NOTES. 
119 
utes, both showed themselves again, abreast of us; but the 
sun lying behind both, and there being no glass at hand, our 
view of them grew imperfect. But soon afterwards we per¬ 
ceived a form, like that of a head, rising up, the parts below 
which seemed connected with the tail, which I had originally 
seen, though the intermediate body was to us invisible. 
The neck was curved below the head. The head was, at 
first, held horizontally, but afterwards assumed an oblique 
position, as if looking down into the water below. Some ad¬ 
ditional strokes were now made with the tail. The whale, on 
its side, now was in motion again, and immediately dived be¬ 
low, as did the serpent. Some considerable time afterwards* 
both animals appeared again, but at too great a distance for a 
perfect view of them to be had; but the serpent made several 
fresh strokes, and the disturbance given to the water by 
strokes from the tail continued some time afterwards, though 
the water was not smooth. 
“ 1 The motions of these animals were rapid, and those of 
the serpent vigorous, the noise and agitation of the water 
from his strokes being great. His tail, whch I have said 
seemed white, appeared to be flattened crosswise; its edges 
also had an indented appearance, while its end was blunt. 
The head and neck appeared of a dark color; and the body 
below the neck seemed rapidly to enlarge. I had an oppor¬ 
tunity, soon after, to observe the masts of a vessel, which ap¬ 
peared abundantly smaller. The length of tail exhibited, I 
thought, was about twenty-five or thirty feet, and the head 
stood about half this height above the water. The separa¬ 
tion between the two seemed so considerable, that it was 
thought our vessel might have sailed between them across the 
body. As the serpent was never nearer than half a mile, we 
could only judge of this intermediate mass by conjecture ; 
but it must have been very great, since the end of the tail 
and the head each moved without agitating the parts below 
them, or each other. Supposing the body to have been long 
like that of a snake, the total length of the animal may per¬ 
haps be estimated at one hundred feet. 
“ ‘ Having lived in parts of the United States where the 
