The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-11-03
THE KING OF SWOROFISH.
A Denizsn Of the Indian Ocean Of
Marvellous Equipment for
Defense.
His Dorsal Fin Gan BE Flung to
the Breeze Like a Big
Sail
An Attempt to capture Ono for nm Eng
lish Musenm-Sceureiy HArpooned,
but Not Landed.

but Not LANDED.
s'Esysral years ago." said an old traveller
to a group of friends who were lounging on
the deck Of the steamer that was slowly
pushing through the Suez canal for the
east, II passed through here. bound for
Madagascar; but when a few days out 70
were caught in a gale and carried we'll to
the north in the Indian ocean. where o.
Cured tho incident l am about to relate"
writes Charles Frederick Holder III the New
York Ledger.
"As is usual in such cases. the storm was
followed by a calm, not q trace of win ruff
fling the surface, the sea resembling a sheet
Of glass. was sitting On the quarterback
with the captain, and had just made the re-
mark that there was not a sail in sight,
when / CHANGED to turn my. eyes back to
where ] had been looking. and there, cours-
ing along, was a sail. For q second l
thought / must be laboring under a delu-
sion; but the captain also saw 1t, and called
for his glass. II was a leg~-of-mutton sail,
apparently on a long boat a mile away, or
perhaps more. and, the %strangest part Of it,
WAS moving along Al 1t propelled
by a stiff breezs, while we
could distinctly feel that there was no
wind within sight. BY this time the native
part of the crew had seen tho stranger and
were gathering at the rail, taking to each
other in a mysterious way, while OCCASION
ally one would throw his hands or arms up
wards. The sail, when first observed, was
passing to our left, but soon hauled into
x,loA ,,1ok have hoau tho uin1 md nAmo
directly for us.
There was something extremely uncanny
in it all, and it was easy to see that tho
men, a superstitious lot, were ill at ease.
The captain, after looking at the object
through the glass. handed it to me with the
remark that If il was a boat she was sailing
hull under. A second later and had it
under full view myself, and a more aston
ishing object had never presented itself to
me. The sail was still visible. and | thought
I could make out the mast; but as for the
hull. there was none, nothing but a ripple
appearing where the sail apparently joined
the surface.
ION it cnme, however. rapidly increasing
its speed, until finally, when within 100
yards of tho quarter, its true nature was
seen. 1t was, we saw, a fish, one of those
monsters of the deep rarely seen-a gigan-
tic sword-fish over twenty feet IN length.
with a dorsal fin rising five or eight feet
from the back. presenting the appearance
of a l~eg-of-mutton sail, colored brilliantly
and flashing and scintillating in the sun
light-a truly magnificent spectacle as it
moved along. 1t was the sailor-flsh of the
Indian Ocean, famed as being the king of
the sword ishes and for it's huge, sail-like
dorsal, and, as l found later, considered by
the natives as of a spiritual nature, or rather
as having the faculty of changing itself into
n boat under full sail. Its presen CO was
looked upon as a bad omen or indica tive of
n coming storm; but, AS it happened in this
case, it came after the storm, 80 may be
said to have brought us good luck. or at
least fair weather.
"The gailoy-tsh, or h%istophorus, as it is
known to science, is found in the indian
ocean, and competent authorities state that
it has been known to attain a length of at
least thirty feet, and being armed with q
sword OF great strength and size it is no
mean antagonist. Few native fishermen
have the tamerity to attack this monster;
in fact, they avoid it; but a few years a go.
ut Ceylon, a crew was employed to capture
one in the interest OF an English collection
of museum curiosities. A long native boat
was used, which held ten or fifteen men.
and an old native, whose reputation as a
harpooner had been established after many
a conflict with the dcnizens of the deep, was
placed in charge, the Englishlnan being the
only white mar i'll the party.
''Even in this locality the sailor-fsh was
a comparative rarity, but rumors had been
aHoat for some time that a fine specimen
had been seen a dozen miles up the coast
at a small fishing village. In a few hours
the place was reached, Just at nightfall, as it
happened, the party finding accommoda-
49,, ~ oI,ora thu man in the hints nf fhn
ishermen and the white man in q poor
hotel.
fish we're in every mouth, and had they all
been taken literally it is doubtful if the
purposes of the expedition would have been
carried out. A tall, olive-colored lascar
was mourning the loss of his boat-the
great fish had completely wrecked it-and
stated that he had narrowly escaped with
his life. Another native claimed that the
fish was a magician and had charmed the
coast, roaming up and down and waglng
warfare against all who dared to venture
upon his domain. Still another volun-
tesrsd the information that the great fish
could leave what was presumably Its native.
element and roam about tho lana IN the
shape of a white elephant. Suoh tales were
not YeassurinQ to tho native crew, and not
q few refused to start, SO that when the
boat put of on the following day 1T was
seriously short-handed.
.sIhe sailor fish had been seen but a few
DAYS before, dashing across the waters of
a small bay, presumably in chase of schools
of fish that at this season sought the Sc
clusion the inlets and bays afforded, and
for this place the bout was directed, the
natives singing a mournful chant, hoping
perhaps. in this wav to appense its rage.
For several hours they roved this way and
that, the lookout standing on q short mast
ready to give the signal. Occasionally a
~porpoise or some large fish would dash into
the air and create a momentary excitement.
II was after several of these false alarms
that the Englishmen took his stand on the
outlook, The water was nearly smooth,
here and there a ripple boing. seen, caused
by a school of fish, when suddenly, among
the small fry, there appeared a sharp,
knife-like fin. II was merely a shark, per-
hnps, or a great horse mackere!. chasing
the small fry; but no shark had such u fin.
1t was raising every second. and was soon
two feet out of water. Up it came, glisten-
ing, cleaning in the sunlight. and the
looker-on was 40 fascinated and spell. bound
with the curious apparition that no until
a shout came from the crow did he realize
that they we're there to do moro than look.
the big tish was Mt hand, bad thrown down
the gauntlet, and they were to take ~ up.
''As tho great fin 1859 higher and higher.
the speed Of the animal seemed to decrease,
and it appeared to be INDUCING in u sun
bath or displaying the gorgeous huesof its
.lxrcnl n,.nrln.r GIa,plu IN I'M an. n