38 TRAVELS IN 
«ide. The Harder, a species of Cbipea, not unlike the com- 
mon herring, is considered as a good fish ; and the Klip or 
Tock-fish, the Blenniiis vivipanis, makes no bad fry. Another 
Blennius, called the King Rock-fish, is sometimes caught 
with the former, to which, from its shape and resemblance to 
the Murcena of the ancients, naturalists have given the specific 
name of MurcEnoides. The Elft, the Scomber trachurus, schad 
or horse mackerel, has a good flavor, but is reckoned to be 
unwholesome food, and on that account seldom eaten. The 
Scomber Scomber, common mackerel, sometimes makes its ap- 
pearance after bad weather in large shoals in tbe bay. The 
Springer is esteemed for the thick fat coating that lines the 
cavity of the abdomen. The Speering, a species of Antherina, 
is a small transparent fish with a broad band, resembling a 
plate of silver, on each side. The Knorhaen, a species of 
Trigla, or Gurnard, with two strong spines on the fore part 
of each eye, and two on the cover of the gills, is not a bad 
fish ; nor is the common Sole inferior here to that in Europe. 
Dolphins are sometimes caught in the bay after a gale of wind. 
That singular species of Ray fish, the electrical torpedo, is 
well known to the fishermen by the frequent strokes they re- 
ceive from treading on the small young ones that are often 
thrown upon the beach in the winter season. Another species 
is used for the table and eaten by the English under the name 
of Skate. There is also in some of the rivers of the country 
anelectrical Silurus, but it is not eaten; and the Bagre, a 
second species of Silurus, commonly caught in the bay, is 
considered as poisonous. The Scorpcena Capensis, called here 
Jacob E'vertsoti, is a firm, dry fish, but not very commonly 
used- A species of cray-fish and different sorts of crabs are 
