146 THE VARIOUS ACCOUNTS, [ N°. 29. | 
seal should rise out of water so much higher than usual; but, as 
he drew nearer to our boat, we soon discovered that this whole 
appearance was but one animal in the form of a serpent. J immed- 
lately perceived that his mode of swimming was exactly such as 
had been described to me by some of the people of Fox Islands , 
who had seen an animal of this kind before, which must confirm 
the veracity of their report. For this creature had not the horizontal 
but an ascending and descending serpentine motion. This renders 
it highly probable that he never moves on land to any considerable 
distance and that the water is his proper element. His head was 
rather larger than that of a horse, but formed like that of a serpent. 
His body we judged was more than sixty feet in length. His head 
and as much of his body as we could discover was all of a blue 
colour except a black circle round his eye. His motion was at first 
but moderate, but when he left us and proceeded towards the 
ocean, he moved with the greatest rapidity. This monster is the 
sixth of the kind, if our information be correct, which has been 
seen in this bay within the term of eighteen years. Mrs. CumMines, 
my daughter and Mss. Marrua Sprine were with me in the boat 
all that time, and can attest to the above description.” 
“1 continue yours im christian affection 
“ABRAHAM CUMMINGS.” 
“Rev. AnexanpER Mc. Leman.” | 
Mr. Mc. Lean forwarded this letter to the Rev. Atpren Brap- 
FORD who says of it: 
“The account was liable to some objections, and not so partic- 
ular as might be wished. I therefore wrote Mr. Cummings, and 
in reply, received a statement more in detail,” 
which runs as follows: 
“Sullivan, Jan. 18th. 1804.” 
“Rev. and Dear Sir,” 
“T can recollect nothing material which could render my de- 
scription of that animal more convincing. | am not sure that this 
motion was ascending and descending; all we can say is, 2 ap- 
peared so to us (for he was seen not only by me, but by three 
other persons). His real motion might be horizontal. Perhaps his 
nearest distance from us was ten rods. The sea was then very 
smooth, and very little wind, but still there was such a constant 
rippling of the water over his body, that I could not distinctly 
observe the magnitude or colour of any part but his head and neck. 
The degree of his rapidity I cannot explain. But certain I am that 
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