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1THE POULPS For several days the Nautilus kept off from the American coast. Evidently it did not wish to risk the tides
2of the Gulf of Mexico or of the sea of the Antilles. April 16th, we sighted Martinique and Guadaloupe from a distance of
3about thirty miles. I saw their tall peaks for an instant. The Canadian, who counted on carrying out his projects in the
4Gulf, by either landing or hailing one of the numerous boats that coast from one island to another, was quite
5disheartened. Flight would have been quite practicable, if Ned Land had been able to take possession of the boat without
6the Captain's knowledge. But in the open sea it could not be thought of. The Canadian, Conseil, and I had a long
7conversation on this subject. For six months we had been prisoners on board the Nautilus. We had travelled 17,000
8leagues; and, as Ned Land said, there was no reason why it should come to an end. We could hope nothing from the Captain
9of the Nautilus, but only from ourselves. Besides, for some time past he had become graver, more retired, less sociable.
10He seemed to shun me. I met him rarely. Formerly he was pleased to explain the submarine marvels to me; now he left me
11to my studies, and came no more to the saloon. What change had come over him? For what cause? For my part, I did not
12wish to bury with me my curious and novel studies. I had now the power to write the true book of the sea; and this book,
13sooner or later, I wished to see daylight. The land nearest us was the archipelago of the Bahamas. There rose high
14submarine cliffs covered with large weeds. It was about eleven o'clock when Ned Land drew my attention to a formidable
15pricking, like the sting of an ant, which was produced by means of large seaweeds. "Well," I said, "these are proper
16caverns for poulps, and I should not be astonished to see some of these monsters." "What!" said Conseil; "cuttlefish,
17real cuttlefish of the cephalopod class?" "No," I said, "poulps of huge dimensions." "I will never believe that such
18animals exist," said Ned. "Well," said Conseil, with the most serious air in the world, "I remember perfectly to have
19seen a large vessel drawn under the waves by an octopus's arm." "You saw that?" said the Canadian. "Yes, Ned." "With
20your own eyes?" "With my own eyes." "Where, pray, might that be?" "At St. Malo," answered Conseil. "In the port?" said
21Ned, ironically. "No; in a church," replied Conseil. "In a church!" cried the Canadian. "Yes; friend Ned. In a picture
22representing the poulp in question." "Good!" said Ned Land, bursting out laughing. "He is quite right," I said. "I have
23heard of this picture; but the subject represented is taken from a legend, and you know what to think of legends in the
24matter of natural history. Besides, when it is a question of monsters, the imagination is apt to run wild. Not only is
25it supposed that these poulps can draw down vessels, but a certain Olaus Magnus speaks of an octopus a mile long that is
26more like an island than an animal. It is also said that the Bishop of Nidros was building an altar on an immense rock.
27Mass finished, the rock began to walk, and returned to the sea. The rock was a poulp. Another Bishop, Pontoppidan,
28speaks also of a poulp on which a regiment of cavalry could manœuvre. Lastly, the ancient naturalists speak of monsters
29whose mouths were like gulfs, and which were too large to pass through the Straits of Gibraltar." "But how much is true
30of these stories?" asked Conseil. "Nothing, my friends; at least of that which passes the limit of truth to get to fable
31or legend. Nevertheless, there must be some ground for the imagination of the story-tellers. One cannot deny that poulps
32and cuttlefish exist of a large species, inferior, however, to the cetaceans. Aristotle has stated the dimensions of a
33cuttlefish as five cubits, or nine feet two inches. Our fishermen frequently see some that are more than four feet long.
34Some skeletons of poulps are preserved in the museums of Trieste and Montpelier, that measure two yards in length.
35Besides, according to the calculations of some naturalists, one of these animals only six feet long would have tentacles
36twenty-seven feet long. That would suffice to make a formidable monster." "Do they fish for them in these days?" asked
37Ned. "If they do not fish for them, sailors see them at least. One of my friends, Captain Paul Bos of Havre, has often
38affirmed that he met one of these monsters of colossal dimensions in the Indian seas. But the most astonishing fact, and
39which does not permit of the denial of the existence of these gigantic animals, happened some years ago, in 1861." "What
40is the fact?" asked Ned Land. "This is it. In 1861, to the north-east of Teneriffe, very nearly in the same latitude we
41are in now, the crew of the despatch-boat Alector perceived a monstrous cuttlefish swimming in the waters. Captain
42Bouguer went near to the animal, and attacked it with harpoon and guns, without much success, for balls and harpoons
43glided over the soft flesh. After several fruitless attempts the crew tried to pass a slip-knot round the body of the
44mollusc. The noose slipped as far as the tail fins and there stopped. They tried then to haul it on board, but its
45weight was so considerable that the tightness of the cord separated the tail from the body, and, deprived of this
46ornament, he disappeared under the water." "Indeed! is that a fact?" "An indisputable fact, my good Ned. They proposed
47to name this poulp 'Bouguer's cuttlefish.'" "What length was it?" asked the Canadian. "Did it not measure about six
48yards?" said Conseil, who, posted at the window, was examining again the irregular windings of the cliff. "Precisely," I
49replied. "Its head," rejoined Conseil, "was it not crowned with eight tentacles, that beat the water like a nest of
50serpents?" "Precisely." "Had not its eyes, placed at the back of its head, considerable development?" "Yes, Conseil."
51"And was not its mouth like a parrot's beak?" "Exactly, Conseil." "Very well! no offence to master," he replied,
52quietly; "if this is not Bouguer's cuttlefish, it is, at least, one of its brothers." I looked at Conseil. Ned Land
53hurried to the window. "What a horrible beast!" he cried. I looked in my turn, and could not repress a gesture of
54disgust. Before my eyes was a horrible monster worthy to figure in the legends of the marvellous. It was an immense
55cuttlefish, being eight yards long. It swam crossways in the direction of the Nautilus with great speed, watching us
56with its enormous staring green eyes. Its eight arms, or rather feet, fixed to its head, that have given the name of
57cephalopod to these animals, were twice as long as its body, and were twisted like the furies' hair. One could see the
58250 air holes on the inner side of the tentacles. The monster's mouth, a horned beak like a parrot's, opened and shut
59vertically. Its tongue, a horned substance, furnished with several rows of pointed teeth, came out quivering from this
60veritable pair of shears. What a freak of nature, a bird's beak on a mollusc! Its spindle-like body formed a fleshy mass
61that might weigh 4,000 to 5,000 lbs.; the, varying colour changing with great rapidity, according to the irritation of
62the animal, passed successively from livid grey to reddish brown. What irritated this mollusc? No doubt the presence of
63the Nautilus, more formidable than itself, and on which its suckers or its jaws had no hold. Yet, what monsters these
64poulps are! what vitality the Creator has given them! what vigour in their movements! and they possess three hearts!
65Chance had brought us in presence of this cuttlefish, and I did not wish to lose the opportunity of carefully studying
66this specimen of cephalopods. I overcame the horror that inspired me, and, taking a pencil, began to draw it. "Perhaps
67this is the same which the Alector saw," said Conseil. "No," replied the Canadian; "for this is whole, and the other had
68lost its tail." "That is no reason," I replied. "The arms and tails of these animals are re-formed by renewal; and in
69seven years the tail of Bouguer's cuttlefish has no doubt had time to grow." By this time other poulps appeared at the
70port light. I counted seven. They formed a procession after the Nautilus, and I heard their beaks gnashing against the
71iron hull. I continued my work. These monsters kept in the water with such precision that they seemed immovable.
72Suddenly the Nautilus stopped. A shock made it tremble in every plate. "Have we struck anything?" I asked.
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