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5 
eoast, concerning which they tell the 
following whimsical story: 
An old lady, say they, who lived in 
that neighbourhood some centuries back, 
having procured a charm, or spell, to 
banish those noxious reptiles with which 
that part of the country was at that 
time # cruelly harassed, set to work, and, 
by her incantations, collected all the 
snakes within a considerable distance, 
and brought them to the banks of Whit¬ 
by, from which she hurried them down 
so precipitately on the strand, that they 
all broke their necks, and of course in 
their petrified state are found without 
heads. 
Not many years ago Whitby sent up¬ 
wards of twenty vessels to Greenland; 
but afterwards that trade fell much to 
* They affirm that this part of the coast has never 
since been frequented by those venomous creatures., 
although they are quite common in other parts of 
the kingdom. Credat cui placeat 
