Large aquatic animals

32

LARGE

AQUATIC

ANIMALS.

The

following j)aper on tlie existence of large animals,

(probably fresh water seals) in theupland lakes ofTasmania,

prepared by C. Gould, Esq., F.G.S., was, in Mr. Gould's

absence, read atthelastmeeting ofthe Eoyal Society:

—

Iwish to lay beforethe Society a statementoffacts, which isfull of interest and surprise, and which will show,if

corro-borated by further investigations, that the existence ofrare,

perhaps undescribed, animals

may

be generally unknown,

and

entirely so to science, forlong periods after theoccupation of acountry.

It

may

be noted that while easy credence cannot be given

to the tales of aboriginals

who

too often fancy that their

onlychanceof evading the dominating intelligence of their

conquerors rests in their

endowments

of low cunning

and

mendacity; yetthat

many

ofthe wonderful storieswhich such

aboriginals relateandwhich,

when handed

in turn to those

who

areunapprcciativeoftheinfinitediversity oftheformsof animal lifeare consideredtobe

mere

" traveller's tales," are

in reahtyentirely trueor substantiallybased

upon

fact.

The

investigator ofnatural science will,therefore, never entirely

abandon the enquiry in such cases until some completely

satisfactorydisproof orexplanationhas been arrived at,

and

he will be the

more

resolvedin this

upon

reflectingthatthe

specificfeaturesofthesavage intellectconsist inthe possession ofgreat powers of observation ratherthan in thoseof origi-nality or invention.

Hence

thetraditions or

myths

of uncivi-lized countries are

more

susceptible of direct tracementto an origin than the transmitted stories of

more

instructed nations

who

conservedknowledge underthe form of allegory orfable

—

the true

meaning

orexplanationofwhichwas under-stoodonlybythefew

—

andhas, in

many

instancesbeen

com-pletelyburiedunderthesuccessiveincrementsof time.

Itwillbe only necessarytoinstance, asexamples

upon

the one hand, thedistorted accounts which have travelled from the interior of Africa, andof Madagascar, of the Ehinoceros, andthe Epiornis, and to which

we

areindebted forthestory

of the

Unicom,

and of that most wonderful bird the Eoc.

Again

theEasternstoryofSinbadfamiliarizesus withaliberal interpretation of the

Chimpanzee

or Gorilla undertheform

ofthe "Old

Man

ofthe Sea."

And

the

Kraken

is simply an enormous exaggeration of the gigantic species of cuttle fish

known

or believedtoexistintheIndian Ocean.

expandinginto

some

horribleprodigy by the fortunate fact

ofitsboneshaving been secured as unimpeachable witnesses ofitstrue nature anddimensions.

But

onthe other hand, the history of theGoldenFleece guarded bydragons, the objectofthe expedition ofJason

and

of the Argonauts, istheresult ofanentirely different

opera-tion of themind, and

may

be well considered (as suggested by Sir

Redmond

Barry) asbeingmerelyanallegory depictive

of the jealous care with which the diggers at Colchis con-cealed a productive placer, andof the methods used by thein forthepurposeof collectingfine gold, viz., by placing sheep-skinsinthestreamsasisdonein SouthAmericawith ox-hides

forthe

same

purposeatthe present day.

It will be unnecessaryfor

me

to illustrate

my

meaning by

otherexamples,andI, therefore,passatonce totheconfession

that I have never considered the question of the Australian

Bunyip

ascompletely disposedof,but have alwaysfanciedthat asatisfactoryexplanationofthetraditionof thenatives,might

some

day be arrived at by the discovery of

some

species

hitherto unfamiliarto us.

Inregardto the northern portions ofthe continent there

is no greatdifiiculty in the matter

—

the presence of huge, hideous alligators would explain this orany other horrible story.

But

thebelief in the

Bunyip

was just as prevalent

among

thenatives inpartshundreds ofmilesdistantfromany streamin which the alligators occur,

and

among

tribes

who

couldhave no communication with those to the northward.

Some

otheranimal

must

be soughtfor,therefore,asthe source of thestory intheselocalities.

And

the question thenresolves

itselfintowhetherthis should be

some

already

known

animal

appearing in unusual haunts, or an undescribed species.

