The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1881-05-28
Dry Land Fishes.

A neat trick was recently played on
the crew of a vessel lying off the coast
of Sumatra. The men, having obtained
liberty for two days, started under the
lead of the mate for the interior, in
tending to see as much dry land as pos
siblc in that time. They attracted con-
siderable attention from the snake
charmers, jugglers and fakirs of all
kinds; but everything that the natives
did the Yankee tars swore they had
seen better in America. Finally, in
one village the men. by the aid of their
interpreter, were Boosting of what they
had seen, when an old man stepped up
and said that if they would go with him
that night he would show them some-
thing worth seeing; in short, he pre-
tended to have great power over ami
mails. His offer was readily accepted,
and at dusk the party. accompanied by
the !" Doctor" as this man was called,
who was rugged up III gorgeous cos
tune Of feathers and native colored
cloth. met at the bend of small creek,
the sides of which were overgrown with
reeds and fine rushes. The sailors were
requested to climb into q large tree,
and the Doctor then announced that he
would first summon the air animals and
then the fishes. Seating himself on a
mat of cocoa fibre he commenced in a
low voice to humble disconnected
jargon, which he kept up for fully
twenty minutes. The only effect was
swarm of mosquitoes, and the men
were becoming very impatient, when
he suddenly ceased his mutter-
ing and struck wooden drum. Dark
ness had set in, and. seemingly in re-
Spouse to the signal, a mighty rushing
sound was heard at distance, gradual
ly growing louder and rising all around
them. In minute more a legion Of
winged creatures were upon them,
striking against their arms, clinging to
the limbs, and beating their very faces
with their wings. For nearly half an
hour the sailors lodged the birds. who
disappeared as quickly as they came.
The old fellow then RECOMMENDED his
incantat.ons, giving finally. as before, a
rap on the hollow stump that served as
a drum. A longer pause ensued and
then gentle rustling came from the
bank OF the stream. Slowly it APP
preached, some of the noises proceeding
apparently from directly beneath them.
The Doctor called for the men to come
down and Lighting a piece of brush
they saw the ground literally alive
with fishes not dead, but exceedingly
lively ones, that not only crawled. but
jumped around, and were very difficult
TO catch. The tars were lost in amaze
inent. and leaving the place went
aboard ship convinced of the super
natural power of the Doctor.
Some of the fish captured were pre-
served, and one of the most interesting
facts concerning fish has become known
aud the truth of their leaving the water
been verified by later observations.
The old fakir, knowing that the fish
came ashore every night at that spot,
made his calculations accordingly. The
shower of birds was explained by the
fact that the tree in which the men had
climbed was near the mouth of a cave
famous for its bats and as soon as night
had completely set in, they came out
with a rush, darling through the
branches of the tree which stood in their
passage. The habits of those remarka-
BILE fish that form a genus of the CODY
family are most peculiar, and are an
enigma that scientific men find hard to
solve. A gentleman connected with
the Challenger expedition was fortu-
nate in observing them ashore, and ex-
pressed the opinion that they are more
at home on land than in the water. He
found hundreds of them high and dry
in the grass, darling around as nimbly
as frogs, raising themselves on the two
pectoral fins and looking around with
their prominent eyes in most comical
manner. but it was found extremely
difficult TO catch them.-N..Y Sun.