118 SPORTING ADVENTURES 



a round shot pitching close to us ; this was 

 followed by a shell which burst in a bush 

 within a few yards of us, upon which we 

 moved on ; it appeared that the Mexican artillery 

 were exercising their one field-piece in antici- 

 pation of an attack from some rebel troops who 

 were supposed to be in the neighbourhood. 



In the harbour and estuaries sharks and 

 turtle abound, besides many kinds of fish, 

 which may be either caught with a seine or 

 killed by torpedoes of dynamite powder; the 

 latter is very destructive, but is a most danger- 

 ous amusement, and many people have lost 

 their lives or limbs by using them. 



There is a kind of rock cod called the 

 maro, which attains a prodigious size, fre- 

 quently being killed with the hand-line over 

 200 Ibs. weight, and they have been known to 

 reach as much as 300 Ibs. 



Devil-fish are also occasionally seen in the 

 harbour, and we once managed to harpoon one 

 from a boat ; the beast towed the boat round the 

 harbour at a great rate, and finally broke adrift. 



