CROCODILE SHOOTING. 291 



his appreciation, even relish, of the ingenuity of 

 the imaginary appeal. 



It was nearly the ebb-tide, and the channel grew 

 narrow. Small fry leapt out of the water in terror 

 at our approach, and now and again some large fish 

 surged past between our canoe and the bank, its 

 broad back driving a curling wave before it. To see 

 the size and swiftness and silent strength of these 

 great fishes made it a joy to think of the feel of a 

 salmon-rod bending to the weight of one of them. 



Playing and feeding near the surface of the water 

 was a shoal of extraordinary small fish with long 

 pointed snouts like those of the English garfish. 

 But the fishes were not confined to the water, they 

 were crawling all over the mud-banks in every direc- 

 tion. Look at this fish, the ikan blachak, whose 

 pectoral fins appears to have developed into jointed 

 legs : it walks sturdily and determinedly over the 

 mud, with its dorsal fin erect from the back of its 

 neck to the base of its tail ; and very imposing it 

 looks to any fish that has not attained the dignity 

 of its six inches. This panoply is intended to strike 

 terror into beholders ; but the ikan blachak knows 

 its limitations, and the kites that wheel overhead 

 will not be intimidated by any dorsal fin however 

 stiff: so when the little fish stops, it sinks its fin and 

 lies as close and as flat as it can to the mud its colour 

 resembles. But should any other blachak come stray- 

 ing too close, at once it leaps up and with open mouth 

 stands ready to fight if the intruder will not retreat. 

 When thus excited it erects not only the dorsal fin, 

 but the smaller fins that run down the black to the tip 



