MYSTERY OF A LAKE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21716, 3 February 1934, Page 2 (Supplement)

MYSTERY OF A LAKE

LOCH NESS "MONSTER" SUPPOSED SPOOR FOUND THEORIES AND RUMOURS EFFORTS TO SOLVE RIDDLE The quest for the Loch Ness monster, "some particulars of which were given on this pag>3 last week, took a now •turn at the end of December. Mr. -M. A. Wetherell, the Central African "big-game hunter, who was making a "thorough search of the lake, asserted that /he had found a definite spoor of an amphibian. "It is a four-fingered beasti" he said, " and it has feet or pads about Bin. across. I should judge it to be a very powerful soft-footed animal about 20ft. long. The spoor I have found clearly shows the undulations of the pads and the outlines of the claws or nails. " I have taken steps to protect the .'.spoor and am making arrangements to ; make a test of it and take photographs. I am convinced that the beast can breathe like a hippopotamus or crocodile with just one nostril out of the water, and although it might be as big as a house it would be possible that/ people might not see its whole huge form. The spoor I found is only a few hours old, clearly demonstrating that the animal is in the neighbourhood where I expected to find it." Mr. Wetherell, who is a Fellow of • the Zoological Society and of the Royal Geographical Society, said,. " I definitely pledge my reputation on what I have seen to-day that there is an amphibian in Ijoch Ness." Mr. Wetherell began' his search oiie morning just before daylight. He set off in a motorboat from Foyers with an old hunting companion, Mr. Gustave iPauli, and carefully examined the shore on the Eouth side along the 10-mile stretch • between Foyers and Fort Agustus. " No Legend, but a Fact " The spot at which the discovery was made was described as a stretch of; Ehirigle and gravel scored by channels from the water to ridges of Goft gravel near the cliff. ; At the end of one of the channels, just where it joins the gravel ridges, ■ -there are waat" Mr. Wetherell said he '"believed to lie two " footprints,"-; while the edges of the' ridges are broken down as if something had attempted to climb - and had slipped, back. Describing the' footprints Mr. Wetherell said: "It looks as if the animal, slipping a.little, put one,foot down twice in a safe place. All. around .are much larger stones on it would, be impossible to make an; impression, and the earth is broken ob'•viouslv ;by pressure on-the stones themselves—a pressure which I suggest was jna'deby this amphibian." ( Mr.; Wetherell' first ventured the opinion that. the mystery denizen of the loch was of the giant , salamander type, but the findings of the prints caused him to alter his views.. He said: "The salamander is .a tliree-fingered i beast, whereas the new traces • are definitely thos:e of a four-toed or fourfingered monster. There are clear impressions of some circular nails. Roadmen's: Story of " Monster " " What the beast actually is, I am at a loss to say, but I hope scientists will „be ablij to determine that from the plaster cast which I propose to make. One thing is certain, the monster of Loch Ness is not a legend but a fact. I am now more than ever convinced that this search should be taken seriously and scientific, investigation made." ... . Did the Loch Ness monster chase the launch that is being used by Sir. Wetherell ? was asked. A correspondent replied: "It would seem so by statemade by seven roadmen working on a stretch of the Iverness-Drum,-nadrochit Road at a point opposite Dores. About 10.30 a.m. these men saw ' what appeared to them to be the monster rushing out from the shore near a wood plantation. With a heavy splash it disappeared suddenly. "/About that time Mr.- Wetherell's boat, containing only his boatman, rounded the point on his way back to Mr. Wetherell at Dores Pier. The men declared that what they saw ' appeared like an upturned boat ' eliding rapidly in a trail of foam. One of the jnen said the spray was flung several feet high." Newspaper's Investigation The Daily Mail later announced its decision to send a mission of investigation to Loch Ness to help to solve the riddle, which it said had now become an international affair, whether the monster really exists or otherwise. Everybody was stated to be talking about the mystery all over the world. While there are thousands of people who/ firmly believe that that the loch is inhabited liy a monstrous creature, there are equally as many who scoff at the idea. " Ts it possible," everyone is asking, " that a creature unknown to science docs exist, or is it something which has strayed from its home and is only unusual to the waters of Loch Ness?" A special correspondent of the Daily Mail was to be accompanied by Mr. Wetherell and Mr. Gustav Pauli. Mr. Wetherell is a Yorkshireman. Ho went out to South Africa as a yeomanry trooper for the Boer War, and afterward spent some time " up country." Later, when farming in Northern Rhodesia, he developed his keenness for big-game hunting. With Mr. Gustav Pauli he tramped 1800 miles through Central Africa hunting and photographing big game, and with the same companion traversed Africa from east to west. He has lectured in the United States on " Africa and Big Game." He has been a diamond digger on the Vaal 1 River and a film director in South Africa and England. Mr. Pauli is a Dane. An artist and sculptor bv profession, he has developed an aptitude for filming wild life and big gan/e. He has been, as alreadv stated, with Mr. Wetherell in Central Africa, and is an expert in big-game photography. There was aNo to be an expert photographer in the party. " Aged Salmon " Theory The landed proprietors whose propcrty border Loch Ness are keenly interested in the mystery. Some of them £ re'sceptical. They say they are quite prepared for an important discovery. On the other hand, they say they would not he surprised to learn that the " monster " is a " monster " only in name, being something which is quite well known. There is a theory that the creature may be an aged and diseased salmon which, having gone blind, charges about the loch like—as an enthusiastic lochsider put it —" a house on fire." Mr. J. S. Gibbons, of Boddington Jlanor, near Cheltenham, the tenant of sporting rights on Loch Ness, was at the'lake during the summer, but although he heard much about the mysterious creature, saw nothing. He ; savs: "At first T did not believe any such creature existed, but I know so -•■ many of the witnesses that I seem to "- think there. must be something in the stoiy."

