THE GREA T SEA SERPENT. 
57 
of the abominably cruel Danish king, Christian II., above 
mentioned. His curious work is full of wild improbabili- 
ties and odd superstitions, most of which he states with a 
calm air of unquestioning assent ; but as he wrote in the 
time of our Henry VIII., long before the belief in witches 
and warlocks, fairies and banshees, had died out in our own 
country, we can hardly throw stones at him on that score. 
It is a most amusing and interesting history, and gives a 
Avonderful insight of the habits and customs of the northern 
nations in his day. 
Amongst his illustrations of the sea monsters he describes 
are the two of which I give facsimiles on the next page. In 
Fig. 12 a sea-serpent is seen writhing in many coils upon 
the surface of the water, and having in its mouth a sailor, 
whom it has seized from the deck of a ship. The poor fellow 
is trying to grasp the ratlins of the shrouds, but is being 
dragged from his hold and lifted over the bulwarks by the 
monster. His companions, in terror, are endeavouring to 
escape in various directions. One is climbing aloft by the 
stay, in the hope of getting out of reach in that way, 
whilst two others are hurrying aft to obtain the shelter of 
a little castle or cabin projecting over the stern. I am 
strongly of the opinion that this is but the fallacious repre- 
sentation of an actual occurrence. Read by the light of 
recent knowledge, these old pictures convey to a practised 
eye a meaning as clear as that of hieroglyphics to an 
Egyptologist, and my translation of this is the following : 
The crew of a ship have witnessed the dreadful sight of a 
serpent-like form issuing from the sea, rising over the 
bulwarks of their vessel, seizing one of their messmates 
from amongst them, and dragging him overboard and 
under water. Awe-stricken by the mysterious disappear- 
ance of their comrade, and too frightened and anxious for 