With

a viewtothe consideration of these points, I

now

place

theSociety in possessionof statements in regardto whichI cannot, ofcourse,pledgemyselffurtherthanbyexpressing

my

personalbelief in them.

Having

heard rumours, eversince

my

arrival in this colony,

of

some

largeand unusualanimals beingoccasionallyobserved

inthelakes in the greatcentralplateau,Ihadoftenprojected atrip of exploration to them, whichcircumstanceshave con-tinuously prevented. However, I always bore the pointin

mind, and, therefore,

when

passing the evening at Constable McPartland's hutat thePicton, whileon anexpeditiontothe

Cracroft,knowing thathe

had

beenforalong timestationed

at the GreatLake,I

made

enquirywhether he

had

seenany strangeanimalsinthelake.

He

told

me

instantlythathenever

34

had doneso several times,

and

calling liim, desired

him

to

tcU

mc

atonce allaboutthem.

I iindfrom

my

notes that the dateof ourconversationwas September, 1870, and that

young

Francis McPartland,

who

was anextremely intelligent and apparentlytruthful youth,

statedthat "two years previously he had severaltimes seen water animals in the lake at different places; he hadagood

view of thein off the shore of

Swan

Bay

; going from the

station towards Mr. Smith's Neck.

They

were within

a-stone's throw of the shore,

and

seemed tobe threeor four feet long, they were three or four innumber, and seemedto. be playing about; they didnot

jump

out,butwere splashing

about, and sometimes threwthe waterseven or eightfeet

up

in the air.

They

showed their backs-above water, also their

heads, which were round, "_{round likea bull dog."}

_They

were darkishincolour; he

had

seen

them

several times, once

one alone, but generally two together; they

swam

about,

keeping the head above the water, you can also see the shoulders; they

show

the back

when

they are splashing.

These were always seenby McPartlandin somepartorother of

Swan

Bay

; sometimes near the shore, sometimesin the

middle.

Immediately on

my

return I asked Mr.

John

Forsterto

favour

me

with afewlines tothechiefconstable of the lake

district, and through his hands I received the following,

statement:

—

Steppes,

25th October, 1870.

Sir,

—

Withregardtoyourmemo, ofthe 23rdofSeptemberlast,

relative to animals reported to have beenseenintheGreat Lake by young McPartland, and supposed to be seals, having

made

theirwayfromthe seauptheDerwent andShannonRivers,

I

now

beg to inform you that I have madeenquiriesamongst

theshepherds in the vicinity of theLake, andI findthat several ofthemhaveseenan animal swimminaj in the Lake very much,

resembling a black sheepdog withonlyits head above the water. I cannotfindthat more than one has been seenata time. Ido notthinkitpossible for seals tomaketheirwayfromthe seatothe

Great Lake, inconsequenceofa very considerablewater-fall being in the Shannon near its junction with the Ouse, unless being

amphibiousthey could escape the faU andreach theriveraboveby

land.

Thepeople thathaveseen thisanimal inthe Lakemaintainthat

it is not a platypus, but twice as largeand

much

darker, but as

35

saw one.

Ryan

saw oneatSwanBayinthemoonlight. Ridgers

thecontractor, hasalso seen them, and I

am

told Mr. Kenrick Flexmore saw oneattheSandbanks.

Iam.Sir,

Yourobedient servant,

JohnForster,Esq.,

JAMES

WILSON,

Hobart. Chief Constable.

Mr.

Morton

Allporthaving informed

me

thatMr. Charles

Headlam had

seen such a beast in the lake, proceeded to

correspond with that gentleman, from

whom

I furnish the Societywith the followingnote. Ineedhardly say the

testi-mony

of sowell

known

a gentlemanasMr. Charles

Headlam

isunimpeachable :

Egleston,MacquarieRiver,Tasmania,

29thApril, 1872.

Dear Sir,

—

Yours of the 25th inst. I have, asking for

infor-mation inreferencetoan animalIsaw in the Great Lake some

yearsago. Ihave looked over

my

journal,whichI have kept for the last 32years,andfindthatit was on Monday, 25th January,

1863, thatIsaw the animal.

