Page:A description of Greenland.djvu/122

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86
The Natural Hiſtory
them have been ſeen by us, or any of our Time, that ever I could hear, ſave that moſt dredful Monſter, that ſhewed itſelf
upon

    pointed like a Sugar-Loaf. It has broad Shoulders, and two Arms without Hands. The Body downwards is ſlanting and thin. The reſt below the Middle, being hid in the Water, could not be obſerved. The ſecond Monſter he calls Margya The Mermaid or Mer-Woman.(or Mer-Woman, or Mermaid) had from the Middle upwards the Shape and Countenance of a Woman: A terrible broad Face, a pointed Forehead, wrinkled Cheeks, a wide Mouth, large Eyes, black untrimmed Hair, two great Breaſts, which ſhewed her Sex: She had two long Arms, with Hands and Fingers join'd together with a Skin, like the Feet of a Gooſe. Below the Middle ſhe is like a Fiſh, with a Tail and Fins. The Fiſhermen pretend, that when theſe Sea Monſters appear, it forebodes ſtormy Weather. Hafgufa, a fabulous dreadful Sea Monſter.The third Monſter, named Hafgufa, is ſo terrible and frightful, that the Author does not well know how to deſcribe it; and no wonder, becauſe he never had any true Relation of it. Its Shape, Length and Bulk ſeems to exceed all Size and Meaſure. They that pretend to have ſeen it, ſay, it appeared to them more like a Land than a Fiſh, or Sea Animal. And as there never has been ſeen above two of them in the wide open Sea, they conclude, that there can be no Breed of them; for if they ſhould breed and multiply, all the reſt of Fiſhes muſt be deſtroyed at laſt, their vaſt Body wanting ſuch large Quantity of Nouriſhment. When this Monſter is hungry, it is ſaid to void through

the