Accustomed for years to travel about the reefs in canoes, every phase of the aspect of the waters was known to him, and he was not likely to be frightened with false fire. The extraordinary thing is, that the English sailor, the French commander, and the Fijian soldier, all gave the same account of this monster. It is something with a head slightly raised out of the water, and with a sort of mane streaming behind it, whilst the back of a long body is seen underneath the water. So, from these instances, in which I know the witnesses, I fully believe in the sea-serpent. What is there very wonderful in it, after all? The whale is the largest living thing. Why shouldn't the waters produce snakes of gigantic size." THE VAGABOND, in Supplement to the _Australasian_, September 10, 1881. [254] Contained in Eden's _Travels_. [255] Connected with the breathing apparatus? [256] Pinkerton, _Voyages and Travels_, vol. i. p. 376. [257] A. de Brooke, _Travels to the North Cape_. [258] 1 ell = 2 feet. [259] _Transactions_ of the Wernerian Society, vol. i. p. 442. [260] No. 92, May 1873; London, Van Voorst. [261] _Shetland Islands_, p. 565. [262] Jardine's _Naturalist's Library_, vol. xxv. [263] How this reminds one of the Chinese dragon. [264] Within a few days of writing these lines I made one of a party of four to visit the waterfalls of Taki-kwannon, near Nagasaki. I asked for estimates of the height of the fall, which was variously guessed, by different members of the party, at from forty-three to one hundred and fifty feet. [265] _Folklore of China_, p. 113. [266] _Vide Verhandelingen van Het Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Weten Schappen, Deel_ xxxix., 1ere Stuk., Batavia, 1877. [267] About 1-1/3 lb. avoirdupois. [268] _Contributions to Materia Medica and Natural History of China_, by F. P. Smith, M.B., London; Shanghai and London, 1871. I give, in the appendix to this chapter, some accounts of a reputed monster, the Shan, the description of which by Chinese authors, although vague, appears to me to point to the sea-serpent. I only insert a portion of the latter part of the legends regarding it which I find in my authority, as they are perfectly valueless. The sample given may, however, be interesting as an example of how the Taouists compiled their absurd miraculous stories. [269] For _sea-serpent_ read _octopus_. [270] I must also add, on the information of Mr. H. C. Syers, of Selangor, that Captain Douglas, late Resident of Perak, had a large sea-serpent rise close to him, somewhere off Perak, when in a boat manned by Malays. Mr. Syers had the account both from Captain Douglas and from the crew; and he tells me that there is a universal belief in the existence of some large sea-monster among the Malays of the western coast of the Peninsula. [271] This is one of the fleet of the important Japanese Mitsu Bish Company, the equivalent of the P. and O. Company in Japan. [272] _Pop. Sci. Monthly_, No. 56, December 1876, p. 234.