I rose and began putting the place in order; once or twice I stopped to curse the memory of my late companion, who had been the chief cause of all; but I did not then think much about the catastrophe of the night-it was not to be realized in a moment. "It is all over now, and what cannot be helped should not be regretted; besides, after all, it is only a ship lost, as many a good ship has been before her; we all owe Heaven a death."

Even so did I talk with myself as I continued busying myself about the apartment, moving things hither and thither without a purpose. But lightly as I thought of it then-it was a kind of insanity to do so-ever since has the burden been increasing which that night laid upon my soul-less and less rest has my troubled conscience known from day to day. In my ears are ever ringing the dreadful words of the old Scotchman, "If through our negligence a ship were lost on the rock, the deaths of all and each of the crew would lie at our door; we should be manslayers-murderers!"

Manslayer!-murderer! Manslayer!

murderer!

The secret, too, which I carry about with me-for no living being, except I, knows where that ship was lost-is insupportable. I have been, and am constantly in dread of telling it out, through unwatchfulness or in my sleep, and I perpetually think that people are making allusion to it, or that they suspect me. What, however, is most strange, and I cannot in any way account for it, is, that I have a perpetual desire to tell it to some one--I feel as if I should be better if I did. This, however, I dare not do.

It is this feeling which has led me to execute my often-formed intention of writing my life, and although, before my death at least, no eye but my own will ever see this, I do feel some relief in having reduced it to a narrative. Heavy, heavy has been the load I have borne these many sad, weary years fain would I hope that the few which remain for me may be less painful.

As it happened the wind had completely fallen soon after the catastrophe, and that day the sea went down sufficiently to allow the tender to come off. Two or three men

He is dead," said I. They all started.

His body is in the lantern," I continued; "I did not like to move him, and so I left him where he died."

I then detailed the circumstances, giving as my reason for leaving the corpse untouched the fear I entertained of being suspected of foul play.

"It must have been bad enough sitting watching the light and he lying there," said the officer, an old midshipman; "you must have had an uncomfortable time of it, my lad. I did not think you were in such an unpleasant situation when I saw your light last night.".

"When he saw the light last night!" Was he mocking me? Was it all known? It was not. Unaccountable as it may seem, that man was perfectly convinced he had seen the light the previous night. I am sure he would have sworn to it.

And no one, indeed, suspected the truth. It was soon known that the Indiaman had been lost on the coast, for spars and pieces indicative of the ship to which they had belonged, came ashore in a day or two. But no one for a moment thought of her having struck upon the Eddystone.

As for me, the authorities, considering what I had undergone, contented themselves with mulcting me of my wages and discharging me. I sold my broken watch to a Jew for twenty-seven shillings and a glass of grog. I was sorry to part with it, for it was my mother's; but what could I do? On this small sum I lived miserably enough for a fortnight, when I got a berth in a coasting vessel, the Margaret Turnbull.

THERE is, perhaps, no phase of the human | mind more curious or inexplicable than that state of servile submission to authority in matters of belief, which characterizes the majority of mortals. It is, indeed, a humiliating spectacle to behold full-grown men depending implicitly for opinions on the dictates of their fellow-men; prostrating their intellect, distrusting the evidence of their senses, and absolutely turning a deaf ear to conclusions, however obvious, if not reaching them through the channel of acknowledged authority! Can they not comprehend that just conclusions are to be attained alone by a studiously careful consideration of a subject in all its bearings, not by adopting the views the mere ipse dixit—of any man? By the latter course, we not only invest ourselves in a tattered garment of prejudices which every one can see through, but we must also cede the fact, that we have purloined the disreputable clothing which we parade. Now, as there is no position so fatal to the admission of truth as the position of prejudice, so is there no prejudice so degrading as that which is purloined. We do not hesitate to say, that the progress of science in this country is arrested by the strong hand of self-elected authority, and the promulgation of scientific truth retarded by those who arrogate to themselves an exclusive monopoly of philosophic lore. This state of affairs is baneful in two ways: it not only checks the dissemination of recently discovered truths, but it invests the select few with the power of disseminating and positively enforcing the reception of error. It moreover persecutes, with relentless severity, every individual who may have the courage to expose the blunders of any magnate whose influence upon the distribution of the scientific

patronage of government, and of learned societies, might be thereby compromised.

These remarks are, however, levelled at the system, not at individuals; and they have been elicited by the more than equivocal reception accorded to an apparently trustworthy announcement of the recent appearance of a certain illustrious individual, whose positive identification might possibly upset some cherished hypothesis, and lead to the necessity of numerous modifications of accepted seientific dogmas.

