416 THE BROAD-FINNED SWORD-FISH. 



into another vessel, they have been always found .to recover. When 

 the Electrical Eels are hungry, they are tolerably keen in pursuit of 

 their food ; but they are soon satisfied, not being able to devour much 

 at one time. An Electrical Eel, upwards of three feet in length, could 

 not swallow a fish more then three, or at most three inches and a half 

 long. 



The organs which produce this wonderful accumulation of electric 

 matter, constitute nearly one-half of that part of the flesh in which 

 they are placed, and, perhaps, compose more than one-third of the 

 whole animal. There are two pairs of these organs, one on each side. 

 Their structure is very simple and regular, consisting only of flat par- 

 titions, with cross divisions between them. The partitions are thin 

 membranes placed nearly parallel to one another, and of different 

 lengths and breadths. 



OF THE SWORD-FISHES IN GENERAL. 



THESE are very large and powerful animals, often growing to the 

 length of twenty feet and upwards. Their voracity is unbounded, for 

 they attack and destroy almost every living thing that comes in their 

 way. The larger fish they penetrate with their long, hard, and sword- 

 shaped upper jaw. There are two species, one only of which is found 

 in the European seas. 



THE BROAD-FINNED, AND THE EUROPEAN SWORD-FISH. 



The former of these inhabit the Brazilian and East Indian Seas, and 



also the Northern Ocean. 

 They frequently grow to 

 the length of twenty feet 

 or upwards, and are very 

 powerful fish. 



When his majesty's ship 

 Leopard, after her return 

 from the coast of Guinea 



BROAD-FISHED SWORD-FISH. , . ---. T .. 



and the West Indies, was 



ordered, in 1725, to be cleaned and refitted for the Channel service, 

 in stripping off her sheathing the shipwrights found in her bottom, 

 pointing in a direction from the stern towards the head, part of the 

 eword or snout of one of these fishes. On the outside, this was 

 rough, not unlike seal-skin, and the end, where it was broken off, 

 appeared like a coarse kind of ivory. The fish, from the direction 

 in which the sword lay, is supposed to have followed the ship when 

 under sail. The weapon had penetrated through the sheathing 

 which was an inch thick ; and passed through three inches of plank, 

 and beyond that, four inches and a half into the timber. The force 

 requisite to effect this must have been excessively great, especially so* 

 ho shock was felt by the persons on board. The workmen declared 



