OCEAN FISHING. 451 



shank is covered by the pork skin. The top of the 

 bait is then tied above the hook to the wire trace, 

 to prevent its slipping down upon the bend, and 

 doubling up with the action of the waves. The tail 

 of the bait should extend for half its length beyond 

 the hook, and have a narrow triangular slice cut out 

 of its middle, leaving two tail pieces like those of a 

 fish to play in the water. The action of this bait may be 

 increased by jerking the line and making it leap out 

 of the water, when the fish will spring to catch it, 

 and sometimes even take it in the air. * 



" Bonitas are very handsome fish " (' bonita ' in fact is the 

 Spanish for ' pretty ') " and so are albicore ; they are both a 

 species of giant mackerel the bonita is about two feet long, 

 with dark blue back, marked with bluish green stripes; and 

 albicore only differ from bonita in being considerably 

 larger." f 



It is quite a mistake to suppose that fish are gener- 

 ally scarce near the surface far out to sea, as is some- 

 times alleged. The whole sea is everywhere full of 

 life and offish, as witness the constant rising of shoals 

 of flying fish in the tropical seas. There can be no 

 doubt that these little fish mistake the ship for some 

 marine monster intent upon destroying them, and their 

 rising from the water shows that this is their usual 

 way of effecting their escape from enemies. 



In the Indian Ocean on one occasion for nearly an 

 hour we saw vast shoals of these flying fish (Exoccstus 

 Callopterus] rising one after the other from nearly 

 every wave, in such numbers that the sound made by 

 them in springing from the water was distinctly audi- 



* The Sea Fisherman, by Wilcocks, 1868, p. 223. 



j- Walsh's Notices of the Brazil, 1830, Vol. i., pp. 1067. 



