MR. VAVASOUR'S ADVENTURE WITH AN OCTOPUS.

Patea Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 958, 13 November 1882, Page 3

MR. VAVASOUR'S ADVENTURE WITH AN OCTOPUS.

We take the following from the Kelson Even ing Mail; — Mr. Vavasour, a well known settler in Taranaki, was recently a visitor to Flaxbourue, in the Marlborough district, and being at the boat harbour determined upon having a bathe in the sea. The water was clear and deep, and after enjoying a swim he was returning to the shore, and had just placed his hands on a ledge of rocks which runs out seawards, and was about to leave the water when a cold arm was swiftly thrown over his shoulder and the extremity as quickly fixed on to his chest with a grip somewhat resembling that of a cupping glass. Almost simultaneously a second arm encircled his waist and obtained an equally strong hold, and immediately he felt himself beng dragged downwards, and then he knew he was in the embrace of a powerful octopus devilfish.” He wasin a desperate plight for he had no foothold, and all that he had to oppose to this terrible tugging from the depths of the sea was the comparatively powerless hold; which his hands had on the ’rocks. However, he did not lose his presence of mind, but called out to a shepherd who had been his companion and was standing not fnr off, and he without a moment’s loss of time ran to his assistance, saw at a glance what was the matter, and drawing his sheath knife stooped down from his ledge of rock and severed, first one and then the other of the arms of this horrible monster of the deep, and thus released Mr. Vavasour who in another minute or two must have succumbed. After so narrow an cicapc most men would have had quite enough of a devil fish for one day at least But not so Mr. Vavasour. After a few minutes rest he became curious to know what had become of his late enemy, and, peering over the side of the rock, he saw him lying sick and sorry from the loss of two of his arms at the bottom of the sea. Mr, Vavasour is a splendid diver and a strong swimmer, and he without a moment’s hesitation, determined to become the aggressor where he had so nearly been the victim. Having obtained a hook and a rope from the boat station, he, with these, plunged into the water, cautiously approached the brute, whose recent experiences of cold steel had prod need a most depressing effect upon him' and contained to run the hook in his gelatinous body, and having secured a firm hold he returned to the rock, and with the aid of the shepherd who had been viewing Ihc proceedings with astonishment, not unmixed with alarm, succeeded in dragging the monster ashore. Satisfied with thus, having, had-his revenge, he did not makeany. minute examination of his vanquished foe, but describes the body as being some four feet across, and the suckers "as big as my hand,”