MERMAID. 
154 
to think, that what has given rife to many of thefe fto- 
ries, has been merely the fight of Trichecus manati (or 
fea-cow), or of the common leal, when raifing their head 
and Ihoulders above the water. We lhall however notice 
a few of thefe recent communications upon this fanciful 
fubjeCt. 
At Sandfide, in the parilh of Reay, in the county of 
Caithnefs, there was feen, on the 12th of January, 1809, 
an animal fuppofed to be the mermaid. The head and 
the cheft, being all that was vifible, exaCtly refembled thofe 
of a full-grown young woman. The breafts were perfect¬ 
ly formed ; the arms longer than in the human body, and 
the eyes fomewhat fmaller. When the waves dallied the 
hair, which was of a fea-green lhade, over the face, the 
hands were immediately employed to replace it. The Ikin 
was of a pink colour. Though obferved by feveral per- 
fons within the diltance of twenty yards, for about an 
hour and a half, it difcovered no fymptoms of alarm. It 
was feen by four or five individuals, of unqueltionable ve¬ 
racity, at the lame time.—Something of the fame kind 
Was obferved in the fame neighbourhood, about feven or 
eight years before, by a gentleman then refiding near the 
fpot. 
A young man, named John MTfaac, of Corphine, in 
Kintyre, in Scotland, made oath, on examination, at 
Campbeltown, before the flieriff-fubftitute of Kintyre, 
that he faw, on the afternoon of the 13th of OCtober, 1811, 
on a black rock on the fea-coaft, an animal, of the parti¬ 
culars of which he gives a long and curious detail, an- 
fwering in general to the defcription commonly given of 
the mermaid. He Hates, that the upper half of it was 
white, and of the fliape of a human body ; the other half, 
towards the tail, of a brindled or reddifh-grey colour, ap¬ 
parently covered with fcales; but the extremity of the tail 
ltfelf was of a greenilh-red Aiming colour ; that the head 
was covered with long hair; at times it would put back 
the hair on both fides of its head; it would alfo fpread its 
tail like a fan ; and, while fo extended, the tail continued 
in tremulous motion, and, when drawn together again, it 
remained motionlefs, and appeared to the deponent to be 
about twelve or fourteen inches broad ; that the hair was 
long and light brown ; that the animal was between four 
and five feet long; that it had a head, hair, arms, and 
body, down to the middle, like a human being ; that the 
arms were fliort in proportion to the body, which appeared 
to be about the thicknefs of that of a young lad, and ta¬ 
pering gradually to the point of the tail 5 that when brok¬ 
ing its head, as above mentioned, the fingers were kept 
clofe together, fo that he cannot fay whether they were 
webbed or rot; that he faw it for near two hours, the 
rock on which it lay being dry ; that, after the lea had fo 
far retired as to leave the rock dry to the height of five 
feet above the water, it tumbled clumfily into the fea ; a 
minute after he obferved the animal above water, and then 
he faw' every feature of its face, having all the appearance 
of a human being, with very hollow eyes. The cheeks 
were of the fame colour with the relt of the face; the 
neck feemed fliort; and it was conftantly, with both hands, 
broking and walking its breaft, which was half immerlecl 
in the water; he therefore cannot fay whether its bolom 
was formed like a woman’s or not. He faw no other fins 
or feet upon it but as defcribed. It continued above wa¬ 
ter for a few minutes and then difappeared. He was in¬ 
formed that fonve boys in a neighbouring farm faw a firni- 
lar creature in the fea, clofe to the fliore, on the fame day. 
T he minifter of Campbeltown, and the chamberlain of 
Mun, atteft his examination, and declare they know no 
realon why his veracity Ihould be queftioned. 
