168 History of Nature. [BooK IX. 



by Reason (as I suppose) of the Mist before their Eyes, and 

 their Fear. For I never heard of any Man that found the 

 like Cloud or Mist (for this Term they give to this Mischief) 

 in the Range of living Creatures. But the Contest with 

 Caniculi is furious, for they snap at their Groins, their Heels, 

 and every Part of their Bodies that is white. The only safe 

 Way is to oppose them in front, and so to terrify them ; for 

 they are as much afraid of a Man as he is of them. Thus 

 within the Deep the Chance is equal ; but when the Divers 

 mount to the Surface of the Water, there the Danger is 

 double, because while he laboureth to get out of the 

 Water, he faileth of Means to encounter the Creature pro- 

 ceeding in an opposite Direction ; therefore his only recourse 

 is to his Comrades : for, having a Cord bound about his 

 Shoulders, by which they draw him up, he shaketh it with 

 his left Hand to give a Sign of his Danger, whilst he main- 

 taineth a Fight with the right, by holding with it the sharp- 

 pointed Spear; but otherwise they haul him up softly. When 

 he is come near the Ship, unless they snatch him up very 

 quickly, they may be sure to see him devoured before their 

 Face : and when they are at the point of being plucked up, 

 they are caught away out of their Hands, if they do not 

 themselves help them who are drawing them up, by gather- 

 ing up their Bodies together, into the form of a Ball. Some, 

 indeed, thrust at these Fishes with Tridents ; but it is the 

 Craft of this Monster to get under the Bottom of the Ship, 

 and so maintain the Combat in safety. And therefore all 

 their Care is employed to guard against this Evil. 



CHAPTER XL VI I. 



Of those Fishes that are shut within a flinty Shell; also of 

 those that have no Sense : and of other sordid Creatures. 



THE greatest Security that Fishermen have, is to discover 

 the flat Fishes ; for they are never in any Place where hurt- 

 ful Beasts are ; which is the Cause that Divers call those 

 Fishes sacred. 



We must confess, that Fishes enclosed in flinty Shells, as 



