THE OCTOPUS. 197 
examining my new species, it turned out to be - 
only the sucking-disc of an octopus. 
Tyrants though they be, an enemy hunts them 
with untiring pertinacity. The Indian looks 
upon the octopus as an alderman does on turtle, 
and devours it with equal gusto and relish, only 
the savage roasts the glutinous carcase instead 
of boiling it. His mode of catching octopi is 
crafty in the extreme, for redskin well knows, 
from past experience, that were the octopus once 
to get some of its huge arms over the side of 
the canoe, and at the same time a holdfast on the 
wrack, it could as easily haul it over as a child 
could upset a basket; but he takes care not to give 
a chance, and thus the Indian secures his prize. 
Paddling the canoe close to the rocks, and 
quietly pushing aside the wrack, the savage peers 
through the crystal water, until his practised 
eye detects an octopus, with its great ropelike 
arms stiffened out, waiting patiently for food. 
His spear is twelve feet long, armed at the end 
with four pieces of hard wood, made harder by 
being baked and charred in the fire: these project 
about fourteen inches beyond the spear-haft, each 
piece having a barb on one side, and are arranged 
inacircle round the spear-end, and lashed firmly 
on with cedar-bark. Having spied out the 
