American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1872-08-10
VOL. NH.

which seemed TO be engaged in waite
frolic, swimming after one another in
circle. THAT is no frolic, but a yer,
sober earnest for the sand-eels," salt
Peter. Now he continued" | viii
show you a sight which l have onl,
CHANGED to see two or three times in my
life, and you therefore are very lucky t.
have the opportunity of seeing it at all
There is great shoal of sand-ees yon
der, and the porpoises are driving then
into a mass; for, you see, the sand-eel il
only very small morsel for a porpoise
and to pick them up one by one woult
not suit Mr.. Porpoise, who would ge
hungry again by the time he had done
feeding ON them singly; so they drive
them into a thick crowd, in order thai
when they make a dash at them they may
get dozen or two at a mOuthful. But
as we want some for bait, we will join in
the hunt" And they edged down to tho
spot till they were within the circle. The
pOrpoises, following one another pretty
closely, were swimming round, now rising
to the surface, now diving below, and
| gradually contracting the circle. The
terrified sand-eels were driven closer and
| closer, and in their fear came to the sur
face all about the boat; and just as two OF
three porpoises made a dash into the
crowd, swapping right and left, the fisher
| men plunged their nets into the water,
and brought them up quite full of these
little fish. OF course the shoal soon
broke up and dispersed; but the skill
with which the skall was conducted, and
the beauty of the sight, were much d.
lated on by Mr.. Lowe, and it must have
been very interesting one.
There are many fish which hunt their
prey singly, as the pike and trout, and the
I tnI, I.rr
course and run down smaller fish, re-
sembles nothing so much as greyhound
coursing hare. Now the unhappy lit
tie fish turns from side to side in its eff
forts to escape, while its pursuer bends
and turns to every motion, following
close upon his track, and cutting him off
exactly as greyhound does hare. Now
he rushes amongst a shOal of his fellows,
hoping to be lost sight of in the crowd
and confusion; but the grim foe behind is
not to be baffled or deceived, and singing
him out and scattering the small fry,
which fly in all directions, ruffling the
surface of the water like a sudden squat
of wind in their fright, follows up his vic
tim with unerring instinct. In an agony
of terror, the poor little quarry springs
again and again frantically from the wa
ter, only to fall at last exhausted into the
gaping jaws of his ravenous foe, who,
sails steadily away to his lair, there to de-
YOUR his prey at leisure. Other fish
hunt their food, like dogs or wolves, in
packs, as does the bonito chase the flying
fish; and one, perhaps, of the fiercest,
most savage and resolute of these is the
pirai, of South America. So fierce and
savage are these little pirates, when their
size and apparent capability is taken into
consideration, that their feats of destruc-
= .&tJ4 IS e..
Stand forth, then, ''pirai" of the Carib,
black, saw-bellied salmon" of Schom-
burgk; SO called; doubtless, from the pos
session of the peculiar adipose fin, COM
mon only to the salmon tribe, though in
no other respect does it resemble salmon,
there being positive structural differences
between the species. Let us take the
portrait of this fish. Doubtless the reader
figures to himself fish of "a lean and
hungry look" very Cassius of fish,
with the lanthorn jaws of pike. But, in
fact, the pirai is somewhat aldermanic
and like a Dream in figure, with fight
kind of nose, and won
drously expressive eye-cold, cruel and
Unsuitable, and like to that of an old bill
discounter when scrutinizing doubtful
paper. There is seventy or eighty per
cent. in that eye, at the very least, and
ruin to widows and orphans unnumbered
man eye, the owner would be bound,
sooner or later, to figure at execution
dock. The jaw is square, powerful,
and locked into a very large head
for the size of the fish /; and that is
a fat, Plump head, too, but radiated over
with strong bone and gristle. The teeth
ahI they would condemn him anywhere;
for here is a fish sixteen inches long with
the teeth almost of shark.
Schomburgk relates astonishing in
stances of their voracity, in which the
toes of the river avia are eaten off;
large sun-fish devoured alive; ducks and
geese deprived of their feet, and walking
on the stumps. OF course the lines which
are used to capture them have to be armed
with metal to prevent their being cut
Their voracity is marvellous,
and any bait will attract them the instant
it is thrown into the water. Precaution |
is necessary, however, when the fish is |
lifted out of the water, or it will inflict |
serious wounds in its struggles. The |
fisherman therefore has small bIudgeon
ready, with which he breaks their skulls |
as soon as they are caught.
In weapons of offence, besides the |
shooting apparatus already mentioned, |
fish have, first, the sword This is repre-
sented by the blade of the sword fish
This fish possesses tremendously power
full weapon, backed as it is by the great |
weight and impetus which it can bring to
bear upon it's thrusts. Many instances |
have been known in which the bottoms |
Of ships have been pierced through by the
sword of the xiphias. Ships sailing
quietly along have received shock as if
hey had touched rock, and when they
have been examined after the voyage, the
broken blade of the fish has been found
sticking in the ships side. In the United
Service Museum there is, or was former
", specimen of the swOrd-f ish's handi-
work in this respect. A portion of the
weapon is shown sticking into the TIM
Ders of ship, having pierced the sheath
ing and planking, and buried itself deeply
n the stout oak knee timber of the vessel.
Xiphias would, however, be terribly both
cred with the change in naval architec-
ure; and we are inclined to wonder what
ne would make of an iron-clad. Perhaps
l little rough experience in this direction
nay make him more chary of indulg
ng naughty tempers, and he
hat, like little children, he "should not
ct his angry passions rise" If so, the
cause of humanity will be strongly
pleaded by the iron clads, and the poor,
clumsy harmless whale will be the gamer
The xiphias frequently weighs five or six
hundred pounds. The rapidity with
which it can cut through the water is very
great. 1t is a great enemy to the whale,
md it is generally surmised that it mis-
axes ship sailing through the water for
/ whale, and dashes at it with indiscrim-
mating rage, often breaking and losing its
WORD by its blind fury. Persons bath
ny have not always been entirely safe
rom this fish, but have been stabbed to