240 ENCOUNTER WITH A CUTTLE-FISH. 



had they not brought back with them two of the giant's 

 arms as trophies of their encounter. Tlie following is 

 taken from the account sent to this country by the E-ev. 

 Mr. Harvey, to whom the fishermen narrated their adven- 

 ture : — "When plying their vocation, they descried, at a 

 short distance from them, a dark shapeless mass floating 

 in the water. Concluding that it was a bale of goods, 

 possibly a portion of the cargo of some wrecked vessel, 

 the men rowed up to it, anticipating a valuable prize, and 

 one of them struck the object with his boat-hook. In an 

 instant the dark mass became animated, and opening out 

 like a huge umbrella, displayed to view a pair of promi- 

 nent, ghastly green eyes of enormous size, which glared at 

 them with apparent ferocity, its huge, parrot-like beak at 

 the same time opening in a savage and threatening manner. 

 The men were so terrified by the terrible apparition, that 

 for a moment they were unable to stir ; and before they 

 could recover their presence of mind sufficiently to en- 

 deavour to make their escape, the monster, now but a few 

 feet from the boat, shot out from around it several long 

 arms of corpse-like fleshiness, and grappling for the boat, 

 sought to envelop it in their livid folds. Two of these 

 reached the craft, and in consequence of its greater length, 

 one went completely over and beyond it. At this moment 

 one of the men fortunately recovered from his fright, and 

 seizing a hatchet that happened to be on board, succeeded 

 by a desperate eflbrt in severing both these arms. On 

 finding itself wounded, the animal moved ofl" backwards, 

 at the same time darkening the water wdth its inky 

 emissions ; and presently became lost to sight beneath the 



