Chap. 70.] THE DOG-FISH. 457 



animal like a flat-fish, 54 and that, pressing downward upon them, 

 it prevents them from returning to the surface. It is for this 

 reason that they carry stilettos with them, 55 which are very 

 sharp at the point, and attached to them by strings ; for if they 

 did not pierce the object with the help of these, it could not 

 be got rid of. This, however, is entirely the result, in my 

 opinion, of the darkness and their own fears ; for no person 

 has ever yet been able to find, among living creatures, the fish- 

 cloud or the fish-fog, the name which they give to this enemy 

 of theirs. 



The divers, however, have terrible combats with the dog- 

 fish, which attack with avidity the groin, the heels, and all 

 the whiter parts of the body. The only means of ensuring 

 safety, is to go boldly to meet them, and so, by taking the 

 initiative, strike them with alarm : for, in fact, this animal 

 is just as frightened at man, as man is at it ; and they are on 

 quite an equal footing when beneath the water. Eut the mo- 

 ment the diver has reached the surface, the danger is much 

 more imminent ; for he loses the power of boldly meeting his 

 adversary while he is endeavouring to make his way out of the 

 water, and his only chance of safety is in his companions, who 

 draw him along by a cord that is fastened under his shoulders. 

 "While he is engaging with the enemy, he keeps pulling this 

 cord with his left hand, according as there may be any sign of 

 immediate peril, while with the right he wields the stiletto, 

 I which he is using in his defence. At first they draw nim along 

 at a moderate pace, bat as soon as ever they have got him close 

 to the ship, if they do not whip him out in an instant, with 

 the greatest possible celerity, they see him snapped asunder ; 

 and many a time, too, the diver, even when already drawn 

 out, is dragged from their hands, through neglecting to aid the 

 efforts of those who are assisting him, by rolling up his body 

 in the shape of a ball. The others, it is true, are in the mean- 

 time brandishing their pronged fish-spears ; but the monster 

 has the craftiness to place himself beneath the ship, and so 



absurdity, and justly reprehends it ; though it must be confessed that there 

 is some obscurity in the passage, arising from the way in which it is 

 worded. 



54 Cuvier thinks it not improbable that it may have been some of the 

 large rays that were seen by the divers, and more especially, the largest of 

 them all, the Cephalopterus. 



55 "Stilos." 



