SOME STRANGE FISH 



ancient Egyptians were, even they had a horror of the 

 sea, and usually confined their skill and energy in boat- 

 building to making only such craft as would be used on 

 the Nile. The American Indian who glides along the river, 

 or fishes at his ease, in his frail birch canoe, regardless of 

 deep water and alligators, is terrified at the sight of a 

 heavy sea, and in many cases would not let himself be 

 persuaded that fish can live amid such tempestuous sur- 

 roundings. 



Still, there are exceptions. Up till quite a few years 

 ago the coast Indians of Peru would accomplish long and 

 dangerous sea voyages in their balzas^ which were little 

 better than pointed rafts with a lug-sail, bringing back a 

 cargo of fish which they had caught with hook and line 

 and dried in the sun. Many of the Polynesians have also 

 proved themselves successful deep-sea fishers, while the 

 natives of Madagascar and Malay, if they did not trouble 

 about fishing themselves, had no objection to pursuing 

 into deep water, and molesting, anyone else who did. 

 Another exception must of course be made where the 

 pearl-fishers of the East and West Indies are concerned. 



But those who neglect the greater depths have gener- 

 ally very remunerative coast fisheries, and, not infre- 

 quently, large rivers and lakes on which to expend their 

 energies. In China, for instance, there are more river 

 fishers than all the sea fishers in Europe and America 

 together; while the great rivers of South America and 

 Africa make a fishing people of races that have never 

 been within hundreds of miles of the sea. 



In some of the South American rivers there is a fish 



204 



