38 
FISH GALOEE. 
effort, for the bone was large and heavy, we secured 
a choice beetle or two, and by a delicate investi- 
gation of an unsavoury fathom of “ baleen ” we 
appropriated a shining little skin-beetle. 
On our return we descended the sand-hills near 
the sea, and by the ancient and fishlike smell ” we 
became aware of the vicinity of a station for 
cleaning and diying fish. Here were fish galore. 
Fish salted in great tubs ; fish lying in heaps uj)on 
the ground ; fish by cartloads ; fish by boatloads ; 
fish split open on long tables ; fish covering all the 
rocks outside; fish by thousands drying on poles — 
stacks of fish ! We raised a casual board, and 
behold, the ground Avas alive with bombardier- 
beetles, and there Avas an irregular salvo as in ararin 
they discharged their mimic guns ! 
The long stretch of fiat sandy shore betAA^een 
Simon’s ToAAm and Fish-hook Bay aa\is a faA'ourite 
Avalk of mine, fresh, breezy, and full of interest. 
The Aveather had been very stormy of late, and 
as I strolled leisurely along the beached margent 
of the sea ” I stumbled across a stranded fiddle-fish, 
