The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-08-18

ing on the other side and going at race
horse speed.
Coming into shOal water again. we tool,
the line and hauled foot by foot Nighttime
Tor every inch until the dinghy was di
reetly over the fish. The water was NOT
over three feet in depth, and shoalina
all the time and fearing that the fish
would turn again and capsize us. I sent
the long sharp lance into it. It turned
the flsh like and electric shock and tina
wrench was 80 sudden that the line foul
ed and the boat was tipped over, filing
at once, while l was thrown into ths
water which. however, was but wats,
deep. The fish made a desperate strug.
gle to carry off the boat but, filed with
water it was too much of load. where
upon it doubled up, its long saw and taH
almost meeting striking heavy blows
The first came 50 near PaUblO who was
clinging to the boat that it nearly de-
capitated him, and the frightened negro.
in trying to avoid the sldShng cut ton.
pied over backward into the water T.
bauled him away from the fish which aft
the next bound struck the boat. sending
its sharp ivory-like teeth into the wood
and breaking some Off
Owing to the shallow water the fish
was now half exposed. Tt bent upward
and as it Strengthened out Paublo threw
a rope over the saw and hauled it down.
to the Sunwale, holding it firmly until the
lance gave the fish its -0uietus and it,
driftcd alongside, dead The captive was
then rowed slowly to a neghb0ring key
by the men, who Waded. with the ropes
over their shoulders where it was haulaI
upon the sand and it's huge side exposed
The fish was over twelve feet I'm length
broad in proportion, especially the mid
body, and from the head extended the
SWORD, almost like that OF the sword fish.
though blunt and armed with TWENTY-FIVE
pairs of sharp and powerful spines which
gave the snOut the appearance Of q dou-
Die saw and made It weapon second
only to the sword of tho oyyordfioh 81, it=,
power of damage.
The sawtish belongs to the order of the
rays. though in general makeup il rec
sembles shark or swordfsh. The saw
IS its weapon for obtaining food Rush
ing into a school of mullets or other fish
es, the sawfsh strikes from right to left
with savage blows, impaling some. CUT.
ting down others until the water is filed
with silvery bodies which the sawfsh
| proceeds to collect There are five dis.
tinct kinds Of these singular fishes. dis
tinguished mainly by the number u
spines
On the reef the sawisb was frequentIv-
taken with hook and line making gamy
struggle before being brought to gaff Or
spear-an ugly customer to handle. If
records are to count with such a fish Mr.
Edward Vom Hofe of New York, holda
one, having taken q SaWfsh which
weighed 500 pounds. off Red Fish Point
on the CatOOSahatChee river Mr. VOm
HOfe was fishing for tarpOn a the time
and was using a siX-fOot rod with a No.
Is linen line when he hooked what he
supposed was a "silver king" but as it
did not leap it was thought to be a large
shark The fish lowed the boat out to
sea several miles, then up the river again
during which time the angler was work
ing hard to stop it, without avail. Sud
denly it turned and dragged the boat i'm
the direction Of the breakers, and only by
the most heroic efforts was it brought TO
GAIT, making an ugly and dangerous
fight. The fish was towed to port ana
found to measure six feet and to weigh
1 400 pounds, without doubt the heaviest
and largest fish ever caught with a rod
of any kind. The following day the
angler hooked a still larger fish which
could not be tOwed in shore on account
Of it's bulk, so it was cut away.
The saw-hsh especially a large one,
affords a fine trophy In its saw, which
is often cut off and used as back to
a thermometer While clumsy and leth-
argic the saw-fish frequently leaps up
ward especially when chased by large
sharks The leap is only sufficient TO
raise the huge head and the wide ray
like side fms above the surface, which
fall upon the water again with resound-
ing crash that can be heard on the reeI
on a still night mile away. While the
saw IS fatal to many fishes, it is totally
Inadequate when the fish is attacked by
a shark and contests between the two
were often seen on the reef Both hSheS
came to the lagoon floor to feed at night.
First the crash of the falling fish would
be heard. telling of the attack; this
would be repeated several times, then If
the listener was near at hand, II would
see an area of blazing phOsphGrescence.
a wbirDool Of seeming fire where the
luminous water was beaten into fiery
frotb The shark had seized the saw
0sh by it's side fin, and the former was
striking fearful blows with its saw,
which. however. were but pin pTicks to
the shark that soon accomplishes the
destruction of its victim.