Many of my brother anglers have marveled at my success in fishing, 

 but the secret, which I have never before revealed, is simple. Within the 

 butt of my fishing rod is a commodious cavity, extending nearly the 

 w^hole length, giving room for my electric eel, w^here he rests comfortably, 

 covered with a thin laver of moss, which I keep constantly moistened. In- 

 stead of an ordinary silk or linen line, I use a minute and almost invisible 

 wire. This is conducted through the rings into the butt of the rod, and a 

 small electrical bell tinkles within whenever a fish strikes the hook. My 

 electric eel immediately seizes the end of the wire, and the electric shock 

 invariably causes the fish to make a convulsive leap out of the water, after 

 which, by regulating the current, I can have several minutes exciting 

 sport, if desired ; or where the fish is an extremely large one, a concen- 

 trated shock will deprive him of power at once, and make him an easy 

 victim. I use the same tackle whether fishing for black bass, salmon, or 

 tarpon, and my friends have been astounded to find such large fish could 

 be caught upon such a delicate line and light rod. 



On one occasion I caught a shark weighing perhaps a thousand 

 pounds with less effort than it would require for an ordinary angler to 

 land a two-pound trout. I would not hesitate, if I were a betting man, to 

 wager one thousand dollars that I could land a whale easily with my 

 electrical fishing apparatus, though of late I am very careful to avoid test- 

 ing the full powers of my faithful accomplice in the angling art. 



THE SYMPATHETIC SAWFISH. 



The shark has an evil reputation in all parts -oflh^worid, j^mm-ked 

 Mr. C. F. David, the Boston " attorney at advertisirtg/^^^^^'^^*^'^ ^ very 

 grateful recollection of a service done me by the 

 sawfish, which is a sort of cousin of the shark 

 family. While prospecting for pearls and 

 coral, many j-ears ago, I was suddenly caught 

 by a large devilfish, and would have been 

 killed undoubtedly if I had not been liberated by The savvlTsTv. " This 

 fish seeing my critical situation, immediately attacked the devilfish, 

 sawing off every arm of the sea monster, and allowing me to reach the 

 surface, nearly dead. In fact I was so severely injured that I could not 

 swim, and the sawfish rose underneath me and carried tpe ashore on his 

 back in a very gentle manner. I have never been fully convinced whether 

 this action was mainly out of sympathy for me, or to spite the devilfish, 

 which is, no doubt, a natural enemy of the sawfish. 



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