FISHING IN INDIAN WATERS. 36% 
of their legs; and nearly all suffer severely from sea sickness when firs’ 
caught and put down, It is not every day, however, that an albatross can be 
caught, but still they are hooked at times and in the same way. Sailors 
generally keep the breast feathers, the wing bones, and the feet and beaks of 
these birds, The breast feathers make a handsome boa or muff; the wing 
bones are supposed to make the best of pipe stems; the feet when skinned 
and stretched out are converted into fancy tobacco pouches, and the beak 
is sometimes turned into an ornamental handle for a walking stick. An 
albatross in size and weight is not much if any larger than a good-sized 
turkey, but he has an enormous spread of wing. Very ordinary birds 
measure from. 7 to 9 feet across, and there are records of much larger ones 
measuring from 12 to 14 ft..across from tip to tip. 
When once on board the albatross is very nearly as awkward a customer 
to deal with as the shark, and he can keep several men at bay with his power- 
ful wings and beak, I shall never forget one day many years ago, when I 
was guite a boy, one had heen caught, and was sitting quietly tied up.by the 
leg to the ship’s rail. I ventured a little too close to the prisoner, and ha 
apparently not relishing my appearance on the scene, let out with his wings, 
and caught me full on the legs, knocking the feet from under me, and 
landing me on my back, At the same time, he made a Vicious dig at me with 
his. beak, and very nearly took the piece clean out of the calf of my leg, I 
left him alone after that, 
I had intended when I began this paper to deal not only with open sea- 
fishing, but also to dwell for a little while upon some wonders of the deep, 
with which F made acquaintance during my time in tle marine survey ship, 
but space will not admit of this justnow, and I must reserve that for 
some future occasion, Sailors, I know, are said to be very apt to draw the 
“long bow,” but there are so many wonderful things continually to be seen 
at sea, that a sailor man in relating his experiences may appear to the 
innocent landsman to be exaggerating when in reality he is certainly keeping 
strictly to the truth. 
I always thiok that King David, who is said to have employed a large fleet 
of merchantmen, must have been fond of sending for his ship’s Captains, 
and listening to their sea tales, and it was probably after some more than 
usually stiff “ yarn” had been spun to him by some hoary-headed old “shell- 
back,” that the proud monarch of Israel exclaimed ‘‘ They that go down to 
the sea in ships, that do business in great waters, these men see the works of 
the Lord and His wonders in the deep.” 
