Part 10 (2/2)
Then it is that detection is beyond ordinary skill, and its presence fraught with danger In a speci from the head, can be exposed half an inch, the second and chief fully three-quarters, and the reraduate from half to a quarter of an inch Each spine--clear opal blue--is surrounded by a sac of colourless liquid (presumed to contain the poisonous element), which squirts out as the spine is unsheathed On the sides, and in lesser nuular rows ofdepressed eject, to a distance of a foot or e of lavender Fast on the points of a spear the fish gives an occasional and violent spasmodic jerk, when the prettily tinted liquid is ejected fro which it seeies, there is another and another twitch, each thebroadcast what is said to be a corrosive liquid, almost as virulent as vitriol From almost any part of the body this liquid exudes or can be expelled
With its upturned cavernous reen), its spines, its cones, its eruptions, its ejecta, its great fan-shaped pectoral fins, and its deforenerally, the stone fish well deserves the specific title of HORRIDA Moreover, has it not a gift which would have brought it to the stake a few score years ago, as a sinful, presu for an hour or two out of its natural element It deserves the bad eminence to which it has been raised by the blacks on accounts of looks alone, and if the poisonous qualities are in line with its hideousness, one can but pause and ponder why and wherefore such a creature has existence in ”this best of all possible worlds” But it is known that to the Chinese it is dainty They pay for it with good grace as much as 2s 6d per lb, and the flavour is said to resemble crab
BURRA-REE
Another inhabitant of the coral garden to be avoided is the balloon fish (TETRAODON OCELLATUS), which distends itself to the utmost capacity of its oval body when lifted froenerally believed to be poisonous, though of te appearance Authorities assert that the pernicious principle is confined to the liver and ovaries, and that if these are removed as soon as the fish is captured the flesh may be eaten with impunity Let others careless of pain and tired of life, experied blacks tell that when aits evil repute, sory ones cooked and ate of it All who did so died or were sick unto death Soo two Malays in the vicinity of Cairns partook of the flesh and died in consequence No black will handle the fish, and a dog which may hunt one in shalloater and mouth it, partakes of a prompt and violent e it with anything shorter than a fish-spear, being of opinion that the poison resides in or on the skin, and that the flesh beconated when the skin is broken
The balloon fish is toothless, the jaws rese the beak of a turtle, and in some species both the upper and the lower jaws have medial sutures like those of a snake Was there not a Roman statesman or warrior whose jaere fitted with a consolidated and continuous structure of ivory instead of the ordinary separate teeth?
The balloon fish depends upon its inconspicuousness and harle for existence, for, no doubt, there are in the sea fish so strong of stomach as to accept it without a spasm It will allow a boat to be paddled over it as it floats--a brown balloon--al alarh for a dozen when a spear is fast in its back
FOUR THOUSAND LIKE ONE
A the more remarkable fish that people these waters is a species that does not co on the curious things of Nature No doubt, it is well known to the initiated, but I take the opportunity of saying that these notes are not penned with the presu the learned and the wise, but for the edification, mayhap, of those who do not knoho have noinformation first hand, to who the pleasures of one whose observations are superficial, and to who
In the clear water of Brareenish black object, a yard across by about a yard and a half long,a fairly accurate course consistent with the shore As the boat drifted, it see-ray had lapsed into the blissfulness of ease, careless alike of mankind and of its enemies in the water When within reach the boat-hook was used as a spear more to startle the indolent fish than in the vain hope of effecting its capture The boat-hook passed through what appeared to be the middle of the creature with a splash, and four or five fish, about 8 inches long, and of narrow girth, floated away, stunned, killed by the shock Then it was realised that the apparently solid fish was really a co with coling motion So closely were they packed that it was impossible without careful scrutiny to discern individual roup, and so intimate their association and so remarkable their mutual syle thought, hearts that beat as one Here were not forty, not four hundred, buttheir being as a single individual Dispersed for an instant as the boat-hook or paddle was driven through it, the mass coalesced automatically and instantly as if controlled by mechanical force, or coain on its course, while the dead and stunned drifted away
Exa the specimens procured, it was found that they resereen in colour, with pale leill cases terlass, and keen as only Nature kno to make her weapons of defence
Presently in obedience to some instinct the shoal left the shalloater inshore, and atched it glide a seaweed to the line of dull red, which indicated the outer edge of the coral reef and saw it no more This, my piscatorial pastor and master says, was no doubt a community of striped cat-fish, (PLOTOSUS ANGUILLARIS)
