AFRICAN MOONLIGHT--POOR CHARLEY--WANT OF PATIENCE--BLUE LIGHT IN THE
BUSH--BUCK KILLED BY A LEOPARD--STRANGE FOLLOWERS--PORCUPINE HUNT--
PRACTICAL JOKE--FOOLHARDY CONDUCT--A MISTAKE--KAFFIR PROPHET--A DARK
PATRIARCH--CONJUGAL AUTHORITY--STRONG-HEADED INDIVIDUAL--HARBOUR
SHARKS--FISH SPEARING--INTOXICATING ROOT--A SUGGESTED EXPERIMENT--
VARIETY OF FISH.
The moonlight nights in South Africa are particularly fine and
brilliant; I have frequently read manuscript writing without difficulty,
even when the moon has not been quite at the full. Things viewed by its
light seem always to be more peaceable and mysterious than by the
sunlight. Few, for example, fully appreciate the beauties of the
Madeleine in Paris, who have not quietly watched its changing effect
during the passage of the lesser light in her bo-peep proceedings with
the clouds.
In the bush and plains the animals choose the cool night for feeding,
travelling, and drinking. Many an uncouth-looking creature, whose
ungainly form is rarely shown to the sun, boldly walks the night without
the slightest compunctions for the feelings of the modest moon. Holes,
ravines, and hollow trees then give up their inhabitants; and many an
animal, who during the day dares not even breathe the atmosphere that
man has passed through, gains courage and boldness in the moon's light,
and cunningly plots and ably executes an attack on cattle, dogs, or
fowls, under, the very roof of its day-dreaded adversary. A house
situated about four miles from the the Natal flat, and nearly surrounded
with wood, was frequently visited by wild beasts; and on one occasion
the young ladies, while "doing their back hair" and arranging their
nightcaps, happened to cast their eyes above the looking-glass, and
there met the impertinent gaze of a large bull-elephant, who was quietly
rubbing himself against an orange-tree on the lawn, and pitching the
fruit down his capacious throat as boys swallow cherries. My old dog
once nearly had his days, or rather nights, terminated by the bold
attack of a leopard. My dog for a change, and I also suspect from the
irresistible attractions of a fascinating little spaniel named Charley,
frequently staid two or three days at a time on a visit at this house;
and while taking his repose, about nine o'clock one night, in a back
room with his inamorata close beside him, a large leopard came with a
spring into the centre of the apartment. A faint shriek from the little
dog caused two of the young ladies to enter this room, the whole family
being at the time in the front drawing-room. On their approach, the
leopard with one bound cleared the window, carrying the dog Charley in
his mouth. All entreaties and tears from the young ladies failed in
producing the least effect on the feelings of this monster, who never
came back; and Charley's tail, and a bit of a foot were all that ever
came to light as to the fate of this ill-starred dog.
The elephants, who buried themselves in the most gloomy places during
the heat of the sun, stalked about boldly, and took their pleasure
during the moonlight. Night after night I rode round the skirts of the
bush, moving from one of their fashionable watering places to another,
and hanging about the well-worn walks with a praiseworthy perseverance.
They were always too cunning for me, and either smelt my approach and
dashed away before I could get a shot, or remained inside the cover and
grumbled their displeasure, or trumpeted forth a challenge from a
stronghold situated a couple of hundred yards within the forest.
Finding that they were too wide awake to give a chance by this plan of
pursuit, I selected a fine large tree, and taking my desponding friend
as a volunteer, we perched ourselves amongst its branches, at about ten
o'clock at night. Scarcely had half an hour of silence passed, than my
partner voted it a nuisance not being able to smoke; shortly after he
complained a little of cramp; and in about an hour voted the whole thing
a wild-goose sort of chase, and came to the conclusion that we might as
well go home. Seeing great difficulty in maintaining the perfect
silence that was so necessary to success, I agreed with him, and we
descended the tree.
The walk through the strip of bush, that was dark as Erebus, was
anything but pleasant, from the briars and branches scratching face and
hands, to say nothing of the chance of finding oneself suddenly lifted
up by the trunk of some artful elephant, who might playfully put his
foot upon the small of your back by way of caution. We reached our
respective homes without an adventure, and on the following day I was
pleased to find that the elephants had not been near our tree during the
whole night, although the spoor showed that they came in great numbers
exactly under it on the morning.
