The Opelousas courier., 1899-10-07
GAR N kILlFISH,
Table Manners of a Fish Built on Tor
pedo Boat specifications

The gar may be described as a fish
built on torpedo boat lines considera-
bly, drawn out. There is one now at
the Aquarium which came from Lake
Erie, is three feet long, and doesn't
look to be three inches through amid
ships. Its snout is long, slender, and
tapering, and It's mouth opens back
six or seven inches, so that in general
appearance its jaws are much like d
pair Of shears.
When the gar is under one bell, 50
to speak, it moves through the water
very smoothly, making no commotion
whatever, and that is the way it moves
when it sets about capturing a kill
fish. 1t swims along very quietly and
gently, with its mouth closed, III the
direction of the killie, and keeps NOV
ing until it has overrun the killie bv
three or four inches; the gar then
lying quietly in the wake with the
unsHspectlng klllle close by.
Suddenly the gar opens its mouth
slightly and swings its head sidewise
and closes its jaws. The chances are
that the little kilIie is then between
the CARS long jaws crosswlse, its head
projecting Oh one side and its tail on
the other; it may be that it is paral-
wed at once by the CARS sharp teeth,
OF it may wriggle a little.
The gar is III 10 hurry, not the
slightest; it knows very we'll that the
kiIlie can't get away. Pretty soon it
begins to shift the kilIie back toward
It's throat, SO it can swallow it. The
gar doesn't work the killie back in its
jaws, but it opens its jaws Just enough
to clear the kiIlie, and then it bitches
forward itself with a movement so
slight and quick as to be scarcely per
ceptible, setting its Jaws together
again with the killie still lying across
the upper side Of the under jaw, btad
on one side and tail on the other, but
a little nearer the gar's throat.
Still not in the slightest hurry about
it, the gar repeats this two or three
times, until it has got the killie pretty
we'll back in its jaws; then it sets
about Slowing the killie round length
wise, so as to take it III and swallow
it. Most fishes. prefer to swallow a
fish head first, so that the fins won't
spread out and stick in the swallow
er's throat, but it doesn't appear to
make much difference to the gar
which way it takes the klllie; if the
killie should still retain some life, and
1t manages to wriggle itself around IN
the gar's shifting of it SO that its tail
is toward the gar's tail, the gar
does not undertake to slew it clear
around again with its tail forward,
but when it gets the killie we'll along
side its mouth it opens it long Jaws a
little wider and takes the killie in
bodily, closes its jaws, and moves gen
tly on.-New York Sun.
Punish Criminals by Eating Their Bodies.
The most cruel form of criminal
punishment is that found in vogue
among the Battaks or Battas, who in
habit that part of the island Of Sumatra
south of Atcheen. DR.. Van der Tunk,
a German ~dIscoverer, was astonlsheI
to learn how civilized the Battaks are
in every respect except in their treat
ment of their prisoners.
There hanging and e~lectrocuting
have not the ghost of a show. Both
these methods and hat suggested by
the recently famed Society for the
Betterment of the Human Species,
would all be voted inadequate for the
proper punishment of criminals guilty
Of capital offences, which offences by
the way, are much more hume
rous than i'll the United States, thiev-
ing being looked upon by the Battaks
as one of the most heinous Of capital
crimes.
The Battaks no sooner convict a
criminaI,' says DIR. Van der Tunk,
than the sentence is carried out.
The convict is placed face downward
on a large fat stone, and the body is
then chopped into pieces by small
stone axes. The authorities then dis
tribute these pieces among the fam
lilies Of the village where the crime has
been committed, and the villagers eat
these pieces with the greatest relish,
there being a belief current among the
Battaks that if the body of a criminal
is merely buried the soul may come
back to the body and resurrect it."
The enemies of the Battaks cap
tured in war receive the same fate as
do their criminals. Women are sell
dom or never executed among them.
~ . r.. D.-. !