In 1608, English navigator, Henry Hudson described something two of his crewmen saw in his journal. He wrote this of their account. "From the naval upward, her back and breasts were like a woman's . . . her body as big as one of us; her skin very white and long hair hanging down behind, of the color black; in her going down they saw her tail, which was the tail of a porpoise, and speckled like a mackerel."

In 1403 in Edam, Holland a few women claimed to have rescued a mermaid and allowed her to live amongst them. In 1635, minister John Swain wrote this of the event. "She suffered herself to be clothed and fed . . . she learned to spin and perform other petty offices of women . . . she would kneel down with her mistress before the crucifix, she never spake, but lived dumb and continued alive (as some say) fifteen years.

On January 4, 1493, Christopher Columbus wrote this in his journal about mermaids. " They were not as beautiful as they are painted, although to some extent they have a human appearance in the face . . . " Columbus claimed to have seen mermaids off of the coast of Haiti and off of the coast of Guinea, Africa.

Alexander Carmichael reported in 1900 that he had met people who had seen and touched a mermaid. He wrote this of their account. "The upper part of the creature was about the size of a well-fed child of three or four . . . with an abnormally developed breast. The hair was long, dark and glossy, while the skin was soft and tender. The lower part of the body was like a salmon, but without scales."

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Although the ancient Tritons were said to be the offspring of mermaids, I don't think the general case has been labeled "a Triton". It could be. Since Rapparree is not sharing, he wickedly keeps us in a condition of vulnerable mystery with his puzzle. What a cruel man he is!! For fie.