Bullen and the Octopus.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7979, 16 November 1905, Page 2

Bullen and the Octopus.

AlATA'TrillS AT KTKWALIT ISlaxo. My first experience of I lit* octopus, writes Frank T. I'uUvti in " Cvi>atures of the Sea," was inj a little hay in Stewart Island (New -Zea. lar.(i). A small rivei' flowed into Iho l)ay, nouvble for its lint' flounders, .mil the crew (if the ship in which i was then a -sailor soon discovert',! that the easiest way of catching •hern was to wade about on 'the line sandy bed with the -hare feel, the water being only np to mid-thigh and when they Mt tin- Hat body wringing under their soles to I ivad firmly and stoop, groping in tlie sand until t'livy had t'he flounder safu let ween ihe finger and thumb. Then I-hey would raise him ami put him in the bag strapped across their shoulders.

Jly and by we discovered that the learer the sea the liner the flounders, an*l so one sunny afternoon I was wading in the bay near the :inouth ofthe rivulet, and picking up some Jinu specimens. .Suddenly I" trod upon something Jike a -blob of jelly. Fearing a sting I made to step off. on ly to fee! -both my legs gripped in several placed 'by vJsoinWh*ii|'l'hal clung as if it would eat into t hti lesh.

I stooprd 4iAr*l IV!( i\ long whipike tcntnclo twisted round my right log. I tore it Oil, and felt a nausea which madi- me ipiite giddy. Hut nn sooner hud I removed one snaky thing (Ivan another held mo, md another and another. Tin." waiei was shallow, hut I began lo feel as if 1 must be dragged down, drowned and devoured by this horrible thing. Fortunately .1 retained my presence )!' mind', and drawing my sheatknife, I. reached down cautiously lo .vlu'JV 1 found the main body of the thing, and avoiding my barelVot, I slabbed steadily into the central part uHhu 'beas't. 1 was successful, or presently I found the dutch of (he tentacles round my legs relax, I saw the water stained with sepia, and I smelled t.ho odour of stall) nmsk, which all currlefisb omit when distu rhed.

I felt ./quite certain that had I been laid hold of in water out of my depth by one of these creatures, only a miracle could have waved me from drowning.