42 THROUGH THE BRAZILIAN WILDERNESS 



hausted when fighting after being hooked. Miller, before 

 I reached Asuncion, had been badly bitten by one. Those 

 that we caught sometimes bit through the hooks, or the 

 double strands of copper wire that served as leaders, and 

 got away. Those that we hauled on deck lived for many 

 minutes. Most predatory fish are long and slim, like the 

 alligator-gar and pickerel. But the piranha is a short, 

 deep-bodied fish, with a blunt face and a heavily under- 

 shot or projecting lower jaw which gapes widely. The 

 razor-edged teeth are wedge-shaped like a shark's, and the 

 jaw muscles possess great power. The rabid, furious snaps 

 drive the teeth through flesh and bone. The head with 

 its short muzzle, staring malignant eyes, and gaping, cruelly 

 armed jaws, is the embodiment of evil ferocity; and the 

 actions of the fish exactly match its looks. I never wit- 

 nessed an exhibition of such impotent, savage fury as was 

 shown by the piranhas as they flapped on deck. When 

 fresh from the water and thrown on the boards they ut- 

 tered an extraordinary squealing sound. As they flapped 

 about they bit with vicious eagerness at whatever presented 

 itself. One of them flapped into a cloth and seized it with 

 a bulldog grip. Another grasped one of its fellows; an- 

 other snapped at a piece of wood, and left the teeth-marks 

 deep therein. They are the pests of the waters, and it is 

 necessary to be exceedingly cautious about either swim- 

 ming or wading where they are found. If cattle are driven 

 into, or of their own accord enter, the water, they are 

 commonly not molested; but if by chance some unusually 

 big or ferocious specimen of these fearsome fishes does 

 bite an animal — taking off part of an ear, or perhaps of a 

 teat from the udder of a cow — the blood brings up every 



