The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1873-06-26

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At any rate, the mermaids we're piou
as well as loyal, for one Of the thing
there were to do was "To extol thei
Maker and His bounty praise" Abou
the same time, Merollo, aSpaniard, @
an italian, who made voyage to Congo
told tho readers of his narrative that h
saw, in the sea, "some beings like unit
men, not only in their figures, but like
wise in their actions for we saw ther
plainly gather great quantity of cel
tain herb, with which they immediate
ly plunged themselves into the sea-
The sailors tried to catch them in a net
but the mermen were too wide awake
they lifted up the net and made thei
escape"
In 1701, according to Brands ode
scription of the Orkney and Shetland
Islands" A boat at the fishing drew hej
lines; and one of them, as the fishers
thought, having some great fish upoi
it, was with greater difficulty than tn,
rest raised from the ground. But whel
raised, it came more easily to the sur
face of the water; upon which n crea
ture like mermaid presented itself a
the side of the boat. 1t had the face
arms, breast, and shoulders of n wo
man, and long hair hanging down the
back; but the neither part was beneatl
the water, so that they could not un,
derstand the shape thereof. The two
fishers who were in the boat being sur.
prised at this strange sight, one of them
unadvisedly drew Il knife and thrust it
into her bosom, whereupon she cried,
as they judged, Alasr The hook Civ
ing way, she fell backward, and was no
more seen; the hook, being big, went
in at her chin and out at the upper lip" "
Brand didn ct see all this indeed, most
of the mermaid stories come second OF
third hand. The fishers told baillie,
to whom tho boat belonged; the baillie
told n lady, and the lady told Mr..
Brand. The man who cruelty stabbed
the poor mermaid was much troubled
afterward. d" He Is now dead, and, as
was observed, never prospered after
this, but was haunted by an evil spirit
in the appearance Of an old man, who,
it is thought, used to say unto him,
will yc do such a thing? Who killed
the woman? The other man then in
the boat is still alive in the isle of Bur
ra." The man was certainly more like
a brute than fisherman, or he would
not have drawn his knife for such pur-
pose; whether human or non-human,
she would have been worth more to him
alive than dead even rs an exhibition
to villagers at a baubee head.
In 1887, according to a Scottish maga-
zine, the crew of ship newly arrived
in the Thames from tho East Indies,
reported that in the island of Mauri-
titus they had partaken of mermaid,
the flesh of which was a good deal like
veal. The mermaid weighed three or
four hundred-weight, rather a buxom
specimen! The head was particularly
large, and SO were the features, which
differed but little from those of man
Or woman. The story tells of two of
them, one with beard four or five
inches long, the other much more femi-
nine. 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 Vigo, in
Spain, to the effect that soma fisherman
IN that coast had caught sort of mer-
nan, five feet and half from head to
DOT. The head was like that of goat,
With long beard and mustache, a black
skin, somewhat hairy, a very long neck,
short arms, hands longer and larger than
hey ought to be in proportion, and
ong fingers, with nails like claws;
yebed toes, and fin at the lower part
,f the back.
The magazines for ITS gave an ac-
,onnt of n mermaid which was captured
n the Levant and brought to London.
)ne of the learned periodicals gravely
old its readers that the mermaid had
he complexion and featurees of Eu-
opean, like those Of young woman;
hat the eyes were light blue, the nose
mall and elegantly formed, the mouth
mall, the lips thin, "but edges of them
ound like those of Goldfish" that the
eeth were small, regular, and white !;
hat tle neck was well rounded and
hat the ears were like those of the eel,
but the placed like those of a human |
pecies, with gills for respiration, which |
ppear like curls." There was no hair |
IN the head, but "rolls, which, at
.istanoe, might be mistaken for curls.
here was fin rising pyramidally from
he temples, forming fore-top, like |
hat OF lady's houd dress" The
'ust was nearly like that of young
amsel, a porper orthodox mermaiden,
'ut, alas all below the waist was exact
y like fish ! Three sets of fins below |
he whist, one above the other, enabled |
Ter to swim. Finally, cit is said to
ave an enchanting voice, which it
lever exerts excepts before storm"
he writer in the Annual Register pro-
ably did not see this mermaid, which
he Gentieman's magazine described as
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