Makch 1, 1SG5.J 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



51 



to tlie amount of rotatory power your neek 

 may possess, is uot by any means extensive ; 

 one naturally grows restless, or perliaps gets 

 a sharp twinge of cramp, and feels he m7i,st 

 move. To accomplish this an arm is rested 

 on the edge of the canoe, and you lift your- 

 self just a little. A sudden heeling over, a 

 pplash, a frantic yell from the savages, "with 

 a lively consciousness that you are sitting up 

 to your hips in Avater, recalls you at once to 

 the indiscretion you have been guilty of. 

 Add to all this a perpetual dread of being 

 suddenly brained and scalped by the savage 

 sitting behind, and you get a rough outline 

 of canoeing. 



Safely in, and safely seated, I started one 

 bright summer morning from our barracks 

 at Escinimalfc (Van Island) to cross the har- 

 bour. The Indians were going after the 

 Octojms, and I felt a strong curiosity to see 

 how they caught him, at the same time to 

 acquire a knowledge of his habits. 



The anatomical structure of the Octopus is 

 ■well known — his habits but little if at all. 



The Odopus of our own seas is a mere 

 dwarf as compared to the gigantic size he 

 obtains in the land-locked harbours so com- 

 mon to the east side ot Yancouver Island. 

 Tliese places are natural sea-nurseries, where 

 the Octopus grows to an enormoiis size. 

 Safe from heavy breakers, lie enjoys life as in 

 an aquarium. 



His modes of locomotion are curious and 

 varied ; he is a good swimmer — using his 

 eight arms as paddles, he rows himself along 

 with ease and celerity ; he can ramble at v/ill 

 through his pelagic parks, by converting his 

 arms into legs marching on like a huge 

 spider. He is a gymnast of the highest 

 order : clinging to the wrack and sea-weed, 

 goes about back downwards like a marine 

 sloth. Of course he varies in size, I have 

 measured the arm five feet long, and where 

 it joins the central disc, as lai'ge as my wrist. 

 Should he by chance wind his suckei'-armed 

 cable round a luckless bather, fatal would be the 

 embrace. From watching him carefully, I do 

 not think he often catches prey, on the ground 

 on the rocks, but waits for them as a spider 

 would, only that the Octopus converts him- 

 self into a net. Coiling one arm round the 

 wrack, he stiffens out the other seven, and in 

 this position you would hardly distinguish 

 him from the brown sea-weed amongst which 

 he is concealed. A shoal of fish come gaily 

 on, threading their vv^ay through the sea-trees, 

 two or three of them rub against the out- 

 stretched arms of the Octo^^^s —fatal touch ! 

 As though a powerful galvanic shock passed 



through, the fish and knocked him senseless, 

 so does the arm of the Octopus paralyze its 

 victim — then dragging the palsied fish to 

 the centre of the disc, the beaked mouth seizes 

 on it and sucks it in, 



I feel sure that the Octopus possesses the 

 power of numbing its prey ; and the suckers 

 along each ray are as much for the purpose 

 of climbing and holding on with, as for 

 detaining slippery captives. Tyrant and 

 cannibal as he is, yet he has an enemy that 

 hunts him with untiring pertinacity — that 

 enemy is the Indian, He estimates the 

 Octopus as we do turtle, and devours him 

 with as much gusto and relish, only the red- 

 skin roasts his glutinous carcase instead of 

 boiling. And now to catch him. 



The Indian well knov/s, from long ex- 

 pei'ience, that were the Octojms to get his 

 huge arms over the side of the canoe, and at 

 the same time a hold-fast on the wrack, he 

 could just as easily upset the canoe as a 

 child could a basket, but he takes care not 

 to give him a chance ; paddling the canoe 

 slowly and quietly amongst the wrack, he 

 steadily looks through the crystal water until 

 his j^'^'f'-ctised eye detects the Octopus, his 

 great arras stiffened out, patiently biding his 

 prey. Armed with a formidable spear care- 

 fully barbed, and about twelve feet in length, 

 the saviTge passes it carefully through the 

 water until within an inch or so of his great 

 pear-shaped centre, then sends it in as deep 

 as he can plunge it. Twisting and writhing 

 Vv'ith pain and passion, the monster coils his 

 terrible arms round and round the spear ; 

 then the savage, resting the spear on the side 

 of the canoe, keeps him well away and raises 

 him to the surface of the water. He must be 

 dealt \varily with now, for he is dangerous ! 

 If he could get a holdfast on either savage or 

 canoe, nothing save chopping him off piece- 

 meal would be of any service ; but the wily 

 spearsman knows all this, and has ready 

 another speax', long, smooth, unbarbed, and 

 very sharp, and with this he stabs the 

 Octopus where the arms join the body. I 

 imagine the spear must break down the 

 nervous centres giving motive power, for the 

 stabbed arm is at once deprived of its strength 

 and tenacity ; the countless suckers, that 

 held on with a force no human power could 

 have overcome, relax their grip, and the arm 

 hangs, a dead, lifeless mass of gelatinous matter. 



Thus the Indian stabs and stabs until the 

 Octopus, devoid of life and motion, is dragged 

 into the canoe — a great quivering brown-look- 

 ing lump — destined to supply a I'oast and a 

 revel by the log fire of his red-skinned captors, 

 ..... ^2 



