Chap, ii.] SEINE-NET FISHING. 5 1 



There was great excitement, and it seemed very uncertain 

 whether the shark would not break the net and let out not 

 only itself but all the other fish. At last we ran the brute up 

 high and dry, and then it suffered instant punishment. 



The sailor has absolutely no pity upon a shark. I have 

 heard one of our men say to a shark which he had just hauled 

 on to the forecastle with a line, " Ah, thou beggar, thou'd hurt 

 I if I was in the water and now I'll hurt thee," whereupon he 

 caught it a vicious kick and proceeded to gouge it. When a 

 big shark like the present one is landed it is regarded as a 

 general enemy, against whom every one has an old score to pay 

 off. Mr. Cox shoves the boat-hook about five feet into its 

 mouth and down its throat. The others job the beast in the 

 eyes with sticks and knives and make a deep slash across the 

 tail to prevent its lashing out, and proceed to open the belly, 

 where the usual miscellaneous collection is found ; lots of ships' 

 beef bones, a two pound lead sinker of a fishing line, with 

 chopstick and hooks complete, etc., etc. 



We caught plenty of fish. Grey and red mullet, a Gar fish 

 or Greenbone, with long slender beak-like jaws {Beloue), and 

 another fish closely like the Greenbone, but with a long beak- 

 like lower jaw only, the upper jaw appearing as if cut off close 

 to the snout {Hemiramphus). With these were other curious 

 fish with deformed-looking heads {Argyreiosus setipinnis, 

 Gakoides polydactyhis). 



A fire had been lighted on the shore and we had a ship's 

 boat's cooking stove with us. We fried some of the fish, and 

 with bread and preserved meats and plenty of beer made a 

 good supper, and set to work again hauling the net till it had 

 long been dark. Then we had hot tea and grog, and packed 

 our net and fish into the boats and pulled on board. 



We did not reach the ship until past ii p.m., and at 3 a.m. 

 I was, by arrangement, to start on a trip to try and ascend the 

 high mountain of the island called San Antonio, 7,400 feet in 

 height, in search of the European plants which grow there. 



I had a very short sleep and landed at 3 a.m. I found 

 two horses ready at the landing-place, but my guide was not 

 there, and it was a long time before I could make the men 

 with the horses, who spoke only Portuguese, understand what 

 I wanted. At last a negro, who was sleeping on the pier, 

 agreed to find the guide, John Antonio, for a shilling, and I 

 sat down on the pier wall to listen to the surf and watch the 

 crabs {Grapsus strigosiis) running about, for nearly an hour. 



The parapet of the jetty had a capping upon it projecting 

 some distance and with a rounded edge. I saw a crab running 

 on the jetty, and I thought I could catch it, but to my 



