8INQULAB MET1IOD OF FI8HIW3. 115 



aquatic serpents, swim on the surface of the water, and 

 crowd under the bellies of the horses and mules. A contest 

 between animals of so different an organization presents 

 a very striking spectacle. The Indians, provided with 

 harpoons and long slender reeds, surround the pool closely ; 

 ana some climb up the trees, the branches of which extend 

 horizontally over the surface of the water. By their wild 

 cries, and the length of their reeds, they prevent the horses 

 from running away and reaching the bank of the pool. 

 The eels, stunned by the noise, defend themselves by the 

 repeated discharge of their electric batteries. For a long 

 interval they seem likely to prove victorious. Several horses 

 sink beneath the violence of the invisible strokes which they 

 receive from all sides, in organs the most essential to life ; 

 and stunned by the force and frequency of the shocks, they 

 disappear under the water. Others, panting, with mane 

 erect, and haggard eyes expressing anguish and dismay, 

 raise themselves, and endeavour to nee from the storm 

 by which they are overtaken. They are driven back by 

 the Indians into the middle of the water; but a small 

 number succeed in eluding the active vigilence of the 

 fishermen. These regain the shore, stumbling at every 

 step, and stretch themselves on the sand, exhausted with 

 fitigue, and with limbs benumbed by the electric shocks 

 of the gymnoti. 



In less than five minutes two of our horses were drowned. 

 The eel being five feet long, and pressing itself against the 

 belly of the horses, makes a discharge along the whole extent 

 of its electric organ. It attacks at once the heart, the in- 

 testines, and the caeliac fold of the abdominal nerves. It is 

 natural that the effect felt by the horses should be more 

 powerful than that produced upon man by the touch of the 

 same fish at only one of his extremities. The horses are 

 probably not killed, but only stunned. They are drowned 

 from the impossibility of rising amid the prolonged struggle 

 between the other horses and the eels. 



We had little doubt that the fishing would terminate by 

 killing successively all the animals engaged ; but by degivtf 

 the impetuosity of this unequal combat diminished, and the 

 wearied gymnoti dispersed. They require a long rest, ami 

 Abundant nourishment, to repair the galvanic force which 



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