Conclusion 397 



he was a good fisherman and sailor, and had 

 a never-ending fund of anecdotes ; and being a 

 close observer, he had a good general idea of the 

 fishes of the locality. I always encouraged him 

 in his quaint and original remarks about fishes, 

 and in this way obtained considerable knowledge 

 of their habits from this faithful Achates. Some 

 of his observations, as I remember them, and 

 which seem very odd in his Bahamian lingo, were 

 as follows : — 



" Veil, sir, it's curious 'ow some fish is made ; 

 but w'atever their model in length, beam, and draft, 

 there is some good reason vy they is built so." 



" Yes," I would answer, " they are all endowed 

 by Nature with the shape best fitted for their 

 mode of life and environment." 



" Veil, 'wironment or not, as you say, and 

 I'm not gainsayin' it, there's as much diff'rence 

 in their model as atween a man-o'-war 'awk 

 and an 'ummin'-bird. Now, sir, just look at the 

 stingaree and the wipporee ; they is flat as pan- 

 cakes, and goes a-skimmin' along like a turkey 

 buzzard, or a-wabblin' like a jolly-boat in the 

 breakers, and then they flops down on a sand- 

 bank like a flounder, when feedin', 'cause their 

 mouth is hunderneath like a shark. And they 



