A MONSTER. 
237 
too long for its accessories. The articulations of 
the arms were altogether monstrous,, the elbows being 
inverted so as to enable the creature to use his arms 
as forelegs, whilst the limb, from the inosculation of 
the elbow to the extremity of the fingers, did not 
exceed half a dozen inches. The fingers were so short 
as to resemble toes, and the hands had no thumbs. 
The joint of the knee was reversed like that of the 
elbow, and the member below it contracted into the 
length of little more than a span, so that the motion 
was altogether bestial. The neck, moreover, appeared 
to be several inches too long, which enabled the mi- 
serable creature to move his head erect. Although so 
uncouth in his proportions, he was astonishingly active, 
and, as we were told, capable of enduring considerable 
fatigue. He had no power of utterance beyond that of 
a frightfull yell, to which he invariably had recourse 
whenever his dumb charge did not heed his motions 
with the alacrity he desired. He, however, never ex- 
hibited any violence towards them, but on the contrary 
always appeared anxious that they should receive 
kind treatment. He was perfectly harmless, and re- 
markably abstemious, living solely upon rice, which 
he always ate with great moderation. Although at 
the time we saw him he was only five-and-twenty 
years old, he looked full double that age ; still his 
eyes were bright and penetrating. 
There were various surmises among the rude cul- 
tivators of the soil who dwelt in the neighbourhood 
respecting this piece of deformed humanity; many 
considering him an incarnation of some evil spirit, 
doomed to expiate the sins of a former life in a body 
