THE GREA T SEA SERPENT. 
63 
The figure of the sea-serpent (Fig. 14) given by Pontop- 
pidan was drawn, he tells us, under the inspection of a 
clergyman, Mr. Hans Strom, from 
descriptions given of it by two of 
his neighbours, Messrs. Reutz and 
Teuchsen, of Herroe ; and was de- 
clared to agree in every particular 
with that seen by Captain de Ferry, 
and another subsequently observed 
by Governor Benstrup. The sup- 
posed coils of the serpent's body 
present exactly the appearance of 
eight porpoises following each other 
in line. This is a well-known habit 
of some of the smaller cetacea. 
They are often met with at sea 
thus proceeding in close single file, 
part only of their rotund forms 
being visible as they raise their 
backs above the surface of the 
water to inhale air through their 
" blow-holes." Under these circum- 
stances they have been described 
by naturalists and seamen as re- 
sembling a long string of casks or 
buoys, often extending for sixty, 
eighty, or a hundred yards. This 
is just such a spectacle as that 
described by Olaus Magnus — his 
"long line of spherical convolu- 
tions," and also as one reported 
to Pontoppidan as being descriptive of the sea-serpent :— 
' I have been informed,' he says, ' by some of our sea-faring 
FIG. 14. — PONTOPPIDAN S 
'*SEA SERPENT." 
