ARROW-FISHING. 63 
There are two kinds of them, alike in office, but distinct 
in species; they are known by those who fish in the 
streams which they inhabit as the “gar.” They are, when 
grown to their full size, twelve or fifteen feet in length, 
voracious monsters to look at, so well made for strength, 
so perfectly protected from assault, so capable of inflict- 
ing injury. The smaller kind, growing not larger than 
six feet, have a body that somewhat resembles in form 
the pike, covered by what looks more like large, flat 
heads of wrought iron, than scales, which it is impossi- 
ple to remove without cutting them out—they are so 
deeply imbedded in the flesh. The jaws of this mon- 
ster, form about one fourth of its whole length; they are 
shaped like the bill of a goose, armed in the interior 
with triple rows of teeth, as sharp, and well set, as those 
of a saw. 
But the terror, is the “ alligator gar,” a monster that 
seems to combine all the most destructive powers of the 
shark and the reptile. The alligator gar grows to the 
enormous length of fifteen feet; its head resembles the 
alligator’s ; within its wide-extended jaws glisten in- 
numerable rows of teeth, running, in solid columns, 
down into its very throat. Blind in its instinct to de- 
stroy, and singularly tenacious of life, it seems to prey 
with untiring energy, and with an appetite that is in- 
creased by gratification. 
Such are the fish, that are made victims of the mere 
sport of the arrow-fisherman. 
