64 THE CRUISE OF THE "CACHALOT.'' 



They tell their readers that the Exocetus VoUtans 

 " does not fly ; does not flutter its wings ; can only take 

 a prolonged leap," and so on. The misfortune attendant 

 upon such books seems, to an unlearned sailor like 

 myself, to be that, although posing as authorities, most 

 of the authors are content to take their facts not simply 

 at second-hand, but even unto twenty-second-hand. So 

 the old fables get repeated, and brought up to date, and 

 it is nobody's business to take the trouble to correct 

 them. 



The weather continued calm and clear, and as the 

 flying-fish were about in such immense numbers, I 

 ventured to suggest to Goliath that we might have a 

 try for some of them. I verily believe he thought I 

 was mad. He stared at me for a minute, and then, 

 with an indescribable intonation, said, " How de ol' 

 Satan yew fink yew gwain ter get 'm, hey ? Ef yew 

 spects ter fool dis chile wiv any dem lime-juice yarns, 

 'bout lanterns 'n boats at night-time, yew's 'way off." 

 I guessed he meant the fable current among English 

 sailors, that if you hoist a sail on a calm night in a 

 boat where flying-fish abound, and hang a lantern in 

 the middle of it, the fish will fly in shoals at the lantern, 

 strike against the sail, and fall in heaps in the boat. 

 It 7nay be true, but I never spoke to anybody who has 

 seen it done, nor is it the method practised in the only 

 place in the world where flying-fishing is followed for a 

 living. So I told Mr. Jones that if we had some circular 

 nets of small mesh made and stretched on wooden 

 hoops, I was sure we should be able to catch some. He 

 caught at the idea, and mentioned it to the mate, who 

 readily gave his permission to use a boat. A couple 

 of " Guineamen " (a very large kind of flying-fish. 



