Big Game at Sea 



others who fished with birds like the Chinese, while 

 others caught shrimps for the markets of the large 

 cities. I was particularly attracted to a firm of crab- 

 bers, from the fact that about their fish-house I had 

 found the legs of a crab which must have been a 

 monster in point of size. I questioned one of the 

 crabbers, who said that the creature that had excited 

 my attention was a small one, and I further learned 

 that he not unfrequently caught them. For a consid- 

 eration, I persuaded him to take me out; and, to my 

 surprise, he informed me that the best time to go 

 crabbing in Japan was by moonlight. 



" A few nights later, when the full moon was 

 rising over the water, we pushed off from the beach, 

 the man hoisted his clumsy sail, and away we went 

 down the shore. 



" For several miles we followed the beach just 

 beyond the breakers ; then, finally, turned into a small 

 bay, from which a great black forest set back, and so 

 ran ashore. As the crabber said we could not fish 

 until the tide was low, I strolled about, to pass away 

 the time, while he lay upon the sands smoking and 

 droning a peculiar song. 



* When the moon was well up and the tide had 

 receded, leaving a long stretch of beach bare, the 

 crabber notified me that it was time to begin, and, to 

 my astonishment, handed me a stout cudgel and a 

 piece of rope. I supposed the crabs were taken in 

 the water, but they came up at low tide, he said. I 



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