subject, than they would have been had those questions referred to the existence of eels and cod fish. It has been confirmed in every particular within these few years. by the wreck of a specimen that was driven on shore by a tempest, on one of the Orkney Islands; of which an account was read to the Wernerian Society of Natural History, at Edinburgh. [Lit. Pan. Jan. 1809, p. 749.] The bulk measured fifty-five feet in length; but the tail had been broken off by dashing among the rocks: the body was about the thickness of a small horse; the head was not larger than that of a seal it had two spiracles or blow holes. From the back hung down, like a mane, a number of filaments eighteen inches long. On each side of the body were three large fins, shaped like paws, and jointed: the first pair was five and a half feet long; the joint at four feet distance from the body. A few of the vertebræ, and the bones of one paw, were all that could be preserved.

It is evident that a creature of this description may pass for a sea-Nachash, and sufficiently vindicates the prophet; but if any credit be due to the observations, verified on oath, of American observers, a specimen more precisely of the Serpent kind was seen on several days in August, 1817, in the harbour of Gloucester, New England. Being informed of this, the Linnæan Society of New England instituted a committee for the purpose of inquiry, which published a report of particulars, that was reprinted in London, 1818. This Serpent was never seen at full length; but was variously estimated, from fifty feet long to a hundred. His colour was very dark or black on the back, which was formed into bunches; whitish under the belly. His motion was vertical like the caterpillar. He swam at pleasure with great rapidity. He could coil himself into a small compass. His tongue is forked, and he has teeth: but whether he has venom or venomous fangs, is uncertain. The existence of these Serpents justifies our belief in the existence of others, possessing, also, various powers; they justify the allusion of the prophet; and above all they justify the reference made by the Great Creator to his universal dominion over the land, the sea, heaven, earth, and hell, which is the object of the passage referred to.

The reader will connect with this the recollection of another Nachash placed in the heavens; for thus Job expresses himself (xxvi. 13.): "By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked Serpent." This crooked Serpent, whatever constellation it be, is clearly referred to the heavens; and whether, as some have supposed, it is a constellation around the north pole, or, as others think, the milky way, the tortuous course of which not unaptly represents the windings of a Serpent's form and track, must rather be queried than discussed in this place.

It might be hinted farther, that since it was a Nachash which tempted Eve, not a Peten, nor a Tzephon, it is of consequence to notice the application of this word; lest, peradventure, that action should be attributed to a creature of a kind totally dif ferent from that designed by the sacred writer; which error could only be the occasion of others, perhaps not equally innoxious. Comp. FRAGMENTS, NO. DXXXIX.]

The present opportunity may suggest a thought or two, on the existence of flying Serpents: as Scripture is usually understood to mention them.

Michaelis says (Quest. lxxxiii.), speaking of such Serpents, Although modern naturalists have not communicated any satisfactory information respecting flying Serpents, yet they are so often spoken of by the ancient writers of nations near to the equator, who may be better acquainted with the nature of Serpents than we are, that I boldly recommend farther inquiries to travellers, respecting the existence of flying Serpents. If there be any, and if they have been seen by witnesses deserving of credit, I beg every information, name, &c." This inquiry is interesting; and

though we are unable to affirm that Serpents, flying by means of wings, inhabit those countries to which Scripture more particularly refers, yet if they exist now in any country, it will be so much evidence of the possibility, that they formerly might exist elsewhere.

Barbot, after mentioning Serpents on the coast of Guinea thirty feet long, as the blacks assured him, says, "They also told me, there are winged Serpents or Dragons, having a forked tail, and a prodigious wide mouth, full of sharp teeth: extremely mischievous to mankind, more particularly to small children. If we may credit this account of the blacks, these are of the same sort of winged Serpents which some authors assure us, are to be found in Abyssinia, being very great enemies to the elephants. Barbot, in Churchill, vol. v. p. 213.

