The morning news., 1894-05-06
From the San Francisco chronicle.

Giant sQuid and They Who Hunt
Him.
From the San Francisco Chronicle
AS a sport pure and simple. hunting the
devilish is perhaps as exciting and full
of incident as can be found.
| Not long ago visitor TO san Francisco
saw an octopus hanging in one of the mar
kets, and, seized with the desire to see
the capture of such creature. followed
1t up and engaged the Portuguese fisher
men TO take him to the locality, not far
from the Golden Gate. The amateur fss-
erman was provided with an ordinary
boathook, which he was told was used in
the capture of the fish, and when the
! tide was well out he was taken to a group
OF kelp-covered rocks and informed that
the game was waiting to Be flushed, as it
were.
The placeabounded in pools in which
the water was about foo5 deep. these
! being partially covered with floating
weed. Passing from rock TO rock the
hunter thrusts his hook or speer. turning
up the sand at the bottom of these pools.
We had nearly given up the chase when
his boat-hook cave violent wrench under
his hands, and up. from the weed came an
! finger trembling with rage and appar-
emily endowed with intelligence; a finger
lined with enormous suckers. that hurled
! itself about the squid hunters leg so
quickly that before he could make an az
gressive move he was in the arms of his
enemy.
As he fell, slipping partly on his back
he was horrlhed TO ind that mis- prey held
on and that he had pulled it partly out OF
water. Struggling to his feet, he was
met by what appeared to be a ball of
snakes, a head of Medusa, with two green
eyes cleaning with rage and fury. and
about which wpithed eight sucker-lined
arms. 3
1t was enough to demoralize the most
intrepid lover OF sport, but the octopus
merely nung on, making no advance
Having gained his footing, the hunter
took the boathook by the end and buried
| 1t IN the writhing mass. from which i'm
mediately an inky fluid poured and
seemed to dye the water black Waves of
color shot over the arms, ana the monster.
raising itself out of the pool, endeavored
to haul its way TO the ocean 1t threw
its long arms into every crevice. winding
them about the rock and holding on with
the tenacity OF iron, gradually moving
toward the water
The cody was but a small part of the
affair, perhaps as large as child's head
and in this the hook was caught. The
octopus slowly gained ground, but finally
the fisherman obtained braciug vantage
and held back, shouting for help. With
assistance the animal was disabled and
| borne inshOre, where it was found to
have radial spread of nearly eighteen
feet.
Octopi of this kind and size are found
all along the upper California coast to
Alaska, some attaining extraordinary pro
portions. Curious tales are told concern
ing them, several instances being recorded
where they were supposed to have caused
the death of swimmers Some wears apo
an Indian woman disappeared from among
some bathers, and was found held by a
huge octopus, but there was no other evil
dence that she had been taken by the
animal That they are powerful enough
to drown man there is not.the slightest
DOUBT. One Of the sizenentioncd could
drown three or four men at time. as
Suming that they were swimming and
mat IL could attack them in that position
Ihe writer once saw an octopus with
spread of but four feet throw down a
man who, with others, had been lifting
rocks into coat from a reef carving
them ashore to save the specimens found
upon them. AS piece was thrown uDon
the beach big greenish- brown octopus
came out and started for the water. at
which the man in question, who was
barefooted, gave it kick Like a fash
the animal resented the insult by throw
ing its eight sucker-lined arms about lis
opponent, clasping him in an embrace
that held his legs together so tightly that
he fell headlong on the sand. shouting for
help and fearing to touch the animal with
his hands to tear it of. He was released
only when one of the men inserted a knife
beneath the coils and severed the snake
like arms.
To show the strength of a large one
taken at Kings Island it was landed in a
net, and after great difficulty secured by
! party OF SIX men, who, by wrapping
pieces of sacking around their hands TO
protect them from the suckers, each took
an arm and walked away, but the oc,o-
pus writhed like a snake, and actually
pulled and hauled them about at will, so
that they had TO exert no little force to
prevent the animal from fastening to
them, which seemed to be it's intention.
The strength of the Octopus is remark
| able. The writer has taken scores of
them with the spear. and has known
them to bring up twenty or twenty-five
pounds of coral. clinging to it with their
tentaceies, when pulled in, and these W ere
comparatively small ones the body being
the size of ones closed list. 1t is easy to
imagine what the strength of a large
one might be- Even the small specimens
were not pleasant objects to look upon.
They were usually found snugly ensconced
in dead coral head, looking like bit of
the bottom, as they simulated it in color
only the tremulous motion telling the
story. But how quickly this changed as
the sharp prongs OF the spear struck it,
The whole animal seemed to come apart
and turn into snakes that started in every
directiOn, wriggling, coiling and recoiling,
changes Of color following each other in
rapid succession over the body
The octopus is found on almost all
coasts where rocky snores abound. but
the California species is the largest. 1t is
hunted here as an article of food. and is
much relshed by the Portuguese On the
Mediterranean it is equally appreciated.
The octopus has a baglike body. from
which radiate eight sucker-lined arms
its feet Between these is the mouth.
armed with two beaks, like those of the
parrot in shape and color and are capa-
BILE of severing the backbone of a fish at
single bite. The tongue is provided
with teeth. The animal crawls over
the rocks by hauling itself
along with a peculiar gallopine mo-
tion, and can pass through crevices
astoundingly small, so that it often disap-
pears in the most mysterious fashion.
The average cuttlefsh variety seldom
leaves the bottom, though there is a
species that has weblike fins between the
Ii.