Gesner obligingly depicts this Pan, Sea Satyr, Ichthyo centaurus, or Sea Demon, as he is indifferently called, and wants to pass it off as a veritable Merman, probably on account of its human-like trunk. He also quotes Ælian as to the authenticity of this monster,—and he gives a picture of another Man-fish, which he says was seen at Rome, on the third of November, 1523. Its size was that of a boy about five years of age. (See [next page].)
Mermen and Mermaids do not seem to affect any particular district, they were met with all over the world—and records of their having been seen, come to us from all parts. That was well, and occurred in the ages of
faith, but now the materialism of the present age would shatter, if it could, our cherished belief in these Marine eccentricities, and would fain have us to credit that all those that have been seen, were some of the Phocidæ, such as a “Dugong,” or else they would attempt to persuade us that a beautiful mermaid, with her comb and looking-glass, was neither more nor less than a repulsive-looking “Manatee.”
Sir J. Emerson Tennent quotes in his “Natural History of Ceylon” from the description of one of the Dutch Colonial Chaplains, named Valentyn, who wrote an account of the Natural History of Amboyna. He says that in 1663, a lieutenant in the Dutch army was with some soldiers on the sea-beach at Amboyna, when they all saw mermen swimming near the beach. He described them as having long and flowing hair, of a colour between grey and green. And he saw them again, after an interval of six weeks, when he was in company with some fifty others. He also says that these Marine
Curiosities, both male and female, have been taken at Amboyna: and he cites a special one, of which he gives a portrait, that was captured by a district visitor of the Church, and presented by him to the Governor.
This last animal enjoyed European fame, as in 1716, whilst Peter the Great was the guest of the British Ambassador at Amsterdam, the latter wrote to Valentyn, asking that the marvel should be sent over for the Czar’s inspection—but it came not. Valentyn also tells how, in the year 1404, a mermaid, tempest-tossed, was driven through a breach in a dyke at Edam, in Holland, and was afterwards taken alive in the lake of Parmen, whence she was carried to Haarlem. The good Dutch vrows took kindly care of her, and, with their usual thriftiness, taught her a useful occupation, that of spinning; nay, they Christianised her—and she died a Roman Catholic, several years after her capture.
The authentic records, if trust can be placed in them, are various and many—but are hardly worth recapitulating because of their sameness, and the smile of incredulity which their recital provokes.
Let us therefore turn to the monarch of the deep, the Whale—and of this creature we get curious glimpses from the Northern Naturalists; but, before investigating this authentic denizen of ocean, we will examine some whose title to existence is not quite so clearly made out. Olaus Magnus gives us an introduction to some of “The horrible Monsters of the Coast of Norway. There are monstrous fish on the Coasts or Sea of Norway, of unusual Names, though they are reputed a kind of Whales; and, if men look long on them they will fright and amaze them. Their forms are horrible, their heads square, all set with prickles, and they have sharp and