Chapt. xvii. Inexpensive boat-well. 227 



"foramina in the upper, as in the crocodile, fit into 

 "furrows on each side of it. The legs of the alligator, 

 "too, are not denticulated, and the feet are only semi- 

 "palmate." 



Have you ever had a porpoise in a boat or net? He 

 is like a bull in a China shop, is difficult to kill, and will 

 stand a good deal of cudgelling. The natives have a very 

 simple way of disposing of him. They just plug up the 

 blow-hole with a lump of clay, and he is soon suffocated. 



Have you ever been in a boat that leaks in the bows, 

 or in any particular spot, and noticed the ready means by 

 which the native boatmen confine the leak to its own 

 locality, and thereby keep the rest of the boat dry, till 

 such time as they can conveniently get it caulked. Just 

 fore and aft of the leak they run up a little wall of dab- 

 bled clay as high as the water mark. The consequence 

 is that the leak cannot spread. If you want a well for 

 live bait it is easy to apply this cheap and ready plan. 

 Bore in the bottom of the boat a hole or two of a size 

 that you can easily plug with a cork at other times ; and 

 fore and aft of this leak run up your mud walls, making 

 your well just as large or as small as you like. 



But if you want to keep bait alive at your house for 

 any time, and have not a running stream, you must oxy- 

 genate the water by growing water-lilies in it; by having 

 a fountain playing in it, which is very easily arranged; 

 by blowing into it with a bellows from time to time; or 

 even by taking up some of the water in a tumbler, and 

 pouring it in again from a height. 



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