My

sonAnthonywastheonlyperson with

me

atthetime ; thetimeof day was about 11 o'clock. The

lakewasvery rough, andwewerepullingourboat against a strong

head sea, when

my

oarnearlycamein contactwitha large-looking beast, aboutthesize of a fairly-developed sheepdog. Theanimal immediately st.irted off at great speed towards an island in the

Great Lake

known

as Helen Island. It appeared to have two

small flappers, or wings, which it

made

gooduseof, as I should

think it went at the rate of 30 milesper hour.

We

watched it

as far astheeye could reach, anditappeared to keep ontheface of the water, neverappearing to dive. I never rememberseeing

such an animalbefore orsince.

My

sons havejustreturned from

the Great Lake, andcrossedover the lake twicein the boat, but sawnothingofourstrangefriend. Itwasinthemiddleofthe lake

where

we

sawthe animal, andindeepwater. ShouldIeverfallin

withthe beast againT willnotfailinsecuringhimif

I

can,and you

shallthenseehiminperson.

I remain, yourssincerely,

CHARLES

HEADLAM.

MortonAllport, Esq.

Hobart Town.

Having

arrived thus far, I was

much

gratifiedby seeing

in TheMercitryof the 26thof April, 1872,an extract from the WaqgcbAdvertiser, which I copyas follows:

What

is theBunyip? (inquires the

Wagga

Advertiser), There

reallyis a Bunyip, ora Waa-Wee, actually existing not far from us; and others probably nearer than

we

imagined. The animal

3(3

sixteen miles northof Narandera, thereexists an animal whichin every respect tallies with the description of the creature

fre-quently reported as seen in various places. Here is the account of a gentleman who had a (juiet half-hour's view of this strange nondescript.

"A

fewdayssince, Mr. A., who was drivingsheep

across countrytoMelbourne,camped onthelagoon.

He

calledat

my

house andaskedwhattheanimal wasthatwehadinour

swamp

and proceeded to describesomethingwhichhad alarmedhim and

the shepherds? Iridiculed his report,and hegot angry,inviting

me

tocome downandsee formyself. Iwentdownearlynext morning, between six and seveno'clock,accompanied by twoother persons,

and had not waited long before Iheardthe sound as of a body

rushing rapidly throughthe water,makinganoiseasload as that caused byaNorth Shoresteamer. Lookinginthedirection ofthe

soundIsawa creaturecoming throughthe water withtremendous

rapidity, anddirectingitscourseimmediately towardsus.

We

stood

still, deeply interested, and watched theapproachof the animal,

which having, as we presumed, lately risen to the surface, was

evidentlynotawareof ourpresence. Itcame onwith great swift-ness until itwas scarcely30yards fromthe edge of the lagoon,

when

it appeared suddenly to catch sight of us, and stopped

instantly. It lay on the water then perfectlystill,and I had a

splendidview ofa creature that surprised

me

morethan anything

Ihadever before seen in

my

life. The animalwas about half as long againas anordinaryretrieverdog,the hair all overits body wasjetblackandshining,itscoatwasvery long

—

the hair spreading

outon the surface of thewaterforabout five inches, andfloating loosely asthe creature roseandfellbyits

own

motion, I couldnot

detectanytail, andthe hairaboutitsheadwas too longandglossy toadmitof

my

seeingitseyes; theearswerewellmarked. It

made

no noise, butkeptitspositionfor half-an-hour, surveying us, no

doubt, leisurely,although its visualorganswere hidden from us.

At lengthitturned quietlyroundand

swam

offeasily, withoutany

manifestationof alarm, and wewatched itmovingleisurely along the surface of the lake untilitwas hidden bythe distance.

We

have beengreatlyexcitedbyitsappearance,andIhaveoffered£20

for itsdeadbody, and£50ifcapturedalive." Thisstatement

may

bereliedupon, andthere canbe no doubt whateverthegentleman sawall hehasdescribed. Couldnot a partybe fitted out toearn the reward,andennoble

Wagga

inthe annalsof Natural History?

And

Iwas still

more

interested bythe spontaneous

infor-mationreceived afewdaysback that several

townsmen

ofthis city

had

seen a remarkable beast in

Lake

Tiberias,while

on

a shootingexpedition.

My

information is from Mr.

