98 ALONG THE FLORIDA REEF. 



tor gave the boys some interesting facts concern- 

 ing it. 



" The Murcenidce, or morays," he said, " are, 

 as you see, only great sea-eels. They are his- 

 toric. They were deified by the Egyptians. 

 The Romans kept them in great stews, or stor- 

 age-ponds, trained them as pets, and held them 

 to be a special delicacy as food. In the time of 

 Augustus Caesar condemned slaves were thrown 

 to the ferocious fish as food ; and when Augustus 

 was declared dictator, one of his courtiers pre- 

 sented the populace with six thousand of these 

 morays taken from his ponds. So you see, Tom, 

 our big captive is worth fighting for and worth 

 preserving." 



As the boat was drifting slowly along, Long 

 John suddenly turned to Dick, who was sitting 

 near him, and asked him to take the helm, at 

 the same time cautioning the others not to make 

 any noise, as there was a big turtle near them. 

 The boys looked in the direction indicated, and 

 saw what at first was apparently a piece of lum- 

 ber floating on the surface, but which turned 

 out to be the back of a turtle. Long John 



