186 NATURAL HISTORY of NORWAY. 



I have propofeci in this chapter, as a farther difplay of the 

 Creator's wifdom, power and glorious ceconomy, to give fome 

 account of the Sea-monfters that are found in the ocean, along 

 the coaft of Norway. Thefe, tho' they appear not every day, 

 yet are feen often enough for our purpofe : for there are many 

 witnefTes of credit and reputation, who have feen them ; even 

 hundreds might be produced for each inftance, if it fhould be 

 required. 



There are many things belonging to the Natural Hiilory of 

 Norway, which are common in other places, tho', perhaps, fcarce 

 with us ; fo here alfo are many things common, and well known 

 in this country, which, in other places, may poffibly be doubted. 

 Thefe con fi derations were the great motives that encouraged me 

 to undertake this troublefome, and, "in many refpe&s, difficult 

 work. 



SECT. II. 



Hav-Mand, Amongfl the many Sea-monfters which are in the North fea, 

 and are often feen, I fhall give the firfl place to the Hav-Manden, 

 or Mer-man, whofe mate is called Hav-Fruen, or Mer-maid. 



* The exiftence of this creature is queflioned by many, nor is 

 it at all to be wondered at; becaufe moil of the accounts we 

 have had of it, are mixed with meer fables, and may be looked 



Fable of a upon as idle tales. Such is the flory of a Mer-man, taken by the 

 fifhermen at Hordeland, near Bergen ; which, they fay, fung an 

 unmufical fong to king Hiorlief. J. Ram. See Hiftory of Nor- 

 way, p. 24. Such alfo is the account given by Refenius, Relat. 

 in vita Frederici II. anno 1577, of a Mer-maid, that called her- 

 felf Isbrandt, and held feveral conventions with a peafant at 

 Samfoe ; in which fhe foretold the birth of Chriflian IV. and made 

 the peafant preach repentance to the courtiers, who were very 

 much given to drunkennefs. According to A. BulTseus, (in his 

 book cited in Theatr. Europ. T. I. anno 1 6 1 9) the two fenators, 

 Ulf Rofenfparre and Chriflian Holch, on their return from Nor- 

 way, in their voyage caught fuch a Mer-man ; but 'tis added, 

 they were obliged to let him go into the water again ; for whilft 



* The old Norvegians called the male Hafstrambe, and the female Maryge, accord- 

 ing to Andrew Buffasus, in his Scriptum Monographum, printed in Ol. Bang's Ufeful 

 and Inftructive Mifcellanies, III. St. p. 531, relying upon an old MS. called Specu- 

 lum Regale, extra&ed by Peter Claufen Undal, of which J have given fome account, 

 in the preface to the flrfb part of this work ; but I did not know that the fame extract 

 was extant in a copy Buffeus muft have had, and much lefs that the work itfelf at 

 large is ftill to be feen amongfl Arnse Magnai MSS. at the univerfity-library in Copen- 

 hagen, of which I have lately (with pleafure and fuprife) been advifed by a letter from 

 the honourable B. Lundorph, counfellor of ftate. •' 



he 



Mer-man. 



