21 



movement ; they flew even into the cooking pots and, at mid- 

 day dinner, a spoonful of sugar was placed before each plate 

 to draw them off. We felt ill the whole day on account of the 

 smell, and it is surprising that it could have been endured for 

 six months. It was only in September that it became bearable. 



" Shortly after Christmas of 1887 the second flood came, 

 and about the beginning of 1883 the third. In 1887 the fish 

 lay 20 to 30 minutes' walk behind the houses as far as the 

 spring tides usually rise, and in 1883 only to just behind the 

 houses." 



Mr. Koch adds to his wife's narrative that no explanation 

 of this occurrence was found till a few months previous to his 

 time of writing (23rd September, 1900), when there appeared, 

 near Pelican Point, a small island, about nine feet above the 

 Gurface of the water. He describes it as a shapeless ("un- 

 fertige ") mass smelling strongly of sulphuretted hydrogen. 

 There was at the time, he adds, a specially strong outburst of 

 gas which killed off the fish far round about. The occurrence 

 referred to is described in some detail by Mr. Waldron (Tr. 

 Phil. Soc. S. Africa, vol. xi., p. 185). 



Another instance is recorded from Table Bay by a writer 

 in the Cape Illustrated Monthly in an article entitled " Fifty 

 Years' Recollections of the Cape Colony." He states that 

 " somewhere in the year 1837 millions of fish — Snoek, Mackerel, 

 Stockfish and other kinds commonly found in Table Bay — 

 were, owing, it was at the time believed, to the effects of a 

 submarine earthquake, driven into the Bay, and, making for 

 the shore, cast themselves upon the beach, where they lay 

 inches deep all along the shore. This casting up of the terrified 

 and dying fish continued for about three days, and the stench 

 arising from the decaying mass was terrible. I was told that 

 some of the poor blacks ate of the dead fish, and many died 

 with excruciating agonies therefrom. 



" I was told at the time that at this period large numbers of 

 whales died from some unknown cause, and were cast ashore 

 all round the Cape Point coast, and that the carcases were no 

 good for the purpose of boihng for oil extraction. Perhaps 

 the wholesale casting up of dead whales may account for the 

 great number of whale bones to be seen so frequently on the 

 littoral of Table and False Bays, used as gate posts, fences or 

 beacons. I throw out this suggestion for the consideration 

 of the curious in such matters." 



On the i6th December, 1886, a case of mortality amongst 

 sea fish occurred at Cape Receife. A number were observed by 

 the lighthouse-keeper in the water in a " sick " condition. They 

 seemed helpless and many of them were washed ashore. This 



[C.P. 6-'i4.] 



