him that toucheth it, and while he holdeth
the sticke over him, the arme that holdeth
the sticke is benummed and asleepe: it is
taken with flue-nets and with casting-nets;
it maketh all the bodie tremble, and
beummes it with the paine, but being dead it
is eaten and it hath no poison. The Caramuru
are like the sea-snakes of Portugall,
often a fifteen spannes long, very fat, and
roasted, taste like Pigge; these have strange
teeth, and many men are maymed by their
bytings, and the hand or foot where they
were bitten doe rot away. It hath over all
the bodie manie prickles. Amoreaty is like
the toad-fish, it is full of prickles, and thrusts
himself under the sand above the shoare, and
prickles the foot or hand underneath that
toucheth it, and it hath no other remedie but
only by fire. Amayacurub is round and of
the bignesse of the Bugellos of Spaine, and are
verie venomous; it hath the bodie full of
wartes, and therefore it is called Curub, that
is to say, a wart, in their language. Terepomonga
is a snake that liveth in the sea; her
manner of living is to lie very still, and
whatsoever living thing that toucheth it"
(Harcourt is describing the cuttle-fish, with its
tenacious grasp), " remaineth so fast sticking
to it that in no wise it can stirre, and so he
feedeth and sustains hiinselfe. Sometimes it
cometh out of the sea, and becommeth very
small, and as soon as it is touched it sticketh
fast, and if they goe with the other hand to
lose themselves, they remaine also fast by it,
and then it becometh as big as a great cable,
and so carrieth the person to the sea, and
eateth him, and because it cleaveth so fast it
is called Terepomong, that is to say, a thing
that cleaveth fast." John Lerius, a Frenchman,
who adventured into Brazil about the
middle of the sixteenth century, speaks of a
fish that had also some capabilities for holding
on, but was unfortunately prevented from
profiting by them. " On a certaine day," he
says. " I was carried in a Boate with certaine
others, in a verie calm sea, and a certaine
huge Fish tooke hold with the hand on the
brim of the Boate, and in my judgement, it
would either have overturned it, or gotten up
into it. I, seeing that, cut off the hand with
a sickle which I had in readinesse, so that it
fell into the Boate, and it had five fingers
verie like unto oures; besides, for paine
which that fish felt, putting the head above
water, which was like unto the head of a
man, it squeaked a little, and made a certain
noise."

The learned Jesuit, Joseph Acosta, had
certain experiences of sharks, or tiburons,
which do no discredit to the name of those
hungry sea-lawyers.  "I did wonder," he
says, "at the incredible ravening of the
tiburons or sharks, whenas I did see drawne
from one, out of his gullet, a butcher's great

knife, a great iron hooke, and a piece of a

cowe's head with one whole horne, neither
doe I know if both were there, or no.  I did
see in a creeke made with that sea, a quarter
of a horse for pleasure"  (an odd kind of
pleasure) "hanging upon a stake, whither
presently came a company of these tiburons,
at the smell thereof; and for the more pleasure,
this company of fishe flock about it,
leaping up, and with a strange nimblenesse
cut off both flesh and bone off the
horse legge, as if it had been the stalke of a
lettuce; their teeth being as sharpe as a
rasour."

The following group offers some pleasing

varieties.  "There is a fish," says Pliny,
"commeth ordinarily above the water, called
Lucerne, for the resemblance which it hath
to a light or lantern.  For it lilleth forth the

tongue out of the mouth, which seemeth to

flame and burne like fire, and in calme and
still nights giveth light and shineth " (like
dead mackerel). " There is another fish that
putteth forth hornes above the water in the
sea, almost a foot and a half long, which
thereupon took the name Cornuta. Againe,
the Sea-Dragon, if he be caught (!) and let
goe upon the land, worketh himselfe an hollow
trough with his snout incontinently, with
wonderfull celeritie."

A mad dog and a mad bull are dangerous
things to encounter; but, what is to be said of
the peril to which an angler is exposed who
falls in with a mad lamprey!  And yet there
are such creatures!  Hear Pliny: "It is said
that if they (lampreys) taste vinegar of all
things, they become enraged and mad." The
occurrence must, however, be rare, for vinegar
is seldom absorbed by a fish till after it is
boiled. For my own part, I never met with
mad pickled salmon, though some people who
eat it, and drink brandy and water afterwards
do very mad things in the Haymarket,
Fleet Street, and other parts of London. This
remark, however, reminds me of what I
promised when I began this paper: to limit my
account to odd fish—strictly to the scaly
inhabitants of the deep; and lest I should
be tempted beyond the power of resistance,
I refrain from further description, leaving all
that Bishop Pontoppidan tells of the Kraken
and the sea-serpent untold.

Now ready, in Twenty-eight pages, stitched. Price
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the Year 1857. Also, price Threepence, or stamped
Fourpence,

                         THE

WRECK OF THE GOLDEN MARY;

Being the CAPTAIN'S ACCOUNT of the LOSS OF
THE SHIP, and the MATE'S ACCOUNT of the GREAT
DELIVERANCE OF HER PEOPLE IN AN OPEN
BOAT AT SEA; forming THE CHRISTMAS NUMBER
of HOUSEHOLD WORDS.

THE NEW VOLUME of Household Words, price 5s. 6d.,
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