A TKIP TO TRINIDAD. 



369 



turtle, tying a long cord to the tail of the reves, a 

 name which the Spaniards gave to this small member 

 of the Echeneis genera. 



This fisher-fish fastens itself to the shell of the tur- 

 tle, which abound in the narrow and winding chan- 

 nels of the Jardinillos, by a flat disc surrounded 

 with suckers, which it bears upon its head. 

 Columbus says, "the reves will suffer itself to be 

 torn to pieces rather than be forced to lose any body 

 of which it has taken hold." Thus, with the same 

 cord, the Indians drew forth the fisher-fish and the 

 turtle. When Gomara and Pedro Martir de Angli- 

 era, the learned secretary of Charles V., related to 

 Europe this fact which they had learned from the 

 lips of the companions of Columbus, it was believed 

 to be only a traveller's tale. 



We now know by the evidence of Captain Rogers, 

 of Dampier, and Commerson, that this same artifice, 

 which was used in the Jardinillos, is practised by 

 the inhabitants of the eastern coast of Africa near 

 Cape Natal, in Mozambique and in Madagascar. In 

 Egypt, in St. Domingo, and in the lakes of Mexico, 

 men were accustomed to cover their heads with 

 large perforated gourds, and lying with their bodies 

 in the water, caught the water fowl by their feet as 

 they swam upon its surface. The Chinese have 

 availed themselves from the most remote antiquity, 



16* 



