NATURAL HISTORY of NORWA T. 39 



that they are not generated in the fea, but on land; and when 

 they are grown fo big that they cannot move about on the rocks, 

 they then go into the fea, and afterwards attain their full growth. 

 This laft account I cannot perfuade myfelf to believe, for the fait 

 water is not agreeable to the nature of land-creatures ; and the 

 Sea-fnake is generated, without doubt, in the fea, according to 

 the nature of fifties, and other creatures of the ocean. 



If that be, which many of the farmers hereabout declare 3 : 

 that they have feen fnakes of feveral fathoms length; or if there 

 be truth in their accounts, who, from uncertain relations, ctefcribe 

 the Lindormen, or great Snake, it is moil probable thar 

 creature would fooner go to frefh waters, in cafe its body could 

 not move about longer on dry land.. 



In Ullands parifti there k a lake of a middling fize, which is 

 faid to have in it thefe Snakes ; and the lake Store Mios, in 

 Hedemarken, is long and deep enough for the largeft fhip. 



Ol. Magnus, Lib. xxi. cap. zy. Petr. Undalinus, in his De- 

 fcription of Norway, cap. vii. p. 36. and Jon. Ramus, P. III. 

 p. 82, affirm, that there are quantities of large Snakes in thefe 

 waters, one of which was feen to reach from Oens Land .to . : 



Kongs Landet; this Til leave on their authority, and only ob-: 

 ferve, that if it is true, the relation is mixed with fables and 

 witchcraft, and omens, which fhould be exploded. 



The Sea-make's appearance, they fay, prognoftieates fome 

 important incident to the country ; this is idle. Of the fame Fable, 

 fabulous kind is, without doubt, the aforefaid firft author's 

 relation, L. xxi. c. 27. of a Snake that was found near Bergen, 

 200 feet long, and 20 thick, which, in the night, left his hole 

 in the rock, to go out and devour the farmers calves and fheep n ; 

 he might as well have faid cows and horfes. Of fuch monfters on 

 land we do not pretend to know any thing here ; but with refpetl 

 to the great Sea-fnake, which is a veritable monfter of the fea- 

 kind, 1 fhall fpeak particularly, when I come to the fubject of 

 the Norway fea-animals and fifh, In the mean time, in the 

 words of Ewerh. Happelius, and upon his credit I will introduce 

 the following relation out of the Mund. Mirab. T- III. L. 1.1 

 c, 18. " Nicolaus Gramius, minifter at Londen in Norway, This is H5gh . 

 ic . gives, 16 Jan. Anno 1656, of fuch a Serpent the following German ' 

 cC account, from the report of Gulbrandi Hougfrud and Olaus 

 " Anderfen, that they had feen, in the laft Autumnal inundation, 

 <c a large Water-ferpent^ or Worm, in the Spseriler fea; and itj's 

 " believed that it had been feen before in Mios, and had been 

 " hitherto hid in the river Bang. As foon as it reached the 



? fhore 



