SCOTTISH TANIWHA

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 143, 14 December 1933, Page 9

SCOTTISH TANIWHA

SEEN, BUT NOT BY CAMERA

The reported seeing of a lizard-like monster in Loch Ness (a matter discussed in British papers for some time) has an interest apart from sea-serpent stories, for Loeli Ness is an inland water, described in the cablegram as 20 miles in length and 750 feet deep in places. Loch Ness is ' connected with the sea by canals and by, the Kiver Ness. One ■writer in an English paper states that "the loch was, until lately, isolated but for certain subterranean inlets. Today its N extremities join the sea by well supervised canals, in ! which a' creature of any size would be at once apparent." But Mr. Philip A. Stalker in "The Listener," does not dwell on the canals in appraising any possibility of free going and coming for a big serpent or lizard-like creature between loch and sea. He writes that ''no scientist on earth would say that the sea cannot contain the legendary sea serpent, however remote the probability, or that such a creature if in existence could not possibly find its way, perhaps before full growth, up the Eiver Ness, which is separate from the' Caledonian Canal, and into the Loch.'? A third writer goes past both the river and the canals and says "some think the loch harbours a survival of some prehistoric creature which may have been released from the earth's recesses by the great blasting operations required for the making of the new Inverness-Glasgow motor road." After all, the question of subterranean or sub-aqueous approach to 01 from , the loch is side-tracked, if the animal or reptile can walk on dry land, and some of the less credible witnesses suggest that it can. (Which recalls the history of the hippopotamus which recently walked or swam over a great part of Natal, appearing in towns and on farms, and causing a great commotion; but after all he was only a hippo, and somebody unkindly shot him.) ' •'. ■. ". -' , ■ ... A SECRET SUBMARINE? So much for the approachability of Loch Ness subterraneously, and.by sea, land, or air. The alternative is to hold that the lizard-like creature (if it exists) is native of the loch, or is some creature brought there and: released, or is "an extraordinary, ingenious form of submarine, with a head, neck, limbs, and a tail," put in the loch by a rich and ingenious practical joker. The subject may be approached from the standpoints of psychology (including mythology) and (if psychology fails) of zoology. But the eyewitnesses* evidence is not sufficiently definite to help a, zoologist very-much. And it seems that there is no evidence recorded by the eye of a camera. But the Secretary for Scotland evidently thinks that "zealous Press photographers" have riot exhausted their resources. : . After reading, Sir. Walter Scott and various other writers who reflect Scottish legencl, one conceives a great respect for the .Celtic imagination, and admits that it left out very little. But one thinks:that if the Highlanders left anything out, the Maoris filled it via very neatly w.ith their, taniwha. The taniwha has always seemed to be peculiarly Maori, and the twenty feet lizardlike creature in Loch Ness looks something like a plagiarism. But there is no copyright'in mythology. Coming to psychology, there are those who simply say "hallucination" and leave it at that—but there are others, including Mr. Stalker mentioned above, who weighs the evidence and the witnesses, and who say they cannot be disregarded. : ; "MASS HALLUCINATION." Mr. E. Or. Boulenger, director of the Zoological Society's Aquarium writes: "The case of the 'Monster .of Loch Ness' is worthy of our consideration, if only because it presents a striking example of mass hallucination. • The loch is of immense depth and so riddled with caves and 'deeps' that many persons drowuod in its waters have not been seen again. Hence One of the loch's traditions is that it .never giveß up its dead. For countless centuries a wealth of weird and eerie legend has centred round this great inland waterway, and it must be admitted that with its wild surroundings, dangerous, currents, sudden storms, and driving mists, it is a most appropriate setting for any fearsome creature—real or imaginary. Strange wonder, therefore, that peculiar beliefs survive amongst the inhabitants of the lonely homesteads on the banks of the loch, or that the 'beast' should be only ono of many a ghostly heritage handed down from One generation to another. Any person with tho slightest knowledge of human susceptibility should therefore find no difficulty in understanding how " the animal, once being said to havo been seen by few persons, should have, shortly after revealed itself to many more." This direct challenge to faith by Mr. Boulenger recalls a wholo host of ghost stories,, of tigers prowling in Australia,, and of things alleged to have been seen—and yet, with all tho evidence of eyes, the story dies down and remains "unproven." Not. long ago in Wellington a hard-headed Scottish marine engineer stated (it was in the morning) that he saw the Indian rope trick done, with full details of the boy that disappeared, etc. Yet a noted magician recently told a Wellington audience that he had investigated in India and that "the rope trick doeß not exist." A ROYAL NAVAL WITNESS. And now Mr. Stalker leads a Koyal Naval Engineer (and his wife) as first witness—not the sort of witness to be deceived by a half-submerged tree or a mass of floating peat. Mr. Stalker writes: "I don't think it is fully realised that the witnesses, who number at least tety, and jossiblj a_gopd many