From their lucubrations, lately paraded before the public, it appears that no one connected with the coteries of scientific exclusives has ever seen the animal whose history Mr. Newman has given us. No bone of a sea-serpent exists in the College of Surgeons. No authentic fragment has reached the British Museum. The eye-witnesses are confined to some two thousand mariners or countrymen, who have no acquaintance with the terms nematoneurous, homogangliatous, and the like; and the evidence cited in support of the phenomena observed is given by parties scarcely amounting to an eighth part of their entire number, and who, in their general knowledge of technical natural history are not a whit before the great body of eye-witnesses from whom they appear to have been selected at random; and, therefore, neither the great mass of eyewitnesses, nor those selected to give evidence, are worthy of the slightest credence! So say the exclusives.

The present age exhibits many similar instances of learned incredulity; public lectures have been given to show that Shakspeare never existed, that Ben Jonson is a myth; and our witty contemporary, "Punch," declares that Pickford is a myth also. Yet

:

every

Now, we have no objection to make deduction that the most rigid cross-examination could elicit; we are perfectly willing to make every allowance for the emotions of wonder and fear; we will not insist on the height to which the head was raised, or the sharpness of the snout, or the breadth of the flappers, or the scales on the skin, or the distance from the head to the tail. Let the incredulous pare down the marvellous as much as he pleases, and then, after every allowance and deduction, let him say what Mr. Egede saw. The high character of the narrator, and his otherwise unquestioned veracity, are sufficient guaranties for his having seen something his extraordinary knowledge of the Cetacea and seals, extending to the most minute distinctions of species, proves that his monster could not have been one of these tribes. It seems to us indisputable, that Mr. Egede, from personal observation, and with rigid integrity of purpose, describes and figures an animal decidedly and widely different from any living creature hitherto admitted into our systematic classifications. That it was a sea-serpent, or a serpent of any other kind, certainly does not appear, neither does the writer make any such assertion. the figure, description and name of Egede's sea monster," we find nothing to constitute it a serpent; this name appears to have been subsequently applied; and yet, so great is the ingenuity of man, that this very name has been tortured into a proof of the falsehood of Mr. Egede's statement.

In

We will now proceed to Pontoppidan's "Natural History of Norway," published shortly after Egede's "Journal," and quoting that author's description. Pontoppidan was bishop of Bergen, a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Copenhagen, evidently a good naturalist, and withal a man of unimpeachable veracity; he exhibits no undue credulity; and although he has heard from sailors, and others residing near the coast, a variety of marvellous stories concerning the sea monster, he quotes them doubtingly, and puts his reader on his guard against giving them implicit credence; that a fixed and in eradicable belief in this sea monster existed universally along the coast in Pontoppidan's time, is shown by the following quotation:

"In all my inquiry about these affairs, I have hardly spoke with any intelligent person, born in the manor of Nordland, who was not able to give a pertinent answer, and strong assurances of the

traders, that come here every year with their merchandise, think it a very strange, question, when they are seriously asked whether there be any such creature; they think it as ridiculous as if the question were put to them, whether there be such fish as eel or cod."

That an equally firm and ineradicable belief exists at the present day, is shown by a parallel passage, just published in the "Zoologist."

"As some interest has been excited by the alleged appearance of a sea-serpent, I venture to transmit a few remarks on the subject, which you may or may not think worthy of insertion in your columns. There does not appear to be a single well-authenticated instance of these monsters having been seen in any southern latitudes; but in the north of Europe, notwithstanding the fabulous character so long ascribed to Pontoppidan's description, I am convinced that they both exist and are frequently seen. During three summers spent in Norway, I have repeatedly conversed with the natives on this subject. A parish journey south of Drontheim, an intelligent person, priest residing on Romsdal fjord, about two days' whose veracity I have no reason to doubt, gave

me a circumstantial account of one which he had himself seen. It rose within thirty yards of the boat in which he was, and swam parallel with it for a considerable time. Its head is described as equalling a small cask in size, and its mouth, nished with formidable teeth; its neck was which it repeatedly opened and shut, was fursmaller but its body-of which he supposed that he

saw about half on the surface of the water-was not less in girth than that of a moderate sized horse. Another gentleman, in whose house I stayed, had also seen one, and gave a similar account of it. It also came near his boat upon turned and pursued them to the shore, which was the fjord, when it was fired at, upon which it luckily near, when it disappeared. They expressed great surprise at the general disbelief attaching to the existence of these animals amongst naturalists, and assured me that there was scarcely a sailor accustomed to those inland lakes,

who had not seen them at one time or another." -The Zoologist, p. 2311.

