THE SQUID AND OCTOPUS BARTSCH. 355 



thrown out, which he sent up, and then hooked on to another, but could not 

 start it, and having descended again, the current being pretty strong at the 

 time, he stretched himself out on the stone, and reaching his right arm down 

 to feel if he could get another small charge under it, not being able to do this 

 in any other position. " My arm," he says, " was scarcely down, however,* 

 before I found that it was held by something, and the action of the water was 

 stirring up the loose clay, and therefore I could not see distinctly for a few 

 minutes, but when it did clear away I saw, to my horror, the arm of a large 

 octopus entwined round mine like a boa constrictor, and just then he fixed 

 some of his suckers on the back of my hand, and the pain was intense. I felt 

 as if my hand was being pulled to pieces, and the more I tried to take it away 

 the greater the pain became, and, from past experience, I knew this method 

 would be useless. But what was I to do, lying in this position? I had the 

 greatest difficulty in keeping my feet down, as the air rushed along the interior 

 of my dress and inflated it, and if my feet had got uppermost I should soon 

 have become insensible, held in such a position, and if I had given the signal 

 to be pulled up the brute would have held on and the chancesi would have 

 been that I should have had a broken arm. I had a hammer down by me but 

 could not reach it to use it on the brute. There was a small iron bar not far 

 from me, and with my feet I dragged this along until I coidd reach it with 

 my left hand. And now the fight commenced ; the more I struck him the 

 tighter he squeezed, until my arm got quite benumbed, but after awhile I 

 found the grip began to relax a little, but he held on until I had almost cut 

 him to pieces, and then he relaxed his hold from the rock and I pulled him up. 

 I can assure you I was completely exhausted, having been in that position for 

 over 20 minutes. I brought the animal up, or rather a part of it. We laid 

 him out and he measured over 8 feet across, and I feel perfectly convinced 

 that this fellow could have held down five or six men. It is only when a person 

 gets a grip from these brutes that one realizes their strength, and it was lucky 

 for me that I was not an amateur, for I can assure you that I had the greatest 

 struggle to get clear of it that I have ever had with any animal under water. 



Here is still another yarn by Aldrovandi, who speaks of the 

 possum-playing of the octopus: 



An octopus, considered dead, was placed in a kettle and hung over the fiie, 

 became revived, and gained sufficient strength to leave the kettle, climb 

 through the chimney, and seat himself upon the roof, where, after considerable 

 hunting, he was discovered. 



While Pennant states, on authority of a friend long resident in 

 the East Indies, that — 



in those seas, the eight-armed cuttlefish has been found of such size as to 

 measure 12 feet in breadth across the central part, while each arm was 54 

 feet in length; thus making it extend, from point to point, about 120 feet (pi. 

 10). 



He further states that — 



the natives of the Indian Isles, when sailing in their canoes, always take care 

 to be provided with hatchets, in order immediately to cut off the arras of such 

 of these animals as happen to fling them over the sides of the canoe, lest they 

 should pull it under water and sink it. 



Quite an excellent picture made by Gustave Dore showing 

 Gilliatt's fight with the devilfish in Victor Hugo's Toilers of the 



