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never attempt passing through the surf, but wait at a distance, for 
the coming off of the light canoes, called toneijs , to bring on shore 
the goods and passengers; who are never landed without trouble, 
and are sometimes exposed to danger: even then the sea is often so 
rough, that neither a canoe., nor even a catamaran, can put off; 
although the latter is only a small raft, on which the fishermen 
venture in severe weather to vessels in the oiling: they are fre- 
quently overset, and the men washed off; yet they are such dex- 
terous swimmers, as soon to regain their situation, and paddle away 
until their purpose is accomplished. 
I shall not enter on the icthyology of the Malabar coast, except 
to mention the hippocampus , or sea-horse, which, in its dried state, 
forms a part of most European collections: it is not among the 
edible fish, though caught in great numbers with them: the hip- 
pocampus is generally from four to six inches in length, and two 
in circumference in the thickest part: the head and curvature of 
the neck resemble a horse; from whence a short swelling body 
gradually tapers to the extremity of the tail: some parts of its 
form are quadrangular, others hexangular, and the body has seven 
or eight divisions; the whole separated by ridges, and furnished 
with fins, to shape its course in its own element. 
A principal amusement, during the rainy season, was to as- 
semble at the bar of Anjengo river, to behold a curious contest, 
not only between the deities of the sea and the river, but also be- 
tween the finny race in their respective dominions. In those 
months when the south-west monsoon blows with the greatest vio- 
lence, the floods pour down from the mountains, swell the rivers, 
inundate the plains, and with astonishing rapidity, carry trees, 
