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KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



that when the Creator gave being to these 

 animals, he foresaw the circumstances in 

 which they would be placed ; and mercifully 

 provided them with means of escape from 

 dangers to which they were necessarily 

 exposed. In very dry summers, the fishes 

 that inhabit the abovesituations are reduced 

 often to the last extremities, and endeavor 

 to relieve themselves by plunging, first their 

 heads, and afterwards their whole bodies, 

 in the mud to a considerable depth ; and so, 

 though many in such seasons perish, some 

 are preserved till a rainy one again supplies 

 them with the element so indispensable to 

 their life. Carp, it is known, may be kept 

 and fed a very long time in nets in a damp 

 cellar ; a faculty which fits them for re- 

 taining their vitality when they bury them- 

 selves at such a depth as to shelter them from 

 the heat. But others, when reduced to this 

 extremity, desert their native pool, and 

 travel in search of another that is better 

 supplied with water. This has long been 

 known of eels, which wind by night through 

 the grass in search of water, when so cir- 

 cumstanced. Dr. Hancock, in the " Zoolo- 

 gical Journal," gives an account of a species 

 of fish, called by the Indians the Flat-head 

 Hussar, and belonging to a genus of the 

 family of the Siluridans, which is instructed 

 by its Creator, when the pools in which they 

 commonly reside, in very dry seasons, lose 

 their water, to take the resolution of march- 

 ing by land in search of others in Avhich the 

 water is not evaporated. These fish grow to 

 about the length of a foot, and travel in 

 large droves with this view ; they move by 

 night, and their motion is said to be like 

 that of the two-footed lizard. A strong ser- 

 rated arm constitutes the first ray of the 

 pectoral fin. Using this as a kind of foot, 

 it would seem they push themselves for- 

 wards by means of their elastic tail, moving 

 nearly as fast as a man will leisurely walk. 

 The strong plates which envelope their body 

 probably facilitate their progress, in the 

 same manner as those under the body of 

 serpents, which in some degree perform the 

 office of feet. It is affirmed by the Indians, 

 that they are furnished with an internal 

 supply of water sufficient for their journey; 

 which seems confirmed by the circumstance 

 that their bodies, when taken out of water, 

 even if wiped dry with a cloth, become 

 instantly moist again Mr. Campbell, a 

 friend of Dr. Hancocks, resident in Esse- 

 quibo, once fell in witli a drove of these 

 animals, which were so numerous that the 

 Indians filled several baskets with them. 

 Another migrating fish was found by thou- 

 sands, in the ponds and all the fresh waters 

 of Carolina, by Bosc ; and as these pools are 

 subject to be dry in summer, the Creator has 

 furnished this fish, as well as one of the 



flying ones, by means of a membrane which 

 closes its mouth, with the faculty of living 

 out of water, and of travelling by leaps to 

 discover other pools. Bosc often amused 

 himself with their motions when he had 

 placed them on the ground ; and he found 

 that they always direct themselves to the 

 nearest water, which they could not possibly 

 see, and which they must have discovered by 

 some internal index ; during their migrations, 

 they furnish food to numerous birds and 

 reptiles. They belong to a genus of abdo- 

 minal fishes, and are called swampines. It 

 is evident, from this statement, that these 

 fishes are both fitted by their Creator not 

 only to exist, but also move along out of 

 the water, and are directed by the instinct 

 implanted by Him to seek the nearest pool 

 that contains that element ; thus furnishing 

 a strong proof of what are called com- 

 pensating contrivances. Neither of these 

 fishes have legs, yet the one can walk and 

 the other leap without them, by other 

 means, with which the Supreme Intelligence 

 has endowed it. I may here observe that 

 the serrated bone, or first row of the pec- 

 toral fin, by the assistance of which the 

 flathead appears to move, is found in other 

 Siluridans, which leads to a conjecture that 

 these may sometimes move upon land. 

 Another fish, found by Daldorff, in Tran- 

 quebar, not only creeps upon the shore, 

 but even climbs the Fan palm in pursuit 

 of certain crustaceans which form its food. 

 The structure of this fish peculiarly fits it 

 for the exercise of this remarkable instinct. 

 Its body is lubricated with slime, which 

 facilitates its progress over the bark, and 

 amongst its chinks ; its gill covers are aimed 

 with numerous spines, by which, used as 

 hands, it appears to suspend itself; turning 

 its tail to the left, and standing, as it were, 

 on the little spines of its anal fin, it en- 

 deavors to push itself upwards by the 

 expansion of its body, closing at the same 

 time its gill-covers, that they may not 

 prevent its progress ; then expanding them 

 again, it reaches a higher point ; thus, and 

 by bending the spiny rays of its dorsal fins 

 to right and left and fixing them in the bark, 

 it continues its journey upwards. The 

 dorsal and anal fins can be folded up and 

 received into a cavity of the body. How 

 exactly does this structure fit it for this 

 extraordinary instinct ! These fins assist it 

 in certain parts of its route ; and when not 

 employed, can be packed up so as not to 

 hinder its progress. The lobes of its gill- 

 covers are so divided and armed as to be 

 employed together, or separately as hands, 

 for the suspension of the animal, till, by 

 fixing its dorsal and anal fins, it prepares 

 itself to take another step ; all showing the 

 Supreme Intelligence and the Almighty hand 



