The story of the discovery of this ext ordinary monster—a reptile called the "Linguin," sort of missing link between the ichthyosauri of prehistoric days and the well-known saurians of present times, or, in other words, between the monstrous Tigard-like creatures of long ago and the alligators of to-day—which lives in Java, is told by Baron Pereira. 'I was," so Barton Pereira, "one morning in February, 1898, travelling in_a large Javanese canoe with the Assistant-Resident Metman, hi self a well-known sportsman, At dawn we found ourselves el to the mouth of the Batavia River. the water at this point was salt, and there was a considerable owen. As we advanced the rowers had considerable difficulty in making headway against the breeze. Snddenly there was! enormous excitement among the Malays who manned the best. Linguin! Lin-pain repeated the steersman, seizing me the arm as he shouted, ant pointing excitedly towards the muddy shores along which we were coasting at a distance of about 150 metres.
"Tt was barely light and all that I could make out was the long, dark form of some large creature lying in the mud. I seized my rifle, but not knowing in the least what a Tinguin might be, hesitated to shoot. However, the natives grew impatient.' Linguin!" they cried og "Standing up I took hasty aim and fired. Instantly there was a tremendous commotion in the mud. I saw a huge creature whirling round and round in the Tiguid ooze, like the firework called a gathering-wheel, A shout of triumph rose {from my crew, and the steersman, seizing scimitar, plunged overboard, swam to here, entered the mud, and attacked the enormous brute. The animal appeared to be half crocodile and half snake, having the body of the former and neck and head [of the Intter.
Upon the approach of the Malay it endeavoured to seize him with its Hangs, At length a final blow was struck \fairly on its neck and it fell dead. With a good deal of trouble we got it aboard, and its weight nearly bore down under water the gunwale of the boat on the side where we placed it.
"Its length was between 9 feot und 10 feet. Although where cut in deep gashes the flesh exposed was all white, there was no blood flowing from any of the wounds. After we had disembarked we carried the carcass along with us, but owing to the numerous cuts upon' it, it became decomposed that we had to leave it behind. Mr. Metman promised me that I should seo plenty more; but alas! never in all the time I was in Java did I see another Tinguin."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.