158 



FISHES OF THE EAST ATLANTIC COAST. 



lockjaw. The fishermen dread the stingray, and with reason, ; s it 

 is often <ound lying OH the flats and sand bars, where the net is cast. 

 My friend Pacetti has been several times struck by the rays, and. 

 onco he came near losing his leg from the wound. 



In fishing for bass and sheepshead the angler will sometimes find 

 his hook apparently fast to the bottom, and on pulling on it, the line 

 will move slowly away with irresistible force this for thirty or forty 

 yards, when it will stop for ten or fifteen minutes and then move on 

 again, in the same slow, resistless way, as if a yoke of oxen were 

 hitched. If the angler wishes to kill the fish he must raise his an- 

 chor and follow wherever the ray may lead him. In this way, if the 

 ray is of moderate size, say fifty or sixty pounds, he may in an hour's 

 time bring his fish to the gaff. But this must not be attempted 

 rashly, for as soon as the ray is touched with the gaff, it strikes an 

 accurate blow with its long whip towards the gaffer. The staff, or 

 handle should be four or five feet long, and the arm that holds it 

 strong, otherwise it will be wrenched from its grasp. If the boat- 

 man understands his business he will ^insert the gaff near the head 

 of the ray and quickly turn the fish upon its back alongside the boat,, 

 then with a heavy and sharp knife stab the ray several times in the 

 throat. If properly done, the blood will gush forth as if with the 

 strokes of a pump and quickly exhaust the powers of the fish. When 

 dead, if the sting is wanted for a trophy, tow the carcass to the 

 shore and cut off the tail, which much resembles one of those long 

 black leather covered waggon whips, used in the S^uth. Set the 

 carcass adrift on the tide, and if there has not been a shark seen that 

 day, in five minutes two or three of those ugly brutes will be tugging 

 and tearing at the carcass of their cousin, the ray. The/e is no 

 better bait for a shark than a chunk from a ray's fin; and indeed the 

 flesh is white and delicate in appearance, and is considered a delicact 

 by many nations less fastidious than Americans. The principal food 

 of the ray is shell-fish, and I have often seen it when dying vomit 

 forth a pint or more of small mollusks. 



I once hooked a ray up the river about half a mile from home and 

 undertook to drive it to the landing. It towed me about the river 



