The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-03-20
HOW THEYCAUGHTADEvIL FISH

We had gone out Of the Solidar reefs,
fifty miles to the south of Ceylon, to
capture, If possible, a living specimen
of the octopus, or devil fish, for the
Bombay museum. After arriving and
anchoring the bark a safe distance
from the reefs we pulled in with the
yawI to look for signs of the prey we
were after. We had been pulling too
and fro over the reefs when, on the Sec
ond day of our search, we came upon a
spot where the bed Of the channel was
almost INSTRUCTED with the bones Of
fish and turtles. We knew by these
signs that we had come upon the lair
of a devil fish, and without waiting to
make q closer investigation of the To-
cality, we marked the spot and pulled
away for the bark. The Malabar coast
fishermen we had brought along with us
were certain from the great deposit Of
bones that the spot had been the
haunt of an octopus for a long time,
and that we should find him of the
largest size. We might have developed
him then and there, as we had every
reason to believe that he was "at
home" in a shallow cave at the base Of
a big rock, but we had orders not to
go too close.
Next morning two boats approached
the rock from opposite sides and Prof.
Grimshaw, who had charge of the ex-
petition, landed to make close in
spection Our approach was made as
silently as possible and the professor
removed his boots before landing. There
was no danger Of the octopus running
away If he was there, but we had some
plans to lay in advance. After some
spying about he was located in the cav
ern spoken of, and the professor was
dismayed at the size of the creature.
He had counted five great tentacles, and
the bulk of the octopus was that of
big barrel. 1t was high water, and at
low water it might come out to lie on
the rocks or swim in the channel. 1t
was for low water we waited, and be-
fore the tide had run out we landed on
the rock again and stretched two
large fish nets across 1t and weighted
them at the corners with stones to pre-
vent them being carried away
Stretching the Nets.
In the channel we stretched other
nets and at dead low water we hauled
off to see IL anything would occur.
Something did. The octopus decided to
take a little ramble and he came down
channel toward our f1otilla. When he
checked he was furious in an instant
and did just what we hoped he would
do. For the next quarter of an hour
we were treated to rare exhibition.
No whale could have made the fuss
that monster did. In his struggles he
threw water twenty feet high and for
fifty feet around him, and now and
then he raised an arm high in the air
and swept it around him like a fail
and with the hands of a giant. The
net was of the strongest material and
when he ceased to struggle we realized
that he was pretty well tangled up.
We could do nothing more toward his
capture just then, however, as the tide
had turned and he retreated to his lair,
taking the nets with him and making
slow progress. If we could get him on
the rocks next morning there was a
good chance of his capture.
At o'clock next morning we landed
on the rocks and found the nets all
right. The professor had brought
along a big sauirtgun and large Jar
of chloroform, and when all was ready
we made circuit to the west and got
as near as we dared to the cavern and