The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1873-10-02
WAT rs IN THE DEPfas or THI
"'I0" '%' 6kl3 S."7 >5F1' Z.
By oHARLEs DAWSON sHANLY.

What do We know sbout thing, ton
miles down in the stupeudou.s valleys
Of the ocean 2 % land, here, ,'th, til, v,gs.
t..ion Of Ii. Alpiss 81. i -, ,iot that Of
it. ! summit; ; tho ~ild so.t, sIip, u upon
the peaks Of iths Himaalayysl,sI, ,Iab but the
rhinoesros h.s hisl 1.irr miles below.
Oar acquaintance With the mysteries of
the deep must be absolutely and liter.
'Ily superficial, for We may .s.uu. that
its mountain.tops alone are revealed to
Us, snd these dimly, and That to it. val.
leys our senses can mover penetrate
All the creatures that d,sport them.
selves on or near its surfscs, are more
or less familiar to us,-tbe whales, th.
porpoises, and the sharks, that come
tombling over it's undulations much 10
the same way that bufaloes como
aeundsrlng over the waves Of the
prairie. The countless. broods that
teed on its shallow banks, and are tax.
en- therefrom to feed shallowsr mortals.
are all within our grasp, and We grasp
them. On the ledge of the iceberg sit.
en'hroned the walrus, and We salute
him as tho elephant Of tho sea, and
esteem him unspeakably for the con-
meroisl value OF his ivory tusks. The
huge .se.oow has no m, stsry for Us.
'Wsssks the harmless: creature up from
- bed Of seaweed on the isolated rock,
and having wished it = good morning,
'se stick spears into it, sud convert it
~ the noble purpose of gain. The
magnifssnt sea-uuicorn, king Of the
Arctic waters, is no stranger to us,
which is just 80 much the worse for
HIM. We bavs eoznizance of all these
'e. ereatures and many more, the range
of which sppesrs to BE- in the upper re.
gions Of the deep bu, what can We
aver Of the mystic realms that lie far,
tar down about the bases of the great
submarine mountain rauges,-mouu-
tains compared with which our highest
dry'land peaks are possibly nothing but
mere hillocks 7
There is sea monster known to
fishermen as the Horned Ray, . mou-
ster most fearful 10 itself, but interest.
Jog as an illustration of that which is,
and a suggestion of that which may be,
"a vsrltable dragon of the sea, whose
lateral 6ns extend like wings, aud fire.
quently measure more than thirty feet
from tip to tip. This voracious fsb
will sometimes make its appearance
among the swimmers in tho surf. and
taking one under each arm, 60 to
speak, descend with them to depths
unknown. Until ocean shall have been
dried up, or drained of, no human be.
ing can ever explore the strong erot-
toes into which this hideous msn.e.ter
glides With his prey. The great fishes
and sea beasts that are known to us
may be creatures Of the upper deep
alone, never descending below a oer-
tain depth, lest they encounter far
more hideous and powerful monsters
than themselves, which dwell at the
bases Of the marine mountains leagues
farther down. One can easily imagine
polypus anchored. there below in
some distracting valley, of which it is
the lord and tyrant,-a stupendous
mass of bloated matter, grasping at
everything within circumference of
half mile, and absorbent of all living
creatures under the size Of a whale.
10 the China Sea there are bivalves-
whether oysters or mussels | am not
certaia-the shells of which are large
enough to contain a man properly
doubled up. If a monster like this in
habit comparative shadows, there is no
limit to ones imaginings of the bival-
vular enormities at the bottom ten
miles further down.-ANantic Monthlv
for October.