Giant Fish of Florida 
survives in the adopted scientific name of Manta. It appears 
to me that such a diet is against all probability, if we may 
judge by the food of most of the order, but these men are 
firmly convinced that the giant ray, or, as it is also not 
inappropriately called, devil-fish, is an inveterate enemy to 
man, and they at least earn the right to an opinion on dangers 
to which they alone are constantly exposed. 
The proper way to capture these creatures, if any one cares 
about an occasional hour’s excitement, is with the harpoon. 
As for catching them on the rod, it is only done by foul 
hooking, and it merely strains the arms and tackle in what 
cannot be described as a very good cause. Harpooning, how- 
ever, may be really exciting, and I will try to describe such an 
adventure to the best of my recollection. 
You take the harpoon and get your guide to row you along 
the shore northwards. Standing in the bows, behind the 
neatly coiled harpoon line, you keep a sharp lookout for game, 
and very soon you see a mighty disc lying on the sand at no 
great depth. Poising the harpoon in the air, you let drive at 
the object of your desires ; it vanishes in a trailing cloud of 
sand, and you have an opportunity of seeing how poor a shot 
you made by insufficient allowance for refraction, which, of 
course, distorts the size, shape, and position of objects under 
water; and, as you assure yourself that in this case the harpoon 
went a good five feet ahead of the fish, you resolve to study the 
position of the next more accurately. 
g2 
