114 FOIIT cArnox. 



two last-mentioned fish do not take a bait. There are 

 also two other remarkable fish inhabiting Indian river 

 and the adjacent coast, whose scientific names I am 

 unaware of. These arc called by the natives the jew- 

 fish and the tarpnm. The former sometimes at 

 tains a weight of two or three hundred pounds, and 

 resembles a bass in its general contour, while the latter 

 presents more the appearance of a dace. The tar- 

 pum, owing to its graceful outlines and lustrous color 

 ing, is a fish of most surpassing beauty. The scales on 

 its sides are about the size and the brilliancy of a silver 

 dollar, out of which the native females fabricate beauti 

 ful baskets. When a school of these fish are disporting 

 themselves upon the surface of the waves, as is their 

 frequent habit, the bright reflections from their sides 

 produce an effect not unlike that presented by the bur 

 nished arms of a squad of soldiers at drill. This fish 

 attains a length of about five or six feet, but is not so 

 heavy as the jew-fish. The bar at Indian River Inlet is 

 an unrivalled locality for short spearing, for those who 

 are fond of that thrilling amusement. I have myself, 

 in a common &quot; Whitehall &quot; boat, aided in harpooning 

 fifteen or twenty in a morning. The rivers and creeks 

 emptying into Indian river are filled with black bass 

 (miscalled &quot; black trout &quot; by the natives). This species 

 of black bass reach a much greater size than any other 

 species of this fish I have ever met with. I have taken 

 them weighing in the neighborhood of ten pounds, and 

 I have seen others swimming in the water, that seemed 

 to be almost as large again. Like the bass of the Upper 

 Mississippi and lakes of Minnesota, and unlike the bass 

 at present inhabiting the Potomac and its tributaries, it 

 will readly rise to spoon or fly. They are apt to have a 



