124 
NOTES. 
when they see one of these awful creatures at a distance, 
they row away with all their might (by which they some¬ 
times injure their health) towards the shore, or into a creek, 
where it cannot follow them.’* 
Note 9. (Page 50.) 
“ When they are far from land, it would be in vain to at¬ 
tempt to row away from them; for these creatures shoot 
through the water like an arrow out of a bow, seeking con¬ 
stantly the coldest places. In this case they lie upon their 
oars, and throw anything that comes to hand at them. If it 
be but a scuttle, or any light thing, so they be touched, they 
generally plunge into the water or take another course. Of 
late, our fishermen have found the way, in the warm summer 
months, of providing themselves with castor, which they al¬ 
ways carry with them when they go far out to sea ; they shut 
it up in a hole in the stern, and if at any time they are par¬ 
ticularly apprehensive of meeting with the sea-snake, they 
throw a little of it overboard ; for by frequent experience they 
know of a certainty that it always avoids this drug. 
In the remote parts of Norway, according to some accounts, 
people have been poisoned with the excrements of the Sea- 
Serpent, which is often seen, especially in Norland, in the 
summer months, floating on the water like a fat slime. This 
viscid mater is supposed by our fishermen to be something 
thrown up by them, or else their sperm, or some humor or 
other. If a fisherman finds this matter near his net, and 
inadvertently lets any of it touch his hand, it will occasion a 
painful swelling and inflammation, which has often proved 
so dangerous as to require an amputation of the limb.” — 
Pontoppidan, Natural History of Norway , sec. 8, p. 203. 
Now to confirm this, here is an extract from the Boston 
Daily Advertiser of August 10, 1818. The Sea-Serpent has 
been seen farther south than Winyaw, S. C. 
