342 THE VARIOUS ACCOUNTS , [ N°. 146. | 
with the body to its extremity; it seemed cylindrical, with a very 
slight taper, and I estimate its diameter at four feet. The body 
and tail were marked with alternate bands of stripes, black and 
pale yellow in colour. The stripes were distinct to the very extrem- 
ity of the tail. [ cannot say whether the tail terminated in a fin 
or not. The creature possessed no fins or paddles so far as we could 
perceive. I cannot say if it had legs. It appeared to progress by 
means of an undulatory motion of the tail in a vertical plane (that 
is, up and down). 
“Mr. Anderson, the surgeon, confirmed the eprtis s account in 
all essential respects, He rented the creature as an enormous 
marine salamander. “It was apparently of a gelatinous (that 1s, 
flabby) substance. Though keeping up with us, at the rate of 
nearly ten knots an hour, its movements seemed lethargic. I saw 
no legs or fins, and am certain that the creature did not blow or 
spout in the manner of a whale. I should not compare it for a 
moment to a snake. The only creatures it could be compared with 
are the newt or frog tribe.” 
As the captain asserts that the animal kept up the same speed 
as the ship, and Mr. Anpmrson that “though. keeping up with us, 
at the rate of nearly ten knots an hour, its movements seemed 
lethargic’, we must conclude that the animal moved by paddling 
with its flappers, and that with this simple mechanism it is able 
to propel itself at a rate of ten knots an hour, steadily and uni- 
formly. The tail of the animal, which trailed inactively behind the 
trunk, must of course have been brought in motion by the action 
of the water, so that it is easy to understand that the captain 
thought that “it appeared to progress by means of an undulatory 
motion of the tail in a vertical plane (that is, up and down)’. It 
is also very natural that the captain declared that “the creature 
possessed no fins or paddles as far as we could perceive. | cannot 
say if it had legs’, and that the surgeon ANDERSoN confirmed it: 
“J saw no fins’; the flappers of the animal being entirely hidden 
under water. — The captain says: “The shape of the creature | 
would compare to that of a gigantic frog’. According to his de- 
scription, however, the shape might have been better compared 
with that of a gigantic newt. This is done by Mr. ANpgRson, as we 
have seen above, who says at the end of his statement, “the only 
creatures it could be compared with are the newt or frog tribe”; 
he “should not compare it for a moment to a snake’. This is one 
of the few reports of the animal having been observed swimming 
