14: DEVIL FISHING. 



There was a vague tradition in the family, that 

 my grandfather had, on a certain occasion, sallied 

 forth from his plantation (washed by the waters of 

 Port Royal Sound) and captured one of these sea 

 monsters. When a boy, I gathered from a garru- 

 lous old family servant, that an African, named 

 "May," had been the spearsman on the occasion, 

 and had actually leaped on the back of the fish, 

 with his harpoon. From these hints, I composed 

 the following devil-fish story, which was contri- 

 buted to " Skinner's Sporting Magazine," and pub- 

 lished in the fourth number of the first volume : 



FISHING EXTRAORDINARY. 



BEAUFORT, S. Q. 

 To the Editor of the Sporting Magazine. 



SIR: I am a hereditary sportsman, and 

 inherit the tastes of my grandfather, as well as his 

 lands. Whoever has seen the beautiful bay on 

 which they are seated (known on the map as Port 

 Royal Sound), with its transparent waters stocked 

 with a variety of sea-fish, while the islands, that 

 gird it in, abound in deer and other game will 

 confess that it is a position well calculated to draw 

 out whatever sporting propensities may have been 

 implanted in us by nature. 



Perceiving the relish with which some of your 

 contributors talk of their capture of perch and 



