SOME STRANGE FISH 



But the men take no further notice of him now ; they 

 know that they have lost him in any case, for the fish are 

 all travelling down stream. Judging, however, from the 

 number of ripples ahead, he is no great loss, for there are 

 plenty more like him to come. At last a broad silver 

 belly rises a good five feet. Evidently this is a monster, 

 for, some distance beyond, the water is being threshed into 

 a tiny whirlpool by his great forked tail. Before the 

 arapaima can sink again, a harpoon whirls through the air 

 trailing behind it a long leathern cord, the other end of 

 which is made fast to the boat. For an instant it seems 

 as though boat and crew would be dragged under, as the 

 fish gives one convulsive plunge ; but the spear was too 

 well or too luckily aimed; it has bedded itself in the 

 upper part of the chest, and that sudden, jerking plunge 

 was the arapaima's last movement ; all that remains to be 

 done is to drag the dead body aboard. 



But there are times when the shot is not so opportune ; 

 often the fish with three and even four harpoons bristling in 

 its back or sides, will plunge, kick, and dodge, till there 

 is every likelihood of the little vessel's capsizing, and 

 leaving her crew at the mercy of the sleepy-looking 

 alligators, that are innocently watching the sport from 

 the muddy bank. 



The tethered arrow, formerly more commonly used than 

 the harpoon in arapaima fishing, is almost identical with 

 the Indian turtle-spear. The head is movable, being 

 lightly fixed in a socket at the end of the shaft ; when 

 the point strikes an object, the shaft is shaken free, 

 though still in connection with the point by means of a 



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