70 IIAHIT.s OF TIIK < KI'HAI.o|>o|>A. 



entire ray hangs like a dead snake, a limp, lifeless in;)--. Ami 



thus tin- Indian stabs and -t.-ii-. until the octopus, deprived of 



all power to do harm, is draped into i he canoe. ;i threat, inert, 

 quivering lump of brown-looking jelly. LORD.* 



VI. Indian women an- reported to have been drowned by 

 being clasped by huge Ortopods whilst bathing in the Pacific, 

 on the coasts of l.ritish America, and among the Indians are 

 traditions of narrow escapes. Then- i> also a tradition among 

 the C'hinisgau Indians that aliont seventy yea r> a no a two-masted 

 vessel, with an oriental crew aboard, was sei/ed fat Milbank 

 Sound, lat. ~>~2 ) by an mormons squid, and was only rescued by 

 chopping it- tentacles with axes. The Indian* add Unit the 

 "evil influence" of the squid caused the subsequent wreck of the 

 I at a point further south on the coast. (i. M. DAWSON. in 

 Nature. 



The newspapers frequently contain accounts of the encouir 

 of submarine divers with 'ji.ii'Miitic cephalopoda; the followii,; 

 a recent instance : 



A DlVKK AND A I)K\ II.-Fl>ll. The diver eiiii-a^ed at the 

 Moyne River. Belfast, in removinii the reef. h;id a narrow escape 

 from losing his life on Thursday. It appears t hat Mr. Smale had 

 fired oil' a charge of dynamite and displaced a laru'e <iuantity of 

 stones at the bottom of the river. He went down to prepare for 

 lifting these stones by the aid of chain- into the punt. While 

 engaged in rolling over a large stone he saw something which he 

 ^upposed at the time was a piece of clean-looking kelp moving 

 about in front of where he was working. In a few seconds tin- 

 object came in contact with the diver's arm. about which it 

 quickly coiled, partly holding him. Immediately Mr. Mnale 

 touched what was roiled around his arm he became aware of his 

 position, and tried to extricate himself from the -j:\".\-\> of a 

 sra-devil." but found it far more difficult than he anticipated. 

 Catching hold of the part hanging from the arm. he walked alonir 

 the bottom of the river toward the end of it. when he saw In- 

 firmly held by one of the feelers of a large Octopus, better known 

 among Bailors as the " devil-fish." Mr. Smale tried to pull the 



"The .V.tmaliM in British Colun.bi;. 1 866. 



