Conclusion 397 



he was a good fisherman and sailor, and had 

 a never-ending fund of anecdotes; and being a 

 close observer, he had a good general idea of the 

 fishes of the locality. I always encouraged him 

 in his quaint and original remarks about fishes, 

 and in this way obtained considerable knowledge 

 of their habits from this faithful Achates. Some 

 of his observations, as I remember them, and 

 which seem very odd in his Bahamian lingo, were 

 as follows : 



" Veil, sir, it's curious 'ow some fish is made ; 

 but w'atever their model in length, beam, and draft, 

 there is some good reason vy they is built so." 



" Yes," I would answer, " they are all endowed 

 by Nature with the shape best fitted for their 

 mode of life and environment." 



"Veil, 'wironment or not, as you say, and 

 I'm not gainsayin' it, there's as much diff'rence 

 in their model as atween a man-o'-war 'awk 

 and an 'ummin'-bird. Now, sir, just look at the 

 stingaree and the wipporee; they is flat as pan- 

 cakes, and goes a-skimmin' along like a turkey 

 buzzard, or a-wabblin' like a jolly-boat in the 

 breakers, and then they flops down on a sand- 

 bank like a flounder, when feedin', 'cause their 

 mouth is hunderneath like a shark. And they 



