[N°. 123.] REPORTS AND PAPERS. 299 
Most probably this appearance took place in the Indian Ocean 
between latitude 10 and 20 S. and longitude 50 and 70 E. 
If one of the gentlemen of the Cleopatra is still in the land of 
the living, he will greatly oblige me by sending me some more 
details of the external appearance of the animal, and of the place 
where the animal was seen. 
“The Rev. Alfred Charles Smith, M. A., an excellent naturalist, 
who passed the three summer months of 1850 in Norway, and 
who published” his Votes on Observations in Natural LMistory 
during a Tour in Norway “in the Zoologist for that and the fol- 
lowing year, thus alludes to his own inquiries, which, if they add 
nothing to the amount of fact accumulated, add weight to the 
testimonies already adduced”. (Gossz, Romance of Natural History, 
13th. Ed., Vol. L., p. 282.) 
“Being in the country of the renowned Bishop Pontoppidan, 
and in the fjords which are generally claimed as the home, or, 
at any rate, as one of the habitations of the sea-serpent, whose 
existence seems yet to be a disputed pomt in England, I lost no 
opportunity of making inquiries of all I could see, as to the 
general belief in the country regarding the animal in question; 
but all, with one single exception — naval officers, sailors, boat- 
men, and fishermen — concurred in affirming most positively that 
such an animal did exist, and had been repeatedly seen off their 
coasts and fjords, though I was never fortunate enough to meet 
a man who could boast of having seen him with his own eyes. 
All, however, agreed in unhesitating belief as to his existence and 
frequent appearance; and all seemed to marvel very much at the 
scepticism of the English, for refusing credence to what to the 
minds of the Norwegians seemed so incontrovertible. The single 
exception to which I have alluded, was a Norwegian officer, who 
ridiculed what he called the credulity or gullibility of his coun- 
trymen; though I am bound to add my belief, that he did this, 
not from any decided opinion of his own, but to make a show 
of superior shrewdness in the eyes of an Englishman, who, he at 
once concluded, must undoubtedly disbelieve the existence of the 
marine monster. That Englishman, however, certainly partakes of 
the credulity of the Northmen, and cannot withhold his belief in 
the existence of some huge inhabitant of those northern seas, 
