544 SKILFULNESS OF SAVAGES. 



that one day a Diver was swimming at a distance of thirty 

 yards from the beach, and a native was offered a reward if he 

 could shoot it. He immediately frightened it so that it dived, 

 and directly it reappeared, he transfixed both eyes with an 

 arrow.* Speaking of the Australians, Mr. Stanbridge asserts 

 that " it is a favourite feat on the Murray to dive into the 

 river, spear in hand, and come up with a fish upon it."-f- 

 Woodes Eogers says that the Californian Indians used to dive, 

 and strike the fish under water with wooden spears, J and 

 Falkner tells us that some of the Patagonian tribes live 

 chiefly on fish, " which they catch either by diving, or striking 

 them with their darts." Tertre again says the same of the 

 Caribs,!| and Wallace of the Brazilian Indians.11" The South 

 Sea Islanders are particularly active in the water. They dive 

 after fish which " takes refuge under the coral rock ; thither 

 the diver pursues him, and brings him up with a finger in each 

 eye."** They are even more than a match for the shark, 

 which they attack fearlessly with a knife. If they are 

 unarmed, " they all surround him and force him ashore, if they 

 can but once get him into the surf;" but even if he escapes 

 they continue their bathing without the least fear. (( Ellis 

 more cautiously says only, that "when armed they have some- 

 times been known to attack a shark in the water." JJ The 

 Andaman Islanders also are said to dive and catch fish under 

 water ; and Rutherford makes a similar statement as regards 

 the New Zealanders. Dobritzhotfer tells us that the Payajuas 

 and Vilelas live principally on fish, using a small net with 

 which they dive, "and if they spy any fish at the bottom, 



* Beechey's Narrative, vol. ii. Hist, of the Carriby Is. p. 305. 



p. 574. IF Travels on the Amazon, p. 488. 



t On the Aborigines of Victoria. ** Wilson, I.e. p. 385. 



Ethn. Trans. New Ser. vol. i. p. 293. ft 1. c. p. 368. 



1 Caliander's Voyages, vol. iii. Polynesian Researches, vol. i. 



p. 331. p. 178. 



Patagonia, p. 111. Mouat. I.e. pp. 310, 333. 



