FISH AT THE ABROLHOS 205 



our common species ; and I also think that there are 

 monstrous fish of this genus in the southern seas of the 

 existence of which the compilers of works on natural 

 history are not informed. The monster referred to above 

 as passing under the boat I was in, looked like some huge 

 torpedo gliding through the water. It could not have 

 been less than thirty feet long, and may have been more 

 than a dozen feet longer. And this fish was by no means 

 the largest I have seen near our coasts. The huge teeth 

 which are sometimes dredged from the bottom of the 

 ocean and are supposed to have belonged to species now 

 extinct, are quite possibly the remains of individuals of 

 genera still existing. Most South-sea whalers can tell of 

 creatures of such size and strength that it is not much to 

 be wondered at that landsmen are suspicious of exaggera- 

 tion when they hear their stories. I, however, have seen 

 sufficient to make me willing to accept the tales of the 

 intelligent men of those ships, with whom I have often 

 conversed, and whose manly and straightforward 

 narratives were evidence in themselves of their truth. 

 There are monsters in the deep so formidable in size and 

 fierceness of disposition that it is doubtful if they could be 

 captured with the appliances carried by an ordinary whaler ; 

 most certainly if they could, the return would be inadequate 

 to the danger and loss sustained in the exploit. For 

 instance, one captain told me how he was persuaded by 

 his crew to try the experiment on what seems to have been 

 a huge basking-shark of fifty feet in length. After a two- 

 hours' fight, in which the men were several times in 

 extreme jeopardy, the immense creature got away, having 

 done nearly a hundred pounds' worth of damage to tackle 

 and boats. 



This is a digression. I was about to mention a curious 

 spiny-tailed lizard which was found on all the islands of 

 the Abrolhos group I landed on, except one or two of the 

 very smallest. It was very abundant on Rat Island, and 

 also on a nameless islet that was not a hundred acres in 

 extent. This singular lizard is very active, living in holes 

 which it burrows under pieces of loose coral. The tail is 



