The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1909-07-04

There is no question of the fact that
large cephalopods of this genus wall
attack human beings when an oppor-
tunity offers. In his book on The
French in Algiers,' Mr.. Clemens Lam
ing writes: 1.-THE soldiers were in the
habit of bathing in the sea every even.
ing, and from time 10 time several OF
them disappeared. no one knew how
Bathing was. in consequence, strlctlN
forhidden-in spite of which several
men went into the water one evening.
Suddenly one of them screamed Tor
help. and the others who rushed 10 his
rescue found that an octopus had seized
him bv the leg The soldiers killed the
creature, and subsequently ate 1T for
revenge.
The female octopus makes her nest IN
any sheltered and convenient hollow III
The rocks. There she Lays her eggs.
which IN due time hatch ont young oc-
| topods. Being soft bodied animal. the
poulp is an easy prey to many enemies,
and on this account il eagerly takes ad-
vantage of any suitable shelter In
! japanese waters regular fishery for
these unpleasant moliusEs is conducted
| by lowering pitcher shaped carthen pots
10 the bottom, attached at intervals 10
% long line. Later on, the cord (buoYcd
| for tic purpose) is pulled up. and 1T Is
not uncommon TO 6nd every one of the
pitchers occupied by g 'deVlilsh
More than century ago large sail
ing junk made the voyage from Korea
TO Japan with n cargo of extremely val
liable porcelain intended for the palace
Of the Emperor storm arose, and
the vessel was wrecked in sight of
port Nobody ever thought of trying
to recover the porcelain until quite re
Gently. when 1t occurred to An Iugcn-
ous Jap 10 turn the octopus proposi-
tion upside down for the purpose. 1t
was known exactly whore the ship had
gone down. in the Inland sea, not far
| from Kyoto. and SO the Japanese per
son of nm inventive turn started in TO
| fish for the porcelain by lowering live
octopods on the ends of fishing lines
into the depths where the wreck lay.
Some Of them. when pulled mp, brought
with them precious porcelain vases, OF
which they had taken possession; and
since then the bus siness OF fishing, for
crockery in that locality has been
steadily pursued with the result that
considerable part of the cargo from
the junk has been recovered.
There is n well.authenticated story
of Jean Magnus Dcns, n merchant cap
tam, who, on n voyage TO China many
| years ago. was bccalmed and took ad-
vantage of the enforced idlcncss OF the
crew to have his vessel scraped and
painted. While three OF the men were
standing on planks, slung over the side.
q huge poulp rose from the water and
threw one of its arms around two OF
| the sailors, whom il tore away, to-
gcther with the scaffolding on which
they stood. With another arm il seized
the third man. who held on tightly to
the rigging and shouted for help, Ship
mates succeeded in resculng HIM by
cutting away the monster 3 arm with
axes and knives. but he died the fol
lowing night. The captain tried to save
the other Two sailors by attacking the
animal, driving several harpoons into
it; but they tore out of its soft body,
and il carried the men down into the
depths of the sea The "poulp' in
this instance, however, must have been
not an octopus, but a giant sumd-a
kind of cephalopod, which, as is we'll
known, sometimes attaips astonishing
size. Some authorities are inclined TO
believe, indeed, that it is tho true orig
inal of the sea serpent. iuasmuch as
it always swims backward. making
progress by expelling water rcarward
from big siphon beneath It's mouth,
observers casually viewing a giant spec
linen at sea may have naturally imag-
ined that the part going first was the
head, the enormously long tentacles