soon lost to sight in the blaze of sunlight reflected on the waves of the sea. So rapid were its movements, that when it approached the ship, I seized a telescope, but could not catch a view, as it darted rapidly out of the field of the glass, before I could see it. I was thus prevented from ascertaining whether it had scales or not, but the best view of the monster obtainable-when it was about three cables' length (that is about 500 yards) distant-seemed to shew that it was without scales. I cannot however speak with certainty. The head and neck, about two feet in diameter, rose out of the water to a height of about twenty or thirty feet; and the monster opened its jaws wide, as it rose, and closed them again as it lowered its head, and darted forward for a dive, re-appearing almost immediately some hundred yards ahead. The body was not visible at all, and must have been some depth under water, as the disturbance on the surface was too slight to attract notice, although occasionally a splash was to be seen at some distance behind the head. The shape of the head was not unlike pictures I have seen of the dragon, with a bull-dog appearance of the forehead and eyebrow. When the monster had drawn itself sufficiently out of the water, it let itself drop, as it were, like a huge log of wood, prior to darting forward under the water."

The question as to whether the sea-serpent is a reality or a misconception, is still undetermined, and apparently is likely to remain so. There is certainly some huge marine monster, that either is a sea-serpent, or is very like one. The great mass of testimony, much of which is above all reasonable dispute, establishes that beyond cavil. But on the other hand, there are several objects in nature, which are likely enough to be mistaken for a serpent. A shoal of porpoises, leaping and

tumbling behind one another, bears a considerable resemblance to the convolutions of a snake, especially if seen at some distance and by an uncertain light. A great mass of brown sea-weed, floating on the water, bears a still greater likeness to a slumbering serpent. A long narrow fish like the basking shark, has undoubtedly been mistaken for it. It is also not impossible that some of the largest-sized boa-constrictors or pythons may have been seen, while endeavouring to cross. from one island to another. And it must be remembered that even those who have had the best opportunity of seeing these creatures, and may be quite competent to determine whether they are serpents or not, never get anything more than a hurried glance at them in passing, and that the greater part of their bodies is hidden from them. It is impossible to examine them with the minute and complete attention which alone would set the question at rest. The conclusion arrived at by Dr. Mantell--than whom no one was more capable of determining the question-is the one which we shall do wisely to adopt. "With regard to the existence of the so-called sea-serpent," he writes, "I would beg to remark, that although it is highly improbable that an ophidian, or true snake, of the marine habits, and dimensions described by our voyagers, now exists, yet there is nothing to forbid the supposition that there are unknown living forms of cartilaginous fishes, presenting the general configuration and proportion of the animals," as drawn by Captain M'Quhae and others.

CHAPTER XXII

STRANGE REPTILES-THE BASILISK-SALAMANDER-TOAD ·

DRAGON-SERPENT.

PASSING on now to the strange monsters of the reptile and insect world, the idea at once presents itself that here we are likely to meet with at least as many "Travellers' Tales," as in any preceding chapter. For although the creatures it contains. are not so difficult of examination as in the instance of the sea monsters of which we have spoken in the last two chapters, man nevertheless approaches them with a feeling of repulsion and dislike, which induces him to credit many things, which, but for that, his sober judgment would reject. Man flies, with no worse feeling than terror, from monsters capable of swallowing his entire body, or shattering with a single blow of their tails the vessel which conveys him; but he regards with aversion and disgust the venomous reptile which lies in wait for his unguarded moments, a single puncture of whose tooth is always agony, and often death. His hate and his fear alike cause him to exaggerate the baleful powers of the creature between which and himself, there is mortal enmity.

Among the animals of this description-those respecting which the wildest fables have been circulated, are the basilisk and the salamander.

The Basilisk is supposed by most commentators to be identical with the "cockatrice" of Scripture. The passage