THRILLS AT LOCH NESS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21912, 22 September 1934, Page 2 (Supplement)

THRILLS AT LOCH NESS

MORE ABOUT THE "MONSTER" SEEN ON 21 OCCASIONS FIVE PHOTOGRAPHS SECURED Sir Edward Mountain is a student oi: natural history, and, having taken Beaufort Castle, near Loch Ness, Scotland, for his summer holiday, lie determined to organise a more thorough search for the Loch Ness " monster than had hitherto been made. The existence of the " monster, ' whatever the creature may prove to bo ultimately, bus, it is stated, been placed beyoiul all possible doubt by the remarkable success which has rewarded the work of the watching party organised by Sir Edward, numbering twenty people. All were equipped with cameras and powerful field glasses, and the search wont on for four weeks under conditions of almost military precision, with a careful distribution of watchers at places most likely to yield satisfactory photographs.

The water in the loch reaches a depth of 7ooft. in places, and thcro now soems little doubt that it harbours some unusual and as yet unidentified creature or creatures. The watchers were enthusiastic about their work, and some put in longer hours than they were asked to do in the hope of getting better photographs. The creature, during that time, was seen on 2L occasions, and photographs were taken. The results are considered much more satisfactory than could have been reasonably anticipated. Photographing a marine creature proved extremely difficult, but five photogrupfos, which it is claimed clearly prove that there is some strange animal in the loch, were secured. " One of a Family "

Mr. A. Ihissell-Smith, of Invcrfarigag, says Ik; believes that the " monster " is not an isolated specimen, bill oiio of a family indigenous to the loch. " People often ask,'* he writes in the Morning Post, " ' Why these creatures have turned up all of a sudden ?' 1 think the answer to this is, 'Thev haven't.' They have been there for a very, very long time. Those who knew Locli Ness -10 years ago •were aware of their existence, and so were their fathers before them. " But Loch Ness was far more inaccessible and secluded then than now. For the greater part of its circuit, the lake, which is nearly 50 miles in circumference, was thickly wooded down to the shore, To-day work is still in progress on a new road on the northern side, and this lias necessitated felling trees on a big scale, and the displacement of immense quantities of sod and rock. It lias quite spoiled the natural beauty of the northern foreshore, but opened up an extensive view of the locb. and thus enabled many people to catcb a glimpse of its huge inhabitants. Frequent Appearances

" The creature's former appearances were infrequent, principally, I imagine, owing to the traffic on the lake, which has much decreased of recent years. They were reported from time to time, but the reports were not believed, and were treated as old wives' tales. But the old wives' tales are coming truo in part, and there is little doubt that the original of the water-horse in the Gaelic legends is to be found in the creature for which at present Ave have no name."

In the main tlie accounts given by the watchers agree that when on the surface the " monster " displays a very small head relative to the size of its body, and moves along the water in such a way as to show either two or three humps. All accounts agree that when on the surface the creature moves with ' remarkable speed, which greatly complicates attempts to photograph it. On tlie other hand, it creates a tremendous wash, which can clearly be seen in one of the pictures reproduced.