"In the woods of Java are certain flying snakes, or rather drakes [dracos]; they have four legs, a long tail, and their skin speckled with many spots; their wings are not unlike those of a bat, which they move in flying, but otherwise keep them almost unperceived close to the body. They fly nimbly, but cannot hold it long, so that they fly from tree to tree, at about twenty or thirty paces distance. On the outside of the throat are two bladders, which being extended when they fly, serve them instead of a sail. They feed on flies and other insects. The Javaneses do not in the least account them poisonous, but handle them just like common snakes, without the least danger." Nieuhoff, in Churchill, vol. ii. p. 296. [These are flying lizards, not serpents.

Niebuhr says, "There are at Bazra a sort of Serpents called heie sursurie, or heie thiáre. They commonly keep on the date-trees; and as it would be troublesome to them to come down a high tree, and creep up another, they hang by the tail to a branch of one tree, and by swinging that about, take advantage of its motion to leap to a second. These the modern Arabs call flying Serpents-heie thidre. I do not know whether any of the ancient Arabs saw any other kind of flying Serpent. Some Europeans from Bombay assured me, that they had seen Serpents with two heads; and others with two feet" [which is certainly true]. Then he alludes to Anson's Voyage in farther proof.

The words in Anson's Voyage are, "The Spaniafds, too, informed us, that there was often found in the woods a most mischievous Serpent, called the flying snake; which, they said, darted itself from the boughs of trees, on either man or beast that came within its reach, and whose sting they believed to be inevitable death," p. 308. 8vo. The reader will observe, this is report.

To conclude, by returning to the Dragon

The following is the latest, and most distinct, account of one of these large Serpents, which we have been able to procure; no apology, certainly, is necessary for alluding to an inhabitant of South America (we have been extremely jealous on such excursions). It combines several particulars which coincide with our purpose-though it differs from the red Dragon of Asia or Africa.

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'We had not gone above twenty yards through mud and water, the negro looking every way with an uncommon degree of vivacity and attention; when starting behind me, he called out, 'Me see snakee!' and in effect there lay the animal, rolled up under the falling leaves and rubbish of the trees; and so well covered, that it was some time before I distinctly perceived the head of this monster, distant from me not above sixteen feet, moving its forked tongue, while its eyes from their uncommon brightness appeared to emit sparks of fire. I now, resting my piece upon a branch, for the purpose of taking a surer aim, fired; but missing the head, the ball went through the body, when the animal struck round, and with such astonishing force as

...

to cut away all the underwood around him with the facility of a scythe mowing grass; and by flouncing his tail, caused the mud and dirt to fly over our heads to considerable distance. Of this proceeding, however, we were not torpid spectators, but took to our heels, and crowded into the canoe. I now found the snake a little removed from his former station, but very quiet, with his head as before, lying out among the fallen leaves, rotten bark, and old moss. I fired at it immediately, but with no better success than the other time: and now, being but slightly wounded, he sent up such a cloud of dust and dirt, as I never saw but in a whirlwind, and made us once more retreat.... Having once more discovered the snake, we discharged both our pieces at once, and with this good effect, that he was now by one of us shot through the head. David, who was made completely happy by this successful conclusion, ran leaping with joy, and lost no time in bringing the boat rope, in order to drag him down to the canoe; but this again proved not a very easy undertaking, since the creature, notwithstanding its being mortally wounded, continued to writhe and twist about, in such a manner as rendered it dangerous for any person to approach him. The negro, however, having made a running noose on the rope, after some fruitless attempts to make an approach, threw it over his head with much dexterity; and now all taking hold of the rope, we dragged him to the beach, and tied him to the stern of the canoe, to take him in tow. Being still alive, he kept swimming like an eel; and I, having no relish for such a shipmate on board, whose length (notwithstanding, to my astonishment, all the negroes declared it to be but a young one come to about half its growth) I found upon measuring it to be twenty-two feet and some inches; and its thickness about that of my black boy Quaco, who might then be about twelve old, and round whose waist I have since measured the creature's skin. . . .

