Big Game at Sea 



the California flying-fish the latter a jumper and 

 soarer of no mean parts. Exactly how high a tuna 

 can leap it is difficult to say. I have seen the water 

 beaten into foam by them four miles distant, and 

 have a photograph showing a fish a black streak 

 at least a mile distant, high in air a jump of cer- 

 tainly ten or fifteen feet ; and it is my opinion, based 

 on what I have seen, that it is possible for a lusty 

 tuna at full speed to project itself twenty feet into 

 the air and twenty or thirty feet in a horizontal direc- 

 tion. I judge the latter possible from the leap of a 

 big tuna which cleared the kelp and landed high on 

 the rocks at Santa Catalina. I have often stood in 

 the center of a school of leaping tunas and watched 

 them ; but the situation is not one suggestive of repose 

 or peace of mind. 



The most extraordinary example of their leaps 

 occurred to me about a mile off Avalon Bay. I was 

 in a skiff which weighed not over one hundred and 

 twenty-five pounds, so light that I did not dare to 

 cast my bait, as any of the fishes would have towed 

 me away or capsized the boat; so I stood and watched 

 the equilibrists. They were feeding on a school of 

 flying-fishes, the latter darting into the air like great 

 dragon-flies, passing over my boat, dashing beneath 

 it scores in the air in every direction ; and look which 

 way I would, there were also tunas in the air; no 

 chance leaps, no miscalculations, but each one a per- 

 fect angle and line of beauty. 



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