Besides, when it is a question of monsters, the imagination
is apt to run wild. Not only is it supposed that these poulps
can draw down vessels, but a certain Olaus Magnus speaks of an
octopus a mile long that is more like an island than an animal.
It is also said that the Bishop of Nidros was building
an altar on an immense rock. Mass finished, the rock began
to walk, and returned to the sea. The rock was a poulp.
Another Bishop, Pontoppidan, speaks also of a poulp on which
a regiment of cavalry could manoeuvre. Lastly, the ancient
naturalists speak of monsters whose mouths were like gulfs,
and which were too large to pass through the Straits of Gibraltar."
"But how much is true of these stories?" asked Conseil.
"Nothing, my friends; at least of that which passes the limit of truth
to get to fable or legend. Nevertheless, there must be some ground
for the imagination of the story-tellers. One cannot deny that poulps and
cuttlefish exist of a large species, inferior, however, to the cetaceans.
Aristotle has stated the dimensions of a cuttlefish as five cubits,
or nine feet two inches.
Pages:
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482