years

"The negro David having climbed up a tree with the end of the rope, let it down over a strong forked bough, and the other negroes hoisted up the snake, and suspended him from the tree. This done, David, with a sharp knife between his teeth, now left the tree, and clung fast upon the monster, which was still twisting, and began his operations by ripping it up, and stripping down the skin as he descended. Though I perceived that the animal was no longer able to do him any injury, I confess I could not without emotion see a man stark naked, black and bloody, clinging with arms and legs round the slimy and yet living monster. This labour, however, was not without its use, since he not only dexterously finished the operation, but provided me, besides the skin, with above four gallons of fine clarified fat, or rather oil, though there was wasted perhaps as much more. When I signified my surprise to see the snake still living, after he was deprived of his intestines and skin, Caramaco, the old negro, whether from experience or tradition, assured me he would not die till after sun-set.

"This wonderful creature in the colony of Surinam is called Aboma. Its length, when full grown, is said to be sometimes forty feet, and more than four feet its circumference; its colour is a greenish black on the back; a fine brownish yellow on the sides, and a dirty white under the belly: the back and sides being spotted with irregular black rings, with a pure white in the middle. Its head is broad and flat, small in proportion to the body, with a large mouth, and a double row of teeth: it has two bright prominent eyes; is covered all over with scales, some about the size of a shilling; and under the body near the tail, armed with two strong claws like cock spurs, to help it in seizing its prey. It is an amphibious animal, that is, delights in low and marshy places, where it lies coiled up like a rope, and concealed under moss, rotten timber, and dried leaves, to seize its prey by surprise, which from its immense bulk it is not active enough to pursue. When hungry, it

will devour any animal that comes within its reach, and is indifferent whether it be a sloth, a wild boar, a stag, or even a tiger; round which, having twisted itself by the help of its claws, so that the creature cannot escape, it breaks by an irresistible force every bone in the animal's body, which it then covers over with a kind of slime or slaver from its mouth, to make it slide; and at last gradually sucks it in, till it disappears after this the Aboma cannot shift its situation, on account of the great knob or knot which the swallowed prey occasions in that part of the body where it rests till it is digested; for till then it would hinder the snake from sliding along the ground. During that time the Aboma wants no other subsistence. I have been told of negroes being devoured by this animal, and am disposed to credit the account; for should they chance to come within its reach when hungry, it would as certainly seize them as any other animal. The bite of this snake is said not to be venomous ; nor do I believe it bites at all from any other impulse than hunger." Stedman's Expedition to Surinam, vol. i. p. 170.

Admitting that the manners and history of the Boa were known in antiquity, they may furnish one reason why a persecuting power is denoted by a great red Dragon; because, when it had once involved its object in its folds, no hope of escape remained. And this seems to have been a popular comparison among the primitive Christians; for, clearly, to such a creature Hermas alludes in his fourth vision:-" I saw a dust rise up to heaven, and began to say to myself, Is there a drove of cattle coming that raises such a dust? . . I saw the dust rise more and more, insomuch that I began to suspect that there was something supernatural in it. And behold I saw a great beast, as it were a whale; and fiery locusts came out of his mouth. The length of the beast was about a hundred feet, and he had a head like an earthen jar... He came on in such a manner, as if he could at one gulp have swallowed a city. I came near to it; and the beast extended its whole bulk on the ground; and put forth nothing but its tongue, nor once moved itself, till I had quite passed by it. It had on its head four colours; first black, then a red and bloody colour, then a golden, then a white." This is explained as being "a figure of the tryal that is about to come." A whale on the high road kicking up such a dust, would be wonderful indeed, and absolutely unnatural: but a Dragon would be within the compass of nature and possibility. The vision contributes illustration on the great red Dragon of the Apocalypse.

