30 
side on which the mouth is situated, is covered with rows of retractile 
spines, which serve the office of feet when the animal is at the bottom. 
But if we imagine an individual of this genus, grown to the fabulous 
size of the kraken, and rising to the surface with its mouth uppermost, 
then indeed its tentacula would present the aspect of a forest rising up 
from the sea, and its huge bulk, even when below the waters, might well 
puzzle the fishermen in their soundings. 
However, we may confidently assert, there is not the least vestige in 
our days of Pontoppidan’s kraken. The west coast of Norway, between 
the Naze and North Cape, may not be more, or even so much frequented 
by shipping as in the days of the Vikings, for our Archangel traders 
rarely approach it; but on the other hand, a remarkable phenomenon 
observed in any part of the civilized world, is soon promulgated and made 
known, and the well-supported declarations of unlettered fishermen, even 
on such a subject as the kraken, w r ould meet with due attention by men 
of science. Mitford, an intelligent traveller in Norway and Lapland in 
1841, made special inquiries about the Norwegian sea monsters. Of 
what he gathered anent the sea serpent, we will speak presently, but of 
the kraken he says, “ I searched for it in vain , both on the coast and in 
the fish market at Bergen.” 
Before entirely taking leave of the kraken, however, some notice must 
be taken of the following very remarkable communication made to the 
Magazine of Zoology and Botany, in the year 1834. 
“ Upon the 22nd June, in lat. 46° 57' N., long. 58° 39' W., Captain Neill, of 
the ship “ Robertson” of Greenock, then homeward bound from Montreal 
to Greenock, saw the head and snout of a great sea monster, of which a 
sketch was drawn at the time (See plate.) It was first observed at about 
a quarter past nine A.M., on the weather-bow, about four points, and it then 
appeared like a large vessel lying on her beam-ends. The “Robertson” 
was hauled up so as to near it, and running at the rate of eight knots an 
hour, she, at noon, got abreast of it, distant about a mile to leeward. On 
observation at this time, it was discovered to be the head and snout of a 
great fish swimming to windward; and though an attempt was made to 
get closer, it could not be accomplished, because the fish, without much 
apparent exertion, kept swimming as fast as the vessel sailed. Imme¬ 
diately above the water its eye was seen like a large deep hole. That 
part of the head which was above the water, measured about twelve feet, 
and its breadth or width twenty-five feet. The snout or trunk was about 
fifty feet long, and the sea occasionally rippled over one part, leaving 
