BOOK OF THE DAMNED 297 



jut they are not so definitely outlined as in the sketch of Feb. 24th, 

 as if drawn after disturbance by wind, or after thawing had set in. 

 iMeasurements at places a mile and a half apart, gave the same 

 Inter-spacing "exactly eight inches and a half apart." 



We now have a little study in the psychology and genesis of an 

 attempted correlation. Mr. Musgrave says: "I found a very apt 

 opportunity to mention the name 'kangaroo' in allusion to the report 

 then current." He says that he had no faith in the kangaroo-story 

 himself, but was glad "that a kangaroo was in the wind," because 

 it opposed "a dangerous, degrading, and false impression that it was 

 the devil." 



"Mine was a word in season and did good." 



Whether it's Jesuitical or not, and no matter what it is or isn't, 

 that is our own acceptance: that, though we've often been carried 

 away from this attitude controversially, that is our acceptance as 

 to every correlate of the past that has been considered in this book 

 relatively to the Dominant of its era. 



Another correspondent writes that, though the prints in all cases 

 resembled hoof marks, there were indistinct traces of claws that 

 "an" otter had made the marks. After that many other witnesses 

 wrote to the News. The correspondence was so great that, in the 

 issue of March roth, only a selection could be given. There's "a" 

 jumping-rat solution and "a" hopping toad inspiration, and then 

 some one came out strong with an idea of "a" hare that had 

 galloped with pairs of feet held close together, so as to make im- 

 pressions in a single line. 



London Times, March 14, 1840: 



"Among the high mountains of that elevated district where 

 Glenorchy, Glenlyon and Glenochay are contiguous, there have 

 been met with several times, during this and also the former winter 

 upon the snow, the tracks of an animal seemingly unknown at pres- 

 ent in Scotland. The print, in every respect, is an exact resem- 

 blance to that of a foal of considerable size, with this small differ- 

 ence, perhaps, that the sole seems a little longer, or not so round; 

 but as no one has had the good fortune as yet to have obtained 

 a glimpse of this creature, nothing more can be said of its shape or 

 dimensions; only it has been remarked, from the depth to which 

 the feet sank in the snow, that it must be a beast of considerable 

 size. It has been observed also that its walk is not like that of the 

 generality of quadrupeds, but that it is more like the bounding or 

 leaping of a horse when scared or pursued. It is not in one lo- 



