ON THE ORKNEY ANIMAL. 443 



ted considerably above the level of the sea, and ai> 

 ter a slow movement, distinctly perceived one of 

 its eyes. Alarmed at the unusual appearance and 

 magnitude of the animal, I steered so as to be at 

 no great distance from the shore. When nearly 

 in a line betwixt it and the shore, the monster di- 

 recting its head (which still continued above wa- 

 ter) towards us, plunged violently under water. 

 Certain that he was in chace of us, we plied hard 

 to get ashore. Just as we leaped out on a rock, 

 taking a station as high as we conveniently could, 

 we saw it coming rapidly under water towards 

 the stern of our boat. When within a few yards 

 of the boat, finding the water shallow, it raised its 

 monstrous head above water, and, by a winding 

 course* got, with apparent difficulty, clear of the 

 creek where our boat lay, and where the monster 

 seemed in danger of being imbayed. It conti- 

 nued to move off, with its head above water, and 

 with the wind, for about half a mile, before we 

 lost sight of it.— Its head was rather broad, of a 

 form somewhat oval. Its neck somewhat smaller. 

 Its shoulders, if I can so term them, considerably 

 broader, and thence it tapered towards the tail, 

 which last it kept pretty low in the water, so that 

 a view of it could not be taken so distinctly as I 

 wished. It had no fin that I could perceive, and 

 seemed to me to move progressively by undula- 

 tion up and down. Its length I believed to be 

 from 70 to 80 feet. When nearest to me, it did 



