CHAPTER 11. 



THE HISTOKY OF ITS CAPTURE BY EOD AND REEL 



'^As no man is horn an artist, so no man is horn an angler" 



Isaac Walton to the Reader 



CAPTAIN William Dampier, the English buccaneer, has 

 written of his exploits as a sacker of towns and ships 

 and as an explorer. He had as keen an eye for natural 

 history as he had for prizes and loot. His travels read like a 

 romance. In the course of his journeys to the Bay of Cam- 

 peche, just west of Yucatan (1675), he gave a description of 

 tarpon fishing which is one of the first recorded. It deserves 

 inclusion here. He is describing conditions near the Bay : 



"A little to the East of the River is a Fish-Range and a 

 small Indian Hutt or two within the Woods; where the 

 Indian Fishers who are subject to the Spaniards lye in the 

 Fishing-Seasons, their Habitations and Families being 

 further up in the Country. Here are Poles to hang their 

 nets on and Barbacues to dry their fish. When they go off 

 to Sea they fish with Hook and Line about four or five 

 Leagues from the shore for Snappers and Gropers which 

 I have already described in my Voyage around the World. 

 "Since the Privateers and Logwood-ships have sailed 

 this waj^ these Fisher-men are very shy, having been often 

 snapp'd by them. So that now when they are out at Sea, 

 if they see a Sail they presently sink their Oanoas even 

 with the edge of the Water ; for the Canoas when they are 

 full of water will sink no lower and they themselves lye 

 just with their heads above Water till the Ship which they 

 saw is passed by or come nigh. I have seen them under 

 Sail and they have thus vanished on a Sudden. The Fish 



