Chap. 70.] 
THE DOG-nSH. 
457 
animal like a flat-fish/* and that, pressing downward upon them, 
it prevents them from returning to the surface. It is for this 
reason that they carry stilettos with them,^^ which are very 
sharp at the point, and attached to them by strings ; for if they 
did not pierce the object with the help of these, it could not 
be got rid of. This, however, is entirely the result, in my 
opinion, of the darkness and their own fears ; for no person 
has ever yet been able to find, among living creatures, the fish- 
cloud or the fish-fog, the name which they give to this enemy 
of theirs. 
The divers, however, have terrible combats with the dog- 
fish, which attack with avidity the groin, the heels, and all 
the whiter parts of the body. The only means of ensuring 
safety, is to go boldly to meet them, and so, by taking the 
initiative, strike them with alarm : for, in fact, this animal 
is just as frightened at man, as man is at it ; and they are on 
quite an equal footing when beneath the water. Eut the mo- 
ment the diver has reached the surface, the danger is much 
more imminent ; for he loses the power of boldly meeting his 
adversary while he is endeavouring to make his way out of the 
water, and his only chance of safety is in his companions, who 
draw him along by a cord that is fastened under his shoulders. 
While he is engaging with the enemy, he keeps pulling this 
cord with his left hand, according as there may be any sign of 
immediate peril, while with the right he wields the stiletto, 
which he is using in his defence. At first they draw him along 
at a moderate pace, but as soon as ever they have got him close 
to the ship, if they do not whip him out in an instant, with 
the greatest possible celerity, they see him snapped asunder ; 
and many a time, too, the diver, even when already drawn 
out, is dragged from their hands, through neglecting to aid the 
efforts of those who are assisting him, by rolling up his body 
in the shape of a ball. The others, it is true, are in the mean- 
time brandishing their pronged fish-spears ; but the monster 
has the craftiness to place himself beneath the ship, and so 
absurdity, and justly reprehends it ; though it must be confessed that there 
is some obscurity in the passage, arising from the way in which it is 
worded. 
5* Cuvier thinks it not improbable that it may have been some of the 
large rays that were seen by the divers, and more especially, the largest of 
them all, the Cephalopterus. 
^ *'Stilos." 
