Ill Sting-Ray Spearing 47 



To his daughter also he wrote : — 



' Tell the boy that I have been spearing trygons 

 and eagle-rays. (Make him look in Yarrell's Fishes.) 

 The eagle - rays flap and fly along the surface of 

 the water much more than the big black trygons. 

 Their speed and strength are enormous ; and when 

 they are struck, after one or two beats of their wings, 

 they shoot along about a foot under water in a most 

 extraordinary manner. The black trygon pulls 

 and twirls, and hangs on to the rocks with his fins, 

 and sometimes dives into the masses of seaweed, and, 

 on the whole, though stubborn and strong, is by no 

 means so sporting a brute as his brown cousin. One 

 that we speared the other day fought himself clear 

 of the " grams " and rushed head-foremost against 

 the side of the boat, and then dashed against a rock 

 with such violence that he stunned himself and 

 ensured his easy capture. Another was so big that 

 when I first saw him I was almost afraid to spear 

 him lest he should tow us out to sea. Luckily, I 

 got him in the head, and he was so flurried that he 

 rushed towards the beach, and I jumped overboard, 

 nearly up to my shoulders in the water, and, after a 

 good fight, managed to get him up on the sand. 

 You never saw a more fearful wild-fowl ! Coal black, 

 with a great lowering forehead, and enormous, wicked- 

 looking eyes ; and the way he lashed about with 

 his tail was a caution ! I was obliged to get an oar 

 across it, with a man standing on each end, before I 

 could venture to cut it off. It had four spines on it. 



