The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1879-03-14
TIE DEVIL FISHES OF MONACO.
Playing wIsss ne GsszzIy-armeds SION
sters---The sriegnnS Mureno.
fChieago 'fines Letier-l

rchicago Fines Letter.
The scines are broueht 10 shore bv men
and emptied BY women who. with short
pe,ticoats reaching 10 their knees and
bare legs and feet, wade out into the blue
waters TO meet he nshers. Then there is
a scene busy aed picturesque. The yield
Of tho net is pfsed IN large baskets, and
hideous looking mass it is. | fear that,
without more intimate knowledge of
marine life tlIan iaest laHdmen possess.
an enumeration Of the varieties would be
waste of wofsiz Il is the atrocity of
the spectacle, the afeayIessness of the wo-
men, that make the ATTRACTION of il. For
in the black, reekiug. Shiny mass of sea
growth, and Gil manner of sauirrpinp
things, there are mensters of real danger.
In one heap | have seen a dozen of the
terrible adeyil fsis (which Victor HUGO
made so real twenty years ago in the
.,Toilers of the Sea. Among the sanirm-
ing eels of gigantic proportions which
these beautiful pnrple- blue waters yield
these ferocious mesistsrs seem quite harm
less, and they are. of water for their
force comes only Eets8h heir s'purchase' of
n Oh 81 JsS s!E ~ 4 i II z ~
Their squirmfng, sDake4l fkcz Stert-Si es,
they can use the rest TO bend the limbs OF
any creature approaching them-even a
man finding By no means unequal com
bat when the fish IS large and well
anchored. OF q clear day you may take
your piacein boat out under the shadow
of the rock yonder, with Monaco above,
aAd looking down among the mysterious
mOsses aud ferns that interlace themselves
in purple crimson groups among the
smooth stones Of the sea- you can trace the
long, grizzly arms of these monsters
floating careiessly about in the eddying
water, waiting for prey. Put cane or
stick Of any sort down and you will see
these floating strings of gristle curl and
clutch the end, and you will feel a gooi
sturdy pull as the animal below begins to
operate. If you throw in a MANNED fish
or crab, on the contrary, the long, curling
arms disappear, and in their stead you
see shoot out from below Some growing
thiug-a leaf, Il nOss-bed, q thin, himy,
milky yail--which bulges upward like a
bladder, and when the outside lines are
above the object, com presses itself down
the rock again aud disappears, The crab
erveloped in is folds Parties of pleasure
frequently pass hours watching these
extraordinary antics. The surprising
thing is 10 learn that the deyii-nsh Is
esteemed as q great delicacy, and ia cJlu-
ftANN Win UtLEE varieties o. itSn gives tNt
one flavor without which Thackeray
famous dish "bouIlaibaise' : Of no glory.
The handling of the beast as caught il
the seine is simply stupefying. Dragging
il from among the wriggling mass ia The
basket into which II has been Sang, the
singing dame runs her thuisB through a
fat pro,uberance from which the long,
winding arms spring, and there spuris
out an iuky fluid, staining the coarse, red
hand and arm to a piichy hue This is
he beasts main weaHsl of defense
against superior adversaries iE-the water.
When attacked, like the skun n il emits
liquid which renders clOsssNiers both
dangerous and disag EAea4te, FOR in the
water the enemy IS blinded hg. ilc discol-
oration of ;he water aud poi isaSre9 by the
peculiar fluid which, being p the wate~'
it IS forced to espircESGus sr-te devil
fish is respected Nfld stsffon ~ mast .qf
the yoracious monsters, its nfdzsmA
with whom, when unmolested-ef liN.
excellent terms as you may 9often .-S>Se
a issssezo "a ssuliny c-Ns
Tie most repulsive monster after the
devil fish (plcurre) is an eel-like csssture
called the mur;ena, mass Of ar,SSg,
suaky flesh which makes o9e sFhader
merely to look at. ltIs fatal int tPwater,
but, like the pleuvrc, harmless outside.
blow from Its ueXIble tail IN the wafer
would cut mans body open, and its teeth
are like files. The fish, too, has a history.
and | imagine it IS the history associated
with it which makes the people on thc
Mediterranean esteem II SO delicious. In
the days when Rome lorded the world,
rich Romans stocked their ponds with
these voracious monsters, which grow to
the size of mans leg, and were consid-
cred the utmost deiicaey by the classic
g0UrpqHd5. Whenever the Roman swell
set himself out to give 4 grand entertain
ment he kept these Ssh on starvation diet
for week or ten days TO add to their
feroci:y then when the company was
assembled some slave who had committed
fault was thrown among the hideous
mass Of crawling, squirming, devouring
things @to make a meal for them. The
teeth OF the fish are so sharp that the
slave was torn TO pieces in twenty min-
Utes, while the cries OF the wretched
creature were drowned by clashing Gym
balls and the soft strains of the Lutte Fish
of one sort or another were parts OF the
accoutrement Of every Roman house, as to
this day the pond for their maintenance
may be seen as regularly provided as the
sleeping chamber