Howe,

marketgardener ofCampbell-street,akeen sportsman

and

a

lover of natural history,evidently a good observer

and

not

imme-some

largebeaststartedoffiuthe waterfroma pointabout100 yardsdistant,dashingtowards some rushes,and forminggreat

wave

byhispassagethroughthewater.

The

rushesswayed about

violently ashe passedthroughthem, andoneoftheparty

who

had

the opportunity ofseeing the beast

more

distinctly than theother, estimated the lengthat 5 or 6 feet,andthebreadth ofback at nearlytwo feet.

About

one hour afterwards the party saw,

what

they believed to be the same beastbehind therushesandout inthelake, splashing

up

the water to a height oftenortwelvefeet; this was noticed several times.

Enquiries

made

by Mr.

Howe

ofpersonsin the neighborhood,

islicited no information beyond that loud roarings had been

heardat night.

Mr.

John

Butler of Shene, Bagdad, informs

me

that

when

on

avisit to

Lake

Echo,in

company

with the E,ev.

H.

D.

Atkinson,

some

years back, they several times saw water throwneightortenfeet high inthe air, withoutanyobvious cause; thishappenedrightoutinthelake,

and

was considered

by them

unaccountable.

The

only other information I have is from Mr.

Morton

Allport, to the effect that

some

aquatic

beast, asbigasacalf,wasreported several timeslast

summer

as being inthe deeppools oftheJordanRiver.

The

evidencethen showsthat in the Great Lake, possibly

in

Lake

Echo, certainly in

Lake

Tiberias,

some

unusual animals of largesize have beenseenatvarious times answer-ing in generaldescription to a seal, but not corresponding with anyspecies hitherto described.

Inregardto Mr. Headlam's estimate of therate ofspeed of the animal seenbyhim,

and

which

might

be consideredan exaggeration, Iappend anextract from a popular account of

sealscontainedin the "

Museum

of

Animated

Nature," at

page222.

"

_The

_common

_{seal canremain under waterfor about five} minutes,

and

swims sorapidly that ifalarmed, itwillproceed nearly halfa mileduring thatperiod."

While

thedescription of the ursine seal "lowing like a

€alf," and ofthe sea elephant "in which the voice is deep,

hoarse,

and

terrific,"

may

give the clue to the mysterious sounds said tohave been heard at night issuing from

many

of the Victorianlakes, and notably,if

my

memory

serves

me

correctly, from

Lake

Werribee.

Now

evenshould the animals,whoseexistenceseems proved

upon

suchgoodtestimony, simply proveto be

known

seals, a good and substantial foundation for the Bunyip story will

have beenarrived at.

The

mysteriousappearanceand horrible

38

novel page inllicchapter ofseals suppliedto us;

how

muoli

more

interestingthenwillbe the discovery should they prove

to differ specifically or even generically from any hitherto

described form, and tobe some fresh-water-inhabiting

mam-mal

analogousorallied to " theotter-like orseal-likeanimal," whose existence in the riversand lakesof the mountain

dis-trictsof

New

Zealand hasrecently been established by Dr.

Haastwithout doubt. See Hochstetter*s

New

Zealand, page

161. Dr. Haastwrites,in June 1861, "

_At

_{a height of 3,500}

feet above thelevelof the sea, I frequently saw its tracks on the

Upper

Ashburton River, in a region never before troddenby man.

They

resemble the tracks of our European

Otter, only alittle smaller.

The

animalitaelf, however,

was

likewise seen by two gentlemen

who

have a sheep station at

Lake

Heron,not farfrom theAshburton, 2,100feethigh.

They

describetheanimalasdark brown, ofthesize ofa stout cony.

On

being struck at with the whip, ituttereda shrill

yelping sound, and quickly disappeared inthewater

among

the sea grass."

Imay, in conclusion, mentionthat,whileon a recent visit to Sydney, Isaw in the

Museum

a

young

specimen of a

species of seal entirely

new

to me, of whichthe colour

was

black likethatofthe

Wagga

individual,but concerningwhich Mr. Gerard Krefftwas unableto give

me

further information than that it was caughtnear Newcastle,

New

South Wales, Mr. Krefft also tells

me

thatoneseal inthatcollection

had

lived onplatypuses, and

must

have beena greatdistancefrom