SOME SOUTH AMERICAN FISHES 139 



we used to catch in very deep water, with a live 

 mullet as bait, and if any were about when the 

 lines went down we were quickly made aware of 

 it. From a culinary point of view they were 

 most welcome, the flavour resembling that of 

 salmon. 



For horse-mackerel, a coarse member of the 

 Scomberida family, we tried the old method 

 of whiffing, as practised at home, but with little 

 success, until we discarded the traditional strip of 

 fish's skin, and substituted a living mullet ; and 

 then, what fights we had ! Imagine being fast 

 to a mackerel three feet long, and thick and 

 strong in proportion ! l 



Horse-mackerel do not appear to go about 

 in shoals, but in small parties, and utterly decline 

 to take any lure while playing about the stern 

 of a ship at anchor. 



One of my favourite recreations at the Chinchas 

 was spearing small fish with a special kind of 

 grains, which we improvised by cutting a piece 

 of stout tin into a strip about nine inches by 

 four inches, and firmly securing to it at right- 

 angles, and at intervals of one inch, ten large 

 fish-hooks that had been bent straight. We then 



1 Off the coast of California the tuna, a kind of mackerel, 

 is sometimes six or seven feet long. 



