Part 116

1. Feeling.--Of course but little can be noticed about the animal’s feeling. PONTOPPIDAN tells us that it has whiskers “like other animals which have a good nose.” How far the Bishop believed that those whiskers had anything to do with the animal’s sense of smell, I cannot tell. But certainly they have not. Well developed whiskers are rarely found but in animals which catch their prey in a stealthy way, such as cats, dogs, viverrides, mustelides, and numerous allied animals, and in animals which live in holes, as mice, rats, &c. It is known that all these animals can go through holes, crevices, fissures, slits or clefts which are large enough to admit their whiskers. Whiskers are organs of feeling. Consequently seals, sea-lions, sea-bears, &c., and also sea-serpents will on numerous occasions find their whiskers of great use for the purpose of feeling with them.

Further it must not astonish us that sea-serpents are usually observed in fine weather when there is no wind. They seem to dislike wind, and therefore, if having no special purpose in view, they disappear as soon as the wind begins to blow (3, p. 129, p. 133, 92, 94); they even seem to be very sensible of the least wind.

Warmth on the contrary seems to be very welcome to them, as they are often seen on hot days, and even basking in the sun (114, 137).

2. Taste. The taste of the animal is, of course, only to be known by the food it takes.

3. Smell. There is no doubt that, guided by their smell they prey on fish, but it is clear that we shall never know any more particulars about it. Only it is stated, and it seems to be true, that they cannot bear the smell of castoreum and asa foetida, and that Norwegian seamen and fishermen up to the days of RATHKE (1840) would never forget to bring one of these drugs with them, to drive them away. (PONTOPPIDAN, p. 130, p. 134, p. 259).

As far as I know, zoologists accept three reasons why some animals emit some strong odour; viz. to drive away their enemies, or to recognize one another, either in the neighbourhood or from afar, or to flatter and to attract the other sex. With which purpose sea-serpents emit a strong odour, this surely will be very difficult to decide, but in all probability they smell it themselves.

4. Hearing. The observations about the animal’s hearing are, as may be expected, but very few. That an animal hears, can only be asserted when it gives unmistakable signs that it has heard, for instance a sudden turning of its head towards the origin of sound, or the running away from it. So we have the statements that the sea-serpent “was not pleased with the noise of our oars” (69); “the fishermen advise to be very quiet when a sea-serpent approaches and to avoid rowing, because the least noise attracts it still more” (p. 259); “on both days it seemed to keep about us, and as we were always rowing then, we were inclined to think it might perhaps be attracted by the measured sound of the oars” (137, 138); “on my coo-ee the fish started off seawards out of sight and under water” (150).

5. Sight.--The numerous statements that a sea-serpent swims with its head some feet above the surface of the water prove that it looks straight before it. Further we have found it several times mentioned that it followed a boat, and finally the assertion that it raised its head and neck several feet above the water, evidently to take a survey towards the ship passing, or to take a view of objects, or to look about for prey (31, 36, 60, 63, 74, p. 225, 80, 93, 121, 128, 131, 145, 149, 152 A).

c. Functions of the muscular system.

1. Relative mobility of organs. We have already mentioned that the eyes, like the nostrils and the mouth, may be shut or opened wide. Yet they do not seem to be very movable (103).

The head may be held at right angles with the neck (70, fig. 24). The animal can bend its neck in several directions, moving it like that of a swan (124, 151, fig. 49), consequently bent dorso-ventrally in the form of a stretched S. When only the forepart of the neck, curved in such a way, is visible above water, the observers naturally say that it is curved (97), or bent in a semi-circle (115). It can also turn its head a little sideways (60, 63, 93). The swimming in vertical undulations is surely a proof of dorso-ventral flexibility. It has the power to hold its body in a straight line, quite stiff, even in swimming. Also it has the power to bend its neck, trunk and tail dorso-ventrally into numerous “bunches”, unless it is not the whole mass of its body, but only the layer of muscles, bacon and its skin, which it is able to bend in such a manner, for it is observed lying perfectly still, showing, however, numerous bunches (34, 42, 61, 64, 67, 69, 106 A, 154). In this condition it may even swim (60, 63). These bunches according to its body-length, may be of the size of a barrel (34), or from six to seven feet from each other, and from three to four feet high (154, fig. 50). On some occasions it gave the impression of a creature crooking up its back to sun itself (137), for there was no appearance of undulation; when the lumps sunk, other lumps did not rise in the intervals between them (137). Twice it is observed only with its head and its tail above water, the body slightly under (135, 162), and once casting itself backwards, and in doing so, its tail rose high above the water (5) so that the animal was bent dorsally in the form of an U or horse-shoe (fig. 19).

