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they find that the kraken is raising himself nearer the surface, and that it 
is no time for them to stay longer : leaving off fishing, therefore, they take 
to their oars, and pull away until they come to the usual soundings ; then 
resting, in a few minutes they see the enormous monster come to the surface. 
He then shows himself sufficiently, though his whole body does not appear, 
which in all likelihood, no human eye ever beheld. Its back, which seems one 
and a-half English miles in circumference, looks at first like a number of 
small islands, surrounded by something like sea-weed. Here and there, a 
large rising is observed, like sand-banks, on which various kinds of small fish 
are seen continually leaping about. At last, several bright horns or points 
appear, which grow thicker and thicker the higher they rise, and some¬ 
times stand up as large as the masts of middle-sized vessels; these are 
the creature’s arms, and, it is said, if they were to lay hold of the largest 
man-of- war, they would pull it down to the bottom. After this monster has 
been on the surface a short time, it begins slowly to sink again, and then 
the danger is as great as before, because the motion of his sinking causes 
such a swell in the sea, and such an eddy or whirlpool, that it draws every 
thing down with it. Besides these arms,” continues Pontoppidan, “ the 
Great Creator has also given this animal a strong and peculiar scent, 
which it can emit at certain times, and by means of which it beguiles and 
draws other fish to come in heaps about it. During many months the kraken 
is continually employed in eating; during many others, in carrying on the 
last process which succeeds digestion; and this operation is so peculiarly 
agreeable to the smell and taste of other fishes, that they gather together 
from all parts, and keep, for that purpose, directly over the kraken, who 
then opening his arms, seizes and swallows them.” In the minuteness of 
this description, the good bishop’s informant, (for I presume he received 
it from another) if he does lie, lies like truth.” 
Pontoppidan thinks that the accounts of floating islands, occasionally seen 
about the coasts of Norway, and off the Sound of Sweden, in the Baltic, 
are referable to the appearance of this prodigy. The belief in the exist¬ 
ence of the kraken seems to have been pretty general among the Norwe¬ 
gian sailors and fishermen in the bishop’s time, (17th century,) and may 
still linger with them. That of the sea serpent certainly does, and the 
two creatures are often confounded, though there cannot possibly be a 
greater distinction between the two, except, perhaps, between such objects 
as Mont Blanc and the Rhone. 
It is most likely that much which is true of the alleged appearances 
of this huge monster, may be referred to the effects of refraction, which, 
as every one accustomed to the sea well knows, is capable of producing 