Meantime, while waiting for definite information with regard to the Loch Ness "monster," the public is creating specimens of " monsters " of its own design. For instance, at Hastings four people won the first prize at a fancy-dress ball as the " Loch Ness Moister." Between them they created a fearsome beast with a huge tongue and a long green-striped body. But whatever ridicule may be poured on the matter, people were still flocking to Loch Ness in the hopo of catching sight of the " monster." The loch is by no means a placid lake like those common to England. It is an inland sea, in length longer than the distance from Dover to Calais. A Southsea reader has forwarded to the Daily Mail a photograph of a seaelephant (or elephant-seal) which ho saw at Simonstown, South Africa, some years ago. When the photograph was shown to an official of the Natural History Museum at Kensington ho said: " If there is a monster in Loch Ness, it may bo a sea-elephant. There are two species. One is the southern seaelephant, which would be seen at such a place as; Simonstown, and the other is the northern, which might be seen in Loch Ness." The strangest characteristic of the sea-elephant is its head. This is shaped rat her like a cow's or a horse's, but the male has an appendage on its nose which may best be described as an abbreviated trunk. The male is usually about 20ft. long. The creature is amphibious, aiid h#s four " fingers " and one " thumb " on its two forefeet; but the daws are missing on the smaller hind feet. The Southsea reader in question said that he noticed the sea-elcphant lying on the beach at Simonstown close to the water's edge. "A crowd of people threw stones at it," he said. " It then shuffled astern

and took to the deep water. Later it was found in a local bathing pool and harpooned: It weighed a few pounds over two tons. Italy's " Loch Ness monster," which was reported to have appeared in the Pantano marshes near Syracuse, Sicily, and to have struck a man dumb with fright for three months, has been lured out of its hiding-place by music.' The " monster " turned out to be a snake, between 15ft. and 20ft long, of a kind not previously known in Italy. An expert says it may be 100 years old. The " monster " is not receiving very sympathetic treatment in the French Press, and amused scepticism is the keynote of reports from London correspondents. The representative of the Intransigeant, who made a special journey to the loch, observes: " There arc several Scottish whisky distilleries on. the banks."