Its lateral flexibility is also astonishing. In turning it bends its body quite in the form of a horse-shoe, the head nearly touching its tail end (39, 41, 44); in turning twice immediately after each other or in playing, its body is bent in the form of the letter S (63, fig. 37, fig. 38). Also it may play in circles (39). Once, seized by a spermwhale, evidently in its trunk, it wound itself laterally round the head and upperjaw of its attacker (144). Its tail is said to lash the water (151? 158), and to wind itself up, and to rest for a moment on a part of the trunk (106 A). In short it is as limber and active as an eel (44).

Provided, as sea-lions are, with rather a thick layer of bacon under its skin, the animal, when it bends its body in the form of a horse-shoe, either laterally or dorsally, naturally shows in the concave side of the curve, wrinkles or folds (5) in its skin. When its head is held nearly at right angles with the neck, the skin under the chin is contracted into folds, which led to the description that the animal had some “gills” (read “gill-splits”, 56). When its neck is a little contracted, it may happen that three folds of the skin encircle the neck, which when held so for some time, and exposed to the sun, dry on their highest part, and when stretched again, will show “three yellow collars” (71). It may also be that “at about six feet from the jaws there is a protuberance on its back like a small watercask” (126), or that “a kind of scroll, or tuft of loose skin, encircles the neck about two feet from the head” (131).

The flappers may be lifted up so high that they are occasionally visible above the surface (106 A, 118, 137, 154, fig. 50); when the animal is swimming with extreme rapidity, they may be raised still higher, so that they are almost entirely above the surface (129, 148, fig. 36, fig. 45), but then they are not directed hindwards, but forwards, “they were turned to the contrary way” (129, fig. 36, fig. 50). The flappers move alternately: “the movements of the flappers were those of a turtle”, “the monster paddled itself along after the fashion of a turtle” (148), and have “a semi-revolving motion” (148). When the animal swims with vertical undulations, it may press the flappers close against the body, so that seen from above, it is as if the flappers were wanting (82).

2. Motions. Hitherto we have considered the animal by itself, let us now see how it moves in the water.

The first sign of the presence of a sea-serpent may, of course, be very different. Generally, when the animal was met with it was already swimming on the surface; sometimes it lay still, and it appeared to be a wreck or a small rock, but on approaching gradually changed into a living animal; and sometimes, though rarely, it appeared on the surface not far from the vessels. It is a proof that it may remain a tolerably long time under water before it comes to the surface to breathe. This may happen in two ways; viz. 1. After it has swum a long time just below the surface, it will gradually raise its head above it, and 2. When it has swum for some time very deep below the surface, it will rise perpendicularly upwards. Instances of the first manner of coming to the surface will be found in the following passages: “the first sign of the sea-serpent coming up was a rushing in the water ahead of the ship; at first we imagined it to be a whale spouting” (83), “attention was first directed to it by the broken action of the water” (126). Apparently this happened also in the animal of Captain TREMEARNE (129). In the other manner of coming to the surface, going upwards with great speed, a large portion of the animal is shown to the spectators: “it raised its head high above the surface (1, 31, 36), even so high that the foreflappers became visible” (5, 121); “arising out of the depths of Ocean, stretches to the skies its enormous neck, masthead high” (p. 225); “it raised itself slowly and gracefully from the deep” (124), “it suddenly stood quite perpendicular out of the water to the height of sixty feet” (145); “a head and neck rose out of the water to a height of about twenty or thirty feet (149, 151, 152, see also fig. 19, fig. 46, fig. 48, fig. 49). Once it struck a vessel in coming to the surface (122) so that it may be supposed that the animal had its eyes shut.

Generally it swims with vertical undulations (1, 2, 9, 10, 11, 12, p. 130, p. 138, 18, 23, 28, 29, 30, 31, 39, 41, 42, 43, 44, 48, 51, 60, 63, 65, 66, 67, 70, 81, 82, 83, 85, 91, 92, 94, 95, 101, 102, 103, 113, 114, 115, 117, 119, 126, 128, 137, 138, 139, 150, 155, 157, see also the following figures 24, 26, 27, 32, 33, 34, 35, 39, 47, 51). The undulations may be large or small, so that their number differs, but also the animal’s higher or lower position in the water is cause, that their number may greatly vary. Of course it is not always easy to account for a small number of coils. This number is mentioned to be two or three (102), three (113), three to four (138), three to five (117), four or more (139), seven (137, 157), not more than seven (137), seven or eight (9), not more than eight (41), at least ten (85), ten or twelve (44, 60), thirteen to fifteen (63), fifteen to twenty three (63), fourteen (69), several (83), twenty five (2). In our illustrations we find four (fig. 40, fig. 47, fig. 51), six (fig. 26), seven (fig. 24, fig. 39), eight (fig. 35), eleven (fig. 27, fig. 34) and twenty (fig. 33).

