368 THE VARIOUS ACCOUNTS, [N° 1549) 
changed our course obliquely from the object, which lay quite 
still all the time, to our astonishment there rose, about eighty 
feet from the visible end a fin about ten feet in height, which 
moved a few times, whilst the body gradually sunk below the 
surface. In consequence of this the most elevated end rose, and 
could distinctly be made out as the tail of a fish kind of immense 
dimensions. ” 
“The length of the visible part of this animal which had im no 
case any resemblance with the back of a whale, measured, accor- 
ding to our estimation, about 150 feet, the hills, which were 
from three to four feet in height, and about six or seven feet 
distant from each other, were smaller on the tail end, than on 
the head end, which withdrew from our observation.” 
“At our arrival at Newcastle, I learned that some days before 
some fishermen of Lewis had observed the same or a similar ani- 
mal. Had I directly recognized the object before us, to be one of 
these creatures, which for so long time belonged to the fables, I 
should certainly have neared it with the Ade as much as possible.” 
It is obvious that captain Weisz saw, and Mr. ANDREW ScHuLtz 
sketched the animal, ignorant of its being a sea-serpent. It became 
clear to them, when they arrived at Newcastle where they learned 
that a “sea-serpent’ was seen by some fishermen of Lewis. 
Here we have again the assertion that the animal showed bun- 
ches, though it lay still or nearly still, an observation already 
reported more than once, as the reader will remember. I am con- 
vinced that the dimensions are exaggerated, and that the disturb- 
ance of the water was caused by the length of the tail, and not 
of the head of the animal, which evidently was searching for food 
in a playful manner, as we may observe in seals and sea-lions in 
our Zoological Gardens, and in doing so turned for a moment its 
body round, and raised once or twice first one of its hindflappers 
“which it moved a few times’, and then raised one of its fore- 
flappers, which was taken for a tail by the captain and the drawer. 
The long neck here commences, but was, with the head, constantly 
under water, evidently directed downwards, for there was no dis- 
turbance of the water visible here. It is clear that the Katie re- 
mained at a good distance from the animal, so that Mr. Scuunrz, 
a well-known animal painter, could not obtain a better view of 
the flappers. The outlines of the flappers, however, are as correct 
as possible. 
