128 
NOTES. 
ployed by a falconer in seizing birds. They kept them for 
the purpose, and had them regularly fed. The owner, on a 
calm morning, would carry one of them out to sea, secured 
to his canoe by a small, but strong line, many fathoms in 
length; and the moment the creature saw a fish in the water, 
though at a great distance, it would dart away with the swift¬ 
ness of an arrow, and soon fasten upon it. The Indian, in 
the mean time, loosened and let go the line, w’hich was pro¬ 
vided with a buoy that kept on the surface of the sea, and 
marked the course the Sucking-Fish had taken ; and he pur¬ 
sued it in his canoe, until he perceived his*game to be nearly 
exhausted and run down. He then,taking up the buoy, grad¬ 
ually drew the line towards the shore, the Sucking-Fish still 
adhering with so inflexible a tenacity to his prey as not easily 
to be removed. Oviedo says he has known turtle to be taken 
by this mode, of a bulk and weight that no man could sup¬ 
port.” 
Note 12. (Page 65.) 
11 Since he told me I out-Gorgoned Gorgon , my brother” 
&c. It is surprising to find on what intimate terms the hotel- 
keepers are with the Sea-Serpent. They are not only ac¬ 
quainted with him, but it would seem, from this letter, that 
they know all his family, and his distant connections besides ; 
for I find, on the authority of Pindar, that “ when Jason 
started after the golden fleece, he found [as have many of 
our own enterprising citizens, who have gone on a like errand 
to California] that there were some difficulties to be over¬ 
come. For when he, after taming the bulls that guarded it, 
[that were in the habit of breathing fire from their nostrils,] 
demanded of ^Eetes the fleece agreeably to his promise, he met 
with a threatening refusal. JYIedsea, however, assisted him, 
with her incantations, to lay asleep the dragon that guarded 
the fleece, and thus at length he effected his purpose. This 
dragon [like a Scotchman, was certainly blessed with a pedi¬ 
gree ; for he] is said to have been the offspring of Typhon and 
Echidna, the daughter of Styx, and to have been the brother 
