WONDERS OF THE DEEP S3 



saw is broken in the timber. In the Natural 

 History Museum, at South Kensington, may be 

 seen the blade of a saw fish embedded in the timber 

 of a vessel. From the length of the saw, it will 

 be gathered that some of the saw fish grow to a 

 large size. 



To capture a saw fish is no easy matter. The 

 natives have to be exceedingly wary in the way in 

 which they handle this creature when they have 

 dragged it to the side of the boat, after having 

 harpooned it. With one sudden and unexpected 

 convulsive movement of its formidable weapon it 

 can lop off a man's arm or inflict a very danger- 

 ous wound, which, in most cases, is likely to prove 

 septic. 



Then, too, there is the sword fish, which is an 

 occasional visitor to the Bahama waters. The sword 

 fish attains a length varying from twelve feet to 

 fifteen feet. Its main characteristic is the possession 

 of a great development of the upper jaw, which 

 resembles a huge, tapering, sword-like weapon, the 

 under surface of which is covered with numerous 

 small teeth. This is a powerful weapon, and the 

 sword fish. like the saw fish, will not hesitate to 

 attack a whale, killing it by repeated thrusts of its 

 sword-like projection. Sometimes, like Don Quixote 

 of old, the sword fish will tilt at large vessels, but this 

 encounter is generally disastrous for the sword fish, 

 the weapon being invariably left behind. Frank 

 Buckland. the naturalist, relates that in the Museum 

 of the Royal College of Surgeons, London, there 



