Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-07-26

| hagen. wrote that the kraken grew to be half q
mile long and was frequently mistaken while
| floating asleep upon the surface of the sea for
| an island; SO that people landed upon 1t and
| We're engulfed in a mae lstrom by its sinking. 1t
| will be remembered that Sinbad the Sailor Is
| said in the Arabian Nights to have had a like
adventure. The kraken was big enough to lay
| hold Of the largest man-of-war and pull 1t
| down to the bottom with its arms, which it fire.
| quenty raised up as high as the masts Of ship
out Of the water. Pontoppidan speaks of the
| manner in which the kraken accustomed
| on occasions to discolor the water about it, and
his description otherwise proves that It and the
giant squid were the same animal or the dis
charge from the ink bag and its purpose the
ancient Roman poet, Orphan, said.
The endangered cutie thus evsdes his fears.
| A pitchy ink peculiar glands supply,
Whose shades the shar2est beam OF light defy.
And. wrapt in clouds. eludes the impending foe.
The The, hsh retreats unseen while self born night
| Victor Hugo was more distinguished as a lit
| erary man than as q Zoologist. Accordingly,
his famous devil fish," described with such
| horrible detail in the .'Toilers of the Sea-" is
to some extent a mixture of the giant squid
and the octopus, to be spoken of later on.
| ENCOUNTERS WITH THE soU1D.
Many astonishing adventures with specimens
| of the giant squid have been recorded on the
strength of unimpeachable testimony On the
| 30th of November, 1861, between Madeira and
Teneriffe, the French dispatch steamer Alec
! ton. commanded by Lieut.. Bouyer, came upon
an enormous specimen floating asleep The
| vessel was stopped and many bullets were fired
at it, passing through its soft flesh without
doing it much harm apparently. Harpoons
were thrust into it, but they would not hold,
| and finally rope with running knot was
slipped over the tail When an attempt was
made to hoist the creature upon deck the
enormous weight caused the rope to cut
through and the mass fell back into the sea and
| disappeared.
On the 26th Of October, 1873 two fishermen
were out in a small boat near the east end of
| Belle Isle, Conception bay, Newfoundland Sec
| ing strange object floating on the water they
| struck it with gaff, upon which il instantly
shot out two enormous tentacular arms over
the boat. trying to seize its assailants. One of
the men-Theophilus Picot-cut off both arms
with an AK whereupon the animal moved off
darkening the water it went with an inky
| mud. fragment of tentace presented by
the fishermen, II feet long and 81 feet in cir
conference. was sent TO Yale College and was
carefully estimated to have belonged to giant
squid with body 10 feet long and tentaces 80
feet in length. This. however was only baby
| one. On the ODD of September. 1877. another
specimen OF about equal size was stranded on
the north shore of Trinity bay, Newfoundland
perfect reproduction of ii as II was in life
may now be seen IN the National Museum
Bishop Poutoppidan tells what is doubtless a
true story of a little adventure that occurred to
three of his countrymen. Eric Paulsen Hans
Ohlsen and Olaf Bruhn. who were out fishing
one calm day, when a shapeless something rose
above the surface and from thirty feet away
shot into their boat an arm which seized Hans
| and dragged him overheard There was tre-
mendous connection, a number of huge writh-
| ing serpents, as it seemed to Eric and Olaf up
rearing themselves around Hans As they
gazed. helpless from horror and bewilderment
the monster sank with mighty swirl into the
depths with its victim. there to devour him,
clasping his corpse with Shiny embrace and
goggllng with great greenish eyes over the
repast.
On the 10th Of January, 1877 affidavit was
made by officers and crew of the bark Pauline
to the effect that on July 8. 1873. in latitude
des. 10 min; south, longitude IS deg. west,
they all saw three large sperm whales off the lee
DOW Suddenly some sort of monster appeared
Just ahead and throwing an arm 100 feet or more
IN length around one of the whaes-it encir-
cled the cstacean three times-literally dragged
the whale, head foremost, to the bottom. sub
sequently what was thought to be the same
monster was seen by the same observers to up
lift an arm 60 feet above the surface.
SEA sERPENTs OF OLD.
The ancients thoroughly believed in the ex-
istence OF sea serpents of vast dimensions.
During the wars with Carthage great water
snake Kept the Roman army from crossing the
river Bagrados, swallowing many of the sol.
ders, until at length it was destroyed by stones
thrown from catapults and other military
engines usually employed in battering the
walls OF fortified towns The monsters skin
and skull were subsequently preserved in a
temple at Rome. Many Latin authors of re.
Pute mention big sea serpents such as I'M
doubtedly did then. as they do now exist IN
| tropical seas. Such marine serpents are found
most commonly in the Indian ocean and no
less than forty or fifty species OF them are
known They are all exceedingly poisonous
and will usually attack man. They frequently
attain a length of IL feet, and there is no par.
ticular reason for assuming that they do not
arrive at vastly greater size.
One OF the best attested sea serpents on
| record was seen on the 9Th day of August 1919
by the officers of H.M.S. Dedalus in the North
Pacific. About sixty feet of its length was
visible. and it had all the appearance OF a
gigantic snake, its head end shoulders held four
or five feet above the surface of the water
through which 1T swan at the rate of perhaps
fifteen miles an hour. 1t was viewed at quite
close quarters through field glasses from the
ships deck, and was observed to be of a dark
brown color, yelowish white about the throat
and with what appeared to be a mane On the
oath day Of February, 1349, about forty miles
from the spot where the serpent above men,
toned was seen, Capt. HERMAN of the ship
Brazilian saw strange creature astern stretch
ing along the water for thirty feet or more
with its head lifted several feet above the
surface and name running down the
HeCk. "A boat was lowered and the
monster was approached with harpoons 1t
was found to be an immense piece
OF sea weed. to which the swell caused by the
subsistence of previous gale gave q sinuous
and snake-like motion. This latter story illus
trates the possibilities of optical deception in
the case OF most conscientious observers.
creature closely resembling the INDUSTRIOUS
lchthyosaurus OF antediluvian times was seen
In the Gulf of California by Capt. George Hona
of H.M.S. Fly. The sea being perfectly calm
and OF glass-like transparency he beheld lying
on the bottom, few fathoms down. an enor.
nous animal with the head and general fipure
OF an alligator, except that the neck was vastly
longer and, instead of legs, it had four large
happers like turtles. 1t appeared to be pur
suing some prey, and moved in serpentine
fashion, its body having ring-like divisions
An eminent zoologist has referred to this az the
most interesting natural-history fact of the
present century.
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