[ N°. 48. | REPORTS AND PAPERS. 187 
“I, William Somerby of the Schooner Laura, testify and say: 
That on thursday last about 10 o’clock, A. M. as I was coming 
in said schooner from Newburyport, bound to Boston, off Brace’s 
cove, a little eastward of Eastern Point, (Cape Ann) about two 
miles from land, the sea calm, I was at helm. Robert Bragg, one 
of the crew, asked me if that was not the snake coming, pointing 
out a break in the water, south of us; a strange animal of the 
serpent form passed very swiftly by us — the nearest distance | 
should judge to be between 30 and 40 feet — the upper part of 
his head and back was above water — the length that appeared 
was about 12 or 15 feet, his head was like a serpent’s tapering 
off to a poimt. He threw out his tongue a number of times, ex- 
tended about two feet from his jaws — the end of it resembled 
a harpoon — he threw his tongue backwards several times over 
his head, and let it fall agam — I saw one of his eyes as he 
passed ; it appeared very bright, and about the size of the eye of 
an ox. The colour of all that appeared was very dark, almost 
black. He did not appear to take any notice of the vessel, and 
made no noise. There appeared a bunch above the eye. — Should 
judge him to be about two and a half feet in circumference. Have 
often seen whales at sea. The motion of this animal was much 
swifter than that of any whale. The motion of the body was rising 
and falling as he advanced, the head moderately vibrating from 
side to side. The colour of his tongue was a light brown.” 
“To this account I am willing to make oath.” 
“William Somerby.” 
“Commonwealth of Massachusetts, August 30, 1817. Then ap- 
peared Robert Bragg and William Somerby, and made oath to the 
truth of the above declarations, by them respectively subscribed.” 
“Before me, Jos. May, Jus Pacis.” 
In these three depositions we find the same observation. As the 
head was moving moderately sideways, we may conclude that the 
animal, though it was also moving up and down, used it flappers 
too, so that with the use of the right fore-flapper its head went 
a little to the left; and otherwise went a little to the right by the 
motion of the left fore-flapper. — For Rosrrr Brace’s “larger” 
in “the head was rather larger than the body”, we don’t hesitate 
to read “broader”. — It is the third time that the animal’s tongue 
was observed. The tongue most propably was rather pointed, which 
led the two mariners to compare it with a harpoon. — Remarkable 
is the statement of the animal having a small bunch on each side 
