184 FISHING AS PRACTISED IN 



disabled by the frequency and force of the shocks, 

 disappear under the water ; and some horses, in 

 spite of the active vigilance of the Indians, gain 

 the banks, and, overcome by fatigue, and be- 

 numbed by the shocks, stretch themselves at their 

 length on the ground. There could not, says 

 Humboldt, be a finer subject for the painter : 

 groups of Indians surrounding the bason ; the 

 horses with their hair on end, and terror and agony 

 in their eyes; the eels, yellowish and livid, look- 

 ing like great aquatic serpents, swimming on the 

 surface of the water in pursuit of their enemy. In 

 a few minutes two horses were drowned, and 

 others, with repeated shocks of the eel, sink un- 

 der the water in a lethargy, and are soon trodden 

 upon and drowned. The gymnotus is more than 

 five feet long, and its electric organs are under the 

 tail. Rev. W.Kirby. 



Ichthyophagites Native Fishers. Sir George 

 Mackenzie, in his journey from Canada to the 

 Pacific, fell in with some perfect Ichthyophagites, 

 who would touch no other food than fish. These 

 people construct, with great labour and ingenuity, 

 across their streams, salmon weirs, which are 

 formed with timber and gravel, and elevated nearly 

 four feet above the level of the water ; beneath this 

 machines are placed, into which the salmon fall 

 when they attempt to leap over the weir. On 

 either side is a large frame of timber work, six feet 



