The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1884-11-01

/ said yes, and he led me out back of the
hotel, aud there, in a wooden enclosure,
were two of the largest of these crabs,
| eating rice out OF trough, actually be-
ing fattened for the market like hogs.
We afterwards had them served, and l
found deviled birgos very good.
THE most remarkable feature about
| those crabs was their enormous strength.
One was placed i'll an ordinary tin
| crackerbox, where there was no oppor-
tunity of taking hold; but the next
morning the box was found completely
pnnctured with holes, actually bitten
| through by the sharp biting claws of the
crab, and in another confined in the same
way the top of the box was fairly twisted
of. Having so much muscular power,
natives naturally approach them with
some caution in attempting their capt
ure. | was informed that on one occa-
sion party went out to a place some
what famous for them, and arriving at
| night, went into camp with the expecta-
ton of trying the crabs the next day.
But, during the night, the party was
| awakened by the most terrific screams,
and, rushing into the wood near at hand
with rushlights, they found one of the
natives swinging partly from huge leaf
of a cocoanut, and screaming as if he
was being hanged. For some moments
they could not make out what the
trouble was, but finally | was sure that
the man was in the grasp of an enor-
nous birgos. The native had attempted
to climb palm tree, but had been
seized almost Immediately by a crab,
| who happened to be clinging to the
branch. Naturally, the crab held on,
and had almost pulled the hair out of
the mans head before he was rescued.
SO in this case the crab had turned the
| tables and captured one of It's would-be
captors.
The intelligence shown by these
crabs is remarkable. They climb the
palms, bite off nut and allow it to drop,
and thus break it open, and if they find
nut on the ground they have been
| known to take it to the top of a tree and
| then huri it to the ground. Others, and
generally the large ones, have been OBJ
served to beat it against rock and SO
| break the shell They invariably com
mence to tear away the husk at the end
upon which is situated the two holes.
| When this is done with the great claw
| they hammer the holes until an opening
is made and then the booy IS twisted
| around and one of the small hind legs
that will just fit is introduced, the meat
taken ont bit by bit and then the shell
| broken. The crab is certainly lowly
| creature, but it is remarkably intelligent
in some ways, and also cunning. If you
have ever tried to catch a wild lobster
| you are aware how many wiles they have
TO effect their escape and to elude their
prey. Some years ago the question
was raised in London whether crabs
remained in the same locality year after
year, and finally it was resolved to test
| the question. So about a thousand
crabs were caught and marked in various
ways and taken a distance of twenty
miles and put overheard, and in much
less than week hundreds of these
marked crabs were caught on their own
grounds, showing that home, sweet
home, was reality to crabs as much as
to any other animal, and undoubtedly
all that were caught returned in the
| same way"