658 



A HISTORY OF 



the tropical climates ; and is at once the most 

 active and the most beautiful of the finny re- 

 gion. It is about six feet long; the back all 

 over enamelled with spots of a bluish green 

 and silver; the tail and fins of a gold colour; 

 and all have a brilliancy of tint, that nothing 

 but nature's pencil can attain to: the eyes 

 are placed on each side of the head, large and 

 beautiful, surrounded with circles of shining 

 gold. In the seas where they are found, these 

 fish are always in motion, and play round 

 ships in full sail, with ease and security: for 

 ever either pursuing or pursued, they are 

 seen continually in a state of warfare; either 

 defending themselves against the shark, or 

 darting after the smaller fishes. Of all others, 

 the Flying-fish most abounds in these seas ; 

 and as it is a small animal, seldom growing 

 above the size of a herring, it is chiefly sought 

 by the dorado. Nature has furnished each 

 respectively with the powers of pursuit and 

 evasion. The dorado being above six feet 

 long, yet not thicker than a salmon, and fur- 

 nished with a full complement of fins, cut its 

 way through the water with amazing rapidi- 

 ty : on the other hand, the flying-fish is fur- 

 nished with two pair of fins longer than the 

 body, and these also moved by a stronger 

 set of muscles than any other. This equali- 

 ty of power seems to furnish one of the most 

 entertaining spectacles those seas can exhibit. 

 The efforts to seize on the one side, and the 

 arts of escaping on the other, are perfectly 

 amusing. The dorado is seen, upon this oc- 

 casion, darting after its prey, which will not 

 leave the water, while it has the advantage 

 of swimming, in the beginning of the chase. 

 But, like a hunted hare, being tired at last, 

 it then has recourse to another expedient for 

 safety by flight. The long fins, which began 

 to grow useless in the water, are now exert- 

 ed in a different manner and different direc- 

 tion to that in which they were employed in 

 swimming: by this means, the timid little ani- 

 m il rises from the water, and flutters over its 

 surface, for two or three hundred yards, till 

 the muscles employed in moving the wings 

 are enfeebled by that particular manner of 

 exertion. By this time, however, they have 

 acquired a fresh power of renewing their ef- 

 forts in the water, and the animal is capable 

 of proceeding with some velocity by swim- 



ming: still, however, the active enemy keepg 

 it in view, and drives it again from the deep; 

 till, at length, the poor little creature is seen 

 to dart to shorter distances, to flutter with 

 greater effort, and to drop down at last into 

 the mouth of its fierce pursuer. But not the 

 dorado alone, all animated nature seems com- 

 bined against this little fish, which seems pos- 

 sessed of double powers, only to be subject 

 to greater dangers. For though it should es- 

 cape from its enemies of the deep, yet the 

 tropic bird and the albatross are for ever up- 

 on the wing to seize it. Thus pursued in 

 either element, it sometimes seeks refuge from 

 a new enemy; and it is not unfrequent for 

 whole shoals of them to fall on shipboard, 

 where they furnish man with an object of 

 useless curiosity. 



The warfare in fresh water is not carried 

 on with such destructive activity; nor are 

 the inhabitants of that element so numerous. 

 It would seem that there is something more 

 favourable to the fecundity of fishes in the 

 ocean, than in an element less impregnated 

 with salt. It has been the opinion of some 

 philosophers, that all fish are natives of that 

 great reservoir; and that only colonies have 

 been sent up rivers, either through accident, 

 or the necessity of procuring subsistence. 

 They have been led to this opinion by the 

 superior fecundity of sea-fish, which breed 

 twenty to one; as well as by their superiority 

 in strength and size, over those of the same 

 kind found in lakes and rivers. This is a 

 matter too remotely speculative to be worth 

 pursuing; but certain it is, that, in fresh wa- 

 ter, fishes seem to abate much of their cou- 

 rage and rapacity; pursue each other with 

 less violence, and seem to be less powerfully 

 actuated by all their appetites. The gree- 

 diness with which sea-fish devour the bait is 

 prodigious, if compared with the manner they 

 take it in fresh water. The lines of such fish- 

 ermen as go off to sea, are coarse, thick, and 

 clumsy, compared to what are used by those 

 who fish at land. Their baits are seldom 

 more than a piece of a fish, or the flesh of some 

 quadruped, stuck on the hook in a bungling 

 manner; and scarcely any art is employed 

 to conceal the deception. But it is other- 

 wise in fresh water: the lines must often be 

 drawn to a hair like fineness ; they must be 