But Pontoppidan does not satisfy himself with any general expressions of belief, however distinct and explicit; he collects and publishes the most direct and positive evidence, and derived from sources which in the present age we should call the most respectable. The first of these is Laurence de Ferry, at that time commander of Bergen. We subjoin the entire statement, premising that the commander, in order to satisfy the bishop, took two of the seamen who were with him before a magistrate, when they both solemnly swore to the truth of the following particulars—

"The latter end of August, in the year 1746, as I was on a voyage, in my return from Trundtheim, in a very calm and hot day, having a mind to put in at Molde, it happened, that when we were arrived with my vessel within six English miles of the aforesaid Molde, being at a place called Jule-Næss, as I was reading in a book, I heard a kind of murmuring voice from amongst the men at the oars, who were eight in number, and observed that the man at the helm kept off from the land. Upon this I inquired what was the matter, and was informed that there was a sea-snake before us. I then ordered the man at

the helm to keep to the land again, and to come up with this creature, of which I had heard so many stories. Though the fellows were under some apprehensions, they were obliged to obey my orders. In the mean time, this sea-snake passed by us, and we were obliged to tack the vessel about, in order to get nearer to it. As the snake swam faster than we could row, I took my gun, that was ready charged, and fired at it; on this he immediately plunged under the water. We rowed to the place where it sunk down, (which in the calm might be easily observed,) and lay upon our oars, thinking it would come up again to the surface; however, it did not. When the snake plunged down, the water appeared thick and red; perhaps some of the shot might wound it, the distance being very little. The head of this snake, which it held more than two feet above the surface of the water, resembled that of a horse. It was of a greyish color, and the mouth was quite black and very large. It had black eyes, and a long white mane, that hung down from the neck to the surface of the water. Besides the head and neck, we saw seven or eight folds or coils of this snake, which were very thick, and, as far as we could guess, there was about a fathom distance between each fold."

After citing a variety of other instances, giving the names of his witnesses without reserve, Pontoppidan deduces this general conclusion from the entire evidence

"It appears that this creature does not, like the eel or land-snake, taper gradually to a point, but the body, which looks to be as big as two hogsheads, grows remarkably small at once, just where the tail begins."

And again

"The eyes of this creature are very large, and of a blue color, and look like a couple of bright pewter plates."

Egede gives us the pointed head, the power of spouting water like a whale, the broad anterior flappers or paddles, the bulky trunk, and the pointed tail. Pontoppidan adds the enormous eyes, the mane, the dorsal protuberances, the sudden narrowing where the trunk ceases and the tail begins.

The next author cited is Sir A. de Capell Brooke. Although in the course of his rambles in Scandinavia this worthy gentleman had not the pleasure of falling in with this creature himself, he nevertheless heard many statements from eye-witnesses respecting it; none of these, however, throw new light on the subject, or assign any characters to the animal which were not previously known. As far as they go, their tendency is to confirm the statements previously published; they relate to the years 1817, 18, 19, and 22. The only subsequent information from the locality in question is contained in the fifteenth number of the "Zoologist:" we quote the entire passage, without abbreviation or alteration.

"In the neighborhood of Christiansand and Molde, in the province of Romsdal, several persons, highly respectable and credible witnesses, haye reported that they have seen this animal. In general, they state that it has been seen in the larger Norwegian fjords, seldom in the open sea. In the large Light of the sea at Christiansand, it has been seen every year, though only in the when the weather was perfectly calm and the warmest season, in the dog-days, and then only surface of the water unruffled. The following persons, whose names are here mentioned, give the subjoined testimony:-Nils Roe, workman at Mr. William Knudtzon's, relates: 'I saw the the serpent twice, once at noon, and two days afterwards towards the evening, in the fjord at the back of Mr. Knudtzon's garden. The first time it was about a hundred feet distant. It swam first along the fjord, then afterwards direct over to the spot where I stood. I observed it for above half an hour. Some strangers who were on the opposite shore fired at it, when it disappeared. The second time it was further from me. It was small, perhaps twice as long as this room (about forty-four feet); while swimming, it made serpentine movements, some to the side, others up and down. I cannot state what thickness it was, but it appeared to be about as thick as a common snake in proportion to its length. It was thinner towards the tail. The head was several times slightly elevated above the surface of the water. The front of the head was rather pointed; the eyes were sharp, and glistened like those of a cat. From the back of the head a mane like that of a horse commenced, which wayed backwards and forwards in the water. The color of the animal was a blackish brown.'

"John Johnson (merchant, about sixty years of age): I saw the animal some years since in the fjord; it was about a thousand paces distant when nearest to me. It swam very swiftly in the same time that we rowed about a quarter of a the distance. I saw it most plainly when it swam in a semicircle round a tolerably large rock that obstructed its passage; in doing this, it partly raised itself above the surface of the water.

mile to the side from it, it had swam about double