THE BAILER Shell
Adhering to a rock by a short stumpy stalk, sometimes sealed firmly to a loose stone, you ated, coreless pineapple, coelatinous, semi-transparent substance, dirty yellow in colour It is the spawn case or the receptacle of the ova (if that term be allowable), and the cradle of what is commonly known as the bailer shell (CYMBIUM AETHIOPIcuular and interesting features that these reefs have for the sight-seer In its co, conic sections, each containing an unborn shell in a distinct and separate stage of develop each froes from its cell--each a thin frail shell, about half an inch long, white with pale yellow and light brown s In time, should it survive all the accidents and assaults to which on entering the world it is beset, the tiny shell will develop into an expansively- roill be in a less matured state, and so the development diminishes towards the apex Some of the compartments are occupied by shells transparent, colourless and fragile in the extre merely the rudiment of form, until at the apex the cells contain but a drop or so of sparkling, quivering jelly
The bailer shell alive is like an egg, in the fact that it is full of ly direat their tenacity and strength The anihs several pounds, the flesh being tough, leathery and of unwholeso thin, the cavity is phenoallons of water, and as the shape is most convenient, and there is neither rust nor moth to corrupt, their aptitude as effective and durable bailers for boats is apparent So reseain the melon shell Blacks use them for a variety of purposes--bailers, buckets, saucepans, drinking vessels, baskets, and even wardrobes They represent, perhaps, the only utensil in which a black can boil food, and it is an astonishi+ng though not edifying spectacle when the fat-layered intestine of a turtle, sodden in salt water just brought to a boil in a bailer shell, is eagerly devoured by hungry blacks
A RIVAL TO THE OYSTER
Down the caverns of the subed rocks and blocks of coral are two or three species of ECHINUS (sea-urchins), with long and slender spines radiating frouished by what appears to be precious jewels of sparkling blue--believed to be visual organs--which lose their brilliancy immediately on removal from the water Another has a centre of coral pink The black spines, 10 inches or so long, are exquisitely sharp, and brittle in the extreme Some believe that the ani these weapons forward to meet the intrusive hand, for unless approached with caution they prick the fingers while yet see that I have never yet atterasp this creature (which certainly is capable of presenting its array of spines whither it wills) while sub its ability to defend itself-- tempered by the caution of the mere amateur--it may be said that some of the spines appear to be blunt All could hardly be ”sharper than needles,” for being used as aand over and in the crevices of the coral and rocks, some are necessarily worn at the points With care they lance it would seeine a brittle tennis ball stuck full of long slender needles,stiffly along the edges of rocks by a few of the stilt-like needles, and a very fair figure of the ECHINUS is presented As a curious and beautiful creature he is full of interest, and as an adjunct to one's diet he is, in due season, full of excellent ratitude and flattery on our lips, and why pass with disrespect the creature that is beautiful and wonderful as well as savoury? To enjoy it to perfection, extricate the creature fro place far down in the blue crevice of the coral, with a fish-spear Don't experiunwale of your boat divest it of its slender black spines, and with a knife fairly divide the spheroid body, and a so meat is disclosed; but no more objectionable in appearance than the substance of a fully ripe passion fruit The flavour! Ah, the flavour! It surpasseth the delectable oyster It hath eth to the palate and purgeth it of grosser tastes It recalleth the clean and rottoes, a li sea, and if you be wise and devout and grateful, you forthwith give praise for the enjoyment of a new and rare sensation
The ECHINUS is said to be essentially herbivorous, but my cursory observation leads me to the opinion (very humbly proffered) that it fulfils a definite purpose in the order of Nature, too, and depends for sustenance, or for the building up of its structure, upon certain constituents of the coral Does it not break and grind down to powder the ramparts of coral? Clumsy and ill-shaped as it appears to be in other respects, it has jaws of wonderful design, and known to the ancients as ”Aristotle's lantern” They are composed of five strips of bony substance, with ena each other in the centre of the disc-shaped rips and breaks off or gnaws off, or bores out cruestion, as you render him an acceptable morsel Scientific observers affirm that by rates the rock, and that the jaws are used merely to clear away the softened rubbish How is it then that the globular cavity is often well-ballasted with tiny crisp chunks of coral rock? Possibly to the assiularly sweet and expressive savour So we see the coral-reef-building polyps toiling with but little rest, al to raise architectural devices of infinite design, and other creatures as industriously tearing them down to form the solid foundation of continents
