NATURAL HISTORY 
306 
harpoon; he raised his tongue several times, perpendicu- 
larly, or nearly so, and let it fall again. He was in sight 
about ten minutes. He moved at the rate of twelve or 
fourteen miles an hour. He was of a dark chocolate co- 
lour; and appeared two and a half feet in circumference; 
he made no noise; his back and body appeared smooth; 
a small bunch on each side of his head, just above his 
eyes; he did not at all appear disturbed by the vessel; 
his motion was much swifter than that of any whale, 
and I have seen many; his motion was very steady, a lit- 
tle up and down.” 
The deposition of William Somerby is, in substance, 
similar to the preceding. It observes, that, the creature 
threw out his tongue a number of times, about two feet 
from his jaws — the end of it resembled a harpoon: that 
he threw his tongue backwards several times over his 
head, and let it fall again. It proceeds thus, u I saw one 
of his eyes as he passed; it appeared very bright, and 
about the size of the eye of an ox.” 
W e shall extract a few observations from the letter of 
Lonson Nash, Esq. (the gen deman before whom the 
preceding depositions were taken,) in reply to a commu- 
nication from the committee of the Linnsean Society; 
giving a detailed account of his observations relative to 
the serpent. It Was dated, Gloucester, September 9th, 
1817. This gentleman says, u I saw him on the four- 
teenth ultimo, and when nearest, I judged him to be 
about two hundred and fifty yards from me; and at that 
distance I judged him to be (in the largest part) about 
the size of a half barrel, gradually tapering towards the 
two extremes. Twice I saw him with a glass, only for 
a short time, and at other times, with the naked eye, for 
nearly half an hour. His colour appeared nearly black. 
His motion was vertical. When he moved on the sur- 
face of the water, the track in his rear was visible for at 
least half a mile. His velocity I judged, when moving 
on the surface of the water, at about the rate of a mile 
in four minutes. When immersed in the water, his 
speed was greater, moving at the rate of a mile in two, 
or at most, three minutes. When moving under water, 
