St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1890-04-19
SPIDERS OF THE SEA.
Interesting Facts Concerning the
Squid and Octopus.
they Are Most Hideous-L Looking Animals,
But Arc Any Thing But Aggressive
Wonderful Stories That Are
Mere Fiction.
"HOld up a minute!"

AOlu up
The speaker was the bowman Of .
long, curious Indian canoe, that some
natives were polling along near shore in
Alaskan waters
''What is it?" shouted naturalist who
was sitting in the stern.
That's just what l want to deter.
mine," said the man. Back water q
moment, will you?"
The man slowly backed, and the fish.
erman, holding his long spear in readi.
ness, peered down into the water.
Il certainly saw something moving
he said. "'Ah! there it is. Steady!''
And as he spoke the spear went down
into the water. The result was some
thing of Q surprise. The water boiled
up as If torpedo had exploded beneath
ii. while the spear was wrenched from
the mans hands and began . curious
wriggling motion. "Whatever it is, l
have struck it," shouted the harpooner,
wiping the brine from his face with his
arm. Pull the boat over near it." -
The men backed and pulled the some
what clumsy canoe around, and the
spear-handle was again secured IS it
was slowly moving of. The animal,
whatever it was, was powerful one,
and the moment the spear was touched
threw the man into the water; but he
clung to the harpoon, and using it as .
lever upon the gunwale of the canoe,
endeavored to lift the unseen and un-
known capture. The men crowded to
the other side, and for few moments it
was tug-of-war; then suddenly the OBJ
ject gave way; the harpoon fell into the
bottom Of the boat, and there appeared
at the surface a sprawling, hideous
mass-a monster spider. SO it seemed.
-Four or five long, attenuated arms
waved in the air with a disegreeable,
Bnaky motion. One fell upon the canoe
and clung to the seat until cut of, the
dismembered portion dropping, writh-
ing and coiling, to the bottom.
"A devil-fish!" shouted the natives.
"Look out for its arms, master; it will
drag you down."
Some said to throw it over, spear and
all; others begged the naturalist to
shoot it, and all held it in wholesome
awe. But the harpooner was deter
mined to capture the strange creature
that was making so much trouble, and
thrusting the end of the spear under .
thwart, he forced the monster several
feet above water, and ordered the men
to pull for shore. In a few moments
the bow of the boat crunched into the
sand. and the devil-fish was hauled,
struggling and writhing, above high
water mark, where it was soon killed
by vigorous blows from an oar.
1t was a horrible-looking animal.
Imagine a body the size and shape of .
mans head. provided with two lustrous
green eyes, which seemed to CLEAN like
sparks Of fire: over the body waves Of
color followed each other. while from
its various parts drops of black ink
dripped, giving it a most remarkable |
aspect. From the body radiated eight |
arms or tentacles, SO long and attenuat- |
ed that when stretched out they each |
spread over twenty feet. The under |
side OF each was lined with power
full suckers, which explained the
tenacity with which the octopus |
SiuAS W tuC UOttOiil. anu uelu l0e mar /
poon- 1t was the Octopus
f'unctdfus-the largest animal of its |
kind known-and was prize for the |
If the reader of this arti-
Gle should happen to visit the National |
Museum at Washington or the museum |
OF Yale College, he or she will find an 1
exact model of this remarkable eight
armed monster.
In all the old natural histories re-
markable stories are found of monster
cutties and squids. The good Bishop
stated that there were
cuttles Of the west Of Norway that
could easily sink large ship. These
tales were told in good faith and were
evidently obtained from sailors. who
love to paint as they tell; yet some re-
markable cuttles are known. An octo-
pus. as We have seen. with a rad:al
spread OF twenty feet. is a dan
gerous animal to meet; one which could
easily drown man. if he were so nm
fortunate as to become entangled in its
arms. The octopus is a very timid
creature, and it is doubtful if it e7er
attacks human bei,cs.
though several stories are recorded o.
gesting the reverse.