Big Game at Sea 



acquaintance in the Indian Ocean. Being an expert 

 angler, he always carried rods and reels with him on 

 his travels. Upon reaching one of the islands of 

 those waters he found the commonest fish to be the 

 huge-finned creature known as the sailfish, from its 

 enormous dorsal fin, which, richly colored and raised 

 high above the surface, resembles the sail of some 

 Venetian craft upon whose canvas is emblazoned the 

 arms of the owner. He found that it was the cus- 

 tom to bait these fish by throwing out chum, in this 

 way enticing them around the boat within reach of 

 spear or harpoon; as the fish eagerly took the offer- 

 ings, he assumed that they could be hooked and deter- 

 mined to try it. 



Upon announcing to the native fishermen what he 

 proposed doing, he was met with incredible tales 

 regarding the ferocity of the sailfish. One man 

 had had a brother killed. Another had his pirogue 

 sunk by a monster fish, twenty feet in length, and 

 still another related that an enraged fish had charged 

 his vessel, plunging through the sail and nearly kill- 

 ing some of the crew. Incredible as it may seem, 

 this but added fuel to the flame of the angler's ambi- 

 tion, and he lost no time in his preparation for the 

 sport. He learned that the swordfishes frequented 

 a bank several miles off shore, and, having secured 

 a somewhat clumsy boat and four men to row, he 

 accompanied several pirogues one day to the ground, 

 where he baited his hook with a fish resembling the 



