return I asked Mr. John Forster to favor me with a few lines to the chief constable of the Lake district, and through his hands I received the following statement:—
"'Steppes, 25th October 1870.
"'Sir,—With regard to your memo. of the 23rd of September last, relative to animals reported to have been seen in the Great Lake by young McPartland, and supposed to be seals, having made their way from the sea up the Derwent and Shannon Rivers, I now beg to inform you that I have made enquiries amongst the shepherds in the vicinity of the lake, and I find that several of them have seen an animal swimming in the lake very much resembling a black sheep-dog with only its head above the water. I cannot find that more than one has been seen at a time. I do not think it possible for seals to make their way from the sea to the Great Lake, in consequence of a very considerable waterfall being in the Shannon, near its junction with the Ouse, unless, being amphibious, they could escape the fall and reach the river above by land.
"'The people that have seen this animal in the lake maintain that it is not a platypus, but twice as large and much darker; but as it has never been very plainly seen, and considering the difficulty of any sea animal getting as far as the lake, I think it must undoubtedly be a very large platypus. Mr. Headlam's shepherd saw one at the very top of the lake, which he says was four or five feet long, with a very large black head. A shepherd of Kermode's also saw one. Ryan saw one at Swan Bay in the moonlight. Ridgers, the contractor, has also seen them; and I am told Mr. Kenrick Flexmore saw one at the sandbanks.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
James Wilson, Chief Constable.
John Forster, Esq., Hobart.'
"Mr. Morton Allport having informed me that Mr. Charles Headlam had seen such a beast in the lake, proceeded to correspond with that gentleman, from whom I furnish the society with the following note. I need hardly say the testimony of so well-known a gentleman as Mr. Charles Headlam is unimpeachable:—
"'Egleston, Macquarie River, Tasmania,
29th April 1872.
"'Dear Sir,—Yours of the 25th instant I have, asking for information in reference to an animal I saw in the Great Lake some years ago. I have looked over my journal, which I have kept for the last thirty-two years, and find that it was on Monday, 25th January 1863, that I saw the animal. My son Anthony was the only person with me at the time; the time of day was about eleven o'clock. The lake was very rough, and we were pulling our boat against a strong head sea, when my oar nearly came in contact with a large-looking beast, about the size of a fairly-developed sheep-dog. The animal immediately started off at great speed towards an island in the Great Lake known as Helen Island.
