Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1882-03-02
In the Clutches OF IN Ostopus.

sharks than one octopus. In al
most any market in Gan Franciaeo
you will find them from ten TO twelve
feet long. They are sold by the pound
TO the Chinese and sometimes Ia
Frenchmen and Italians. / kept a
stall there once, and have sold hun
dreds Of them. The Chinese call them
Chang Kwei Yu, and they are very fond
of them. Italians and Frenchmen
always wanted them cleaned, but
Cinnamon wouldn't buy them unless
they were whole. / didn't understand
this until one day when sold about
fifty Of them to an old Chinaman, who
was 20 particular about their having
bills and suckers on that / sent boy
to follow him. He traced him to g
Chinese doctor, who paid the old chap
more for the suckers and bills than he
had paid me for the entire lot. 1t
seems that these parts we're very valu-
able to them as medicine; 30 after that
/ made just double on my sales. They
taste something like frogs, but are too
soft and icliy-like to suit me. Angel
Island is a great place for them, and
any pleasant day You can see Cinnamon
hunting smong the rocks at low tide
or hauling long nets for them.
The largest one ever saw alive
had spread Of about twenty-five feet
1t was good many years ago. I wAs
knocking about Frisco, where l met =
friend who had got together party TO
go up the coast somewhere near Van
couver's Island, and hunt for rich wreck,
and / shipped. We discovered the old
hulk in about four fathoms. In the
crew were two halfbreeds from Mexico,
who could stay under water, it seemed
TO me, about ten minutes. They were
pearl divers from the Panama coast,
and when they went down they carried
a heavy stone to sink them and rope
TO make fast to anything they could
find. When the oldest diver clipped
over We could follow him on the bottom
by the air bubbles. His mate held a
small life line that he signaled by. In
about four minutes the signal came,
and We hauled away. he came aboard
with a jump and said that he had
hooked on to cask or box, and that
as soon as he moved il a cloud of mud
or sand rose, as if some big fish had
moved, and thinking Of sharks, he had
come up for his knife, which he
generally took down at first. He
seemed somewhat winded, and
the other man said he would
go. Taking sharp knife in his mouth,
he was lowered down, and was soon
ont of sight. After he lad been down
about five minutes there came q pull
on the life line that nearly ierked the
skipper overheard. We pulled and
pulled, until it was evident something
was wrong and we all gave way hard,
and by the way it came we thought the
whole wreck was afoul. In half q
minute ne had Pedro's head out of
y water, but the sight OF 1t almost made
us drop the line. The poor fellow
seemed almost covered with q mass Of
snakes, that were twisted all over him.
The arms and legs of the animal writhed
, about, some around his neck, others
around his arms and body, while fast.
, ened to his breast was big bag-like
body with q pair Of eyes like cats,
with the Rme green light you see in
them in the dark. The skipper and the
other diver knew what It was, and sung
out for knives. We couldnt get il
on deck, because three or four Of
its arms were slung around the
bow cable. The diver lowered him
self, and putting his knife in under the
animal, he slit il in two. The skipper
in the meantime was at work in the
fore chains, and he cut off the arms.
Then with a jerk We had the man Or
deck. BE was half dead, and we had
to cut the octopus from him piece by
piece, and even sitter il was cut up the
two jaws clung TO his chest and had 10
be cut out. It took as half an hour to
clear him, as each sucker-and there
we're hundreds Of them-brouRht
blood when it was torn of. We RlIed
wo barrels with the pieces that We
took from him, and the whole animal
must have weighed $50 pounds, and
probably more. We put il together
afterward on the deck, and it measured
from the tip of one arm TO the tip Of
the opposite one twenty-five feet.
1t seems that the tirst man down
started the thing, and when the next
one reached the bottom be was tied up