms 
next the head, which was larger and broader than the others 
nearer the tail; and at that time the fin or arm was edged all 
around, from the body to the extremity of the toes, with a row 
of bristles about ten inches long, some of which he pulled off, 
and examined in the boat: That about ten days afterwards, a gale 
of south east wind came on, and the surge drove the fish ashore 
on Rothiesholm-Head: That he measured it by fathoms, and found 
it about fifty-four or fifty-five feet in length: That he observed the 
six arms, or wings as they are called on the island; but perceived 
no part of the bristles then round the edges of the fins or arms, 
and supposes, that being in a putrid state, they had been beaten 
off by the sea, or washed away: That a small part of the belly 
was broken up when he saw it then, from which the stomach, 
as he now supposes it to have been, had fallen out: That the 
stomach , which he took at first for the penis, from the one end 
of it beimg joimed to the body; but on seeing it after it was 
opened, he concluded it to have been the stomach, as it resembled 
the second stomach of a cow: That he did not measure the circum- 
ference of the animal, but it appeared to be of the thickness of a 
middle sized horse round the girth, of twelve or thirteen hands 
high. And being shewn a drawing of the animal, and desired to 
point out the resemblance or difference, he declared, That the 
joint of the foremost leg was broader than represented in the 
drawing, being more rounded from the body to the toes, and 
narrower at the upper end than at its junction with the toes: 
That the limb itself was larger than the hinder ones, and the 
uppermost joint or shoulder was altogether attached to the body: 
That in all other respects the drawing appears to him to be an 
exact resemblance of the fish, as it lay on the beach: That the 
) : 5 
