I next extract, from the pages of the _Inverness Courier_, some very
pertinent remarks upon a description of the sea-monster seen by the Rev.
Messrs. McRae and Twopeny, contained in the _Zoologist_, and I add the
article there referred to. I had the advantage of hearing from a gentleman
related to Mr. McRae that he could substantiate his statement, having
himself about the same time, and in that locality, observed the same
appearance, though at a greater distance off.
The following is the article in the _Inverness Courier_:--
"We are glad to see that the two gentlemen who favoured us last autumn
with an account of what they believed to be a strange animal seen off the
west coast, Inverness-shire, have published in the _Zoologist_, a monthly
journal of natural history, a careful description of the creature which
they saw, and which seems to resemble the engravings of what is called the
Norwegian sea-serpent. We subjoin the magazine article entire. There is
such a dread of ridicule in appearing publicly in company with this
mysterious and disreputable monster, that we must commend the boldness of
the two clergymen in putting their names to the narrative; especially as
we observe that other observers have not been so courageous, and that
they have been obliged to give some of their information anonymously.
"The huge serpent, if serpent it may be called, invariably appears in
still warm weather, and in no other. There are certain Norwegian fjords
and narrow seas which it frequents, and it is scarcely ever seen in the
open sea. In the present case, the limit in which the animal has been seen
on our coast, is Lochduich to the north and the Sound of Mull to the
south, only about a fifth of the space between Cape Wrath and the Mull of
Kintyre; and it is in that part it should be most looked for. We beg to
draw the attention of our readers on the West Coast to the fact, now
established on indubitable evidence, of the supposed animal having been
seen there last year, and to the possibility of its appearing again in
similar weather this year. If it chances to turn up once more, some full
and accurate account of the phenomenon would certainly be most desirable."
The following is the article in the _Zoologist_[260]:--
Appearance of an animal, believed to be that which is called the
Norwegian Sea-serpent, on the Western Coast of Scotland, in August
1872, by the Rev. John McRae, Minister of Glenelg, Inverness-shire,
and the Rev. David Twopeny, Vicar of Stockbury, Kent.
On the 20th of August 1872 we started from Glenelg in a small cutter,
the _Leda_, for an excursion to Lochourn. Our party consisted, besides
ourselves, of two ladies, F. and K., a gentleman, G. B., and a
Highland lad. Our course lay down the Sound of Sleat, which on that
side divides the Isle of Skye from the mainland, the average breadth
of the channel in that part being two miles.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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