202 NATURAL H IS TOR Y of N R WA T. 



is faid the fame alfo happened at the Ifland of Karmen, and in 

 feveral other places. I wifh that, on fuch opportunities, fome- 

 body had examined the creature carefully, to fee whether it had 

 a ftrong back bone, which feems neceffary to fupport fuch a 

 length. 



The Shark kind, which are alfo of the cartilaginous clafs, and 

 without other bones ; yet have a back-bone, though that is but 

 very {lender, even in the largeft fpecies, which are often twenty 

 feet in length The Sea-fnake feems alfo to be, like the Shark, 

 Eel, and Whale-kind, viviparous. It appears that they feek their 

 mates at a certain time of the year, in order, as it is faid, to 

 couple. For this reafon it is fuppofed they follow fhips and boats 

 at thofe times, which probably appear to them to be creatures of 

 their own kind. If this, which I have from the accounts of our 

 fea-faring people, be true, then I conclude they are miftaken, who 

 fuppofe that the Sea-fnake does not breed in the fea, but on dry 

 land ; and that it lives in rocks and woods, till it can no longer 

 be concealed 3 and then betakes itfelf to rivers, in order to get 

 into the fea. There are fome that pretend they have feen all 

 this. 



In the chapter of Land-fnakes and Infefts I have already ob- 

 ferved, that fuch a fudden tranfition from the frefh to the fait 

 water feems very improbable. However, I will not entirely dif- 

 believe what is related of Water-fnakes being ken in frefh 

 lakes, fome of which, in Sundfiord and Uland, are famous for 

 thefe creatures; fo that the inhabitants of the adjacent countries 

 dare not venture to row acrofs them in a boat. 



SEC T. VIII. 



Danger. I return again to the Sea-fnake, properly fa called, or the 



Serpent of the Ocean, and particularly to the moil interefting 

 inquiry concerning them, which is, Whether they do mankind 

 any injury? And in what manner they may hurt the human fpe- 

 cies? Arndt. Bernfen, in his Account of the Fertility of Den- 

 mark and Norway, p. 308, affirms that they do; and fays, that 

 the Sea-fnake, as well as the Trold-whale, often finks both men 

 and boats. I have not heard any account of fnch an accident 

 hereabouts, that might be depended upon ; but the North traders 

 inform me of what has frequently happened with them, namely, 

 that the Sea-fnake has raifed itfelf up, and thrown itfelf acrofs a 

 boat, and fometimes even acrofs a yeflel of fome hundred tons 

 burthen, and by its weight has funk it down to the bottom. One 

 of the aforefaid North traders, who fays that he has been near 



enough 



