THE RAY. 



279 



points of the fingers, diffuses no numbness 

 over the whole body : such a blow might break 

 the ends of the fingers indeed, but would hardly 

 numb the shoulder. Those blows that numb, 

 must be applied immediately to some great 

 and leading nerve, or to a large surface of the 

 body ; a powerful stroke applied to the points 

 of the fingers will be excessively painful in- 

 deed, but the numbness will not reach beyond 

 the fingers themselves. We must, therefore, 

 look for another cause producing the powerful 

 effects wrought by the torpedo. 



O tliers have ascribed it to a tremulous 

 motion which this animal is found to possess, 

 somewhat resembling that of a horse's skin, 

 when stung by a fly. This operating under 

 the touch with an amazing quickness of vibra- 

 tion, they suppose produces the uneasy sensa- 

 tion described above ; something similar to 

 what we feel when we rub plush cloth against 

 the grain. But the cause is quite dispropor- 

 tioned to the effect ; and so much beyond our 

 experience, that this solution is as difficult as 

 the wonder we want to explain. 



The most probable solution seems to be, 

 that the shock proceeds from an animal elec- 

 tricity, which this fish has some hidden power 

 of storing up, and producing on its most 

 urgent occasions. The shocks are entirely 

 similar ; the duration of the pain is the same ; 

 but how the animal contrives to renew the 

 charge, how it is prevented from evaporating 

 on contiguous objects, how it is originally 

 procured, these are difficulties that time alone 

 can elucidate. 



But to know even the effects is wisdom. 

 Certain it is, that the powers of this animal 

 seem to decline with its vigour ; for as its 

 strength ceases, the force of the shock seems 

 to diminish ; till, at last, when the fish is dead, 

 the whole power is destroyed, and it may be 

 handled or eaten with perfect security: on the 

 contrary, when immediately taken out of the 

 sea, its force is very great, and not only affects 

 the hand, but if even touched with a stick, the 

 person finds himself sometimes affected. This 

 power, however, is not to be extended to the 

 degree that some would have us believe ; as 

 reaching the fisherman at the end of the line, 

 or numbing fishes in the same pond. Godig- 

 nus, in his History of Abyssinia, carries this 

 quality to a most ridiculous excess ; he tells 

 us of one of these that was put into a basket 

 among a number of dead fishes, and that the 

 next morning the people, to their utter as- 

 tonishment, perceived that the torpedo had 

 actually numbed the dead fishes into life 

 pgain ! l 



1 The Gymnotut, or Electric Eel- The gymnoti, or 

 electrical eels, which resemble large water serpents, in- 

 habit several streams of South America, and abound also 



To conclude, it is generally supposed that 

 the female torpedo is much more powerful 

 than the male. Lorenzini, who has made 

 several experiments upon this animal, seems 



in the Oroonoko, the Amazon, and the Meta, but the 

 strength of the current, and the depth of the water in 

 these large rivers, prevent their being caught by the 

 Indians. They see these fish less frequently than they 

 feel electric shocks from them, when swimming or 

 bathing in the river. To catch the gymnoti with nets 

 is very difficult, on account of the extreme agility of the 

 fish, which bury themselves in the mud like serpents. 

 Roots ara sometimes thrown into the water to intoxicate 

 or benumb these animals, but we would not employ 

 these means, as they would have enfeebled the gymnoti : 

 the Indians, therefore, told us, that they would " fish 

 with horses." We found it difficult tcrt'orm an idea of 

 this extraordinary manner of fishing; but we soon saw 

 our guides return from the savannah, which they had 

 been scouring for wild horses and mules. They brought 

 about thirty with them, which they forced to enter the 

 pool. 



The extraordinary noise caused by the horses' hoofs, 

 makes the fish issue from the mud, and excites them to 

 combat; they swim on the surface of the water, and 

 crowd under the bellies of the horses and mules. A 

 contest between animals of so different an organization, 

 furnishes a very striking spectacle. The Indians, pro- 

 vided with harpoons and long slender reeds, surround 

 the pool closely ; and some climb upon the trees, the 

 branches of which extend horizontally over the surface 

 of the water. By their wild cries, and the length of 

 their reeds, they prevent the horses from running away, 

 and reaching the bank of the pool. The eels, stunned 

 by the noise, defend themselves by the repeated dis- 

 charge of their electric power, and during a long time 

 they seem to prove victorious. Several horss sink be- 

 neath the violence of the invisible strokes, which they 

 receive from all sides, and stunned by the force and 

 frequency of the shocks, disappear under the water. 

 Others panting, with mane erect, and haggard eyes, ex- 

 pressing anguish, raise themselves, and endeavour to 

 flee from the storm by which they are overtaken. They 

 are driven back by the Indians into the middle of the 

 water; but a small number succeed in eluding the active 

 vigilance of the fishermen. These regain the shore, 

 stumbling at every step, and stretch themselves on the 

 sand, exhausted with fatigue, and their limbs benumbed 

 by the electric shocks ot the gymnoti. In less than five 

 minutes two horses were drowned. The eel being five 

 feet long, and pressing itself against the belly of the 

 horses, makes a discharge along the whole extent of its 

 electric organ. The horses are probably only stunned, 

 not killed, but they are drowned from the impossibility 

 of rising, amid the prolonged struggles between the other 

 horses and the eels. 



We had little doubt, that the fishing would terminate 

 by killing, successively, all the animals engaged, but, by 

 degrees, the impetuosity of this unequal contest dimin- 

 ished, and the wearied gymnoti dispersed. The mules 

 and horses appeared less frightened; their manes no 

 longer bristled, and their eyes expressed less dread. The 

 gymnoti, which require a long rest and abundant nour- 

 ishment to repair what they have lost of galvanic force, 

 approach timidly the edge of the marsh, where they are 

 taken by means of small harpoons, fastened to long 

 cords. 



The gymnotus is the largest of electrical fishes ; I 

 measured some that were from ive to five feet three 

 inches long, and the Indians assert that they have seen 

 still longer. We found that a fish of three feet ten inches 

 long weighed twelve pounds; the transverse diameter 

 of the body was three inches five lines. The gymiiotl 



