108 
NOTES. 
III. p. 82, affirm, that there are quantities of large snakes in 
these waters, one of which was seen to reach from Oens Land 
to Kongs Landet; this I ’ll leave on their authority, and only 
observe, that, if it is true, the relation is mixed with fables, 
witchcraft, and omens, which should be exploded. 
“ The sea-snake’s appearance, they say, prognosticates some 
important incident to the country ; — this is idle. Of the same 
fabulous kind is, without doubt, the aforesaid first author’s re¬ 
lation, L. XXI. c. xvii., of a snake that was found near Bergen, 
200 feet long, and 20 thick, which, in the night, left his hole 
in the rock, to go out and devour the farmer’s calves and 
sheep ; —he might as well have said cows and horses. Of such 
monsters on land we do not pretend to know anything here ; 
but with respect to the great sea-snake, which is a veritable 
monster of the sea-kind, I shall speak particularly, when I 
come to the subject of the Norway sea-animals and fish. In 
the mean time, in the words of Ewerh. Happelius, and upon 
his credit, I will introduce the following relation out of the 
Mund. Mirab. T. III. L. I. c. xviii. ‘ Nicolaus Granmius, 
minister at Londen in Norway, gives, 16 Jan., Anno 1656, of 
such a serpent the following account, from the report of Gul- 
brandi Ilougfrud, and Olaus Andersen, that they had seen, 
in the last autumnal inundation, a large water-serpent, or 
w T orm, in the Spseriler Sea ; and it is believed that it had been 
seen before in Mios, and had been hitherto hid in the river 
Bang. As soon as it reached the shore of this river, it pro¬ 
ceeded on the dry land to the Spaeriler Sea; it appeared like 
a mighty mast, and whatever stood in its way was thrown 
down, even the very trees and huts; the people were terri¬ 
fied by his hissing and frightful roaring; and almost all the fish 
in the aforesaid sea were devoured or driven away by it. The 
inhabitants of Odale were so terrified at this monster, that 
none would venture to go to the sea , to follow their customary 
fishing and wood-trade ; nor would anybody walk along the 
shore. At the end of the autumn, before the waters were 
frozen, this monster was seen at a distance, and by its enor¬ 
mous size surprised everybody ; its head was as big as a hogs¬ 
head, and the thickness of its body, as far as the same ap- 
