Swanton, John Reed "Creek Religion and Medicine," Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, Vol. 42, No. 1 (1928)

There is supposed to be an animal called håtcko-tcåpko–"long ears." It is about the size of a mule, has immense ears, and a very hideous appearance generally. It has a disagreeable odor and causes a dangerous disease, but fortunately it is rarely seen. There are two varieties of this animal, one of a brown color nearly black, the other of a slate color.

Another creature is called nokos oma, "like a bear." It is of about the size of an ordinary black bear, but it always carries its head near the earth. It has immense tusks which cross each other and when seen it is going along a trail with the gait of a pacer. More often, however, only the noise made by the males is heard, and this sounds something like "kåp kåp kåp kåp."

The hatcko fåski, "sharp ears," seem to go in pairs and never travel east or west but always north or south. They are observed especially near the sources of small streams. They have sharp noses, bushy tails, and globular feet.

...

Other "inhabitants of the waters" are the water bear, water calf, water bison, water tiger, and water person. The water tiger is spotted like a leopard, and is now often identified with that animal.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Schafer, Louis S. "The Deepstar 4000," The Compass: A Magazine of the Sea, Vol. 56, No. 1 (1986)

The bright illuminating lights were turned on as he [Joe Thompson] maneuvred the craft [the Deepstar 4000 ] along the San Diego Trough at a depth of 4000 feet [in June 1966]. Suddenly, as Thompson looked out the pilot's viewport, a giant fish swam into view under the port. He looked directly into one of its eyes, which later he described as the size of a dinner plate. As the fish quickly moved on, Thompson could see the silt swirling from the bottom of the ocean. Finally as the enormous fish passed, he saw its serrated tail and he judged it to be nearly 40 feet in length: Joe Thompson was also certain that the fish had possessed scales
Read more

Anstruther, Robert H. "A Strange Sea Reptile," The Spectactor (4 March 1922)

In the spring of 1910, when I was in command of the 'Caesar,' battleship, steaming towards the Clyde and between the coast of Ireland and the Isle of Man, I was on the bridge, in broad daylight, when a creature leapt out of the water close to the ship and shot straight up into the air about forty or fifty feet, and came down spread-eagle fashion. It had the appearance of a chameleon, though shorter in proportion, and was about the size of the skinned chow-dogs one sees hanging outside the butchers' shops of Canton. I called the navigating officer from the standard compass, and as he got to my side the creature leapt again, and we both had a good look at it. I have never been able to get any information about such a thing from books or from people, and had almost given up the quest when I saw the banner of the Ancient Town of Rye. The banner is copied from the seal of the town. The seal is very old and represents the arms of Rye (three figures, half lion, half line o' b
Read more

Beebe, William "A New Deep-Sea Fish," Bulletin of the New York Zoological Society, Vol. 35, No. 5 (1932)

On the twentieth dive in the Bathysphere, at a depth of 2100 feet, we saw two large, elongate, barracuda-shaped fish, which twice passed within eight feet of the windows, once partly through the beam of our electric light. These were at least six feet in length. No direct lights were visible on the head, yet the rather large eyes and the faint outline were distinct. There was a single row of strong, pale blue lights along the side, large and not far from twenty in number. The mouth, with strongly undershot jaw, and numerous fangs illumined either by mucous or indirect internal lights along the brachiostegals. The fish reminded me in general of barracudas, with deeper jaws open all the time. Posterially placed vertical fins were seen when they passed through the electric beam. There were two ventral tentacles, each tipped with a pair of separate, luminous bodies, the superior reddish, the lower one blue. These twitched and jerked along beneath the fish, one undoubtedly arising from a
Read more