148 
SWORDFISH, 
It probably arises from mistaking a ship for a Whale that 
this fish is sometimes known to dart on the former, and by 
this error, inflict on itself the destruction it had meditated for 
its opponent. Notices of such an occurrence are met with in 
the writings of jElian, who refers to a particular instance of 
what Pliny mentions only in general terms. The remark of 
the last-named writer is, (B. xxxii, C. 6,) that the Swordfish 
has a sharp-pointed snout, with which it is able to pierce the 
sides of a ship, and send it to the bottom; instances of which 
have been known near a place in Mauritania, known as Cotte, 
not far from the river Lixus, on the African side of the 
Mediterranean. jElian was so little acquainted ivith this fish, 
that in one place he supposes that the injury was inflicted 
with its fin; but he afterwards describes it with some degree 
of accuracy, and compares the sword to the beak of the ship 
known as the trireme, which was rowed with three banks of 
oars. He mentions an instance that was much talked of, where 
not only the fish was killed, but its head was torn from the 
body by the motion of the ship, while the sword remiiined 
fixed in the plank. He adds also that the Swordfish is fre- 
quently seen in the Black Sea, and delights to enter fresh 
water. Accordingly it is met with in the Danube, where, 
with several other fishes, it was sometimes caught on the 
breaking up of the ice towards the end of winter. This occa- 
sional habit of entering fresh water is confirmed by a narrative 
of Daniel, — mentioned also by Southey, — that a man was 
killed by one of these fishes while bathing in the Severn, near 
Worcester; and, to establish the certainty of the fact, the fish 
was afterwards caught. I have also been informed that a 
Swordfish, supposed to weigh nearly three hundred ponnds. 
was caught in the river Parrett, near Bridgewater, in July, 1834. 
Several instances in which large ships have been pierced 
with the sword of this fish are known in modern times, and 
the blow has been struck with such force, that not only 
the thick plank of an East Indian merchant-ship has been 
pierced through, but the timber, or rib by which the plank 
was strengthened, was penetrated to such a depth as no man, 
with all his force, could have driven a bolt. A relic in testi- 
mony of this is preserved in the British Museum. In the year 
I860 it was reported in the newspapers that a Swordfish was 
