ao8 NATURAL HISTORY of ^0^ WA T. 



when that author wrote. Notwithstanding all this, we in the 

 prefent more enlighten' d age are much obliged to him, for his 

 induftry, and judicious obfervations. The fum of what he 

 relates in that place is this: iC Thofe that vifit the coafts of 

 Norway tell, us of a very ffrange phenomenon; namely, that 

 there is in thofe feas a Snake 200 feet long, and 20 feet round 

 which lives in the hollows of the rocks, and under the cliffs 

 about Bergen, (but in this he errs) and goes put in moon-light 

 nights to devour calves, fheep, and iw ine ; or elfe it o-oes to 

 the £a, and catches Star-fifh, Crabs, &c. It has a mane two 

 feet long ^ it is covered with fcales, and has fiery eyes: it 

 difturbs fhips, and raifes itfelf up like a maft ; and fometimes 

 fnaps fome of the men from the deck." So far that writer 

 who, in the remainder of the chapter, fpeaks of that great Water- 

 ferpent in Miofen on Hedemarken, that foretold the king's death, 

 and the . great changes that were to happen, according to the 

 fuperftitious notions of that age. 



SECT. X. 



Before I leave this fubjecl:, it may be proper to anfwer a 

 queftion that may be put by fome people ; namely,, what reafon 

 can be afligned why this Snake of fuch extraordinary fize, &c. 

 The North fhould be found in the North fea only ? For, according to all 

 ghU nativT" accounts from fea-faring people, it has never been feen any where 

 place - elfe. Thoie who have failed in other feas in different parts of 



the globe, have, in their journals, taken particular notice of 

 other Sea-monfters ; but not one of them mentions this. To 

 this I anfwer, that when the thing is confirmed by unqueftion- 

 able evidence, and is found to be true, then this objection 

 requires no other anfwer, than that the Lord of "nature diipofes 

 of the abodes of his various creatures, in different parts of the 

 globe, according to his wife purpofes and defigns : the reafon of 

 his proceedings cannot, nor ought to be comprehended by us. 

 Why does not the Rain-deer thrive in any other climate, except 

 on the cold and bleak mountains of the North? Why does 

 the enormous Whale keep only in thofe icy regions that are 

 contiguous to the pole ? Or, why are the Indies and Egypt the 

 only places where the Crocodile exhibits his hideous form, and 

 terrifies the unwary traveller? No other reafon can be affigned 

 but this, namely, becaufe the wife Creator has thought fit that 

 it fhould be fo 3 and whatever he wills is right, and ordered for 

 the beft. 



While 



