Collected Works of Poe | Page 7

general
outline. The mouth of the animal was situated at the extremity of a
proboscis some sixty or seventy feet in length, and about as thick as the
body of an ordinary elephant. Near the root of this trunk was an
immense quantity of black shaggy hair- more than could have been
supplied by the coats of a score of buffaloes; and projecting from this
hair downwardly and laterally, sprang two gleaming tusks not unlike
those of the wild boar, but of infinitely greater dimensions. Extending
forward, parallel with the proboscis, and on each side of it, was a
gigantic staff, thirty or forty feet in length, formed seemingly of pure
crystal and in shape a perfect prism, -- it reflected in the most gorgeous
manner the rays of the declining sun. The trunk was fashioned like a
wedge with the apex to the earth. From it there were outspread two
pairs of wings- each wing nearly one hundred yards in length -- one
pair being placed above the other, and all thickly covered with metal
scales; each scale apparently some ten or twelve feet in diameter. I
observed that the upper and lower tiers of wings were connected by a
strong chain. But the chief peculiarity of this horrible thing was the
representation of a Death's Head, which covered nearly the whole
surface of its breast, and which was as accurately traced in glaring
white, upon the dark ground of the body, as if it had been there
carefully designed by an artist. While I regarded the terrific animal, and
more especially the appearance on its breast, with a feeling or horror
and awe -- with a sentiment of forthcoming evil, which I found it
impossible to quell by any effort of the reason, I perceived the huge
jaws at the extremity of the proboscis suddenly expand themselves, and

from them there proceeded a sound so loud and so expressive of wo,
that it struck upon my nerves like a knell and as the monster
disappeared at the foot of the hill, I fell at once, fainting, to the floor.
Upon recovering, my first impulse, of course, was to inform my friend
of what I had seen and heard -- and I can scarcely explain what feeling
of repugnance it was which, in the end, operated to prevent me.
At length, one evening, some three or four days after the occurrence,
we were sitting together in the room in which I had seen the apparition
-- I occupying the same seat at the same window, and he lounging on a
sofa near at hand. The association of the place and time impelled me to
give him an account of the phenomenon. He heard me to the end -- at
first laughed heartily -- and then lapsed into an excessively grave
demeanor, as if my insanity was a thing beyond suspicion. At this
instant I again had a distinct view of the monster- to which, with a
shout of absolute terror, I now directed his attention. He looked eagerly
-- but maintained that he saw nothing- although I designated minutely
the course of the creature, as it made its way down the naked face of
the hill.
I was now immeasurably alarmed, for I considered the vision either as
an omen of my death, or, worse, as the fore-runner of an attack of
mania. I threw myself passionately back in my chair, and for some
moments buried my face in my hands. When I uncovered my eyes, the
apparition was no longer apparent.
My host, however, had in some degree resumed the calmness of his
demeanor, and questioned me very rigorously in respect to the
conformation of the visionary creature. When I had fully satisfied him
on this head, he sighed deeply, as if relieved of some intolerable burden,
and went on to talk, with what I thought a cruel calmness, of various
points of speculative philosophy, which had heretofore formed subject
of discussion between us. I remember his insisting very especially
(among other things) upon the idea that the principle source of error in
all human investigations lay in the liability of the understanding to
under-rate or to over-value the importance of an object, through mere
mis-admeasurement of its propinquity. "To estimate properly, for

example," he said, "the influence to be exercised on mankind at large
by the thorough diffusion of Democracy, the distance of the epoch at
which such diffusion may possibly be accomplished should not fail to
form an item in the estimate. Yet can you tell me one writer on the
subject of government who has ever thought this particular branch of
the subject worthy of discussion at all?"
He here paused for a moment, stepped to a book-case, and brought
forth one of the ordinary synopses of