Big Game at Sea 



canoe slowly along. Once alongside, a shot in the 

 vertebrae of the neck put an end to it, and it was 

 towed ashore and hauled upon the sand bar, where 

 its dimensions could be admired. No wonder it 

 towed us at steamboat speed so long. No wonder it 

 had put our endurance to the severest test. The fish 

 was over eleven feet in length and must have weighed 

 one thousand or eleven hundred pounds. It was en- 

 cased in an armor of scales of extreme hardness that 

 would easily have resisted a bullet or caused it to 

 glance. 



That so large a creature should be attacked by the 

 otter, a small and apparently harmless animal, is 

 somewhat remarkable. Taken singly, the animals 

 are insignificant, but when banded together they be- 

 come a menace to the largest fish. Their method of 

 attack reminds one of a pack of hounds. They fol- 

 low their prey in packs, and in the case of the great 

 arapaima, dash upon it while at rest in shallow water, 

 and fastening their teeth in it at every available spot, 

 cling to it until the fish rises to the surface in com- 

 plete exhaustion in its efforts to shake off the otters. 

 Often the latter are drowned, and specimens of the 

 fish have been found stranded with dead otters cling- 

 ing to them, their teeth clinched through the fins, 

 showing their bulldog-like pertinacity if not ferocity." 



292 



