A80 THE VARIOUS EXPLANATIONS. [The 22d.] 
character of anything met with afloat even if only partially seen, 
as intuitively as the Red Indian reads the signs of the forest or 
the trail; and therefore they were not likely to be deceived by 
any of the objects with which sailors are familiar. They would 
not be deluded by seals, porpoises, trunks of trees, or Brobding- 
nagian stems of Algae; but there was one animal with which they 
were not familiar, of the existence of which they were unaware, 
and which, as I have said, at that date was generally believed 
to be as unreal as the sea-serpent itself — namely, the great ca- 
lamary , the elongated form of which has certainly in same other 
instances been mistaken for that of a sea-snake. One of these seen 
swimming in the manner I have described, and endeavoured to 
portray, would fulfil the description given by Lieutenant Drum- 
mond, and would in a great measure account for the appearances 
reported by Captain M’Quhae. “The head long, pointed and flat 
on the top’, accords with the pointed extremity and caudal fin of 
the squid. “Head kept horizontal with the surface of the water, 
and in rather a raised position, disappearing occasionally beneath 
a wave for a very brief interval, and not apparently for purposes 
of respiration.” A perfect description of the position and action of 
a squid swimming. “Vo portion of it perceptably used in propel- 
ling it through the water, either by vertical or horizontal undula- 
tions.’ The mode of propulsion of a squid — the outpouring stream 
of water from its locomotor tube — would be unseen and unsus- 
pected, because submerged. Its effect, the swirl in its wake, would 
suggest a prolongation of the creature’s body. The numerous arms 
trailing astern at the surface of the water would give the appear- 
ance of a mane. I think it not impossible that if the officers of 
the Daedalus had been acquainted with this great sea-creature the 
impression on their mind’s eye would not have taken the form of 
a serpent. I offer this, with much diffidence, as a suggestion aris- 
ing from recent discoveries; and by no means insist on its accep- 
tance; for Captain M’Quhae, who had a very close view of the 
animal, distinctly says that “the head was, without any doubt, 
that of a serpent’, and one of his officers subsequently declared 
that the eye, the mouth, the nostril, the colour, and the form 
were all most distinctly visible.” 
And of the sea-serpent of Mr. R. Davipson (n°. 93) he asserts: 
“The features of this incident are consistent with his having seen 
one of the, then unknown, great calamaries.” 
The sea-serpent, seen by Lieutenant Sanrorp (n°. 74) is also 
