To
This Short And Apparently Insignificant Weapon A Strong Rope Is Secured,
About Twenty Feet In Length, At The Extremity
Of which is a buoy or
float, as large as a child's head, formed of an extremely light wood
called
Ambatch (Aanemone mirabilis) that is of about half the specific
gravity of cork. The extreme end of the short harpoon is fixed in the
point of a bamboo about ten feet long, around which the rope is twisted,
while the buoy end is carried in the left hand.
The old Abou Do, being resolved upon work, had divested himself of his
tope or toga before starting, according to the general custom of the
aggageers, who usually wear a simple piece of leather wound round the
loins when hunting; but, I believe in respect for our party, they had
provided themselves with a garment resembling bathing drawers, such as
are worn in France, Germany, and other civilized countries. But the old
Abou Do had resisted any such innovation, and he accordingly appeared
with nothing on but his harpoon; and a more superb old Neptune I never
beheld. He carried this weapon in his hand, as the trident with which
the old sea-god ruled the monsters of the deep; and as the tall Arab
patriarch of threescore years and ten, with his long gray locks flowing
over his brawny shoulders, stepped as lightly as a goat from rock to
rock along the rough margin of the river, I followed him in admiration.
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