A DANGEROUS SHOAL. 117 



on removal from its " native element." Welled boats 

 are largely employed, therefore, in its transit from the 

 fishing-grounds to the nearest port. 



Mackerel are exceedingly voracious, and if one might 

 believe an anecdote told by Pontoppidan that most 

 credulous of bishops ! we might suppose that they would 

 " turn the tables " with a vengeance and prey upon man 

 himself, if they could secure the chance. He tells a 

 story of a sailor bathing off the coast of Norway, who 

 was carried off and almost devoured by a shoal of 

 mackerel ! At least, he would have been devoured, had 

 not his comrades succeeded in helping him into the boat, 

 where he shortly afterwards expired, through loss of 

 blood, exhaustion, and terror. The Norwegian mackerel, 

 we suspect, are bolder than the British, if Pontoppidan is 

 to be considered an authority ! 



The intestines of the mackerel formed part of the 

 famous garum, or fish-sauce of the ancients, which, ac- 

 cording to Galen, was worth two thousand pieces of gold 

 per quart. From what is known of its composition, a 

 modern connoisseur would scarcely accept it as a gift. 



Another important member of the Scomberidse is the 

 well-known SWORD-FISH, which frequently attains a 

 length of sixteen feet, and is armed with an extraordi- 

 nary weapon for purposes offensive and defensive. This 

 weapon is none other than a broad, sharp, heavy blade of 

 bone, hard as steel, and frequently eleven feet long, 

 forming a prolongation of the upper jaw. Taken in con- 

 junction with its owner's size, strength, and agility, it 

 renders him so formidable an adversary even to the 

 hugest denizens of the salt waters that we need not 



