The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-09-03
HOW THE GIANT OCTOPUS EATS.
Few Have Ever Seen the Monster Devour
His Prey.
Fro mthe San Francisco Call.

Fro mthe San Francisco Call.
Never before had it fallen to my lot
to see the terrible monster we encoun-
tered on the last passage from San
Francisco toward Nanaimo in the bark
Willscott of Honolulu" said a skipper
the other day.
I'VE knew that the octopus grew to
an immense size, as Banks and Soland-
er, who accompanied Captain Cook in
his first voyage around the world, found
the dead carcass of one floating on the
water to the westward of Cape Horn.
1t was supposed to be 20 or 80 feet, the
body only; the tentacles were hanging
under the water. 1t was surrounded by
myriads of birds, which were feeding
ereedily on it's remains. Pliny also
mentions a similar monster, having
eight arms 80 feet long and a CORE
spending girth, and many other writers,
too numerous to mention have certified
to its actual existence. But I did not
believe that anything similar to the ter
rible devil fish described by Victor
Hugo was really in existence until
had ocular demonstration of the fact on
this passage.
Its eyes were large, of a greenish
tint and somewhat protruding; its
mouth, however, was not so very large
and 1t appeared to be shaped like
parrots bill; it's tentacles were taper
ing and, like it's body, of a grayish
color, covered with spots. 1t appeared
TO possess the chameleonlike power of
changing the color of these spots in a
most extraordinary manner as fast as
the eye could detect the changes; they
varied from a very rich crimson to a
dark dull brown, these changes, no
doubt, indicating the high state of ex-
element under which the creature was
at the time.
suddenly the octopus discharged a
huge jet of dark-colored fluid full
into the eyes of a sunfish, and then.
rushing forward with the rapidity of an
arrow, it encircled its prev with the
long tentacles, and in another moment
the victor and vanquished had dis
appeared below the surface of the
water.
In few moments more We had
sailed right over the scene and found
the water was colored almost black for
a space fully 200 feet in diameter, and
we noticed an odor slightly resembling
iodine rising from the water; our patent
log line of snow white cotton, which was
towering astern, was colored almost
black, and it has not yet assumed its
whmite freshness. although 1t was
towed in the water fully 800 miles since
the above episode.
About 20 minutes after we had
passed over the spot we saw the huge
creature again on the surface enjoy
ing its meal in a very leisurely man
ner, rolling the body of the unfortun-
ate sunfish over and over and biting off
large mouthfuls with its cruel-lookins
beak.
II knew before that these huge octo-
pod sand their relatives, the decapods,
were not altogether mythical, as they
have at the United States national
museum in Washington a papier mache
cast of one of the latter which was
found stranded on the north shore of
Trinity bay Newfoundland, on the 22d
day of September 1877 The total
length of this specimen, including ten
tacles, was only so feet so it is quite
safe to infer that it had not become of
age when it was wrecked"