238 PACU OF GUIANA. 



feet, and it is shot with either of the arrows de- 

 scribed already in the Introduction, and figured 

 on Plate I.*; but as they swim so rapidly, and 

 are besides very strong, the reed of the arrow is 

 thicker than the generality which are used for 

 shooting fishes. At the period the rivers com- 

 mence to fall, after the long rainy season, which is 

 generally towards tlie end of September and begin- 

 ning of October, they are very numerous at the first 

 and second series of cataracts on the Essequibo and 

 Mazaruni. The people of the Lower Essequibo 

 undertake fishing expeditions at this period, and 

 the extensive rocky djkes afford them the means of 

 salting and drying the fish, which they bring to 

 Georgetown. Where the weyra grows plentifully, 

 and the locality permits it, a spot is enclosed with 

 wooden hurdles or a wall of loose stones, leaving 

 two narrow spaces for the fish to enter, which, 

 when it is considered that a large number have 

 entered, are closed up ; and the fish are thus con- 

 fined in a kind of pond, where it is easier to shoot 

 them than when at perfect liberty. They are like- 

 wise fond of the seeds of the Caladium arhorescens, 

 or muccu-muccu, which are thrown into the stream, 

 and when the fish rises in order to seize it, they are 

 shot. Fishermen skilled with the bow and arrow 

 thus secure from two to three hundred pacus in the 

 course of a week, which, when cured, are sold in 

 the colony for about sixteen pence a piece. 



" It is one of the most favourite fishes among 

 the epicureans, w hen it can be procured fresh ; but 