Our Plate of the Boa (No. cxXXII.) shews the African species, with its maculated pattern; but as no estimate could be formed of the size of this creature from that Plate, we have copied Stedman's Plate of the Aboma (No. cxxxIII.), which gives dimensions by its relative proportions to the human figures. The reader will recollect that this specimen is not come to more than half its growth.

WE have had repeated occasions of wishing for better acquaintance with the natural history of the East; especially, among interpreters whose public translations are the voice of authority. Among other instances we notice that of rendering wnn Tahash (Numb. iv. 10; Ezek. xvi. 10. et al.), by the badger, which should rather be a kind of seal; and that of rendering n Tannin, in the passage under consideration, "Sea-monsters, which draw out the breast, and give suck." Philosophy knows nothing of such monsters; whatever is capable of posterity, producing

young to suckle, is no monster. We know that this word Tannin, is supposed by those who have endeavoured to understand the Natural History of the Bible, to denote a whale, or the whale kind: but, it were desirable rather to restrain it to the Amphibia, animals which haunt the shores, as well as the open waters. To justify this idea, it is proper to examine the descriptions of the Tannin in Scripture.

Tannin are frequently associated with the crocodile (a creature completely amphibious): taking the leviathan for that creature, as Psalm lxxiv. 13: "Thou brakest the heads of the [Tanninim] dragons in the waters; thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.' Also Isaiah xxvii. 1: "The Lord shall punish leviathan.. and he shall slay the [Tannin] dragon that is in the sea." As the Tannin in these passages is associated with leviathan, that it cannot be leviathan himself, is clear.

Commentators who suppose that Tannin means a whale, find insuperable difficulties in the expressions of the prophet Malachi, i. 3: "I disliked Esau, and gave his mountains to solitude, and his inheritance to the Tanuth [dragons, Eng. Tr.] of the wilderness." Now, to say nothing of the scarcity of whales in the Red sea, on which side only they could approach the inheritance of Edom-how can whales come inland to possess these inheritances, since whales are not amphibious, but always remain in the deep?

The LXX. render this word, Lam. iv. 3. by dragons: the Vulgate by lamia; but neither dragons, that is, serpents, nor lamia, have breasts, or suckle their young. The LXX. read sometimes 'Exivo, hedge-hogs, sometimes Sirenes; the Vulgate also reads "Sirens in the houses of pleasure," Isaiah xiii. 22. To say the least, then, this word Tannin (with its relatives) has been a source of perplexity to translators, as well ancient as modern.

But what are the characteristics of the Tannin in scripture?

(1.) It is evidently amphibious; as appears from passages already adduced. (2.) It suckles its young; and draws out the breast. (3.) It has the power of exerting its voice very mournfully, as appears, Micah i. 8: "I will make a wailing like the dragons' [Tannim]-When do dragons, that is, serpents, wail?—when do they mourn and lament? (4.) it has also the power of holding its breath a while-of drawing in vehemently a quantity of breath, and, consequently of emitting it with violence-of panting, as Jer. xiv. 6: "The wild asses stand on the high places: they puff for breath (or puff out breath), like Tannim [dragons] their eyes fail because there is no grass." These properties mark the Tannim.

We propose to submit rather a class of animals than any distinct species, because, it is not altogether certain how many of those facts which are known to us, were known in Syria; nor what kinds of the same class of creatures were most likely to furnish subjects of comparison to writers in Judæa, &c. Beside which, it is presumed, that allowances must be made for the different countries to which these Tannin are referred; as Egypt, Babylon, &c. the species of which might differ from each other, perhaps, considerably.

We may consider the seal and its relatives, as answering in many particulars to the Tannin.

THE SEAL, Fig. A. on PLATE CLXII.

The vulgar name is sea-calf; and on that account the male is called the bull, the female the cow. The Latin name is Phoca. Dr. Charlton derives this word own from ẞwn, boatu, denoting a hoarse voice-a lowing-which it makes. An. Pisc. p. 48. The lodgments of the Seal are hollow caves in rocks, or caverns near