more, include intelligent men anc women of the post-war period of the twentieth century, few if any of whom I imagine, believe in the existence oJ the legendary water-kelpie, althougl some of them have suggested that th< Loch Ness monster may be the creatun of real flesh and blood which originate) the legend. Who are the witnesses o: this animated lump of peat? One p: them is a retired officer holding higl rank in the Engineering Branch of thi Eoyal Navy who, along with his wife examined the creature through binocu lars from about half a mile's distance Any officer or man in the Royal Navi gets a certain amount of practice i] judging the size and distinguishing thi outline of objects on the surface o: the water at a distance, and marine en gincering as a profession doesn't genet qjly attract dreamers and visionaries Egineer-Captain Mciklem and his wife in the conversation I had with them described what they saw of the creatuiu in matter-of-fact terms as being, ai nearly as could be judged, abou twelve feet long with its back risinj about four feet out of water, the whoji shape suggesting that there was a sub merged head aud tail." Even allowing for the wide experi ence of mariners, it must bo admittec that, in many circumstances, water is capable of imparting extraordinary motions-to trees and such like, and i: capable of making them look like al sorts of things and sometimes like no thing on earth. In this way, then are few things more wonderful thai watching a flooded river in or beloTi bush country. When the river is peace ful, log-snags in watery depths ari equally strange, even fascinating. INDIVIDUAL OR COMPOSITE? But the Loch Ness creature alsi drives through the water at high speeds thongh that is not noted in the abovi evidence. Two taxicab men saw it. Om said it was 15 or 20 feet long and eigh inches out of the water. A school o large fish in play can, in circumstances look like a continuous fish 20 or 31 feet long,' but the witnesses do no think that what they saw was a com posite of individuals. A woman wit ness told Mr. .Stalker that "it; lookd like a boat upside down." Mr. Stalker also writes: "What may bo called the plesipsaurus theory depends more upon the evidence of those who say they have seen the creature's head and neck —a small head, variously described as rather like a snake's or a*, camel's, on a neck about five or sij(. feet long, attached to a body about twelve foot long with a tail to complete it, the creature apparently having legs or flippers. Of the twenty or so people at different parts of the Loch who reported having seen it on Friday, September 22, there.were two parties of six who described such a creature." Now to return to "The Case for the Sea Serpent." Under this title Commander B. T. Gould has published a book, in which he writes:—"To my mind, the evidence available at present goes all the way to demonstrate the real existence of more than one type of creature not yet scientifically described. I should be inclined to say that it gave ground for believing in three —a longnecked seal, such as that seen by Mr. Mackintosh Bell; a gigantic turtle-like creature' .. . and (deducible from the majority of the reports) a' creature larger than either, and much resembling in outline and structure the plesiosaurus of Me'sozoic times. Ido not suggest that the last-named is actually a plesiosaurus, but that it is either one of its descendants or has evolved along simi-lar-lines." But Commander Gould is writing of the seas and oceans with their limitless depths, not of a loch. A scientist declares that '.' the seagoing lizards that flourished in the Age of Beptiles- disappeared finally, and inwitably as the result of definite climatic and other changes to which their vast bulks and diminutive intellects could not adapt themselves.". < Someone who has been reading up books on sea serpents says that, the reader is faced with two alternatives: (a) that the sea-serpent iS some monster as yet unidentified, or (b) that it ..is only one of many large animals, such as whales, ribbon fish, giant squid, etc., seen under peculiar circumstances, their true identities being disguised by some trick of lighting. THE ARCHBISHOP'S FIND. "Lurid though the Loch Ness beast may appear (observes one commentator) one doubts whether it would have cut much ice in the sixteenth century, when the general standard of what a monster should be "like was much higher than it is today. . Olaus Magnus, Archbishop of Upsala, reported, in all seriousness, the existence of a Norwegian sea-serpent, which ■ not only engulfed shee.p as they browsed on the cliffs a hundred feet above the sea, but inhaled .entire, ships with deck-fittings, cargo, and crew completed Not content with representing himself as an eye-wit-ness of these happenings, this respected dignitary of the Church enlisted ihe service of an artist in order to give the matter the publicity which he considered it ddfcerved." •.,'. :.V . • Another story is that the Loch Ness beast was seen crossing the public road, dragon-like,, with what appeared to be a lamb in its mouth, but this witness has not been able to find a place for his evidence in Mr. Stalker>s. respectable collection. ~'