In conclusion, I must strongly express my own conviction, which I hope, after the perusal of the evidence contained in the foregoing pages, will be shared by my readers, that, let the relations of the sea-serpent be what they may; let it be serpent, saurian, or fish, or some form intermediate to them; and even granting that those relations may never be determined, or only at some very distant date; yet, nevertheless, the creature must now be removed from the regions of myth, and credited with having a real existence, and that its name includes not one only, but probably several very distinct gigantic species, allied more or less closely, and constructed to dwell in the depths of the ocean, and which only occasionally exhibit themselves to a fortune-favoured wonder-gazing crew. NOTE. It is with great pleasure that I add the following testimony of a belief in the existence of the sea-serpent, from a country which has not hitherto been supposed to have any traditions relating to it. My inquiries in Burmah, as to a belief among its inhabitants in sundry so-called mythical beings, led me unexpectedly on the track of the following information, for which I am indebted to the scholarship and courtesy of F. Ripley, Esq., Government Translator in the Secretariat Department, Rangoon. EXTRACT from the _Kavilakhana dépané_, pp. 132-133. [Author--Mingyi Thiri Mahazeyathu, the Myaunghla Myoza, Nanig-ngan-gya Wundauk, or Sub-Minister for Foreign Affairs to His Majesty the late King of Burmah.] "The creature Nyan is called in the Mágadha language _Tanti-gáha_, in the Bengáli _Gara_; in the Sakkata, _Gráha_ or _Avagráh_; and in the Burmese, Nyan. "Hence are to be found the following passages, viz.:-- "'_Tanti-gáha_--The creature Nyan, of the immense length of one or two hundred fathoms,' in the _Shri Sariputtara Apadan_. "'_Graho_ or _Avagraho_--a predatory monster, in shape like an earthworm,' in the _Amarakosha Abhidhan_; and "'_Dvagar samudda maha nady sanga mela táká yazantu vigera itichate_,' in the commentary of the _Amarakosha Abhidhan_. "From these works, which contain definitions of two words designative of the creature Nyan, it will be gathered that there does exist a predatory monster in the form of an earthworm, which inhabits estuaries and the mouths of great rivers. "Regarding the predatory instincts of this creature, it should be understood that it attacks even such animals as elephants. Hence the _Dhammathats_, in dealing with the decision of cases of hire of live-stock, wishing to point out that no fault lies through losses owing to natural accidents, make the following remarks:-- "'There shall be no fault held if oxen die by reason of a snake gliding under them.' "'There shall be no fault held, if buffaloes die by reason of a dove resting on their horns.' "'There shall be no fault held if oxen and buffaloes die of their having eaten a grasshopper.'