184 NATURAL H I STORY o( IVOR WA Y. 



fo that we may join with the Royal Pfalmifl in that pious excla- 

 mation, " O Lord, how manifold are thy works ! in wifdom 

 hall; thou made them all : the earth' is full of thy riches. So is 

 this great and wide Sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable 

 both fmall and great bealls ." Pfalm civ. v. 24, 25. Not only 

 the incomprehenfible numbers, but the variety alfo much exceeds 

 by what we can judge, the fpecies of Land-animals. 

 Difficulty to The element in which thefe laft breathe, namely the air 

 aii. w does not allow them to be long concealed, or unknown to man- 



kind ; fo that, fuppofe them ever fo fcarce, they muft fome time 

 or other be feen by men ; and, confequently, in fome meafure 

 be known. But who is there that lives with the finny tribe, in the 

 deep recelTes of the ocean? or, who has opportunity to obferve 

 them accurately and familiarly, in that unliable and boifterous 

 element ? 'Tis true; great numbers of different kinds of Fifhes 

 which the beneficent Creator, with a more than paternal care, has 

 ordained for food to mankind, in obedience to his command 

 viiit us as welcome guefts, or refort to our coafts, at certain 

 feafons of the year, as if it were to offer us their fervice. Befides 

 thefe fpecies that are ferviceable to man, there are others deemed 

 ufelefs or hurtful, tho' created, doubtlefs, for fome wife purpofe : 

 thefe exhibit to our view their enormous fize, or uncouth forms.; 

 and fall a vi&im to man, by unwarily running into fnares, fpread 

 for others of the fcaly tribe of a more beneficial kind. Our fifher- 

 men throw a great many of thefe uncommon forts over-board 

 direcily, looking upon them not only as ufelefs, but ominous; 

 and call them by the general name of Trold-fisk, i. e. Unlucky- 

 fish*. This proceeds, as has been before obferved, from a fuper- 



flitious 



Pfeudo-Propheta liberaliores Talmudici, folum mundorum pifcium fpecies feptingentas 

 effe flatuunt, in quibus nulla effet hyperbole, fi pro mundis pifcibus aquatilia in genere 

 dixhTent. Gefnerus enim aquatilium animantium nomina & icones plufquam feptin- 

 gentas exhibet. Nobis hie indicate fufficit fumma genera. Sam. Bocharti Hierozoi- 

 con, Lib. i. c. vi. p. 37. 



* Anno 1744 one Dagfind Korfbeck catched, in theparilh of Sundelvems onSund- 

 moer, a monftrous Fifh, which many people faw at his houfe. It's head was almoft 

 like the head of a cat ; it had four paws, no tail, and about the body was a hard 

 ihell, like a Lobfter's : it purred like a cat, and when they put a flick to it, it would 

 fnap at it. The peafants look'd upon it as a Trold, or ominous Fifh, and were afraid 

 fo keep it> and, confequently, a few hours after they threw, it into the fea again. 

 According to the. defcription, this might be called a Sea-Armadilla, by which name an 

 American Land-animal is known, nearly of the fame fhape, excepting that it has 

 a long tail. A fifherman at Suadfland, two miles from Bergen, told me he bad 

 once feen a much more furprizing Sea-monfter clofe to his boat; having juft taken 

 a view of the fiming-boat, it dived under the water immediately. This was not unlike 

 a Sea-calf as to the fore-part, and had furred fkin. The body was as broad and bio- 

 as a velfel of 50 lafts burthen -, and the tail, which feemed to be about fix fathoms 

 long, was quite fmall, and pointed at the end. There is a report, but not alto- 

 gether 



