DEVIL FISHING. 67 



produced so great a change in the run of the fish, 

 in so small an interval of time. It was raining on 

 the first day the wind was oif shore ; and from 

 both wind and rain, the shrimps and small fish, 

 which are the food of the devil-fish, would congre- 

 gate near the shore, and hence their appearance in 

 such numbers. On the night of this day, it blew 

 violently from the west, in such a way as to sweep 

 the shores which had been protected the day 

 before ; hence, the small fish were driven off 1 , and 

 the devil-fish were not there, because their food was 

 not there. To find subsistence easily and abun- 

 dantly r , is an impulse that pervades all animal life. 

 It is the great law which governs the inferior animals, 

 as well as man. Hunters and fishermen must not 

 lose sight of this rule, but seek their game by seek- 

 ing their feeding-places. 



Some years back, the devil-fish were sought for 

 only in August. Last year, for the first time, in 

 July, and now, it appears, they may be taken in 

 June. I am now convinced, from what I have 

 myself observed, that they visit our inlets not occa- 

 sionally only, and in limited numbers, but annually 

 and in considerable shoals ; and it indicates a very 

 extraordinary want of observation or enterprise in 

 our predecessors, that they have not noticed these 

 fish, and converted them into objects of sport or 



