CHAP, iv.] WEST INDIES. 107 



from their scarcity are seldom noticed by modern na- 

 turalists and voyagers, or of which the knowledge 

 and even the names are lost to the present inhabi- 

 tants : for it has been justly observed, that what 

 from its antiquity is but little known, has from that 

 circumstance alone the recommendation of novelty. 

 I shall therefore close my account of the animal crea- 

 tion with a description of two very curious methods, 

 known to the ancient 'Indians, of catching fish and 

 wild fowl, wdth which I believe the reader will be 

 amused. 



<c The Indians of Jamaica and Cuba" (says Oviedo) 

 " go a fishing with the rcmora, or sucking-fish, 

 <c which they employ as falconers employ .haw r ks. 

 " This fish, which is not above a span long, is kept 

 " for the purpose and regularly fed. The owner on 

 a calm morning carries it out to sea, secured to his 

 canoe by a small but strong line, many fathoms in 

 " length; and the moment the creature sees a fish in 

 <( the water, though at a great distance, it starts away 

 " with' the swiftness of an arrow, and soon fastens 



upon it. The Indian, in the mean time, loosens 



i . . . 



:c and lets go the line, which is provided with a buoy 

 that keeps on the surface of the sea, and serves 

 " to mark the course which the remora has taken, 

 " and he pursues it in his canoe, until he conceives his 

 game to be nearly exhausted and run down. He 

 then, taking up the buoy, gradually draws the line 

 towards the shore; the remora still adhering with 

 (( inflexible tenacity to its prey, and it is with great 

 f < difficulty that he is made to quit his hold. By this 



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