The Strangest Things in the World: A Book About Extraordinary Manifestations of NatureHenry, Thomas R. (Thomas Robert)
History
The Strangest Things in the World: A Book About Extraordinary Manifestations of Nature
Henry, Thomas R. (Thomas Robert)
Animal behavior; Natural history
Tracks of one animal were followed until they came to a rock several
feet high over which it was necessary for the creature to jump. On the
other side imprints of three feet were found close together. Apparently
the animal had landed on these three feet. The tracks of the fourth
foot were some distance ahead, indicating preparations for another
jump. Beyond, Dr. Wyss-Dunant picked up other trails. Three were coming
out of a deep valley. The fourth came off the side of a glacier. These
paths joined and thenceforward continued as a single set of tracks. The
animals apparently step in each others' footsteps while they proceed in
single file. This is a customary procedure for mountaineers crossing a
glacier where there is danger of falling into crevasses.
Nepal mountaineers have been familiar with the mysterious tracks for
years but nobody has been found who claims to have seen the animal.
They call it a “yeti.”
“I could find no trace of meals, nor of excrement,” the Swiss explorer
declared. “This confirms my opinion that the animal only passes through
and does not frequent these heights. We should at least have found a
place of refuge, if not a lair, if the yeti was living and hunting in
the neighborhood. I rather think it passes between adjacent peaks only
when, having scoured one valley, it tries to reach another. This animal
is a wanderer, avoiding zones inhabited by man. It probably is not a
carnivore since there is very little other animal life even in the high
valleys upon which it could feed. It obviously is an animal of quite
superior intelligence to subsist at such high altitudes and to have
kept itself hidden from humans so long.”
_Fish That Sing in the Moonlight_
There may be a fish that actually sings—that is, utters melodious
sounds with a perceptible rhythm or beat which can be recorded in
simple musical notation. This “singing” fish, which nobody actually has
been able to identify, is one of the curiosities invariably called to
the attention of visitors in the Batticoloa province of eastern Ceylon.
It frequents only one deep lagoon and can be heard when the water is
calm. Moonlight seems to draw the organism closer to the surface. On
dark, calm nights the music still can be heard, but it seems to be
coming from greater depths.
The “singing” sound at least, is a verifiable fact, according to the
Rev. J. W. Lange, a Jesuit priest in Batticoloa who has tried for
several years to determine what sort of an organism is responsible.
It is certain, he contends, that the sounds are made by something under
the water. They are heard best when the head is held under the surface.
By lowering a hydrophone attached to an amplifier into the lagoon, he
was able, to record the sounds. From this record a friend familiar with
musical notation was able to put them on paper.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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