NATURAL HISTORY of NO RTF A Y. 203 



enough to fome of thefe Sea-fnakes (alivej to feel their fmooth 

 skin 5 informs me, that fometimes they will raife up their frightful 

 heads, and fnap a man out of a boat, without hurting the reft : 

 but I will not affirm this for a truth, becaufe it is not certain that 

 they are a Fifh of prey. Yet this 3 and their enmity to mankind, 

 can be no more determined, than that of the Land-make, by 

 the words of the prophet Amos, Cap. ix. v. 3. " And though 

 they be hid from my fight in the bottom of the fea, thence will 

 I command the ferpent, and he (hall bite them." 



It is faid that they fometimes fling themfelves in a wide circle 

 round a boat, fo that the men are furrounded on all fides. This 

 Snake, I obferved before, generally appears on the water in folds 

 or coils ; and the fifhermen, from a known cuftom in that 

 cafe, never row towards the openings, or thofe places where the 

 body is not feen, but is concealed under the water ; if they did, 

 the Snake would raife itfelf up, and overfet the boat. On the 

 contrary, they row full againft the higheft part that is viflble, 

 which makes the Snake immediately dive ; and thus they are re- 

 leafed from their fears. This is their method when they cannot 

 avoid them : but when they fee one of thefe creatures at a di- 

 ftance, they row away with all their might (hy which they feme- 

 times injure their health) towards the more, or into a creek, 

 where it cannot follow them. 



When they are far from land it would be in vain to attempt to 

 row away from them j for thefe creatures fhoot through the water 

 like an arrow out of a bow, feeking conftantly the coldeft places*. 

 In this cafe they put the former method in execution, or lye 

 upon their oars, and throw any thing that comes to hand at 

 them. If it be but a fcuttle, or any light thing, fo they be 

 touch'd, they generally plunge into the water, or take another 

 courfe. Of late our fifhermen have found the way, in the w T arm , . 



« 1 a • v 1 r 1 • 1 A » . , , Preservation. 



Summer months, or providing themlelves with caltor, which they 

 always carry with them when they go far out to fea : they fhut 

 it up in a hole in the ftern, and if at any time they are particu- 

 larly apprehenfive of meeting with the Sea-fhake, they throw a 

 little of it over-board ; for by frequent experience they know of 

 a certainty, that it always avoids this drug. Luke Debes tells 

 us, in his Fseroa referata, p. 167, that in that country alfo they 

 ufe it with the fame fuccefs, as the beft defence againft the Trold 

 Whale, a Fiih that likewife often overfets boats, but which has 

 a great averfion to caftor and ihavings of juniper wood. Thefe 



* They generally tack about their boat ; fo that if the Snake will purfue them, it 

 rauft look againft the Sun, which its eyes will not bear. 



they 



