228 BLACK SAW-BELLIED SALMON. 



tearing off large parts of its flesli. We secured the 

 luganaui, which might have measured from twenty 

 to twenty-six inches, and though the poor animal 

 had heen eaten off piecemeal to within its pectoral 

 fins, it was still alive. Being deprived of its tail 

 and lower fins, it drifted perpendicular. The corial 

 was brought to, our hooks and lines were soon out, 

 and we caught several of the depredators, which, 

 with the remnant of the luganani, afforded us a 

 good breakfast. 



*' The ducks and geese are equally exposed to 

 the attacks of the pirai, and those which the settlers 

 keep near the banks of the river are generally de- 

 prived of the lower part of their feet. It is a 

 strange sight to see them walking on mere stumps. 

 In Wicki, a wood-cutting establishment at the river 

 Berbice, there were two vicissi ducks {Dendrocygna 

 mduatob) which had been perfectly tamed by the 

 Indians, and were brought from the large ponds in 

 the interior. Unacquainted with the danger which 

 the ravenous pirai offered them, their instinct di- 

 rected them to their favourite element, and one of 

 them paid its first visit with the loss of its toes, and 

 the other was similarly injured in its future visits. 

 They now became cautious, and it was remarkable 

 to observe how studiously they kept in-shore, and 

 never trusted themselves beyond their depth. 



" The pirai is from nature a tyrant, and connects 

 with it the greatest voraciousness. I am almost per- 

 suaded that it surpasses the ravenous pike, though 

 the latter, 'par excellence^ is called the tyrant of the 



