198 THE OCTOPUS. 
octopus, the hunter passes the spear carefully 
through the water until within an inch or so of 
the centre disc, and then sends it inas deep as he 
can plunge it. Writhing with pain and passion, 
the octopus coils its terrible arms round the haft; 
redskin, making the side of the canoe a fulerum 
for his spear, keeps the struggling monster 
well off, and raises it to the surface of the water. 
He is dangerous now; if he could get a hold- 
fast on either savage or canoe, nothing short 
of chopping off the arms piecemeal would be of 
any avail. 
But the wily redskin knows all this, and has 
taken care to have ready another spear un- 
barbed, long, straight, smooth, and very sharp, 
and with this he stabs the octopus where the 
arms join the central disc. I suppose the spear 
must break down the nervous ganglions supply- 
ing motive power, as the stabbed arms lose at 
once strength and tenacity; the suckers, that 
amoment before held on with a force ten men 
could not have overcome, relax, and the entire 
ray hangs like a dead snake, a limp, lifeless 
mass. And thus the Indian stabs and _ stabs, 
until the octopus, deprived of all power to do 
harm, is dragged into the canoe, a great, inert, 
quivering lump of brown-looking jelly. 
