Having obtained very uncertain results from an electric eel which
had been brought to us alive, but much enfeebled, we repaired to the
Caño de Bera, to make our experiments in the open air, and at the
edge of the water. The Indians told us that they would “fish with
horses” (embarbascar con caballos).[22] We found it difficult to form
an idea of this extraordinary manner of fishing, but we soon saw our
guides return from the savannah, which they had been scouring for
wild horses and mules. They brought about thirty with them, which
they forced to enter the pool. The extraordinary noise caused by the
horses’ hoofs makes the fish issue from the mud, and excites them
to the attack. These yellowish and livid eels, resembling aquatic
serpents, swim on the surface of the water, and crowd under the
bellies of the horses. A contest between animals of so different
an organization presents a very striking spectacle. The Indians,
provided with harpoons and long, slender reeds, surround the pool
closely, and some climb up the trees, the branches of which extend
over the water. By their wild cries and the length of their reeds
they prevent the horses from running away and reaching the bank of
the pool. The eels, stunned by the noise, defend themselves by the
repeated discharge of their electric batteries. For a long interval
they seem likely to prove victorious. Several horses sink beneath the
violence of the invisible strokes which they receive from all sides,
in organs the most essential to life, and, stunned by the force and
frequency of the shocks, they disappear under the water. In less than
five minutes two of our horses were drowned. The eel, being five feet
long, and pressing itself against the belly of the horses, makes a
discharge along the whole extent of its electric organ. It is natural
that the effect felt by the horses should be more powerful than that
produced upon man by the touch of the same fish at only one of his
extremities. The horses are probably not killed, but only stunned.
They are drowned from the impossibility of rising amid the prolonged
struggle between the other horses and the eels.
We had little doubt that the fishing would end by killing
successively all the animals engaged, but by degrees the impetuosity
of this unequal combat diminished and the wearied gymnoti dispersed.
They require a long rest and abundant nourishment to repair the
galvanic force which they have lost. In a few minutes we had five
large eels, most of which were but slightly wounded.