Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1852-03-04

line, rthe irons drawing. At Pm.
wind began 10 shift, which favored US
little; at 5 P. NJ, it, to our great joy, be
gan TO abate, es ~.
sP. MA sudden lull; line taut.-
| The night was beautiful, the sky clear
wind scarcely a breath, and sea rapidly
falling. a5s-,
/ No eye, was closed in the ship; we
were speculating on our prey. 1t was
evident he was on the bottom. He
staid down long time; but on yefec.
ton considered that was his sJorte-thai
1 he was at home there. AT A A. NJ, on
tho 14th, sixteen hours after he went
down, the line began TO slack.I had il
taken to the windlass, when -, got
nearly two lines 'hand over hand, then
there come a strain again., This strain
continuing. | told every body to bear
hand and get breakfast, and Just be-
fore we were through, the cook cried
out, "Here he is" In no time, all were
on deck, and sure enough he had risen;
but all that was visible was a bunch, ap-
parenily the blight of the Snake, where
he had been fastened 10. 1 lowered
three boats, and we lanced the body
repeatedly without eliciting any sign of
life.
While we were at work, he grad
ually rose TO the surface, and around
him foated, what l took to be pieces
OF his lungs, which we had Gu, with
our lances. To make oar woFs sufe
we continued to lance, eagerly seek
ing his life, when be drew himself up
and we pulled away, and then wit
messed the terrific dying sirugs,es of
the monster. None OF the crew who
witnessed that terrible scene will ev-
er forget 1.-THE evolutions q the
body were rapid as lightning, seeming
Ike the revolving of a thousandenor-
nous black wheels. The tail and
head would occasionally appear in
the surging bloody foam, and a pound
50 dead, unearihly and expressive OF
acute agony, that thrill Of horror
ran through our veins. The convul-
sive efforts lasted ten or fifteeaT4nin-
uics, when they suddenly stopped,
the head was partly raised-itfell-
the body partly turned and lay still.
| took off nv hat and nine terrific
cheers broke simultaneously from
our throats. Oar prey ,oaS decd!
Luckily he foated buoyantly. and
we took him alongside, and l'fhile
doing so he turned over, lying belly
up. Every eye bsamed wilh-%.y as
we looked at him over the raif, and
the crew again cheered vociIerously,
and Joined them. We now held a
consultation as to what we should
do, and had requested all hands to
offer their opinions. After Il short
talk, all Of us felt convinced that il
would be impossible to get him into
port, aud then we concluded TO try
and save his skin, head, and bones, if
possible. In the first place, IreGues-
ted a Scotchman, who could draw
tolerably, TO take sketch Of him as
he lay, and the mate TO measure him.
II was now quite smooth; and we
could work TO advantage.
As ] am preparing minute des-
cription. of the Serpent, will mere
Iy give you few general points. 1t
was male; the length, l03 feet Z
inches; l9 feet | inch around the
neck; II feet 6 inches around the
shoulders: and the largest part Of
the body, which appeared somewhat
distended, 40 feet III inches. The
head was long and fat, with ridges;
the bones Of the lower jaw separate;
and the tongue had its end like :he
head OF heart. The tail ran nearly
to a point, on the end OF which was
a fiat firm cartilage. The back was
black, turning brown on the sides,
then yellow, and on the centre OF
the belly a narrow white streak
two-thirds OF its length; there was
also scattered over The body dark
spots. On examining the skin we
found, TO our surprise, that the body
was covered with blubber like that on
the whale, but it was only four
inches thick. The oil was clear as
water, and burned nearly as fast as
spirits Of turpeniine.
We cut the snake in, but found
great difficulty, and had 10 flense
him, the body would not roll, and
the blubber was so very elastic that
when stretched twenty feet by the
blocks, il would, when cut of, shrink
10 five or six feet. We took in the
head, frightful object, and are en-
deavoring 10 preserve il with salt
We have saved all the bones,
which the men are not done clean
ing yet. In cutting open the Ser
peut we found pieces of a squid and
a large blackfsh, the flesh of which
dropped from the bones. One of the
Serpent's lungs was three feet longer
than the other. | should have oh
served that there were ninty-four
teeth in the jaws, very sharp, all
pointing backward and as large as
oness thumb at fba o,f,na hnt -daaol,,