Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1899-03-30

the ichthyosauri of prehistoric days
and the well-known saurians of pres
ent times. The animal is, it appears
known to the natives by the name of
"linguin;" and at the suggestion of my
| friend, Baron Alfons Pereira, consul
general of Austria Hungary, in Tunis,
| propose to narrate how he was some
years ago fortunate enough to shoot
one of these strange monsters.
The baron is particularly anxious
that l should put the circumstances on
record, as he has always found when
he has recounted the existence of and
destruction by him of one of the
brutes that it has been treated as a
mere travellers tale. Moreover, dur
ing the years which have elapsed since
he shot the linguin, Baron Pereira has
never seen any picture or account of
the huge reptile in any natural history
book, except a representation of an
ichthyosaurus; nor has he seen any
thing approaching it in appearance in
any geological collection that he has
ever visited. Fortunately, however,
the baron has recently received in a
| letter, written to Count Mailath, one
OF his friends who made inquiries ON
the subject in Java a direct confirma-
ton of his own experiences, anu here
can therefore be no doubt of the ex-
istence of this strange beast in the
| island.
/ shall now try to give the baron's
experiences in his own words, but be-
| fore doing so must remark that he has
painted for me an excellent picture of
the linguin being attacked by the ia
vanese native, after he had himself
wounded it with his rifle.
But now to the story.
II was" says Baron Pereira, ''one
morning in February, 1869, travelling
in large Javanese canoe with the AS
sistant Resident Metman, himself
well-known sportsman. Dawn had
only just broken when we found our
selves close to the mouth OF the Ba-
tavia river. At this point the water
was salt, and there was a considerable
swell caused by the waves of the sea
running up against the tide. AS We
advanced the rowers had considerable
difficulty in making Roadway against
the morning breeze. Suddenly there
was enormous excitement among the
crew of Malays who manned the boat.
'Linguin! Linguin!' I heard repeated
on all sides. 'Linguin! Linguin!' re-
peated the steersman sitting next to
me, Selling me by the arm as he
shouted and pointing excitedly toward
the muddy shore, along which we were
coasting at a distance of about $50
metres.
1T was as | have said, barely light,
and all that l could make out was the
long and dark form of some large
creature lying on the mud. l seized
my rifle, not knowing in the least what
linguin might be, but at first mag
ming it to be merely a crocodile. But
even with my rifle in hand nesitated
to shoot, for the movement of the
boat, which was rolling, made any at
tempt at a steady aim impossible
However, the natives with me grew
impatient 'Linguin!' they cried again.
Shoot! shoot!'
standing up, took hasty aim
and fired. Instantly there was most
tremendous commotion in the mud. |
saw huge creature whirling round
and round in the liquid ooze, first on
it's head and then on it's tail--much
like the firework called Catherine
wheel-while liquid mud was being
scattered about in all directions. A
shout of triumph rose from my crew,
and the steersman, selling murder
our looking Malay scimitar, instantly
plunged overheard to wage mortal
combat with the disabled monster. He
swan to shore and, boldly entering
the mud, which was more than up to
his knees, attacked the enormous
brute.
LAS we advanced quite close to the
mud | was now able to see that the
animal appeared to be half crocodile
and half snake. 1t had the body OF
the former and the neck and head OF
the latter. Upon the approach OF the
Malay it ceased it's wheel-like whirl-
ings round and round on its tail and
repeatedly struck out at it's new enemy
with it's head trying to seize him with
it's fangs. But every time the linguin
darted forward it's powerful head and
neck the native struck out with his
sword. each time infiicting wound
and saving himself from injury. At
length final blow struck the furious
snake-crocodile fairly on the neck and
1T fell dead. With great difficulty the
brave fellow towed it by the tail
through the mud into the water and
brought it out to the canoe. when.
with good deal of trouble. we got 1t
aboard. 1t was so heavy that 1t near
ly bore down under the water the gun
vale of the boat on the side where
we placed it.
Its length was between nine feet
and ten feet. This | know from the
fact that the body alone rested on at
least two thwarts of the boat The
long, flexible neck and head fell upon
the bottom of the craft. They were
,,,unh nut ahout from tho hiowS NJ the