270 



♦ KNOW^LEDGE 



[October 1, 1887. 



new moon over the right shoulder is suggested by this 

 Persian custom.* 



The eve before No Rooz is also the occasion for a curious 

 ceremony, evidently suggested by the mj'stical meaning the 

 Guebres attach to fire and light. The common people leap 

 over heaps of burning brushwood laid in rows. It is 

 possible the heathenish cu.stom alluded to in Scripture of 

 " passing children through the- fire " may be a form of this 

 ceremony. 



As the hour approaches for the sun to cross the line, the 

 Shah assembles in the great audience-chamber of the palace 

 with the high spiritual and temporal dignifcxries of the 

 kingdom. Money is distributed to all for good luck on the 

 commencement of the New Year. At the moment the 

 astrologers announce the No Rooz, the Shah gravely ex- 

 claims, " Mambarek hashed ! " — " May it be propitious to 

 you ! " A sacred song of rejoicing is then sung by a mollah, 

 or priest; after this each courtier, according to his rank, 

 offers his obeisance to the Shah, and receives a present from 

 the royal hand. 



THE BLANKET-FISH. t 



you see that short, thick-set man sitting 

 on the boat ? " asked a lounger at San 

 751 t**'! ^1 Pedro ; " well, he is an ex- pearl diver, ex- 

 A ^^^ ^ smuggler, ex-everything, and can tell some 

 strange stories of this part of the world." 

 A little later I was introduced to the 

 diver, who was a half-breed Mexican. 

 He laughed when his experiences were referred to, and 

 replied : " They were nothing. I have left the business, 

 and have done with it for good or bad. It's a dog's life, 

 this diving, and I wouldn't go back to it for anything you 

 could offer. Why 1 Well, I am tired of it, and I was 

 covered with a blanket-fish on my last trip down, and the 

 second time means death." . . . "Am I sure ] " And the half- 

 breed smiled. " Well, I never knew it to fail. There were 

 Ramoles, Narra, Nalona, all from my fiimily, killed by the 

 blanket-fish, and everyone had his warning. It is not 

 necessary to believe it. I do, however. It is not a thing a 

 man would be likely to forget. 



" I have seen a good many of them in my time, but I was 

 never cornered except once, and that was a year ago, I 

 was one of the party that went to the pearl grounds in the 

 Centipede, the boat that was never heard of after her next 

 cruise. It came my turn to go down, and over I went ; but 

 as soon as I got down I felt that something was wrongs 

 that something was going to happen — as soon as I struck 

 the bottom. I landed among a fine lot of pearl shells, and 

 had begun to fill my basket, when all at once I noticed a 

 darkening about me, and looked up. I saw what appeared 

 to be a blanket slowly settling down over me. I knew I 

 had a chance ; so I crowded down close to the bottom, 

 hoping the fish wouldn't see me, and by luck it didn't. 

 Just as it was ten or twelve feet off something alarmed 

 it, and it drifted away. I was hauled up more dead than 

 alive. I judged that the fish was at least thirty feet 

 across, and if it had settled on me nothing could have 

 saved me." 



" This blanket-fish," said an American later on, " is 

 notliing more nor less than a big Ray, and these yarns, 

 though founded on fact, are a good deal overdrawn, though 

 I am willing to confess that I have been as badly scared as 



* Something would depend on the way in wliich the turning was, 

 from right to left or from left to right, 

 f From the San Francisco Call. 



the Mexican you speak of. It was in this way. Some time 

 ago I was down the coast on a trip, and one evening I saw 

 what I supposed to be a shark sailing about near the vessel. 

 Wishing to have some sport, I put out the small boat, and, 

 taking two or three men, pulled over to it. As it came by 

 I put a harpoon into it. The next moment there arose from 

 the water a Ray that must have been twenty-five feet across 

 at least. It looked as big as a house, and as soon as it 

 showed up my men screamed out, ' The blanket-fish 1 ' They 

 were Mexicans, and half scared to death. A moment later 

 we were rushing over the water faster than I ever went 

 before or since. The fish took us up the little bay, then 

 turned and came down toward the schooner, going like a 

 steam-engine. We piled up in the stern to keep her from 

 sinking. Just as we got opposite the schooner the fish 

 drove right under her, about amidship. Before we could 

 make a move to cast off, we struck the schooner. To make 

 a long story short, we found ourselves in the water along- 

 side. The rope had broken, and the blanket-fish was gone. 

 The force of the contact had smashed the cutwater of the 

 boat in pieces. 



" The divers have an idea that these fish settle down on 

 you, as they have a very broad surface and a peculiar undu- 

 lating motion in the water, using the- side fins like wings. 

 They are almost as powerful as a large whale, and one 

 twenty-five feet across could undoubtedly move off with a 

 large ship. In almost every locality where they are found 

 stories are told of their carrying off vessels. Several 

 instances of this have happened in the Gulf of Mexico, 

 where devil-fish, as they are called there, have run off with 

 smacks and small fishing vessels dui'ing the night. In one 

 instance a skipper ' turned in ' at night in a harbour, and 

 awoke in the morning to find himself out of sight of land ; 

 a big devil-fish had run foul of the anchor and gone out 

 of the channel so silently that none of the crew noticed 

 it!" 



Tampa Bay, Fla., is a famous place for these monsters of 

 the deep, and often schools of a dozen or more are seen 

 swimming about in circles. These Rays are among the 

 largest fish known. Two immense fins extend out from 

 each side, while from the tail projects a long lash-like whip, 

 capable of doing severe execution. The writer was once 

 poking a boat over the Florida reefs in the vicinity of Key 

 West, when a comrade, who had been sitting astride the 

 cutwater dangling his feet in the water, threw himself 

 back into the boat with a yell of pain, while a huge black 

 Ray darting off over the white sand told the story. Both 

 of his feet were cut almost to the bone. The weapon that 

 produced the injury was a delicate, whiplike lash, smaller 

 than a man's little finger. 



On still nights in sub-tropical regions the Rays are often 

 chased by sharks, and leap fi-om the water in thtir attempts 

 to escape, falling with a tremendous crash. The man-eating 

 sharks with their thick skins are safe from their attacks, 

 and often bite out great pieces from the side fins of the 

 monsters. 



At San Pedro and the various watering-places from 

 San Diego north the Ray family makes itself disagreeably 

 conspicuous. The smaller ones have a habit of hiding 

 in the sand and presenting their spines for bathers' feet, 

 while others are provided with electric batteries, which 

 not rarely give the fishermen powerful shocks. I have 

 known a man to be disabled for several days by harpooning 

 one. 



The Chinese monopolise the fishing in these waters, and 

 ai'e often victims of the practical jokes of the jMexican and 

 American fishermen. An able-bodied torpedo will be brought 

 ashore at San Pedro or Monterey, and the whites will 

 wager a gi-een Chinaman that he cannot lift it. The fish 