The motion of the animal is said to be wrongly serpentine (29, 91, 103, 119, 157), like that of a snake (101, 115, 155), like that of an eel (117), and rightly vermicular (82), like that of a caterpillar (41), like that of a leech (94).

The coils are said to resemble or to be as large as ten-gallon kegs (41), half-barrels (60), flour barrels (60), large kegs (117), those of a dromedary (83), about three feet long (117).

The space between the coils, for there is always a space visible between them (p. 130), is sometimes large, at other times small; it was a space of one fathom (9), of seven feet (69), or of three feet (60).

The whole animal swimming with vertical undulations, and seen from afar, resembles a string of tuns or hogsheads (p. 130), a large shoal of fish (read porpoises) with a seal at one end of it (29), a string of empty barrels tied together (60), a string of casks tied together (60), a string of large casks, gently bubbing up and down (114), a long chain of rocks (106 A), a long chain of enormous rings (106 A), a number of barrels linked together (106 A), eight seals in a row (137), a flock of wild ducks swimming (157).

The height of the coils above water was, according to the animal’s lower or higher position in the water, or according to its bulk, about six inches (41), eight or ten inches (39), at least three feet (114), only a few feet (106 A); we also find the notices: “apparently about one third of the upperpart of its body was above water” (93), “it partly raised itself above the surface of the water” (94).

As is to be expected, the bunches decrease in size towards the tail (69, 102); of coarse this will always be the case.

It seems that sometimes the undulations are limited only to the trunk of the animal: “I saw no bunches towards I thought the end of the tail, and I believe there were none; from where I judged his navel might be, to the end of his tail there were no bunches visible” (44); “the first bunch appeared ten or twelve feet from his head” (69); “about thirty feet behind the head appeared the first coil” (81).

The reader will remember (see Relative mobility of organs) that the animal may crook up its back, or the layer of bacon of its back, when lying perfectly still. It seems evident that it also is able to swim with its flappers, whilst its back is in such a condition: “the bunches appeared to be fixed” (60); “his bunches appeared to be not altogether uniform in size, and as he moved along some appeared to be depressed and others brought above the surface, though I could not perceive any motion in them” (63); “the protuberances were not from his motion, as they were the same whether in slow or in rapid movement” (69). See also n^o. 137.

I am convinced that the animal, swimming with vertical undulations, usually presses its flappers to its body. Once it was seen from above (82) and it seemed to be eel-shaped, and the flappers must have been invisible, at least they are not mentioned; it swam with vertical undulations.

But there are reasons to believe that the animal, swimming with vertical undulations, at a moderate rate, also uses its flappers. Once it was seen from above, moving with vertical undulations, and its flappers are tolerably well described (119). And when we read: “the motion of his body was rising and falling, the head moderately vibrating from side to side” (48), “the motion of his head was sideways and quite moderate, and the motion of his body was up and down” (48), “his motion was partly vertical, partly horizontal” (69), “serpentine movements, some up and down, some to the side” (91), we must conclude that the animal swimming with vertical undulations may indeed also use its flappers. If only the foreflapper and the hind one of the right side were used, the animal would turn to the left, if, on the contrary, it used its two left flappers, it would turn to the right; consequently when the right foreflapper (leaving for a moment the hindflappers out of consideration) is moved backwards with a strong action, the head must move a little to the left, and it will move to the right, when the left foreflapper is propelled backwards.

The instances in which the animal swims with its body in a straight line, propelling itself only with its flappers, are few in comparison with its swimming with vertical undulations (3, 18, 34, 38, 56, 59, 83, 93, 104, 115, 118, 120, 129, 130, 132, 138, 143, 145, 146, 147, 150, 160, see also figg. 28, 29, 31, 36, 45). The animal in this position resembled some drift of sea-weed (143), a mast of a vessel floating (83), an enormous log of timber floating (83), a trunk of a large tree floating (104), an unwrought spar (18), a long spar (150), a log of wood (150), an immense tree floating (157).