26 Tarpon Fishing in Mexico. 



a few feet of the boat, by pulling him vigorously up to the 

 surface, but in these cases he never gets clear of the water, 

 which is nevertheless sent flying in all directions, and my 

 camera and I have often been drenched from this cause. (XIs.) 

 We land and walk along the railway to the hotel for some 

 lunch, and are back by our boats in an hour and a-half. 



It is now my turn to fish. The sun is so high that a 

 photograph can be taken in any direction, so C. circles round my 

 boat and tries to get some showing both fish and fisherman. 

 In this he is, I believe, fairly successful. The tarpon now are 

 simply ravenous, so much so, that for a few seconds I have two 

 fish on at the same time. I mean to keep this strain on the 

 reader's credulity for another page or two, that is to say, if, unlike 

 my line, it does not snap at once. My friend lands another 

 tarpon over 7 feet long (XIIs), but does not return it to water, 

 as the natives living in some huts on the bank, intimate that they 

 would be very glad to have it. The roe of the hen fish is 

 considered quite a delicacy by the Mexican peons, but the flesh 

 is still seldom eaten. 



There is a certain famous salmon fishery in America, where 

 the boast is made that they eat what they can, and can what they 

 can't. But I think I am right in saying that in this case accuracy 

 was sacrificed on the altar of brilliancy, and that as a matter of 

 cold fact, it is extremely difficult to get anyone to touch salmon 

 there. There is altogether too much, and I am inclined to think 

 that the same thing applies in the case of the tarpon at Tampico. 

 Anyhow, my host told me that increasing numbers of natives 

 were discovering their good eating qualities every year. As the 



