The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 3Poe, Edgar Allan
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The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 3
Poe, Edgar Allan
American fiction -- 19th century; Fantasy fiction; Horror tales, American
This village, if it were worthy of the name, lay in a valley of
some depth, and could only be approached from the southward, the
precipitous ledge of which I have already spoken cutting off all
access in other directions. Through the middle of the valley ran
a brawling stream of the same magical-looking water which has
been described. We saw several strange animals about the
dwellings, all appearing to be thoroughly domesticated. The
largest of these creatures resembled our common hog in the
structure of the body and snout; the tail, however, was bushy,
and the legs slender as those of the antelope. Its motion was
exceedingly awkward and indecisive, and we never saw it attempt
to run. We noticed also several animals very similar in
appearance, but of a greater length of body, and covered with a
black wool. There were a great variety of tame fowls running
about, and these seemed to constitute the chief food of the
natives. To our astonishment we saw black albatross among these
birds in a state of entire domestication, going to sea
periodically for food, but always returning to the village as a
home, and using the southern shore in the vicinity as a place of
incubation. There they were joined by their friends the pelicans
as usual, but these latter never followed them to the dwellings
of the savages. Among the other kinds of tame fowls were ducks,
differing very little from the canvass-back of our own country,
black gannets, and a large bird not unlike the buzzard in
appearance, but not carnivorous. Of fish there seemed to be a
great abundance. We saw, during our visit, a quantity of dried
salmon, rock cod, blue dolphins, mackerel, blackfish, skate,
conger eels, elephantfish, mullets, soles, parrotfish,
leather-jackets, gurnards, hake, flounders, paracutas, and
innumerable other varieties. We noticed, too, that most of them
were similar to the fish about the group of Lord Auckland
Islands, in a latitude as low as fifty-one degrees south. The
Gallipago tortoise was also very plentiful. We saw but few wild
animals, and none of a large size, or of a species with which we
were familiar. One or two serpents of a formidable aspect crossed
our path, but the natives paid them little attention, and we
concluded that they were not venomous.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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