Year: 1876

AAl ~ 1NA HNus AVGA


description.


That monster OF the deep, known
as the Sea Serpent, has been agsin
encountered, this time in the Indian
Ocean. A letter in the Bonn bay Ga
=ette, by a passenger, describes it. The
writer, after detailing its manner of
approach towards the vessel, a steam
ship, says


Within hundred feet CT tie stera
OF our vessel, not now approaching,
but simply following steadily in our
wake, was this hideous thing. A
great mass of what looked like tan
gled seaweed, on which a futile at
tempt st combing bad been made,
rose out OF the water. This mass
must have been twenty or thirty feet
in length and ten feet in width, and
as it came on it caused wide ripple
ia the water that showed there must
be still greater part below the sur
face.


FROM the center of this mass,
raised just clear above it and facing
the vessel, was q great black head.
The top was quite flat, in shape not
unlike that OF a morstrOu5 toad. A
thick fringe of coarse reddish hair
hung over the mouth, quite conceal
ing 1t. But the eyes were the most
awful part of this fearful thing. They
were placed far apart, at either ex-
tremity Of the flat head, distant from
each other at least three feet. Imust
here state that all the passengers and
all the crew, except the captain him.
self, saw the thing afterward. bat that
there were scarcely two who could
agree as to the color aud nature of
these eyes. I can only, therefore,
write as they appeared to me. The
eyeballs Eere enormous they must
have been four or five inches in dis-
meter.


They scintilIated constantly. Every
one one FnOws the extraordinary ap-
pearance of surface covered with
small alternate squares of bright red
aud bright blue, the quiveriDg, uncer-
tain, untixed look such n sur
face has, the difficulty, the
impOssibilIty experienced by the
lOOker-on to fix the color of any
particular square. The eyeballs of
this thing had such a quivering, un-
certain look I; but they were not red,
not blue, not red and blue they were
of bright, burningiy bright, copper
hue they PANIED our eyes-and in
this we all agreed as We looked at
them. In the center of each eyeball,
a mere speck, but visible from its eX-
treme brightness, was point Of light,
of white light. It was impossible to
tell whether these points were or were
not material points of the eye or
merely caused by reflection, but they
were clearly defined, and seemed to
remain in the esame place. The motion
of the thing, however, was so steady
that no deduction could fairly be
drawn from their not changing their
position.


1 had been so absorbed in the pleas
ing pain of looking at the thing, that
l had quite forgotten the other people
on board, and was first reused by
hearing Captain Davidson step up on
the stern by me, give one look below
at the water, and then hurriedly go
back. In few minutes every pas
ssnger was cTOwding on to the stern,
even the ladies appearing. though
in unfinished costume. EXclama-
tions of the EXTREMIST astonish-
ment broke from all, and the silence
fell, as the crowd stared at the hide
Gus creature. The children, st the
first sight, ran back below screaming
and some refused to come again on
deck, though their nurses and ayahs
-desirous of looking on themselves
used all possible means to make them.
Up 10 this time the thing had kept
steadily in our wake, its movement
continuing absolutely smooth and
constant, ami the specks of light in
the glaring eyes never changing =
hairs breadth from their position.


When we went on deck again-we
were only few minutes at breakfast
we found the thing still following
steadily in our wake. The children
had liz a great measure got over their
fear, and had made a long line by
joining hands, and the whole lot of
them would now crouch down and
then suddenly rise up, open their
it. Suddenly the hideous creature
seemed reused by this cry it raised
its head in the air, uttered q strange
below, and came forward at great
pace toward tue ship. None of US
az lllSl inONG ltOh lGAl NAAG
thing seemed to have grown in size,
its eye-balls were more buFningly
bright the children fell on the deck
crying, and some of the women faint
ed.


But We who remained standing,
suffering though we were under in
tense terror, still could not move,
or even take our eyes oil the thing.
1t came swiftly up to the ship, always
uttering the same peculiar cry or bel
low. When but few feet from the
stern it suddenly turned and came up
close on the port side. Here the side
awnings had been pnt up to keep off
the sun, but three off US rusaed up to
the awning and quickly got it down
that we might the better watch the
thing. For myself I must say that
while doing this I was still suffering
from extreme fear, but my curiosity
was so intense, so irresistible, that
could only act as I did


No sooner was the thing even with
US than it raised itself with sudden
movement high ous of the water, till
its head was thirty or forty feet above
us. 1t still uttered the same peculiar
cry or below. Under our intense
curiosity we stood out on the bull
warks to follow its movements. 1t
opened a great mouth, cried more
loudly than before, and made three
blows at the mainmast. The last OF
these touched it, and caused the ship
to sway violently, so that we were
nearly cast of into the water. When
we again looked for the thing it had
gone. There was no ripple, no dis
turbanee of any kind in the water to
show where it had been. It was gone
absolutely. We looked constantly
for it during the rest OF the day, but
not the slightest trace did we again
disco vef.