SINGULAR METHODS OF CHINESE FISHERMEN. 245 



and the wounded animal dives, but is at last secured by the 

 cord. In the South Seas skilful divers watch them when so 

 floating, and getting under the animals, suddenly rise, and so 

 seize them. Mr. Darwin describes a curious method of 

 capturing turtles which he witnessed at Keeling Island in 

 1836: 



" I accompanied,'^ he remarks, '* Captain Fitzroy to an 

 island at the head of the lagoon : the channel was exceed- 

 ingly intricate, winding through fields of delicately-branched 

 corals. We saw several turtles, and two boats were then 

 employed in catching them. The water is so clear and 

 shallow, that although at first a turtle quickly dives out of 

 sight, yet, in a canoe or boat under sail, the pursuers, after 

 no very long chase, come up to it. A man standing ready in 

 the bows at this moment dashes through the water upon the 

 turtle's back ; then clinging with both hands by the shell of 

 the neck, he is carried away until the animal becomes 

 exhausted, and is secured. It was quite an interesting sight 

 to see the two boats thus doubling about, and the men dash- 

 ing into the water to secure their prey." 



But the most singular mode of capturing turtles is that 

 practised on the coasts of China and the Mozambique, by 

 the aid of living fishes trained for the purpose, and thence 

 named "fisher-fishes." This fish is a species of remora 

 (sucking-fish), and the islanders who use it are said to pro- 

 ceed in the following manner : 



They have, in their little boat, tubs containing many of 

 these little fishes, the top of whose head is covered with an 

 oval plate, soft and fieshy at its circumference. In the mid- 

 dle of this plate is a very complicated apparatus of bony 

 pieces disposed across in two regular rows, like the laths of 

 Persienne blinds. The number of these plates varies from 

 fifteen to thirty-six, according to the species : they can be 

 moved on their axis by means of particular muscles, and 

 their free edges are furnished with small hooks, which are 



