NATURAL HISTORY of NORWAY. 207 



after another, as far as a man can fee. I confefs, if this be true, 

 that we muft fuppofe moft probably that it is not one Snake, but 

 two or more of thefe creatures lying in a line, that exhibit this phe- 

 nomenon. This may happen as they follow one another, efpecially 

 at the time of the year when they fpawn, or couple together : 

 at this feafon alfo they may be induced to follow boats, as I have 

 mentioned before. I muft obferve further, that what the word 

 of God fays, in the place already cited, of the Leviathan, viz. 

 that it is both a Pole-ferpent and a Crooked-ferpent, i. e. he is 

 fbon bent in a curve, and foon ftretched again in a ftrait line, 

 agrees perfectly with this Sea-fhake, according to what has already 

 been faid *. It may not be thought fuperfluous here to quote 

 the words of Mr. J. Ramus, in his Delcription of Norway, 

 p. 43, which is as follows. " Anno 1687, a large Sea-fhake was 

 feen by many people in Dramsfiorden ; and at one time by eleven 

 perfons together. It was in very calm weather ; and fo fbon as 

 the fun appeared, and the wind blew a little, it fhot away juft 

 like a coiled cable, that is fuddenly thrown out by the failors ; 

 and they obferved that it was fome time in ftretching out its many 

 folds. Ol. Magnus, in his Hiftor. Septentrion. Lib. xxi. c. 2,4, 

 fpeaks of a Norvegian Sea-fnake 80 feet long, but not thicker 

 than a child's arm. u Eft in littoribus Norvegicis vermis glauci 

 coloris, longitudine xl. cubitorum, & amplius vix lpiffitudinem 

 infantis brachii habens." This creature, he fays, was put to 

 fuch pain by the Crabs fattening on it, that it writhed itfelf into 

 a hundred fhapes. I have never heard of this fort from any other 

 perfbn, and fhould hardly believe the good Olaus, if he did not 

 fay that he affirmed this from his own experience. " Hunc 

 vermemfepiusvidi, ab ejus taclu, nautarum informatione, abfti- 



nens." -* The difproportion betwixt the thicknefs of a 



child's arm, and a length of 80 feet, makes me think there muft 

 be an error of the prefs in the place, for xl. perhaps fhould be 

 xi. ells, or iz feet. 5 a more proportionable length for the thick- 

 nefs. Of the other Sea-fnake the fame author writes afterwards, 

 chap, xxvii. but he mixes truth and fable together, according to 

 the relations of others ; but this was excufable in that dark age, 



* If any one enquires how many folds may be counted on a Sea-fnake, the anfwer 

 is, that the number is not always the fame, but depends upon the various fizes 

 of them: five and twenty is the greater! number I find well attefted. Adam Ole- 

 arius, in his Gottorf Mufaeum, r p. 17, writes of it thus : " A perfon of diftindtion 

 from Sweden, related here at Gottorf, that he had heard the burgomafler of Mal- 

 moe, a very worthy man, fay, that as he was once (landing on the top of a high 

 hill towards the North fea, he faw in the water, which was very calm, a Snake, 

 whieh appeared at that diftance to be as thick as a pipe of wine, and had 25 folds. 

 Thofe kind of Snakes only appear at certain times, and in calm weather.*' 



when 



