864 
for collecting were favorable. The water 
was low and we fished exhaustively in a 
variety of places. No doubt many chan- 
nel fishes living here we did not get. 
Altogether we got 127 species, 78 of 
which were Characins. Of the 127 
species, 14 were not taken elsewhere. 
Tumatumari, whither we now pro- 
ceeded, owes its existence to a cataract 
_in the Potaro River. The goods brought 
up by the launch to the lower landing 
are transported by cait to the upper 
landing, and this transport gives employ- 
ment for nearly all of the inhabitants. 
At the time of our visit the stream was 
confined to the northern channel, the 
southern channel being entirely dry. We 
made headquarters in the Sproston’s 
rest-house, from where we had a look 
across the cataract. We collected on 
sandbars above and below the cataract, 
in the cataract itself, and in a little 
stream emptying from the south just 
below the cataract. Our experience in 
fishing may be quoted from letters home. 
“We fished upstream until we came to 
a deep pool. The nondescript helping 
us did not know how to fish, and stepped 
on a spiny palm branch, besides; so I 
got in and told him to take a big club 
and beat the water to drive the fishes 
down. He did this slowly. Shideler and 
I then took up the net, for the banks 
were so steep and full of snags there was 
no place to haul it ashore. 
“We were walking downstream, with 
the bag of the net in the water, to a 
place where we could land, when Shide- 
ler said: ‘I believe we have an electric 
eel, for I have had two slight shocks.’ I 
envied him, but too soon, for just then 
I got a good shock from my ankle to my 
knee. I jumped and yelled, not so much 
from pain as from the unexpected shock. 
“We found we had five eels in the net, 
the largest three feet long, and it took 
manceuvering to get them into the buck- 
eisai 
The “numb fish” early excited the in- 
terest of naturalists, and thus directed 
attention to the fish fauna of the Guia- 
nas. ‘The first notice of the fishes of the 
Essequibo was an account of the doings 
THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 
of the electric eel, and in the second 
paper Bancroft attributed the shocks de- 
livered by the electric eel to electricity. 
Humboldt described how his assistants 
drove some horses into the water to ex- 
haust the eels; whereupon it became 
generally accepted that this was the usual 
method of fishing, although it is doubtful 
whether this method was ever tried 
more than the one time, when Humboldt 
saw it. 
On the sandbank across from the 
lower landing we caught two more elec- 
tric eels in a net well filled with fishes. 
It was surprising how soon everything 
was quiet in the flopping netful of fishes 
with such customers. I opened one of 
the eels and found small fishes in its 
stomach. I put a twig through the gill 
of the largest eel, for we proposed to eat 
it. J had the eel in one hand, and, in 
order to pick up the net, I put the lan- 
tern in the same hand: but as soon as 
the lantern touched the eel I got a shock 
through the handle. It was not a heavy 
shock, but I did not know how much 
heavier it might become, and so gave up 
that way of managing. . 
When I came to pick up the net con- 
taining the other eel | got another slight 
shock and concluded I needed help. We 
ate part of the largest eel. The electric 
organ was pasty, and the rest was so full 
of bones that we did not succeed with it. 
At Amatuk I enjoyed especially the 
lazily flopping butterflies crossing the 
river, and the flying fishes (Gasteropeli- 
cus). The latter would dart up in front 
of us, cut through the water, leaving the 
breast or tail in, and beating the water 
with their pectorals. They would cut 
through the water for 40 or mc<e feet 
and then leave it entirely for five or ten 
feet. At the end of their flight they 
would fall sidewise into the water. At 
first it looked to be a long, slender fish, 
but by watching near the end of the 
flight, when the momentum was gone, 
the shape could readily be made out. To 
make sure, I asked the Indians to point 
out the fish when we seined. William 
pointed at a long, slender Creatochanes : 
but the naked hunter shook his head and. 
