The Sun.
London, England, 1811-10-04 00:00:00

SL!] NONSTEII.

rThe followinglccount of ,i;1 ,:xtraordinary animal of this
kind bccn commuliicatoi to ttl4 crAteri.an N4iur4l His-
tory Socicty.]

...,..:..........,.

LETTER FROM THE REV. MR. MACLEAN, OF SMALL
I,LES, TO THE SECRETARY OF THg WERNIittIAN
NATURAL iiibToio• SOCIETY.

SIR, • Eigg Island. April 64, t 8.9.
'Your- leiter of the ist instant I received, and
Would have-written in tinswerthereto sooner. had I
not thought it desirable to examine others .relative
to the animal of which you tvish me to give a par-
ticular account.

According to my best recolle6lion, I saw it in
June 1808, net on the coast of Eigg, but on that of
Coil Rowing along that. coast, I obsetved, at about
the'distance of half a mile, an obieel to wind=
_ ward, which gradually excited astontshmeet. At
first view, it appeared like a small rock. Knowing
there was no rock in, that situation, I fixed my eyes.
on it close. Then I saw it elevated. Considerably
above the level of the sea, and atter a slow.move-
.
mem, distlnctly. perceived one of Zits eyes.—
Alarmed at the unusual appearance .and magnitude
of the animal, steered Bo as to beat no great dis-
tance from the. shore. Whemnearly in a line be-
.twixt it and the shore, the monster, directing its
head (which still continued above water) towards us,
plunged violently under water. Ceatain that be
was in chase of us, .We plied hard to get ashore.
•Just as we leaped our on a rock, taking a station as
high as v. e convcniently,conld, eve saw 'it Coming
.rapidly under. water towards the stern of our
.boat.
When within afiw yards of the boil, finding the
water shallow, it raised its 'monstrous head above
water, -and oy a winding course, 'got, with apparent
ditfieulty, clear of the creek where our boat lay,'
..and where the monster seemed in danger of being
embayed. It continued to move Off, wait i;s head
above water,, and • with the wind, for about•half a
toile belote we lost sight of it.
Its head was rather broad, of a form somewhat
oval.. Its neck somewhat smaller. Its sh, ulders,
if I can so term
.them, considerably broader, and
thence it tapered towards the tail, which last it kept
pretty.low in the water, so that a view of it could
not be taken on distinctly as I wished. Itshati no
tin that I could perceive, and seemed to move pro-
gressively' by undulation up and do wn. Its length
beijo:cd to he tynin seventy weighty. feet. When
ncerest to me it slid not raish its head wholly above
water, so- 'that, the neck being outlet water, i could
perceive tie shiniog filatirnis 'thereon, it it bad any.
Its.pro4tessiveanottop under .water -I took to be ra-
pid, truth t Ile shortness of thelime it took to come
Op to the bout. When the'heattvvaS above water,
its motion was not near so quick; and when the
head was most elevated it appeared evidently to take
a view of distant objects.
About the time.l saw it, it was seen about the
island of estina, • The crews of . thirteen fishing-
no.ats, lAm told, were so much terrified at its ap-
peatanci!,' that they in a body fled from it io the
nearest creek for safety. Ott the passage from Rum to
Canna, Ihe Crew of one boat saw it coming towards
them, with the wind,'and its held high-abuve water.
Ope of the crew pronounced its head as large as a
little boat, and each of its eyes as large as a plate.
'the Men were, much ten ified, but the monster or.
fered them no molestation.

From those who'saw it I could get no interesting
particulars additional,lo the above-mentioned.

I remain, Sir, &c.
• DONALD MACLEAN,

POLICE.

MANTAION-HOUSE,--Yegterday Mr. King, of East
Stnithlield, was charged by J fates Bougl4, a porter,
belonging to .one of the Margate packets, With
assaulting him, at two o'clock on I:Vednesday
morning, by knocking _a large tox off his head,
hiCh•he was carrying .Iroin the packet-boa:, and
desiring him, in an imperative manner. to shew
what it contkiiticd. This command the other re-
! slated, and suspecting; the prisoners intentions were!
to rob hint of the contents,. he called the watch,
and. had him taken into custody*: When ..41 the
watch-housepri,;();i2r behaved very and
abased the prosecutor in avery violent manner.
It was acknowledged, both by fheTresecutor and
the officer who had tutu in cli.4ge, that the prisoner
was very atlile time.
The prisoner stated, that he was a -housekeeper,
,at No. Bi, Edit Sinittitiehl„ and that it was the cos-
.,
tarn irt tits parish, wheis alausekeeper saw a suspi-
Clutts chanicter carrying any box or' bag at unrea-
sonable late litiure; tai d(.o.itiand information as to
whet they contained, therefore, thought he
had a right to do so, e.Veli in other parishes. lie
added, however, that he .was very drOnk at the.