158 THE VARIOUS ACCOUNTS, [N’. 36.] 
cording to opinion, is that of this serpent, which no animal, not 
even the raven, will touch. Some Aleutians, who had once tasted 
some of it, suddenly died.” 
This passage was told by Mr. Krivxor to von Korzzpur in 
Aug. 1817. So we have taken 1816 as the year of the appearance, 
though it may have happened earlier. When Mr. Von Korzesur 
wrote his book in 1820, he had already heard of the Sea-Serpent, 
which appeared in 1817 in the Harbour of Gloucester, Mass., and 
so he adds: 
“If a sea-serpent really has been seen on the coast of North- 
America, it may have been one of this frightful species.” 
What now are the most interesting parts of this notice? First 
of all that the Sea-Serpent is a common visitor of the Northern 
South-Sea, for the Aleutians affirmed that they often saw it. But 
the description of the head claims our close attention. We already 
said that the animal must have a hairy skin, for it has a mane, 
and those persons who saw it very closely confirm this. The head 
has already been twice described as resembling that of a seal, and 
afterwards we shall meet again with such a description; generally, 
however, it is said to resemble that of a snake, or a serpent, and 
sometimes to be sharp. What head combines these characters? I 
say the head of a sea-lion. It resembles more or less that of a 
seal, and seen from aside, more or less that of a snake, is rather 
pointed, because a sea-lion has not such formidable upper lips as 
seals have, and rather blunt. Why has nobody given this descrip- 
tion? I say, because nobody among the eye-witnesses ever saw a 
sea-lion, neither the Norwegian, nor the many eye-witnesses of 
Massachusetts, nor even afterwards the other witnesses. The only 
one who could make this comparison was Mr. Kriuxor, and the 
Aleutians, who live surrounded by these animals. The sea-lion’s 
head is rather blunt, rather pointed, rather long, and flattened 
on the forehead, has also some whiskers, which are also attributed 
to sea-serpents by eye-witnesses in Norway, according to PontoppiDAN, 
and afterwards again by a person who saw it at a few yards’ 
distance from him. 
- Moreover Krivxor’s comparison with the Red Snake a species 
evidently known to him, the disproportionate large eyes, the habit 
of the animal to stretch its long neck far above the surface of the 
water, apparently to look about for prey, to follow a boat at some 
distance, it bemg supposed to be inquisitive, though harmless, are 
all statements we have already met with or will meet with after- 
