The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-05-21
A MONSTER OF THE DEEP.
THE THING AssEEN AND DESCRIBED
BIZ A MISSIONARY.
A sight that Fascinated n Passenger ne SUM
rise On the ScH-Children Torrcr-StTickon
and Women FainiinR-Was II the Sea SER
pent, or What In the World was ltf


pent, or What In the World was IL
nom ne bombay 0dseue.
STEAMSHIP HYDAspEs, March 22.-As a
missionary, have travelled over gre part OF
the world, nut can safsly aver that what l
comparably the most marvellous phenomenon
that has ever met INV Dyes.
We steamed out OF Bombay harbor on the
evening OF MONDAY, the 18Th OF March, H. the
steamship Hydaspes, Capt Reynould. On Iues-
day at twelve we had made I62 miles. on We'd
nesday at midday 40, on Thursday 7O7. and ON
we we're about 1850 miles from DOmbiy. No
thing Of remark mad occurred up TO Sat
urday. The weather was cool and near
" every one slept beiow; only one
naming on deck for the night. was reused from
steep at 0 by the men Wishing and scraolne the
aecks. took my vi tie Of broken biscuits TO
the stern and sat there m,nching them ana
looking at the sun rising. / was quite alone,
port side. There was "a thick bank OF clouds on
the horizon, and as the sun rose from the sea
behind this darkbanK great masses OF color, red
and blue and yellow. ut up the Whole expanse
OF sky and sea. was looking at strange rud.
saw apparently near the horizon, but In the red
blot, dark moving shadow. 1t did not seem To
with the other sh adows on the sea. ana this move
fixed my attention to IL. Soon saw haiti was
steadily approaching the vessel: could distin-
guish no form. only dark shadow, but made
out certainly that II was ADVANCING tOWaru US
anu at great rate.
Fifteen minutes must have passed when at
last became able to distinguish the form OF the
advancing object. u spoke to the captain after
ward as to the distance the object could have
been from wheii FIRST distinguished IL. and
be told me / must have been deceived by the
moving lights In supposing IL near the horizon;
and he guessed. from what sad, that IL was
then only three or four mtos distant. Mistakes
OF n like nature, he said, are commonly made
by the inexperionced) l cannot accurately de-
scribe my feelings on beholding tn II hideous
sivht At frat turned to call out to bring Others
to look on with me. but, before cry could pass
my lips, a second feeling Of selfish pleasure, that
| ] alone saw that fearful thing, seized me, and
| turned my eyes again to the sea and kept them
| fixed there. WITHIN n hundred feet OF the stern
| of our vessel, not now approaching US, but simply
following steadily In our wake, was this hidsous
| thing.
THE MoNs1ER's HEAD.
great mass OF what looked like tan
| Rled seaweed, on which futile attempt at
| combing had been made, rose out OF the water
! rnis mass must we been twenty or thirty feet
| In length and ten feet In width. and as II came
| on II caused wide ripple In the water, that
showed there must be still gre tier part below
| the surface From the centre OF this mass,
was a great black head. the top was quite iat
| In shape not unlike that OF monstrous toad.
| A thick fringe Of coarse, reddish hair hung over
the mouth, quite conceaiipg 70. hut the eyes
were the most awful part of this fearful thing.
| They we're placed far apart, at either extremity
Of the fiat head, distant from each other at least
three feet
must here state that all the passengers and
| all the crew, except the Captain himself. saw
the thing afterwnrd. but that there were scarcely
two VINO could agree ~ to the color and nature
OF these eyes l can only, therefore, write as
they appeared 20 me. The eyeballs were enot-
| IN diameter They scintili ted constantly Every
| knows tine extraordinary appearance OF q
| surface covered with small alternate squares OF
| bright red aud bright blue, the quivering. uncer-
| tain, unnxed look such surface has, the DIM
| Guilty, the impOssioihty experienced by the
looker-on to tx the color OF any particular
| square. The eyebalis Of this thing had such
red not blue. DOT red and blue they were OF
| bright, burningy bright, copper nue. they
panied our eyes.and In this we were all agreed reed
| eyeb al. u mere speck. but visible from Its ex-
treme brightness was point q light, OF white
light. IL was impossible TO tell whether these
points were, or were not material points OF the
eye or merely caused b, reflection, but they
were clearly defined, md seemed TO remain In
the same place. the motion, however, OF the
thing was steady that no deduction could
fairly ne drawn from their not changing their
position.