Mr. Toupin, of Exmouth, published the following ac¬ 
count of his having feen a mermaid, in the local and Lon¬ 
don newspapers : “Theday (Auguft u, 1812.) beingvery 
fine, I joined a party of ladies and gentlemen in a lading 
excuriion. When we had got about a mile to the fouth- 
eaft of Exmouth Bar, our attention w’as fuddenly arrefted 
by a very lingular noife, by no means unpleafant to the 
ear, but of which it is impoffible to give a correct idea by 
mere defcription. It was not, however, unaptly compared 
by one of our ladies to the wild melodies of the ^lolian 
harp, combined with a noife fimilar to that made by a 
bream of water falling gently on the leaves of a tree. In 
the mean time we obferved fomething about one hundred 
yards from us, to windward. We all imagined it to be 
lome human being, though at the fame time we were at a 
lofs to account for this, at luch a diftance from the Ihore, 
and no other boat near. We hailed, but received no reply, 
and we made toward this creature as foon as pofiible • 
when, to the great altonifliment of us all, it eluded our 
purfuit by plunging under water. In a few minutes it 
rofe again, nearly in the fame place ; and by that time w'e 
had got fufficiently near for one of the boatmen to-throw 
into the water a piece of boiled filli which he had in his 
locker. This feemed to alarm the animal, though it 
foon recovered from its fears, for we prefently obferved 
it to lay hold of the filli, which it ate with apparent relifli. 
Several other pieces were thrown out, by which the crea¬ 
ture was induced to keep at a fliort diltance from our boat, 
and afforded us the opportunity of oblerving it with at¬ 
tention, and found, to our altonifliment, that it was no 
other than a mermaid. As the fea was calm, and in a 
great degree tranfparent, every part of the animal’s body 
became in turn vifible. The head from the crown to the 
chin, forms rather a long oval, and the face J'eems to refem- 
hle that of tliefeal, though, at the fame time, it is far more 
agreeable, poffeffmg a peculiar foftnefs, which renders the 
whole let of features very interelting. The upper and 
back part of the head appeared to be furnilhed with fome¬ 
thing like hair, and the fore-part of the body with fome¬ 
thing like down, between a very light fawn and very pale 
pink colour, which at a diftance had the appearance of 
flelh, and may have given rife to the idea that the body of 
the mermaid is, externally, like that of the human being. 
This creature has two arms, each of which terminates 
into a hand with four fingers, connected to each other by 
means of a very thin elallic membrane. The animal ufed 
its arms with great agility, and its motions in general were 
very graceful. From the waift it gradually tapered fo as 
to form a tail, which had the appearance of being covered 
with ftrong broad polilhed fcales, which occaiionally re¬ 
flected the rays of the fun in a very beautiful manner; 
and, front the back and upper part of the neck, down to’ 
the loins, the body alfo appeared covered with Ihort round 
broad feathers, of the colour of the down on the fore-part 
of the body. The whole length of the animal, from the 
crowm of the head, to the extremity of the tail, was fup¬ 
pofed to be about five feet, or five feet and a half. In about 
ten minutes, from the time we approached, the animal gave 
two or three plunges, in quick lucceflion, as if it were at 
play. After this, it gave a fudden fpring, fwam aw : ay 
from us very rapidly, and in a few feconds we loft fight 
of it.” 
In this account, we notice the refemblance to a feal 
which confirms the opinion we have juft given. And the 
mention of feathers will remind the claflical reader of the 
reprelentations of the ancient poets, who depicted their 
firens, not with fifties’ tails, but the upper part human and 
the lower like birds, decked with plumage of various co 7 
lours ; and Paufanius tells us, that the firens having chal¬ 
lenged the mules to a trial of Ikill in tinging, thefe, hav¬ 
ing vanquilhed them, plucked the golden feathers from 
the wings of the firens, and formed them into crowns, 
with which they adorned their own heads. 
Mermaids, of courfe, do not always continue maids. And 
accordingly we are informed that two mer-childrsn were 
lately difcovered by three relpeCtable tradefmen of Douglas, 
Ifle of Man, during an excurfion on the Calf of Man, in 
queft of fea-fowl. Attracted by a found fomewhat releni- 
bling the cries of a young kitten, they found, on fearch- 
ing amonglt the rocks, two fmall marine animals, exaCtly 
relembling in their form that fpecies of creature fo often 
defcribed and known by the name of the mermaid. One 
