The Electrical Eel. 489 



of these fish having been taken from a net and laid upon 

 the grass, an English sailor, notwithstanding all the per- 

 suasions that were used to prevent him, would insist on 

 taking it up ; but the moment he grasped it he dropped 

 down in a fit ; his eyes were fixed, his face became livid, 

 and it was not without difficulty that his senses were 

 restored. He said that the instant he touched it " the 

 cold ran swiftly up his arm into his body, and pierced 

 him to the heart." 



Humboldt tells us that when the Indians wish to catch 

 these Eels they drive some wild horses through the pools 

 which the fish inhabit; and that when the Eels have 

 exhausted their electrical power upon the horses, the 

 Indians take them without difficulty. He relates an in- 

 stance in which he says that the horses, stunned with 

 the shocks they received, sank under water, but most of 

 them rose again, and gained the shore, where they lay 

 stretched out on the ground, apparently quite exhausted 

 and without the power of moving, so much were they 

 stupefied and benumbed. In about a quarter of an hour, 

 however, the Eels appeared to have exhausted them- 

 selves, and, instead of attacking fresh horses that were 

 driven into the pond, fled before them. The Indians 

 then entered the water and caught as many fish as they 

 liked* 



This most singular fish is peculiar to South America, 

 where it is found only in stagnant pools, at a great dis- 

 tance from the sea. 



* See a very animated account of the capture of this fish, in Hum 

 boldt's " Views of Nature," page 16 (Bohn's Edition). 