I always found that a Kaffir was the most patient and easily satisfied
of my hunting companions. A few evenings, therefore, after my failure
with my restless friend, I took Inyovu, and supplying him with a whole
box full of the strongest snuff and a thick blanket, took my position
once more in the spreading branches of the old tree. I made every
preparation for standing a siege, in case the elephants attacked the
tree, as was told me would most probably occur, but which I did not for
one moment believe. To be well prepared in case of such a contingency,
I had filled a small tin saucepan with blue light composition, and
having sprinkled over it the tops of a box of lucifer-matches to obtain
quick ignition, I fixed it firmly in the branches close and handy. I
purposed pouring some of this when lighted on the back of any
weak-minded elephant who might presume to attempt to haul me down.
Unfortunately, all the illumination was wasted on the desert air, for no
elephants came to me, although I kept awake and watchful all night. My
Kaffir thought me mad, a very common conclusion if one does not do every
thing in the old way. Still, although my night was elephantless, I did
not consider it as wasted, as the quietness around, only broken by the
whispering of the leaves as they affectionately felt each other, and the
occasional tiny cries of the ichneumons and other vermin, or the blowing
of a buck and rustle of a herd of wild swine, were all music to an ear
more easily pleased with the wild side of nature than the crash of
omnibus wheels, or the murmur of crowded rooms.
The monotony of this night was broken by one of those events that must,
and do, frequently take place everywhere, and in many cases without the
natural excuse that could be pleaded here, "it was the weak oppressed
and crushed by the strong."
A red bush-buck had gone out into an open glade, and was quietly taking
its dew-refreshed grass supper. I had noticed for some time the
innocent way in which it had continued grazing, quite unconscious that a
deadly enemy was near, who only refrained from slaying it in the hope
that larger game would, by patience, be soon substituted. Suddenly a
black looking sort of shadow with a bound was upon it--a shriek, an
instant struggle, and all was quiet. My Kaffir whispered to me that he
thought we should fire, as leopards' skins were valuable for making
tails (the Kaffirs' waist-dress is thus called by the colonists). This
whisper was not sufficient to cause alarm, but while moving a little to
cock his gun, the Kaffir shook a branch, and the representative of the
feline race, taking up his capture, bounded away. We inspected the
ground on the following morning and found that there had scarcely been a
struggle.
One is frequently curiously attended in Africa by strange followers, and
I found myself one night with a footman behind me that might have struck
terror into a lady's heart were John Thomas to be thus suddenly
transformed. Happening to be at the house famous for the leopard's
visit, and going out at about ten o'clock to saddle my horse that I had
tied to a tree in the garden, I found him absent; and upon inquiring at
the Kaffirs' kraal near, they told me that he had broken his halter and
levanted for some time. This was the second trick of the kind that he
had played me; on the former occasion, a friend, whose horse had behaved
better, accompanied me, and we shared the saddle, turn and turn about,
for the four miles that constituted the journey home. On this evening I
had to trudge it alone, and what was worse, without my gun; for, having
merely gone out to take tea, I had left my usual gun at home. I
borrowed an assagy from the Kaffirs and trotted off. The road for great
part of the way was lined with bush. A river about three feet deep had
to be crossed, and then the flat sands of the Congella, famous for the
battle between the Boers and the English troops.
I went on with caution, listening occasionally, as the elephants were
near the edge of the bush I had passed in the afternoon, their feeding
being clearly heard from the smashing of the large branches. It was not
advisable to rub shoulders with these gentlemen unarmed, and in the
night, if it could be avoided.
I had passed the little river Umbilo about two hundred yards, when, upon
suddenly stopping to listen, I heard something behind me; so dropping to
the ground, I placed my head low, and made out the shambling figure of a
cowardly hyaena in relief against the sky. I flung a stone at him and
he shuffled away. Soon after I heard him behind me again, and he
followed at a respectable distance until I reached the village of
D'Urban. These brutes, although possessing a strength of jaw capable of
grinding an ox's leg-bone to powder, are still such curs as to fly
before a dog; and on one occasion, near Pietermaritzburg, four of them
were chased for a couple of miles by my old dog, and made such good use
of their legs that I could not get near enough for a shot.
During two or three evenings we had great fun near the town of
Pietermaritzburg in blocking out porcupines. I nearly ran over one on
horseback one day, and narrowly escaped getting his quills in my horse's
legs. They spread their quills wide, and run backwards very fast, thus
presenting a _chevaux-de-frise_ anything but agreeable. This one dodged
about round me, now running through the grass quite fast, then stopping
and backing, so that I could with difficulty keep my usually
well-behaved shooting-pony from actually turning tail, and in
consequence fired both bullets without any satisfactory result. In a
few minutes he came to his hole, a place big enough for a man to live in
near the entrance, that had evidently formerly been occupied by some
able excavator, probably an ant-bear. I could not get at the "fretful"
in this retreat, but on arriving at home consulted with my Kaffirs, who
agreed that we would get some dogs, and go out soon after the moon rose.
