The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-08-18

III. among bu6 buE6Su6T anu
the "hammer headed variety; and in the
upper waters of the gulf, the dreaded Of
all, the gigantic tiburones, that frequently
attain length of thirty feet and weigh up
wards of thousand pounds,
Another creature, equally feared by fish
ermen and pearl divers, is the manta raga,
a species of ray fish, of enormous strength
and almost human cunning, is occasionally
encountered. When the United States
photographic survey was made of these
waters, a few years ago, the sailors ctp-
tured one of these monsters in LaPaz bay,
after desperate struggle of several hours,
during which the rays exhibited enormous
strength, pulling boat, fully manned, at
incredible speed for long distance. 1t
measured II feet wide and IL feet long
exclusive of tail, which was armed with
spine) and over 3 feet in thickness at the
middle, Its mouth,
ARMED WITH FORMIDABLE JAWS,
mo teeth measured 20 inches across, and
occupied the space between two singularly-
shaped flaps, projecting from its head like
horns. Its weight was estimated at three
thousand pounds, and it seems identical
with the horned ray sometimes called sea
deviD of the Mediterranean.
Another singular fish with which these
waters are swarming is the voeps Vehione,
or ''bull's eye''-a kind of sun-ish which
has only one large eye, about the size of
bullock's, set in the centre of the upper
part of the body. Then there is the octo-
pod, equally numerous, a devil-fish or
gigantic mallusk, which inhabits the rocky
cavities along shore, particularly in local.
ties sheltered from the surf, where 1t lies
quietly among the sea-weeds, watching
for its prey. Its arms, which are fur
nished with fiat disks or suckers,
are from ten to twenty feet in length.
Terrible huggers, these, with which to seize,
envelOp and smother man or beast, and
afterwards devours the prey at leisure,
with its sharp formidable bill.
A very curious phenomena in the waters
of the gulf-that of extensive patches of
red-colored water-is as noticeable today
as when seen by the earliest Spanish navi-
CATERS, who first dubbed the gulf Ell Mar
Vermejo-"the vermillion sea-" 1t is be-
lieved that the first scientific investigation
of this phenomenon was made by Assistant
Surgeon Thomas H. Streets, United States
navy, of the Narragansett, in the year
1873 He makes distinction between the
vermillion patches at the mouth of the gulf,
and the brick colored and corrosive waters
of certain portions ofithe upper gulf. The
former he assigns to the presence Of count
less numbers of ciliate infusoria, suspended
some distance below the surface of the
water; and the latter to the presence of
myriads of flagillate infusorium (the com
mon noetiluca miliaris Unknown to con-
chologists) floating on the surface and thus
giving the water milky red appearance
Among the shells for sale here, one may
BUY CORALs IN PUNCHES
as large as bushel baskets, or in slender
spires, pink and white, two or three feet
tall; sea ''urchins" of various birds, and
the odd hippocampuS or ''Sea horse" be-
sort of marine fern, called divers fans
These are found growing upright at the
bottom of the gulf and are mass of closely
woven pond, spreading out like an eXag-
gerated palm-leaf fan. They are dark
yellowish brown or terra Gotta color, and
show to best advantage when laid against
background of dead white. The ten
pounds or more of it that have secured
is destined to line the back and sides of
horses, star fish, ocean-anemones, etc, etc,
as an appropriate backing for larger shells
and corals.
The most successful mining enterprise on
the peninsula is that near the little village
of Triunfo, about forty miles southeast of
La Paz, near San Antonio a former
mission. The mines, seven in number,
are owned and operated by Americans.
Bullion to the amount of $4,000 per month
has been procured with but one 36-stamp
mill, while enough ore is in sight to quad
ripple that amount were there proper ma
chinery. The ore is brought on the backs
of mules from the mines to the stamp mill,
where it is crushed, then washed and
analgamated with mercury in large watts;
finally this mercury is driven off by heat,
and the remaining silver is run into bars of
twenty pounds each. Then it is sent to La
Paz in wagons, and from thence shipped to
San Francisco. The process of reducing
the ore by means of acids has been sue
cessfully tried, and will! probably come
into general use at no distant day, on ac
count of the scarcity Of tire-wood for the
roasting process.
Gold has been found in small quantities
toward the granite ledge of San Lazero;
and much copper ore exists in the calaba-
zas, sixteen miles from the Triunfo mines,
on the road to La FaZ.
The famous CeraIbo island, a few miles
from the old capital, is believed to be
EXCEEDINGLY RICH IN COPPER AND GOLD,
though as yet comparatively unworked.
Seals resort in great numbers to the out
lying rocks, and the reefs and caves are the
worst places known to man for Sheltering
those terrible devil-tish with the deadly
huggers. The island itself is about sixteen
miles long by five wide, and two sharp
mountain COneS-One standing at Gne nOrGn-
ern extremity, the other near the southern
rise respectively to height of 2,70O and
3,4O0 feet.
Nearer still to La Paz is the small island
of San Juan Nepomucino, near whose
southern end the q. S. navy department
maintains coal depot, where a supply of
anthricite is kept for the use of its vessels
of war in case of emergency. A temporary
landing place has been made, and the coal
is transported in lighters. There is salt
lagoon on this island, which yields large
quantities of salt by natural evaporation.
Tradition has it that a vast amount OF
treasure was lost here at some early day,
and many a persistent but unsuccessful
search has been made for it by the credul-
Gus natives.
AL about here are numberless islands,
great and small-none inhabited and many
of them wholly unexplored. Their secrets,
as well as their precious metal, if they con-
tain any, will not be revealed to man for
many generations to come; and even the
pearl-oyster beds, lying within the shad 0ws
of their lofty cliffs, are well guarded by
the long armed octapod.
FANNIE r Warn