CHAPTER XIII.
Of The Chondropterygii, And Other Uncouth Hordes Infesting The South Seas At intervals in our lonely voyage, there were sights which diversified the scene; especially when the constellation Pisces was in the ascendant.
It's famous botanizing, they say, in Arkansas' boundless prairies; I commend the student of Ichthyology to an open boat, and the ocean moors of the Pacific.

As your craft glides along, what strange monsters float by.

Elsewhere, was never seen their like.

And nowhere are they found in the books of the naturalists.
Though America be discovered, the Cathays of the deep are unknown.
And whoso crosses the Pacific might have read lessons to Buffon.

The sea-serpent is not a fable; and in the sea, that snake is but a garden worm.