Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1891-07-02

the quarters on shore. We were made
comfortable and at home at the house
from which we rambled about the island
at will or visited our ship, the cargo boats
furnishing convenient transportation. This
house was afterwards accidentally burned,
and as all the guano has long since
been carried away, l doubt not that the
island now presents an appearance of lone.
| liness and solitude instead of as then, the
abode and activity of men engaged upon
| it.
| There were numerous fishes that sported
and played in the waters that surrounded
this island, attracted to 1t to feed upon the
shell-fish on the reefs and upon one an
other and in turn attracted many birds to
feed upon them. In the oiilng, whales,
porpoises and black fish gamboled while
about the ship at her mooring, deyil-hsh,
sharks. dolphins, bonitos, gar fish, flyiny
fish and many Others with which the wa
tcrs swarmed, played and swan The
devil-fsh-ominous name-is quite a mon
ster in size and weighs nearly or quite a
ton. His form resembles that of the skate
or stingray, minus the tail his length is
eight or ten feet, width six or seven feet,
with thickness of two to three feet in
the middle tapering to the dns. which ex-
tend to angular points at the shoulders
and at the sides towards the tail In color
he Is dark brown on the back, and on the
under side or belly yellowsh white His
motion Is sluggish, swimming with an up
and down wIng-like motion of his tins, but
when startled he moves through the water
rapidly or sinks TO depths below the sur
face. They were frequently seen in shoals
of forty or nfty together, rearing their
fms out of water, moving leisurely along
past or about onr ship, Frequently they
came near enough 20 be harpooned from
the deck, but we We're never able to hoist
one on board a. their great weight and the
hlnhbery nature OF their bodies caused the
iron to draw out in the attempt, so we
never had the satisfaction of seeing one Of
them out Of his native element We did
not notice that they possessed tiendish or
diabolica traits, and came to the concl-
sion that their ll-starrci name paints
them blaCker than they deserve. Victor
Hugo IN his Toilet, Of the Sea" paints
them as black as Beclzebub, but lie was syi-
IDENTIFY not acquainted with his hshship.
for he describes the cuttle-tsh 10 which he
gives the name Of devil. f~h
These waters are paradise for sharks,
for here were found sharks old and vener-
able, sharks Of medium size, sharks Young.
1.-THE and fond Of \ foray. and sharks In in
fancy. and in such numbers As are found
nowhere out Of the tropics our crew
caught many OF them and tortured them as
sailors will, with refinement of cruelty
worthy Of those who had studied cruelty
a a fine art His excuse H.. ''he would
eat me If he could get hold of me in the
water. but will fix hir so he xil not eat
another person" We caught dolphlns,
bonitos, gars and bill-hsh with hook and
" hen served upon the table. were hailed |
with much pleasure as satisfactory
change from our staple article Of diet. /
salt junk. Our steward, a native Of .
Malta, was very expert at fishing, and he 1
kept the ships table well supplied with |
fresh fish. One morning as usual he was
ishlng in the boat at the stern Of the ship;
he fish played about his hook not inclined |
% bite well; he darted the grains into a
lalGy" fnh iht6 the -t5ar ana 6es jan -r6 sluR.
The steward jivcd into the water, regardless
If sharks or other dangers, caught the fish
with which he fegahcd the boat without
larm. Shaking his wet locks he laughing
Y replied TO our remonstrance against his
iong so again, that he "just wanted one
,oud not afford to spend his time fooling
with them any longer" We ate and en-
loved the fish at breakfast, but his logic
lid not convince US that there was no dan
ger in that style Of fishing
Many kinds or fishes were to be found
in the shallow waters Of the reef where
they cougregated 10 elude the pursuit Of \
larger ones of their own species, or in /
search of food. Standing upon the beach |
looking through the transparent waves as /
they lowered for final dash against the |
shore, We saw myrisds of small fishes !
driven into the very surf to escape the jaws |
Of yoracious sharks. The waters in that |
vicinity are SO clear and transparent that !
objects can be seen distinctly fathoms be-
to observe and study the hab
its of the tinny inhabitants Of that locality.
At the close of their DAYS work the ka-
nakas would repair with a seine to the
and then sweeping around in semi-circle
with it, they would enclose large num-
ber of fishes. The haul would include a
large variety, some resembling sheep
head, and of fine flavor, Others In shape
and size like perch, but girt with rings of
alternate colors, yellow and brown. The
kanakas did not stop to have their fish
spoiled by being too long out of the water
OF Dy Dau COOKING out ATE tnen raw, just
dripping from the water. With our great
liking for fresh fish, we never We're entic-
ed into eating one a Ia hdndka although
the temptation to try it was strong, as
they seemed to enjoy them very much in
that manner. Whenever the seine was
hauled onr steward was there for mess
which the Kanakas always gave him. To
one versed in, and fond of, the science of
ichthyology, Bakers Island was a rich
field of observation and study.
X. e. 4. CANDAGE.
Brookline, Mass, June %, 1891.
ITO be continued)
In a recent issue Of the Warren (Pa.)
Mirror, we find the following very tlatter-