264 



The Mackerel 



there are none whose lives are more romantic than that 

 of the great Xiphias. It must be premised that there 

 are several varieties of Xiphias ranging the oceans of the 

 world, but the one I am best acquainted with is the 

 Indian Ocean variety, of which a splendid specimen 

 may be seen in the fish gallery at the Natural History 

 Museum at South Kensington. 



The Sword-fish, whose catching is quite a recognised 

 industry on the New England Coast, is a duU-hued 

 monster, ranging from one to two hundredweight, 

 and frequenting those waters in fairly large numbers. 

 He is taken by harpooning, the striker standing in 

 a little ' pulpit ' erected on the extreme point of the 

 bow. It is good sport, if a bit rough, but a hard and 

 precarious way of getting a living. As far as I am 

 aware this is the only part of the world where the 

 pursuit of the Sword-fish is engaged in regularly and 

 systematically, ever3nvhere else the giant mackerel 

 being left severely alone, to pursue his triumphant 

 way among the sea people, inspiring a terror among 

 them which he can never feel, for there are none to 

 make him afraid. 



By reason of the terrible weapon he carries before 

 him, and his amazing speed and dexterity in using 

 it, he has always been the veritable ruler of all deep-sea 

 fish, and the ruthless slayer of even the sea-shouldering 

 whale. Only the sperm whale proves too doughty a 

 foe for him to attack lightly, although I believe there 

 are instances on record where he has successfully 

 attacked cachalot cows. Before passing on to a brief 

 consideration of the career of a typical Xiphias, I 

 would like to say that my reason for calling the albacore 

 the king of the deep-sea fish was on account of his 

 size, as well as number and universahty of range. 

 There is no doubt that in courage and agility the 



