Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1873-11-27
what 1. In the Depth. Of enc

0S38s
What do we know about things ten
miles down in the stupendous valleys
Of the ocean? On land here, the veg.
citation OF the Alpine base is rot that
Of its summit the wild goat skips
upon the peaks Of the HimaIayas, but
the rhiuoceros has his lair miles below.
Our acquaintance with the mysteries Of
the deep must be absolutely and liter
ally superficial, for W. may assuul. that
its mountain tops alone are revealed to
US, aud these dimly, and that to its
valleys our senses can never penetrate.
All the creatures that disport them
selves on or near its surface, are more
Or less familiar to us,-the whsles, the
porpoise, and the sharks, that come
tumbIing over it's fluctuations much in
the same way that butaloes come aoun-
dering over the waves Of the prairie.
The countless broods that feed on its
shallow banks, and are taken thereirom
to feed shal!ower u'ortals, are all with
in our grasp, aud We grasp them. On
the edge VI the iceberg SITS enthroned
the walrus, aud We salute him Us tho
elephant Of the sea, aud esteem him
unspeskably for the commercial value
Of his ivory tusks. The huge sea COW
has no mystcry for VI. We wake the
harmless creature up from the bed Of
se.weed On tho isolated rock, aud
having wished it good morning We
stick spears into it: and convert it to
the noble purpose Of gain. The n,ag.
ni6ceut sen unicorn, king Of the Attic
waters, is no stranger to Us, which is
just so much the worse for him. We
have cognizance Of all these creatures
and many more, the range IF which
appears TO b. in the upper regions of
the deep; but what can We aver Of the
mystic realms that JIG far, far down
about the buses Of the great submarine
mountain ranges-mouutains compared
with which our highest cry land peaks
arc possibly nothing but mere hillocks ?
There is sen monster known TO
fishermen Us the Horned Ray, a mon
ster fearful in itself, but interesting as
an illustration Of that which is, and a
suggestion Of that which may be-
veritable dragon Of the sea, whose lat.
eral 6ns extend like wings, and fire.
quently meaeure more than thirty feet
from tip to tip. This voracious fish
will sometimes make its appearance
among the swimmers in the surf, aud
taking one under each arm, 50 to speak,
descended with them to Depths un-
known. Until the ocean shall have
been dried up, or drained off, no hu-
man being can ever explore the strange
grottoes into Which this hideous man
eater glides with his prey. The great
fishes aud sea beasts that are known to
US may be creatures Of the upper deep
alone, never descending below certain
depth, lest they encounter far moro
hideous and powerful monsters than
themselves, which dwell at the bases of
mountains leagues farther down. One
can easily Imagine polypus anchored
there below in some distracting valley, |
of which it is lord and tyrant,-a stu
pendous mass Of bloatcd matter, grasp.
ing at everything within a circumfer-
ence Of half a mile, and ubsorbunt Of all
living creatures under the size of a
whale. In the China Sea there are
bivalves-whether oysters or musscls
am not certain-,he shells Of which |
are large enough to contain man prop
erly doubled up. II monster like
this inhabit comparative shadows, there
is no limit to ones ima,inines of the b.
valvular enormities at the bottom, tcu
finoea fi,rthpr 6Oun - dfknnf;.. hfonShL,