322 CORAL AND ATOLLS 



sport when gear strong enough to hold them can be used from 

 the shore, and on the occasions of the killing of a pig, they, 

 and the dog-fish, may be easily shot or speared, for they will 

 dash into a few inches of water to secure a tit-bit thrown into 

 the wash. Although the sharks appear to be but very little 

 threat to life, they are in every way a nuisance, for they spoil 

 the fishing, and not only do they take bait and break up 

 fishing-tackle, but they will seize a fish that has been hooked, 

 before it can be drawn into the boat. All this they do with- 

 out even thinking to turn on their backs in order to bite. 



Another fish that may be a real danger is the beautiful 

 sword-fish — Jlistiophorous gladius — for it dashes through the 

 water with great speed, and on more than one occasion 

 has made a sudden rush among a party of bathers. It is 

 coloured a vivid purple when alive, and presents a very 

 different appearance from the dried leathery specimens seen in 

 museums. 



The sword-fish has been known to transfix thick wood 

 with his prolonged snout, and the Governor has found upon 

 the beaches a stout bamboo run through by the sharp sword 

 of one of these creatures, but I have never heard of a case in 

 which a man had been speared, although the narrow escapes 

 have been many. The baracouta has, however, left its mark 

 upon at least one man, and I have seen a Cocos native, the 

 whole of whose calf muscles had been torn away by the cruel 

 teeth of this large relation of the pike. The baracouta is an 

 ugly and a dangerous fish, for it is of all sea-creatures the most 

 difficult to see, and it has a habit of dashing upon whatever 

 stirs in the water. Another fish with the same habit is the 

 Samhar, whose name is given to it in consequence of this habit, 

 for it signifies the swoop as of a bird of prey upon its victim. 

 80 quick is the Samhar that it will dash among a shoal 

 of smaller fish, and with the impetus of its rush be carried 

 clean ashore, and I have seen a Samhar in chase of mullet 

 dash up the beach at a man's feet, and be kicked high and dry 

 beyond the reach of the water before it had recovered from its 

 surprise. 



