72 MAMMALIA. [Chap. I. 



description of each for the satisfaction of men of 

 science. 



THE MEEMAID (From Valentxn). 



The fame of this creature having reached Europe, the 

 British Minister in Holland wrote to Valentyn on the 

 28th December 1716, whilst the Emperor, Peter the 

 Great of Bussia, was his guest at Amsterdam ; to commu- 

 nicate the desire of the Czar, that the mermaid should be 

 brought home from Amboina for his Imperial inspection. 



To complete his proofs of the existence of mermen and 

 women, Valentyn points triumphantly to the historical 

 fact, that in Holland in the year 1404, a mermaid was 

 driven during a tempest, through a breach in the dyke 

 of Edam, and was taken alive in the lake of Purmer. 

 Thence she was carried to Harlem, where the Dutch 

 women taught her to spin ; and where, several years 

 after/ she died in the Eoman Catholic faith; — "but this," 



