1 86 



Hav-Mand, 

 Mer-man, 



Fable of a 

 Mer-man. 



NATURAL HISTORY of NORWAY. 



I have propofed 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 

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

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

 required. 



There are many things belonging to the Natural Hiftory 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 confi derations were the great motives that encouraged me 

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

 work. 



SECT. II. 



Amongft the many Sea-monfters which are in the North £ea 

 and are often feen, I {hall give the firft place to the Hav-Manden' 

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



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

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

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

 upon as idle tales. Such is the ftory 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. 34. Such alfo is the account given by Refenius, Relat. 

 in vita Frederici II. anno 15JJ, of a Mer-maid, that called her- 

 felf Isbrandt, and held feveral conventions with a peafant at 

 Samfoe ; in which fhe* foretold th& hlrfk nf nbriftian IV. and made 

 the peafant preach repentance to the courtiers, who were very 

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

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

 Ulf Rofenfparre and Chriftian 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 Buflaeus, 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, extracted by Peter Claufen Undal, of which I have given fome account, 

 in the preface to the firft part of this work -, but I did not know that the fame extract 

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

 large is {till 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 



