_Olaus Magnus_ (Vol. iii., p. 370.).--I have before me an English
version of this most singular writer, by J. S., printed by J. Streater,
London, 1658, 1 vol. folio, pp. 342. The marvellous description of the
sea serpent by Olaus Magnus is well known, but during the controversy
recently raised as to the reappearance of this monster to the officers
of the Dædalus, the following testimony to its existence in later times
was perhaps overlooked. It is extracted from the notes of Frederick
Faber, the celebrated Iceland ornithologist, describing a zoological
expedition to the islands in the Cattegat, and published in Oken's
_Isis_ for 1829, p. 885.:
"As I was returning in a boat from Endelave to Horsens, the old
helmsman, observing that I took great interest in natural history,
asked me if I had ever seen the sea serpent. On my replying in the
negative, he told me that about two years ago, while he and his
companion were fishing near Thunoe, they observed the head of a
large creature lying quite on the surface of the water, and in
close proximity to their boat. The head was like that of a seal,
though they immediately perceived that it belonged to no animal of
that kind. A gull flew towards the monster, and made a pounce upon
him, when the huge creature raised its body at least three fathoms
high into the air, and made a snap at the bird, which flew away in
terror. They had time, before it disappeared, to notice that the
monster had a red throat, and that its body was about twice the
thickness of a boat's mast."