ELECTEIC EELS. 97 



gorged ; and vre bare seen them decline a live creature, 

 introduced into their cage, when they had been confined 

 for months -^-ithout any thing to sustain life. The skin is 

 converted into leather for straps, which are remarkable for 

 their toughness and durability. This, together with the 

 thick hide of the caiman, which makes excellent saddles, 

 furnishes the native with .his outfit for travel and the chase. 

 The caiman and serpents are not the only terrors of 

 these Stygian floods. The lagoons and marshy waters are 

 inhabited by innumerable gymnoti, or electric eels, which 

 are able to communicate an electrical shock sufliciently 

 strong to overpower a man, and paralyze for hours the 

 limb that comes in immediate contact. In experimenting 

 with some of these " animal electrical machines, " which 

 had been secured by the Indians, we received discharges 

 that caused, for some time afterward, a most painful sen- 

 sation in the member with which we grasped them. Hum- 

 boldt, in his " Views of Nature," gives the following graphic 

 description of the mode of capturing the gymnotus by 

 the natives : " A number of mules and horses are driven 

 mto a swamp, which is closely surrounded by Indians, un- 

 til the unusual noise excites the daring fish to venture on 

 an attack. Serpent-like they are seen swimming along 

 the surface of the water, striving cunningly to glide under 

 the bellies of the horses. By the force of their invisible 

 blows numbers of the poor animals are suddenly prostrat- 

 ed; others, snorting and panting, their manes erect, their 

 eyes wildly flasliing with terror, rush madly from the 

 raging storm ; but the Indians, armed with long bamboo 

 staves, drive them back into the midst of the pool. Bv 

 degrees the fury of this unequal contest begins to slacken. 

 Like clouds that have discharged their electricity, the 

 wearied eels disperse. They require long rest and nourish- 

 ing food to repair the galvanic force which they have so 

 lavishly expended. Their shocks gradually become weaker 



