THE GYMNOTUS. 273 



electric fishes, we know of no means by which they can 

 be either charged or discharged, except at the will of 

 the fish. The electricity of this fish, as well as that of 

 the former, has sometimes been conjectured to be gal- 

 vanic, and some have even pretended that it contains 

 iron, and is magnetic, and that its action may be de- 

 stroyed, or at least suspended, by keeping it for some 

 time in contact with a magnet ; but these, as well as 

 every other attempt to explain the causes of its action, 

 by any analogy drawn from dead matter, have failed ; 

 and it is now admitted to be an animal action, which 

 we can no further explain than that it depends on the 

 presence of certain organs. 



The accounts of the gymnotus having been found 

 twenty feet long, are probably without foundation ; as 

 the largest ones found by Humboldt were only a few 

 inches more than five feet. The scheme to which that 

 traveller had recourse in order to capture these animals 

 was not a little curious. The hook, the net, and all 

 the ordinary means of fishing having proved unsuc- 

 cessful, Humboldt had recourse to horses. About 

 thirty of these animals were driven into a pond known 

 to contain a number of these gymnoti ; and they were 

 made to splash and raise the mud and water, by the 

 shouting and hallooing of a number of Indians, armed 

 with long forks. The eels, thus attacked by hostile 

 hoofs in their native mud, rose in the water, and can- 

 nonaded the enemy with great spirit and determination. 

 The horses would have fled at the first onset of those 

 enemies, but they were driven back into the water. Some 

 of the horses were so completely stunned by the blows, 

 that they sunk in the water ; and in that way two were 



