Big Game at Sea 



such a school of titans, six or eight feet in length, 

 seen them coming on, watched them divide on either 

 side, disdaining to leave, merely sinking to rise a few 

 yards astern. A dozen such schools may be seen off 

 Avalon in good tuna years, and I emphasize the good, 

 as there are bad years, off years, when the large fish 

 are rarely caught. At times they are accompanied 

 by albacore, and in 1904 the islands were visited by 

 a large school of allies from Japan, the Japanese 

 Hirenaga, a species of tuna hitherto unknown 

 outside of Japan and Hawaii. They looked like 

 tunas, weighed from fifty to seventy or more pounds, 

 had long saber-like pectorals, and finlets and fins of a 

 brilliant lemon-yellow. They remained for two 

 months, then doubtless sailed for Japan or some 

 foreign port, but have returned every year since. 



In these serene and richly-tinted waters of tur- 

 quoise with their sprinkling of living gems, the leaper 

 and its allies pass the long cool summer. Their only 

 enemy is the big maroon-saddled orca that swaggers 

 up and down the watery rialto of Santa Catalina, an 

 occasional big shark that steals upon them, and the 

 angler, who in gallant fashion throws down the gaunt- 

 let as becomes a gentleman enamored with the sport 

 of fair play and high standards, and lures the leaper 

 with a cobweb-like line, when the size of the game 

 and its staying powers are remembered. The leaper 

 is apparently invulnerable and strong. He parades 

 the blue waters during the day, and often at night 



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