Coll. Rowing along that coast, I observed, at about the distance of 
half a mile, an object to windward which gradually excited astonishment. 
At first view it appeared like a small rock ; but knowing that there was 
no rock in that situation, I fixed my eyes closely upon it, then I saw 
it elevated considerably above the level of the sea, and after a slow move¬ 
ment, distinctly perceived one of its eyes. Alarmed at the unusual ap¬ 
pearance and magnitude of the animal, I steered so as to be at no great 
distance from the shore. When nearly in a line between it and the shore, 
the monster, directing its head, which still continued above water, towards 
us, plunged violently under water. Certain that he was in chase of us, 
we plied hard to get ashore. Just as we leapt out on a rock, and had taken 
a station as high as we conveniently could, we saw it coming rapidly under 
water towards the stern of our boat. When within a few yards of it, 
finding the water shallow, it raised its monstrous head above water, and 
by a winding course, got, with apparent difficulty, clear of the creek 
where our boat lay, and where the monster seemed in danger of being 
embayed. It continued to move off with its head above water, and with 
the wind, for about half a mile, before we lost sight of it.‘ Its head was 
somewhat broad, and of somewhat oval form; its neck somewhat smaller; 
its shoulders, if I can so term them, considerably broader, and thence it 
tapered towards the tail, which last it kept pretty low in the water, so 
that a view of it could not be taken so distinctly as I wished. It had no 
fins that I could perceive, and seemed to me to move progressively by 
undulation up and down. Its length I believe to be between 70 and 80 
feet. When nearest to me it did not raise its head wholly above water, 
so that the neck being under water, I could perceive no shining fila¬ 
ments thereon, if it had any ; its progressive motion under water I took 
to be very rapid. About the time I saw it, it was seen near the Isle of Canna. 
The crews of thirteen fishing boats were so much terrified at its appear¬ 
ance that they in a body fled from it to the nearest creek for safety. On 
the passage from Rum to Canna, the crew of one boat saw it coming 
towards them with the wind, and its head high above water. One of the 
crew pronounced the head as large as a little boat, and its eye as large as 
a plate. The men were much terrified, but the monster offered them no 
molestation.” 
Mr. M‘Clean saw this in June 1808, and it is remarkable that the cele¬ 
brated Orkney animal of the Wernerian Transactions, generally cor¬ 
responding to the foregoing account, was cast ashore dead on Stronsa in 
October of the same year. This is the second instance of the supposed 