TERRIFIED SPECTATORS.
Ihad been so absorbed IN the pleasing pain Of
| looking at the thing. tnst h d y lite forgotten
the other people on board, ana was hfs n
the stern by me, give one look below at the
water, and then hurriedly go back. In a few
| minutes every passenger was crowding on To the
stern even the ladies appe caring 10 unfinished
costume. Exclsmatioos OF toe EXTREMIST as
constituent broke from all, aud then silence fell,
as the crowd stared at the hideous creature.
The children, at the nrst sis ht, ran back below
screaming, and some refused to come again on
deck. though their nurses and ayabs-desirous
OF looking on thomselves-used all possible
means to make then. Some, however, return
ed. curiosity overcoming fear, but even these
looked on In perpetual tremor OF terror, and
| held themselves fedul AZ Nuc uISi VI
the thing to rush away. / noticed al this time
that the Captain was not pre- sent, and turned 10
an old European sailor by me ana asked him to
20 and tell him.
&c plain won't come; no fear OF that, sir" re-
piled the man.
mo, ne was not navigating the ship, said
the sailor, out be would DOT come Tor all that
however, he would go and tell hin.
But though he went, the Captain would not
come.
till the first breakfast bell rang, at MALT oast
when we had perforce 70 hurry away and take
TINS time the thing had kept steadily in oui
wake. its movement continuing absolutely
smooth and constant, and the two sDeoks Of
light IN the glaring eyes never changing hair
breadth from their position.
. THE MONSTER AROUSED.
: At breakfast | sat one remove from the Cap
/, tain. We began, OF course, talking OF the thinI
we bad seen, but the Captain, for some reason
we could not then understand, seemed to dis
like the subject, and soon we abandoned IL, fall
ing then into absolute silence, for we could tail
of nothing else. When we went on deck agar
we were only a few minutes at breakfast-w
; found the thing still following steadily in on
Z wake. The children had IN great measure go
over their fear, and had made a long line b!
Joining hands, aud the whole lot OF them woul'
! now crouch down and then suddenly rise uu
! open their mouths at the thing, and cry out a
IL. No notice apparently beng taken of this
they grew holder. and at last tn cir cries increase
till they shrieked sbriily.
suddenly the hideous creature seemed rouse'
n by these cries It raised its mead in the air ut
tered a strange below, and came forward at
great pace toward the ship. None of us ooul'
az first move from fear the thing seemed T.
have grown In size, It's eyeballs were NOR
burningly bright; the children fell on the decl
crying, and some OF the women tainted. i
came swiftly up to the ship always uttering tn
same peculiar cry or below. When but afeN
feet from the stern, II suddenly turned an
came up close on the port side. Here the sid
awnings had been put up TO keep OF the sun
but three Of us rushed up to the awning an
quickly got 1t down, that we might the bette
watch the thing. For myself must say tina
white doing this | was still suffering froI
extreme fear, but my curiosity was so II
tense, so Irresistible, that could only act ~
| did. No sooner was the thing level with us tina
II raised itself with a sudden movement out q
the water, till its mead was thirty or forty fee
above us. Ii still uttered the same peculiar or
or below. We stood out on tho bulwarks
follow its movements. IL opened great moutl
cried more loudly than before. and made thre
blows at the mainmast. The last OF thet
touched II, and caused the snip to sway vie
lently, so that We were nearly cast on into III
water. When we again looked for the thing
had gone. There WIS no ripple, no disturbanC
of any kind in the water to SHOW where II nd
been. IL WAS gone absolutely. We looked col
stantly for II during tho rest of that day, but M
the slightest trace did we again discover.