ELECTRICAL EELS. ]()() 



Humboldt remarks, that wlicn we hear of the prodi- cilAP. XV. 

 gious numbers of oxen, horses, and mules, spread over ,. — 

 the plains of America, we forget that in civilized Europe cattlti 

 the aggregate amount is not less surprising. According 

 to M. Peucliet, France feeds 6,000,000 of the large 

 horned class ; and in the Austrian monarcliy, the oxen, 

 cows, and calves, are estimated by Mr Lichtonstein at 

 about 13,400,000. 



At Calabozo, in the midst of the Llanos, the travellers Hccfric 

 found an electrical apparatus nearly as complete as those appanitiis. 

 of Europe, made by a person who had rie\^er seen any 

 such instrument, had received no instructions, and was 

 acquainted with the phenomena of electricity only by 

 reading the treatise of Sigaud de la Fond, and Franklin's 

 Memoirs. Next to this piece of mechanism, the objects 

 that excited the greatest interest were the electrical eels, EiecMau 

 or gymnoti, which abound in the basins of stagnant ^«^ 

 water and the confluents of the Orinoco. The dread of 

 the shocks given by these animals is so great among the 

 common people and Indians, that for some time no 

 specimens could be procured, and one which was at length 

 brought to them afforded very unsatisfactory results. 



On the 19th March, at an early hour, they set off" for catching 

 the village of Rastro de Abaxo, whence they were con- gymnoti. 

 ducted by the natives to a stream, which in the dry 

 season forms a pool of muddy water surrounded by 

 trees. It being very difficult to catch the gymnoti with 

 nets, on account of their extreme agility, it was resolved 

 to procure some by intoxicating or benumbing them 

 with the roots of certain plants, which when thrown into 

 the water produce that effect. At this juncture the 

 Indians informed them that they would fish with horses, 

 and soon brought from the savannah about thirty of 

 these animals, which they drove into the pool. 



" The extraordinary noise caused by the horses' hoofs Fisiung with 

 makes the fishes issue from the mud, and excites them horses. 

 to combat. These yellowish and livid eels resembling 

 large aquatic snakes, swim at the surface of the water, 

 and crowd under the bellies of the horses and mules. 



