an NATURAL HISTORY of NORWAY. 



fhows . himfelf Efficiently , though his whole body does not ap- 

 pear, which in all likelihood no human eye ever beheld (except- 

 ing the young of this fpecies, which fhall afterwards be fpoken 

 of;) its back or upper part, which feems to be in appearance 

 about an Englilh mile and an half in circumference, (fome fay 

 more, but I chufe the leaft for greater certainty)' looks at firft- 

 like a number of fmall iilands, furrounded with fomething that 

 floats and fluctuates like fea-weeds, Here and there a larger 

 riling is obferved like fand-bariks, on which various kinds of 

 fmall Fifties are feen ' continually leaping about till they role off 

 into the water from the fides of it ; at lafl feveral bright points 

 or horns appear, which grow thicker and thicker the higher they 

 rile above the furface of the water, and fometimes they fland up 

 as high and as large as the mails of middle liz'd vefTels. 



It feems thefe are the creature's arms, and, it is faid, if they 

 were to lay hold of the largeft man of war, they would pull it 

 down to the bottom. After this monfter has been on the furface 

 of the water a fhort time, it begins {lowly to link again, and 

 then the danger is as great as before ; becaufe the motion of his 

 finking caufes fuch a fwell in the fea, and fuch an eddy or whirl- 

 pool, that it draws every thing down with it, like- the current of 

 the river Male, which has been defcribed in its proper place. 



As this enormous Sea-animal in all probability may be reckon'd 

 of the Polype, or of the Star-fifh kind, as fhall hereafter be more 

 fully proved, it feems that the parts which are feen riling at its 

 pleafure, and are called arms, are properly the tentacula, or feel- 

 ing inftruments, called horns as well as arms. With thefe they 

 move themfelves, and likewife gather in their food. 



Befldes thefe, for this laft purpofe the great Creator has alfo 

 given this creature a ftrong and peculiar fcent, which it can emit 

 at certain times, and by means of which it beguiles and draws 

 other Fiih to come in heaps about it. This animal has another 

 ftrange property, known by the experience of a great many old 

 fifhermen. They obferve, that for fome months the Kraken oj: 

 Krabben is continually eating, and in other months he always 

 voids his excrements. During this evacuation the furface of the 

 water is coloured with the excrement, and appears quite thick 

 and turbid. This muddinefs is faid to be fo very agreeable to the 

 fmell or tafte of other Fifties, or to both, that they gather toge- 

 ther from all parts to it, and keep for that purpofe directly over 

 the Kraken : he then opens his arms, or horns, feizes and fwal- 

 lows his welcome guefts, and converts them, after the due time, 

 by digeftion, into a bait for other Fiih of the fame kind. I relate 



what 



