Grand Rapids herald. [volume] (Grand Rapids, Mich.) 1892-1959, 1892-06-18

ooxed through % sustain me. while the
hshes UazE s-l erawled by me provided
ns With load. hsw Long IL wa know
lot; bar oze 14y say aioFe tae trees
sInoke, and knew that lay people were
near. VS. too weak 70 cry aloud. so |
lay ana watched The fishes still went
on and passed rhe hears by counting
them and watching their curious ways
They used ths two Eas Ike arms or !egs,
sometimes topping over upoo their
sides; low entering the little pools TO
refresh themselves, bur soon leaving the
water 70 crawl along again.
While | watched them IL came 10
me that they were going 10 the mouth
Of the river 10 avoid the drought, and
PIE. !. was al easy matter 10 tear nay
shirt, ard with my teeth l shaped bits
Of white cloth until had hundred
or more. Then began 10 catch the
fish Every one that passed me left
with biz o. white cloth pushed upon
the spine If is upper I'm The next day !
did the same, and Tor three days sent
these messengers to my people. The
ish were black, senior, and the white
cloth could be seen quite distance.
The days went by. how many know
not. when one night dreamed that l
saw my friends. awoke to see great
light and In the center the one loved
best; then must have died of JOY. But
lived, senor," and here the tall Indian
threw his arm about a young girl whose
dark eyes cleaned with terror at the
memories aroused. ''She. my wife. found
me and the message was carried to her
by the hassars. So, senior. the hsh saved
my life. brought me my wife. What
would you have me DO? Forget them?
think not"
Such was the romance and almost
tragedy of Salvsdea. He had been crush
ed by the tree for nearly two weeks.
His people had searched far and near
without success. and when the canoe
was found it was supposed he had fallen
overheard and was lost. But there was
one vino did not give up. She wandered
farther down the stream than the others,
AID one day pushed her canoe up little
stream, rapidly growing dry, to catch a
turtle. Here she was attracted by the
hassars that We're coming down over
land and escaping into the main water.
While she watched them she noticed
one with white object upon its I'm, then
another. Catching the fish, she saw
that it was no accident, but an inteu-
tional decoration. Following up she
saw others. and soon recognized the
fact that it was q message from some
one-possibly the lost one.
Up the stream she went, sinking In
the soft mud over which the fishes had
safely passed; crossing quicksands. leap
ing from trunk TO trunk until she finally
found her lover apparently dead--so
near it that it was months before he
walked. With her hands she dug the
sand and mud away, and then bore his
emaciated form breaking passage
through the hanes) to the camp. No
wonder he looked at her with loving
eyes, and no wonder he protected the
hassars.
Salvadea's story might seem fiction
Of the Amazon, but the habit Of the
hassars and other catfishes of leaving
the water and crawling overland is q
common enc, and is equally well known
in India in the climbing perch. The fab
do not carry water in their gills during
these overland journeys, as is generally
supposed, but breathe air and for the
time are true anphihians. = Charles
Frederick Holder in New York Evening
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