Regular Man-
Eaters Some Of The Sharks Proved, Tiger-Eyed And With Twelve Rows Of
Teeth, Razor-Sharp.
By the way, we of the Snark are agreed that we
have eaten many fish that will not compare with baked shark
smothered in tomato dressing.
In the calms we occasionally caught a
fish called "hake" by the Japanese cook. And once, on a spoon-hook
trolling a hundred yards astern, we caught a snake-like fish, over
three feet in length and not more than three inches in diameter,
with four fangs in his jaw. He proved the most delicious fish -
delicious in meat and flavour - that we have ever eaten on board.
The most welcome addition to our larder was a green sea-turtle,
weighing a full hundred pounds and appearing on the table most
appetizingly in steaks, soups, and stews, and finally in a wonderful
curry which tempted all hands into eating more rice than was good
for them. The turtle was sighted to windward, calmly sleeping on
the surface in the midst of a huge school of curious dolphins. It
was a deep-sea turtle of a surety, for the nearest land was a
thousand miles away. We put the Snark about and went back for him,
Hermann driving the granes into his head and neck. When hauled
aboard, numerous remora were clinging to his shell, and out of the
hollows at the roots of his flippers crawled several large crabs.
It did not take the crew of the Snark longer than the next meal to
reach the unanimous conclusion that it would willingly put the Snark
about any time for a turtle.
But it is the dolphin that is the king of deep-sea fishes. Never is
his colour twice quite the same. Swimming in the sea, an ethereal
creature of palest azure, he displays in that one guise a miracle of
colour. But it is nothing compared with the displays of which he is
capable. At one time he will appear green - pale green, deep green,
phosphorescent green; at another time blue - deep blue, electric
blue, all the spectrum of blue. Catch him on a hook, and he turns
to gold, yellow gold, all gold. Haul him on deck, and he excels the
spectrum, passing through inconceivable shades of blues, greens, and
yellows, and then, suddenly, turning a ghostly white, in the midst
of which are bright blue spots, and you suddenly discover that he is
speckled like a trout. Then back from white he goes, through all
the range of colours, finally turning to a mother-of-pearl.
For those who are devoted to fishing, I can recommend no finer sport
than catching dolphin. Of course, it must be done on a thin line
with reel and pole. A No. 7, O'Shaughnessy tarpon hook is just the
thing, baited with an entire flying-fish. Like the bonita, the
dolphin's fare consists of flying-fish, and he strikes like
lightning at the bait. The first warning is when the reel screeches
and you see the line smoking out at right angles to the boat.
Before you have time to entertain anxiety concerning the length of
your line, the fish rises into the air in a succession of leaps.
Since he is quite certain to be four feet long or over, the sport of
landing so gamey a fish can be realized.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 75 of 157
Words from 38007 to 38571
of 80724
