A FORLORN QUEST, ETC. 265 



hook on a yard of gimp attached to piece of wood. 

 This is presented to the mursena, which strikes 

 at it again and again in a kind of blind frenzy, 

 evidently guided by the scent (which is not sur- 

 prising), as it will even strike it out of water, where 

 in all probability it is quite unable to see. Another 

 plan is to use a pair of serrated tongs, with which 

 it is bodily gripped. Cossart kindly gave me a 

 pair of these, and a London maker, who saw them, 

 has since asked permission to copy them for 

 use in conger-fishing. The third, and in some 

 respects the least unsporting, way of catching a 

 mursena, since it involves a good deal of skill, 

 is to secure it in a running noose worked in a hollow 

 cane. The novice invariably allows too much 

 or too little for refraction when attempting to 

 use one under water, but the muraena, under the 

 combined charm of the stale fish and cracked 

 voice, is so emboldened that it generally waits 

 around until it is caught by accident or design. 



The natives hold it in wholesome dread, and 

 whenever they catch one, it is beaten to pulp on 

 the rocks, so as to make assurance doubly sure. 

 Nor am I prepared to regard the precaution as 

 superfluous after having seen one, that had been 

 left for dead, turn with such suddenness on a 

 barelegged man as to make him overbalance and 

 fall on his back. 



Such is the gentle creature, which the ancient 



