0 
- II. 
Gloucester, August 28 , 1817 ". 
John Davis, 
Jacob Bigelow, and 
Francis C Gray, 
Gentlemen, 
f I have received your favour of the 19th inst. In that com¬ 
munication you request my assistance, in collecting evidence rel¬ 
ative to a strange marine animal, that has appeared in the har¬ 
bour in this place ; and I have most cheerfully complied with 
your request. I send you, herewith, the testimony that I have 
taken. The subject is calculated to excite much interest, at 
home and abroad. 
The deponents were-interrogated separately, no one knowing 
what the others had testified, and though they differ in some few 
[ particulars, still, for the most part, they agree. 
I am confident, from my own observation, that Mr. Allen is 
mistaken, as to the motion of the animal. His motion is verti¬ 
cal. I saw him, on the 14th instant, for nearly half an hour. 
I should judge he was two hundred and fifty yards from me, 
when the nearest. I saw him twice with a glass for a short time, 
and at other times, with the naked eye. At that distance, I 
could not take in the two extremes of the animal that were visi¬ 
ble, at one view, with a glass. His manner of turning is well de- 
( scribed in Messrs. Pearson’s and Goffney’s depositions. The 
persons who have deposed before me, are men of fair and unblem¬ 
ished characters. The interrogatories that you sent to me were 
all put to the witnesses; but generally, I have omitted inserting 
them in the depositions, when the witnesses declared their inabil- 
ity to answer them. 
I think Mr. Allen is likewise mistaken, as to the distinct por¬ 
tions of the animal that were visible, at one time. I saw, at no time, 
more than eight distinct portions; though more may have been 
visible ; still, I cannot believe that fifty distinct portions were 
seen, at one time. I believe the animal to be straight, and that 
the apparent bunches weie caused by his vertical motion* 
