STRANGE SEA SIGHTS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LVI, 1 August 1924, Page 7

STRANGE SEA SIGHTS

THOUSANDS OF SNAKES

HUGE PIG-HEADED FISH

SUVA, July 17.

There are more strange things in the sea yet undiscovered than are dreamed of in our philosophy. The ocean depths hold in their dark caverns grim mysteries arid monsters that never sees the light of day. Occasionally some great monster comes to the surface and spreads terror or wonder, and those who may see it have to run the gauntlet of unbelief and the gibes of the sceptic. Nevertheless many wonders exist and the increased. traffic on the Seven Seas make for more publicity and more discovery. One remarkable experience has been lately made public, although it occurred some years ago. A -Samoa trader tells how he left Wallis Island for Samoa in tho schooner Nukumono. On account- of calms they 'had a lot of delay and trouble as the water.ran short. The vessel eventually managed to get as far as Monono, when she was again becalmed for three days, the sea being as smooth its glass. “About t-hreo o'clock in the afternoon,” he says, “there suddenly appeared on the surface a ripple, not caused by wind, but by thousands and tens of thousands of snakes—not cels, but real snakes —from two to three feet, long. They were of a- bronze rich colour with diagonal stripes along the back, and appeared to be lapping the water with their tongues, thereby causing the rippling noise, The vessel was very low in tho water; and the near presence of tlte snakes gave one a very uneasy feeling. The captain told us on no account tn attempt to catch or molest then, as they were venomous. Tn about threequarters of an hour they had all disappeared. , , The . trader said that it was a most uncanny experience, and as the vessel was a-‘“dry” one, there could be suggesting of “seeing snakes. The next morning Captain Braederlaw drew the narrator’s attention to a huge fish, about six feet deep! right under the j-tern where it could easilv bo prodded with ’one of the sweeps. It must have weighed a ton. “At first,’ : says the trader, “wo thought it might be a 'riant sun-fish, but it was different. It had a short oblong solid body, with a small head, with a snout shaped something like that, of a pig. One describe ed it just- like a square tank with head and tail attached to the centre of each side. Just as we were lowering a boat to inspect it more closely, a breeze sprang up, and m three hours we were safely at anchor in Apia harbour.”