Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1873-06-24
NO. l49.
THE APPEARANCE OF MERMAIDs AT SEA.

In 1887, according to Scottish maga-
zine, the crew Of a ship newly arrived in
the Thames from the East Indies, reported
that in the island of Mauritius they had par.
taken OF a mermaid, and the flesh was
good deal like veal. The mermaid weighed
three or four hundred weight-rather
buxom specimen. The head was particu-
larly large, and so were the features, which
differed but little from those of a man or
woman. The story tells of two of them,
one with beard four or five inches long,
the other much more femeninc. "When
they are first taken,' the narrator proceeds
to say. (Which is often on the ground, they
cry and grieve with great sensibility."
About the same time story came from
Virgo, in Spain, to the effect that some
fishermen on that coast had caught sort
OF norman, five feet and half from
head to foot. The head was like that of
goat. with long beard and moustache, u
black skin, somewhat hairy, very long
neck. short arms, hands longer than
they ought to be in proportion, and long
fingers, with nails like claws webbed toes,
and fin at the lower part of the back.
The magazines for 1875 gave an ac-
count OF mermaid which was captured
in the Levant and brought to London.
One Of the learned periodicals gravely
told its readers that the mermaid had the
complexion and features of European,
like those OF young woman; that the
eyes were light blue, the nose small and
elegantly formed, the mouth small, the
lips thin. but the edges round like those
ol Il Goldfish; that the teeth were small.
regular and white; that the neck was well
rounded, and that the ears were like those
,la ;Eo 81, Al,
man specie, with gills for respiration,
which appear like curls'' There was no
hair on the head, but ..rolls, which at a
distance might be mistaken for curls."
There was Il fin rising pyramidally from
the temples, forming foretop, like that
; of a lady's headdress.'
The bust was nearly like that OF young
damsel 4 proper orthodox mermaiden
but, alas . all below the waist was exactly
like Il fish. Three sets of fins below the
waist, one above the other, enabled her to
swim. Finally it is said to have an en-.
; chanting voice, which it never eyerts px.
cept before a storm" The writer in iha
Annual Register probably did not see this
mermaid, which the Gentleman's Maga-
zine described as being only three feet
high. 1t was atterward proved to be q
cheat made from the skull o! the angle
shark.
A Welsh farmer. named Reynolds, liv-
ing at Pen-y-hold in 1882 saw some
thing which he appears to have believed
to be mermaid; he told the story to DIR.
George Phillips, who told it TO Mrs.
Moore. who told it to young lady pupii
OF hers. who wrote out an account OF 1t 10
Mrs. Morgan, who inserted it in her Tour
to Milford Haven How much the story
gained on its trayels--like the Three Black
Crows, or the parlor game of Russian
Scandal-we are left to find out for our
selves; but its ultimate form was nearly
rs follows: One morning, just outside
the cliff, Reynolds saw what seemed to
him to be person bathing in the sea, with
the upper part OF the body out OF the WA
ter. On nearer view, it looked like the
upper part OF person in tub, Il youth,
say OF sixteen OF eighteen years OF age.
body, and a tail was under the water.
The head aud body were human in form.
but the arms and hands thick in proportion
to length, while the nose, running up
high between the eyes. terminated rather
sharply. The mysterious being looked at
tentively at Reynolds, and at the cliffs,
and at the birds flying in the air, with
wild gaze, but uttered no cry. Reynolds
went to bring some companions to see the
norman or mermaid, but when he re-
turned it had disappeared. If we like to
suppose that Reynolds had seen some kind
of seal and that the narration had grown
to something else by repeating from mouth
to mouth. perhaps we shall not be very
far wrong .-ANthe Year Round.