1886.] DANIEL WEBSTER AND COL. PERKINS.

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both places known to-day as the summer residences of some of Boston's best citizens, whose comfortable and elegant homes are reared upon every commanding spot.

Next, after Manchester, the environs of Gloucester, - Kettle Cove, now rejoicing in the more pleasing name of "Magnolia," taken from the swamp near by, where grow those fragrant flowers whose creamy petals, set off by dark-green leaves, are popularly supposed to scent the air for miles around, a race of strangers whose translation from the sunny South to this northern clime is one of the wonders of the region.

After Magnolia, they ride through the pleasant woods to Fresh Water Cove, passing Rafe's Chasm and Norman's Woe Rock. Now the extreme end of Eastern Point, stretching away to the right and forming the outer part of Gloucester Harbor, appears in sight; but it is not till the top of Sawyer's Hill is reached that our friends, gaining a full view of the wide-spread panorama, call a halt to enjoy its varied beauties.

Right before them appears the rocky point on which Roger Conant's colony of 1623, the first of the cape and the oldest after Plymouth and Boston, held its brief sway; farther on, Ten-Pound Island with its light-house; then the village of Gloucester, the old fort, the still older wind-mill, both prominent objects; and in the distance the twin lighthouses of Thatcher's Island, with Railcut Hill to the north-east, and, stretching to the north, the low, marshy level through which Squam River meanders to the sea by the sands of Coffin's Beach.

Under any circumstances this panorama would have challenged the admiration of our friends; but seen, as they saw it, on a clear summer day, with the wide expanse of blue water breaking under the influence of a gentle breeze into curling waves, which with gathering force dashed playfully upon the yellow ledges and shining beaches, with flocks of sea-gulls sweeping in graceful circles or brooding upon the surface, no ordinary description could do it justice.

The fair peninsula of Cape Ann, a large part of which now lay before them, called by the Indians "Wingershaek," has since been thrice named. By Samuel de Champlain, who visited in it in 1605, it was called Cap aux Isles, the islands being those now known as Straitsmouth Island, Thatcher's Island, and Milk Island. By Captain John Smith, who landed upon its rocky shores in 1614, it

was named Tragabigzanda, and the same islands were called The Three Turks' Heads; and by Prince Charles, who, after Smith's return to England, gave it the name of Cape Ann, in honor of his mother, Queen Ann, consort of James the First.

The colony of Roger Conant was afterward transferred to Salem ; but within the next ten years a permanent settlement was made, which in 1642 was incorporated under the name of Gloucester, in honor of the ancient city of that name in England.

From the first, Cape Ann has been the home of fishermen, though a considerable foreign commerce was at one time carried on by its thrifty mariners. Eminently patriotic, the town bore its share in the country's struggle for independence, two companies of Gloucester men having fought at Bunker's Hill, and its bold privateers did good service upon the ocean, not only in the Revolution, but in the later struggle with the mother country.

Our travellers, having satisfied their curiosity as to the general appearance of the town, are getting under way again for a nearer acquaintance, and becoming more and more interested in the special object of their visit.

As they approach the village, it is evident that something unusual is going on; they pass people moving in the same direction, with eager and expectant faces, to one of whom Mr. Webster ventures these questions: Can his serpentine majesty be seen to-day? and where to the best advantage? Receiving satisfactory replies, the coachman is ordered to drive to the old wind-mill, where they arrive in a few moments, from the shady side of this quaint structure, whose merrily revolving sails were at their usual work, a large part of both the outer and inner harbors being easily

seen.

Let us now take some note of occurrences which at this time were agitating the little town, and the fame of which had extended to Boston.

On Sunday, the tenth of August, four days before, Mr. Amos Story, rowing in his boat near Ten-Pound Island, was greatly disturbed, not to say alarmed, by the appearance, at some twenty rods' distance, of a sea monster, totally unlike anything he had ever seen in his long experience as a fisherman and mariner. Moving at the rate of a mile in two minutes, nearly one hundred feet in length, as large as the body of a man, with a head like a turtle, but carried high out of the water, with the body of a snake,

but with the vertical motion of a caterpillar, and of a dark-brown color, this enormous reptile brought such fear to the honest fisherman as induced him to make a rapid retreat to a safe distance.

His account of the monster naturally set all the people on the lookout, and for nearly every day in the following two weeks it was seen under different circumstances by many of the inhabitants of Gloucester and the adjacent villages.

At the present day, on the first notice of such a wonderful appearance, the daily papers would send their reporters from far and near, and, with the help of the Associated Press, curious readers all over the country would the next morning have accounts of the Sea Serpent served to them at breakfast-time. Instantaneous photographs would be attempted, and the illustrated weeklies would give the world picturesque, if not accurate, representations of the monster and the localities in which he appeared. But in 1817 the news spread slowly, and no public mention was made of the matter till Saturday the 16th, when the Commercial Gazette of Boston, under the modest caption of "Something New," alludes to the reports that had been in circulation for some days, and describes the preparations making by a party who expected to capture the bold intruder.

