318 RAYS AND SKATES 



continent. From Cape Cod to the Orinoco, and I know not 

 how much farther beyond, this vindictive and cruel fish hes, 

 assassin-hke, half buried in the sand alongshore, ready and 

 anxious to drive its spine into any naked foot that comes 

 within striking distance. The upper surface of the animal 

 closely resembles the loose sand in which it hides, and the 

 spine makes a ragged and ugly wound. The spine is long, 

 dagger-like, and barbed like an arrow all along both edges, 

 so that the withdrawal of it from a wound is very painful. 

 On the lower Orinoco I saw a strong man who was then in 

 the seventh week of disability from the stroke of a Sting Ray 

 in his foot; and in the Malay Peninsula I treated a Malay 

 fisherman whose hand had been completely transfixed by 

 the spine of a huge ray. 



Fortunately, this abominable creature is averse to cold 

 or even moderately cool waters, and is rarely encountered 

 even as far north as Florida. On our coast one may bathe 

 for a lifetime without seeing even one; and in all waters they 

 carefully avoid crowds of bathers. 



The gigantic creature known as the Devil-Fish^ is the 

 largest of all rays, and to many persons even the most truth- 

 ful accounts of some of its doings will seem beyond behef. 

 To begin with, its maximum size of 20 feet across its "wings" 

 is almost incredible. The towing of a good-sized fishing- 

 smack by a harpooned Devil-Fish, going for miles at race- 

 horse speed, is another wonder of the deep. 



Many years ago the planters on the coast of South Car- 

 olina found royal sport in harpooning this monster, and con- 



^ Man'ta bi-ros'tris. 



