BOOK OF THE DAMNED 295 



The story is of an incredible multiplicity of marks discovered in 

 the morning of Feb. 8, 1855, in the snow, by the inhabitants of many 

 towns and regions between towns. This great area must of course 

 be disregarded by Prof. Owen and the other correlators. The tracks 

 were in all kinds of unaccountable places: in gardens enclosed by 

 high walls, and up on the tops of houses, as well as in the open 

 fields. There was in Lymphstone scarcely one unmarked garden. 

 We've had heroic disregards but I think that here disregard was 

 titanic. And, because they occurred in single lines, the marks are 

 said to have been "more like those of a biped than of a quadruped" 

 as if a biped would place one foot precisely ahead of another 

 unless it hopped but then we have to think of a thousand, or of 

 thousands. 



It is said that the marks were "generally 8 inches in advance of 

 each other." 



"The impression of the foot closely resembles that of a donkey's 

 shoe, and measured from an inch and a half, in some instances, to 

 two and a half inches across." 



Or the impressions were cones in incomplete, or crescentic basins. 



The diameters equaled diameters of very young colts' hoofs: 

 too small to be compared with marks of donkey's hoofs. 

 * "On Sunday last the Rev. Mr. Musgrave alluded to the sub- 

 ject in his sermon and suggested the possibility of the footprints 

 being those of a kangaroo, but this could scarcely have been the 

 case, as they were found on both sides of the Este. At present 

 it remains a mystery, and many superstitious people in the above 

 named towns are actually afraid to go outside their doors after 

 night." 



The Este is a body of water two miles wide. 



London Times, March 6, 1855: 



"The interest in this matter has scarcely yet subsided, many 

 inquiries still being made into the origin of the footprints, which 

 caused so much consternation upon the morning of the 8th ult. In 

 addition to the circumstances mentioned in the Times a little while 

 ago, it may be stated that at Dawlish a number of persons sallied 

 out, armed with guns and other weapons, for the purpose, if pos- 

 sible, of discovering and destroying the animal which was supposed 

 to have been so busy in multiplying its footprints. As might have 

 been expected, the party returned as they went. Various specula- 

 tions have been made as to the cause of the footprints. Some have 

 asserted that they are those of a kangaroo, while others affirm that 



