their own invention. As to the likeness of the monster, I give it as I received it, neither affirming nor denying the truth thereof."

In Bochart's "Hierozoicon" is a very curious and learned chapter on fabulous animals, in which he gives us a variety of those of the sea from Arabian authors. They remind us of Eastern tales, and of Sindbad. Not that Sindbad's Old Man of the Sea (that admirable fiction, full of verisimilitude) has any thing of the sea in him but his name, and his living on the sea-shore; but the wonders are of the same wild and remote cast, linking the extremity of the marvellous with a look of nature and an appeal to our sympathies.

The first is named Abu-Muzaina, that is, says Bochart, "Paterdecora (the Father of the seemly)." Gentlemen of this species have the form of the sons of Eve, with glutinous skins, and are very well made. They weep and wail when they fall into human hands. They come out of the sea to walk about, and are then taken by hunters, who are so touched by their weeping as to dismiss them unhurt.*

The next is the Old Jew, who has a face like a man, a gray beard, a body like a frog's, hair like an ox, and is of the size of a calf. He comes out of the sea on Sabbath nights, and walks about till next evening, when he leaps frog-like into the sea.

Then comes a proper "Wasserman "" by name, the Homo Aquaticus, or Man of the Water; called likewise Old Man of the Sea, from his gray beard. He is just like a man, only he has a tail. His appearance presages great lowness in the price of crops. A king of Damascus married one of them to a female of the country, in order

*Bochart, "Opera Omnia,”. fol., vol. ii., part 2, p. 858.

that he might learn what language he spoke from their offspring! The result was a son, and one remark on the part of the old gentleman, expressing an unaccountable amazement.

Lastly cometh one Duhlak (the name is not interpreted), who haunts islands, riding upon an ostrich, and eating people that are shipwrecked. Some say that he will board ships, have a fight with the crew, and cry aloud "with a voice of boasting." Bochart is of opinion that this "voice of boasting" should rather be translated "glad and agreeable voice;" for, says he, the sirens are the creatures intended, who had maidens' faces, were birds in the lower parts of their bodies, and eat human flesh. But for a reason to be noticed presently, this decision appears to be a mistake.

"In these Arabian stories," says our good old author, "there may be some truth; for it has been proved that there are creatures in the sea possessing, or nearly possessing, the human form. You may read of some that have endeavored to get into ships by the cables, of others who come upon land to walk about, and who strike fire in the night-time with flints, and of others who behave very ill to women, unless you are quick to prevent them. Some have been taken and lived a long time in human society; among others a female one in Pomerania, of the name of Eda, very lively and amorous. And Gassendi, in his life of Peiresc, describes one that had been seen not long before, on the coast of Brittany. Ancient as well as modern history bears witness that such creatures have been found on the surface as well as in the depth of the ocean. Hence the origin of Tritons and Nereids. I regard, however, as plainly fabulous what is said of their being gifted with speech, and the Arabian stories of a species which keep

the Sabbath; though a writer of a former age, Lodovicus Vives, who was not at all given to trifling, confidently asserts that they have spoken, and thence concludes that the sea contains a generation of real men. 'There are men,' says he, 'in the sea as there are on the land— Pliny tells us so; entire men and I have no doubt of it. One was taken twelve years ago in Holland, and seen by many.. He was kept above two years, and was just beginning to speak, when being seized a second time with the plague, he was restored to his native element, into which he went leaping and rejoicing.' But we are to conclude that this marine species of man originated with the land species."*

In the "Persian Tales," a genuine oriental production, is a story of a manifest species of Duhlak, or ship-invading and boasting man of the sea, which corroborates what appeared to Bochart a misinterpretation of the “voice” above mentioned. It is drawn in apparent emulation of Sindbad's old man, to which it is very inferior, especially in the conclusion; yet the dramatic surprise of his behavior after he gets on board the vessel is startling; and though his boasting is overdone and made of too "knowing " and human a cast, yet when we see that this attribute of bullying was part of the popular faith in such beings, the narrative acquires additional interest, and has a diminished look of impossibility. His impatient stamping, the impenetrability of his skin, and his sticking his claws into the vessel when they tried to throw him overboard, are also striking circumstances. His face is described a good deal after the fashion of the ancient Triton. We shall commence the narrative with a few of those introductory details, à la Defoe, which give such a look of nature to

* Bochart, "Opera Omnia," fol., vol. ii., part 2, p. 860.

these "monstrous lies." The person speaking is "Aboulfauris, the Great Voyager," whose name one repeats with involuntary respect for his great beard and truly prodigious experience. "al

Having sailed," says this illustrious personage, most round the Isle of Serendib, we entered the Gulf of Bengal, which is the greatest gulf in Asia, at the lower end of which are the kingdoms of Bengal and Golconda. Just as we entered it there rose a violent storm of wind, the like of which had never been seen in those seas. We wanted a south wind, and this was a north-west, quite contrary to our course for Golconda. We lowered our sails, and the seamen did all they could to save the ship, which they were at last forced to let drive at the mercy of the wind and waves. The storm lasted fifteen days, and blew so furiously that we were in that time driven six hundred leagues out of our way. We left the long isles of Sumatra and Java to our larboard, and the ship drove to the strait of the Moluccas, south of the Philippines, into a sea unknown to our mariners. The wind changed at last and turned to an easterly wind; it blew pretty gently, and great was the joy of the ship's company. But their joy did not last long; 'twas disturbed by an adventure which you will hardly believe, it being so very extraordinary. We were beginning merrily to resume our course, and were got to the east point of the island of Java, when, not far off, we spied a man quite naked, struggling with the waves, and in danger of being swallowed up; he held fast by a plank that kept him up, and made a signal to us to come to his assistance. We sent our boat to him out of compassion, and found, by experience, that if pity be a laudable passion it must be owned that it is also sometimes very dangerous. The seamen took up the man and

brought him aboard; he looked to be about forty years old, was of a monstrous shape, had a great head, and short, thick, bristly hair. His mouth was excessively wide, his teeth long and sharp, his arms nervous, his hands large, with a long crooked nail on each finger. His eyes, which are not to be forgotten, were like those of a tiger; his nose was flat, and his nostrils wide. We did not at all like his physiognomy, and his mien was such that it soon changed our pity into terror.

"When this man, such as I have described him, appeared before Dehaousch, our master, he thus addressed him: 'My Lord, I owe my life to you, I was at the point of destruction when you came to my assistance.' 'Indeed,' replied Dehaousch, 'it would not have been long ere you had gone to the bottom, had you not had the good fortune to have met with us.'—'I am not afraid of the sea,' replied the man, smiling; 'I could have lived whole years in the water without any inconvenience; what tormented me much more is hunger, which has devoured me these twelve hours, for so long it is since I ate any thing, and that is a very long while for a man who has so good a stomach as I have. Therefore, pray let me have something as soon as possible to repair my spirits almost spent with such a fasting as I have been forced to keep. You need not look for niceties; I am not squeamish; I can eat any thing.'

"We looked at one another very much surprised at his discourse, and doubted not that the peril he had been in had cracked his brain. Our master was of the same mind, and imagining he might want something to eat, he ordered meat enough for six hungry stomachs to be set before him, and clothes to be brought him for his covering. 'As for the clothes,' says the stranger, 'I shall not meddle