Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1872-08-08
VOL. XXVII,


frolic, swimming after one another in a
circle. "That is no frolic, but very
sober earnest for the sand-eels," said
Peter. ''Now," he continued I will
show you a sight which ! have only
chanced to see two or three times in nv
life, and you therefore are very lucky to
have the opportunity of seeing it at all.
There is great shOal Of sand eels yon-
der, and the porpoises are driving them
into mass; for, you see, the sand-eel is
chiy very small morsel for porpoise,
and to pick them up one by one would
not suit Mr.. Porpoise, who would get
hungry again by the time he had done
feeding on them singly; so they drive
them into thick crowd, in order that
when they make dash at them they may
get dozen or two at q mouthful. But,
as we want some for bait, we will join in
the hunt" And they edged down to the
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 or
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
way in which a large pike or trout will
course and run down a smaller fish, re
sembles nothing so much as greyhound
coursing hare. Now the unhappy lit
tie fish turns from side to side in it's 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 shoal of his fellows,
and confusion; but the grim foe behind is
not to be baffied or ordeceived, and singing
him out and scattering the small fry,
which fly in all directions, ruffling the
surface of the water like sudden squall
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 franticallv from the wa
ter, only to fall at last exhausted into the
gaping jaws of his ravenous foe, who,
gripping his body crosswise in his mouth,
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 fercest.
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-
tiveness are little short of the marvellous
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 itresemble 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,
fact, the pirai is somewhat aldermanic
and like Dream in figure, with a fight
ing-loOking kind of nose, and a 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
if they come in its way. If it were hu-
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
fat, Plump head, too, but radiated over
with strong bone and gristle. The teetl
ah! they would condemn him anywhere;
for here is fish sixteen inches long with
the teeth almost of shark.
Schomburgk relates astonishing in
stances of their toracity, in which the
toes of the river cavia are eaten off; 8
large sun-ish 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
through. Their voracity is marvellous
and any bait will attract them the instant
it is thrown into the water. Precautiol
is necessary, however, when the fish is
lifted out of the water, or it will infic
serious wounds in its struggles. The
fisherman therefore has small bIudgeon
ready, with which he breaks their skulls
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 a tremendously power
full weapon, backed as it is by the great
weight and impetus which it can bring to
bear upon its 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
they had touched a 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
ly, a specimen of the sword-fsh's handi-
work in this respect. A portion of the
weapon is shown sticking into the tim
bers of ship, having pierced the sheath
ing and planking, and buried itself deeply
in the stout oak knee-timber of the vessel.
Xiphias would, however, be terribly both
cred with the change in naval architec
ture; and we are inclined to wonder what
he would make of an iron-clad. Perhaps
little rough experience in this direction
may make him more chary of indulg-
ing ing naughty nn tempers' and he
may Ue IduSnI qua Dr. watts,
that, like little children, he "should not
let 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 great enemy to the whale
and it is generally surmised tnat it mis-
takes ship sailing through the water fol-
whale, and dashes at it with indiscrim
mating rage, often breaking and losing it,
sword by its blind fury. Persons bath
ing have not always been entirely safe
from this fish, but have been stabbed tt
death by the xiphias. One instance O
this occurred in the British Channel, nea
the mouth of the Severn, in which small
fish of some seventy or eighty pounds
| weight was the malefactor. They abount
in the Mediterranean, and hunt after
with the harpooning and Staying of tn,
xiphias, is usually work of time ant
much excitement. Akin to the sword
| fub II, their OffpnciUa oonaLiIitioc tI,