The warm weather is here, so we’re getting ready for another season of Champ Chasing. Here are some excerpts from the journal of the original (European) champ chaser, Samuel de Champlain:
“… there is an island where a terrible monster resides, which the savages call ‘Gougou,’ and which they told me had the form of a woman, though very frightful, and of such a size that they told me the tops of the masts of our vessel would not reach to his middle.”
And he goes on…
“… and they say that he has often devoured and still continues to devour many savages; these he puts, when he can catch them, into a great pocket, and afterwards eats them; and those who had escaped the jaws of this wretched creature said that its pocket was so great that it could have put our vessel into it. This monster makes horrible noises in this island. … When they speak of him, it is with the greatest possible fear, and several have assured me that they have seen him.
“What makes me believe what they say is the fact that all the savages in general fear it, and tell such strange things about it that, if I were to record all they say, it would be regarded as a myth; but I hold that this is the dwelling-place of some devil that torments them.”
Here are the links to the journals online, hosted by the Gutenberg project….
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