Page:Travels in Uruguay.pdf/23

8 Englishman, in spite of his native politeness, he was sure to be joked, and annoyed with personal remarks; the inborn dislike of an Englishman to a Frenchman giving itself vent in such terms.

Two old sea captains, both of them English, had an argament which they resuacitated from day to day, as opportunity offered, about the great sea-serpent; the one considering it a veracity, the other a myth. I had for- gotten the story, from its having occurred so long ago. Suffice it to say that, at the time it happened, an account of it, with a picture of the serpent, speeding along with its head raised out of the water, was thought worthy of being recorded and illustrated in the Penny Magazine of that period. .

In the feud that repeatedly ensued. on the question between these sea captains, I sat quiet, merely putting questions which were home thrusts to each side; appearing to be only a philosophic inquirer after truth, desiring to acquire facts, and to gain the fullest confirmation. The consequence was, that I became an involuntary judge on the occasion, both parties, like barristers, directing their arguments to me, as their common focus; each again and again returning to the charge; and that without requiring constant “refreshers,” to stimulate their zeal. I, of course, was the most edified, if not highly amused, of the party.

The advocate for the truth of the vision of this great serpent thus stated bis case.‘‘As one of Her Majesty's ships was sailing in the South Atlantic an enormous serpent was seen to rise from the surface, It passed close te the vessel, with its head and neck some fifteen feet out of the water, at a rapid pace. Its supposed length was