The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-01-17
Sea Serpent Was No Myth.
An Americans Remarkable Encounter With
Monster Which Dehed Bullets.

81 never saw a set of people so prone
to sea serpent yarns as the New Eng
land coast fishermen and sailors. Those
chaps have a sea serpent tale to spring
with the advent of each season, and
there are generally two or three Of
them who agree in the one story, which
arrangement sort of gives the tale
standing before the public. Now, if
all those sea serpents, real or imagin.
airy, that have appeared from time to
time along the New England coast were
eorralled and placed out there in this
fine river of yours there wouldn't be
room for the shipping to get to the
docks. But l IN not throwing stones
at the New England sailors or attempt
ing to east reflection upon their verac,
ity, for / have sea serpent story my
self to hand out, and if you care for
the narrative II let you have it,
G. II. Hight, promoter, mining en-
gineer, prospector and globe trotter, re-
Gently up from the tropics on one of
the United Fruit Company's ships, was
talking to group of friends in quiet
corner of the long lobby of the New
Denechaud on quiet evening week
or so ago, and as Mr.. Hight pulled con-
tentedly at fragrant South American
cigar and prepared for the story the
circle drew closer about him, ready to
listen.
"This sea serpent that IN going to
tell you Of" Mr.. Hight took up his
narrative, "is no product of the New
Englanders imagination. / saw it with
my own eyes, and you may believe me,
or not--but say, why am I offering ex.
euses for myself at this early stage
of the proceedings7 l never did run
in the Ananias class, anyhow.
GAS you may know, I've spent 20
years of my life knocking about on
this terrestrial sphere, and in that time
] we been in all of the fiery zones,
visited queer and unheard-of places and
seen pretty nearly every form of ami
NAL, bird and reptile life that there is
90 be seen. I've been tiger hunting in
India, trailed through the bush after
lions in the upper Transvaal, shot croc-
odiles in the Nile basin, fished for
shark in the Malayan archipelago, pot
ted pythons in the Burmese forest,
where the constructors are whoppers,
and even used sea serpent for tar
get in the Mozambique channel. That g
record, isn't it? And if I was of
the Munchausen type I could make my
fortune writing stories that would stir
the Presidential ire.
s'I could keep you here for hours
telling you yarns of big game I've
helped hunt, but as we are not holding
an ail-night session III confne myself
TO the sea serpent incident, and get
right down to business before it y GO
ing-to-bed time.
cit was in the fall of 1889, and I
was in Madagascar looking over plan.
tation property for an English firm,
whose African agency was located at
Cape Town. I'd worked up along the
west coast, making occasional journeys
into the interior, until | struck an ex-
cuse for town called Majangd. which
stood on the northern end of Bamba-
taska Bay. The bay opened out int,
the broad channel which divided the
island from the main land, and the
locality was one of the most so,lfor-
saken that it had ever been my bad
fortune to visit.
81 remained at Majanga for several
weeks waiting for a vessel to take me
down the coast to ELECTROMAGNETIC,