MESUKIL. 49 
opposite each other, to which two English prints, one represent- 
ing Cupid disarmed and the other Cupid revenged, served as com- 
panions. A short time afterwards the Bishop returned with his 
gun in one hand, and two partridges (perdrix rubricolla) and 
several turtle doves, which he had shot, in the other. He was 
booted as usual, but still wore the holy badge of his profession, a 
splendid diamond cross that hung sparkling in the folds of his 
waistcoat. As he was aware of my wish to collect the rarities of 
the place, he made me a present of the partridges, and also of a 
large sucking fish of a species not yet accurately described,* 
which had just been brought in by a fisherman ; all the Portu- 
gviese gentlemen, whom I conversed with on this subject, agreed 
in assuring me that fish of this kind were employed on the 
coast in catching turtles. The mode of doing this is by con- 
fining the fish with a line to the boat, when it is said invariably 
to dart forwards, and to attach itself by its sucker to the low er 
shell of the first turtle found on the w ater, which prevents its sink- 
ing, and enables the fisherman to secure his prey. The reason for 
this fish fastening on the turtle is supposed to be done (as the Bishop 
observed) with a view to self-preservation, and its strength is so 
great that, when once fastened, the turtle very rarely is known to 
escape. t This account appears to me somewhat extravagant, and 
* It answers very nearly to the description of the Echineis Neucrates by Dr. Shaw, 
but the bars on the heads of many specimens, which I subsequently examined, differed 
from twenty-four to thirty-six in number, and their tails were invariably crescent-shaped. 
t I was not aware, until after I had written the above, that this method of fishing had 
been noticed by Dr. Shaw; he mentions it (p. 209. Vol. lY. Part i.) on the testimony of 
Count de Cepede, from a manuscript of Comraerson — a circumstance that tends at least to 
prove the universal belief of the fact among the Portuguese. 
9 
II 
