402 A DESCRIPTION OP 
the water, they each received a shock so smart, that they 
were compelled to desist. 
Persons have been knocked down with a stroke. One 
of these fish having been taken from a net upon grass, an 
English sailor, notwithstanding all the persuasions that 
were used to prevent him, would insist on taking it up ; 
but the moment he grasped it, he dropped down in a fit ; 
Lis eyes were fixed, his face became livid, and it was not 
without difficulty that his senses were restored. He said 
that the instant be touched it " the cold ran swiftly up 
his arm into his body, and pierced him to the heart." 
Humboldt tells us that when the Indians wish to catch 
these Eels they drive some wild horses through the pools 
the fish inhabit : and that when the eels have exhausted 
their electrical power upon the horses, the Indians take 
them without difficulty. He adds, that the horses, stun- 
ned with the shocks they received, sank under water, 
but most of them rose again, and gained the shore, where 
they lay stretched out on the ground, apparently quite ex- 
hausted and without the power of moving, so much were 
they stupified and benumbed. In about a quarter of an 
hour, however, the Eels appeared to have exhausted 
themselves, and instead of attacking fresh horses that 
were driven into the pond, they fled before them. The 
Indians then entered the water and caught as many fish as 
they liked. 
This most singular fish is peculiar to South America, 
where it is found only in stagnant pools, at a great dis- 
tance from the sea. 
