In the Straits of Malacca, the sea-monster so repeatedly seen,
and so repeatedly declared to be mythical, appears at last to have been carefully observed by competent witnesses. The creature was seen by the passengers and crew of the ship 'Nestor,' on hervoyage to Shanghai, and on her arrival at Shanghai the master of the ship (Mr. John Keiller Webster) and the surgeon (Mr. James Anderson) made a statutory declaration of what they had seen before a magistrate, as a mode, we suppose, of formally attesting that they spoke in good-faith. The creature (which resembled a huge salamander, only that instead of being about six or eight inches long, these dimensions must be multiplied by at least 75 or 100, the body being from 45 ft. to Soft. in length, the head 12 ft., and the tail, it is said, no less than 150 ft.) was first seen at half-past ten o'clock on the 11th of Sep- tember, fifteen miles north-west of the North Sand Light- house, in the Straits of Malacca. The weather was fine, the !lea smooth, and the air perfectly clear. The Chinese on deck were terribly alarmed, and set up a howl. The whole watch r and three saloon passengers saw the creature clearly, and observed its movements. It travelled for a long time about as fast as the steamer, appearing to paddle itself by the help of "an undula- tory motion of its tail in a vertical plane." The body and tail were marked as those of the salamander are marked,—with alter- nate bands, black and pale yellow in colour. "The head was immediately connected with the body, without any indication of a neck." Both witnesses state positively that the only resem- blance was to some creature of the frog or newt kind, while one of them (the surgeon) says that the longer he observed it, the more he was struck with its resemblance to a gigantic salamander. Its back was oval in form. No eyes or fins were seen, and it did not blow or spout in the manner of a whale. The greater part of its head was never seen, being beneath the surface. Probably the creature is of a race which survives from that very different world in which creatures of gigantic size seem to have been so much commoner than now. There apprears to be no manner of reason for doubting the very express evidence so succinctly and soberly given.
Previous page