The subject occupied the attention of the papers in Salem and Boston more or less for the next two months, for although the visit of the serpent seems to have ended early in September, records of former appearances in different parts of the world were fully discussed. It is worthy of notice that almost from the first the authentic character of the reports was admitted. The Chronicle and Patriot of Boston says, under date of Aug. 20, "Doubts having been expressed by some as to the fact of an aquatic serpent of the magnitude described having been seen in the harbor of Gloucester, we have conversed with gentlemen of that place of undoubted veracity who have seen him since the former accounts were published, and who declare that they have in no way been exaggerated."

These are brief extracts from the papers during the time that they were occupied with the subject: Aug. 18, "two serpents were seen playing together"; Aug. 25, one was seen "feasting on alewives in Kettle Cove"; Aug. 28, he was "still hovering on the coast and feeding on herring"; Sept. 4, "It is hoped that the naval commander on the coast will attempt its capture"; Sept. 10,

he was seen at Salem, "after the swarms or schools of bait," and again, near Half-way Rock, "coiled up on the surface of the water, reposing after a hearty breakfast of herring"; Aug. 27, the "Aquatic Novelty" was "off Eastern Point"; Sept. 24, there was a notice of "Beach's picture about to be exhibited"; Oct. 1, "the Panorama of Gloucester with the great Sea Serpent will be ready for exhibition on Monday next." One account states that "he is cased in shell"; another, that "it is proposed to make a number of strong nets in the hope of entangling and so killing him"; Oct. 8, "the panorama is on exhibition at Merchant's Hall, Milk Street," and "Beach has in the hands of an engraver a view on a small scale, and is painting one 26 x 14 feet, including the town and harbor of Gloucester."

A small serpent of strange appearance having been taken on the land near Loblolly Cove, one correspondent writes at some length that it must have been the progeny of the two seen playing together, who were doubtless the parents.

Fortunately for the cause of science, there was at the time an association of naturalists called "The Linnæan Society of New England," whose prompt action caused the various reports about the matter to be carefully sifted, and the result placed before the public in an authentic manner. This society met at Boston on the 18th of August, and appointed a committee to collect evidence in regard to the existence and appearance of the strange animal.

The committee consisted of the Hon. John Davis, Jacob Bigelow, M.D., and Francis C. Gray, Esq., all men of the highest respectability, and of undoubted fitness and capacity for the work they were to undertake, and the result of their labors was published in a pamphlet of fifty-two pages, the title of which cautiously states that the report is "relative to a large marine animal, supposed to be a serpent, seen near Cape Ann, Massachusetts, in August, 1817." It was accompanied by an engraving of the Scoliophis Atlanticus," the small snake captured near Loblolly Cove, representing the animal at full length, about three feet, and also in parts after dissection, with full explanations.

From this pamphlet it appears that on the 19th the committee wrote to Hon. Lonson Nash, a magistrate of Gloucester, asking him to examine upon oath some of those who had seen the animal, not allowing them to communicate with each other the substance of their respective statements till they were all com

mitted to writing, and proposing certain rules with regard to the method of conducting the examination, as well as a list of twentyfive carefully prepared questions to be put to the persons examined. Eight depositions received from Mr. Nash, and three others taken in Boston, all read before the Society on the 1st of September, are given in full, as well as further correspondence with Mr. Nash, and various accounts of similar appearances in former years and at other places. The committee seem to have no doubt but that the depositions were truthful and accurate, and suggest that the small serpent which they describe may have been of the same species as the larger one, and possibly its progeny.

The eight depositions taken at Gloucester were those of Amos. Story, mariner; Solomon Allen, 3d, shipmaster; Epes Ellery, shipmaster; William H. Foster, merchant; Matthew Gaffney, ship carpenter; James Mansfield, merchant; John Johnston, Jr., a boy of seventeen; and William B. Pearson, merchant. The deponents were selected for their probity; each of them saw the serpent at different times and under different circumstances, and their very interesting statements, too long to be here given in full, are briefly summarized, so far as description is concerned, in the following extracts:

This is what they say as to the length of the monster: "eighty to ninety feet," "forty feet at least," "forty to sixty feet in length," "fifty feet at least," "nothing short of seventy feet," "seventy feet at least," "not surprised if one hundred feet," "at least a hundred feet."

And this as to his size: "size of a man's body," "size of a half barrel," "joints from head to tail," "joints about the size of a two-gallon keg," "large as a barrel," "bunches on his back about a foot in height," "two and a half feet in circumference."

His movements are thus described: "slow, plunging about in circles, and sometimes moving nearly straight forward," "sunk directly down and appeared two hundred yards distant in two minutes," "did not turn down like a fish, but settled directly down like a rock," "moved at the rate of a mile in two or three minutes," "turned short and quick till his head came parallel with his tail," "sinuosities vertical," "in different directions, leaving on the water marks like those made by skating on the ice," "a mile in a minute," "vertical, like a caterpillar," "turns short and quick, head and tail moving in opposite directions and almost touching,"