Another species of ECHINUS eludes its eneshort and frail, it holds empty bivalve shells on its uppermost part, The unstudied accu ocean floor--would fail to fix notice, but that it moves bodily and without apparent cause Inspection penetrates the disguise
Wheresoever the ECHINUS goes--its progress is infinitely slow--it carries a self-is--that it may, by imposition upon its foes, continue in the way of life
SHARKS AND SKIPPERS
Local blacks have no fear of sharks They take every care to avoid crocodiles, exercising great caution and circu inlets and tidal creeks So shrewd are their observations that they will describe distinctive marks of particular crocodiles and indicate their favourite resorts Their indifference to sharks is founded on the belief that those which inhabit shalloater a ether in the water on the reefs when beche-de-, and the record of an attack is rare indeed
They are far roper (PROMICROPS ITAIARA), which lying inert a the coral blocks and boulders of the Barrier Reef, bolts anything and everything which coged detern to the nervous, suspicious shark Recently a vigorous young black boy was attacked by a groper while diving for beche-de-mer The fish took the boy's head into its capacioushim severely about the head and shoulders, and but for his valiant and deter hi does not convince blacks that the sharks of the Barrier Reef are dangerous The captain of a beche-de-e of a detached reef not many miles fro and diving Suddenly one of them was seized and so terribly h the captain ithin 8 or 10 feet of the boy, and three of hisswiuish objects at a considerable range, though the sea was calm and clear and the water barely 10 feet deep, no one saw a shark or any other fish capable of inflicting such injuries as had caused the death of ”Jimmy,” nor was there any disturbance of the surface of the water Years before a countryman of the unfortunate ”Jih crippled for life By so the companions of the boy as killed connected his death with the attack upon the other, the scene of which was 200 miles distant, and becaether ”--a sort of mysterious marine debil-debil,” not known to entire satisfaction by the best-informed black boy, and quite beyond the co thus conclusively to their ht the theory that a shark was responsible, it was absolutely unreasonable to fear sharks generally Why should they bla but a ”debil-debil” could have killed ”Jimic: If a shark had killed ”Ji was seen, therefore it must have been a ”debil-debil”
And the incident was accepted as a further and ht” live black boys The single instance at Princess Charlotte Bay was an exception
Our taer even than man A shallow stretch of water half a nacku-tides two connecting bands are exposed--a sand-bank and a broad, flat coral reef, bethich is a lagoon, in which the water may be 6 or 7 feet deep The horses of the estate are in the habit ofly that occasionally they will swim across when the tide is full One of the horses was returning fro when there was a depth of about 3 feet on the sand-bank As it approached the beach a shark, apparently e its course, and follow the horse at a discreet distance When only 50 yards from the beach the shark made an impetuous rush, and snapped at one of the horse's forefeet The horse swerved, plunged and lashed out vigorously and with such excellent precision that the shark was kicked like a football out of the water It appeared to be 5 or 6 feet long, and to be quite satisfied that the horse, like a black, was not to be molested until it was past resistance The horse bore the ain when a favourite dog juer but ridiculous venture after a ”skipper,” a shark detected the dog and shadowed it As ent about to pick up the dog the dorsal fin of the shark indicated the wily, leisurely way in which it was keeping pace, reconnoitring and waiting until its prey was exhausted, while the dog did not appear to realise that a ”frightful fiend” did close behind him swim
As the boat approached, the shark swerved off flippantly, but hovered in the vicinity, unsatisfied as to the identity of the new and strange animal that had so unaccountably appeared in its natural element and as suddenly disappeared A rifle bullet, a little to the rear of the base of the dorsal fin, however, made it wobble and bustle away on a most eccentric route
The teruish that singular fish, of the ”long toator-pike, which shoots fro the surface with its tail, while keeping the rest of its pike-like body rigid and almost perpendicular Each stroke is acco movement It would seem that by the impact of the tail upon the water the fish maintains its abnormal position and also sustains for a time its initial velocity For a hundred yards or so its speed is considerable, equal to the flight of a bird, but the length of each successive skip rapidly diinal impulse is exhausted, and then the fish disappears as suddenly as it shot into view The ”skipper” is an exceptionally supple fish It is excellent eating, probably the sweetest fish of these waters, and it is much appreciated by blacks, who call it by the pretty name of ”Curram-ill,”