We did so, armed with knob-kerries and assagies; and placing two
sentries over the hole, we sent the dogs on the traces, having
discovered that he was out for the night. We soon heard the yelping of
the curs, and ran to the spot. The porcupine was coming along in a
great fuss with the dogs all round him; assagies and sticks were hurled
at him, while he dodged amongst the Kaffirs' naked legs, who jumped
about with wonderful activity. A blow on the nose at last finished him.
At this place two gentleman attempted to play on me a very silly trick,
that might have led to very serious consequences, had it not been for
the greatest caution on the part of myself and another individual.
A party of five had been dining together, when, at about 10 p.m., a
commissariat officer and I, who were two of the five, left the others,
and mounted our horses for the purpose of riding round the edge of the
Berea, on the chance of finding an elephant outside it, as I had heard
several feeding in the bush as I returned from shooting in the afternoon
of this day.
We were much ridiculed by two gentlemen of the party on announcing our
intended proceedings, for they seemed to think no elephants were near,
and that we were a couple of blockheads for troubling ourselves to go
out. Not regarding these remarks, we started, and having been careful
to select saddles that did not creak and curb-chains that did not
jingle, we advanced with tolerable silence to the part of the forest
from whence emanated the sounds that had shown me in the afternoon the
presence of a troop of elephants. We halted at about two hundred yards
from the tall trees that fringed this part, and listened for any
indications. Our patience was not severely tried, as we heard one or
two branches smashed as none but an elephant could have smashed them.
We immediately took up our position a little nearer, and behind some
bushes, so that we might not be seen by any elephants when they came to
drink at the pools of water near. We waited for nearly half an hour,
plainly hearing the troop feeding at about one hundred yards inside the
bush, and apparently coming towards us. Our horses stood like rocks,
merely pricking up their ears a little when a louder smash of a branch
than usual was heard. It was getting rather exciting, as the elephants
were blowing and grumbling very distinctly; and by their moving about a
good deal they seemed meditating a march on to the open flat to drink.
Suddenly they all became silent, and the finest ear could not discover a
sound indicative of a large animal being near. I whispered to my
companion, and asked what he thought was the cause. We were not long
uncertain, for close under the bush we saw in the gloom two tall objects
moving, so there was no doubt that the elephants had come out of the
bush, and therefore could now walk silently. We whispered that we would
fire together, and both barrels as quickly as possible one after the
other. The two objects were little more than eighty yards from us, when
we quietly cocked our guns, and were going to deliver our fire.
As I was straining my eyes to catch a glimpse of the glittering ivories,
and thereby to judge the position of the elephant's shoulder, I fancied
that the step did not appear like an elephant's. The moon was not yet
up, consequently we could see but indistinctly. Somehow the thought
came across me that perhaps other sportsmen had also come out to try for
a shot, and I called immediately to F. "For God's sake don't fire--it
is a man on horseback." He said something about "nonsense, it can't
be." I called again, rather louder, for him not to fire; and as I did
so a roar of laughter came from one of the supposed elephants, find
"Sold, old fellow," was facetiously remarked by the other. I was very
angry at being thus disturbed, and still more so when I found out the
real state of the case. It seemed that, after we left the dinner-table,
the first glass of brandy and water (which generally supplies the place
of claret or port in Africa) had caused these two gentlemen to decide
that our night-ride was ridiculous; the second had proved us two
absolute donkeys; the third that we _ought_ to be sold. I don't know
how many, more or less, it had taken to decide the plan, which was, that
they would mount their horses, and ride out to where we were waiting,
and discover our hiding-place _without our knowing of their approach_,
and then commence imitating noises that were to make us think they were
elephants! Upon my assuring these gentlemen that a large troop of
elephants was really in the bush close by, they either could not or
would not believe it, and easily satisfied themselves that their opinion
was right; as, after listening a minute or so, and riding round a little
way, they declared they only heard a crack of some sort in the bush, and
had not seen a single elephant, and that the noises we said we had heard
must have been caused by our imagination.
Our opinion had been formed from half an hour's careful listening,
_theirs_ from two minutes noisy looking round. Is there any
self-sufficiency in this sort of conclusions I wonder? I may here
relate a ridiculous mistake that I made, and a narrow escape of Kaffir
slaughter, both caused by my eagerness for a fine specimen of the black
bush-buck.
I have before mentioned one or two little open patches on the top of the
Berea. I was riding over these one afternoon, looking for fresh
elephant spoor, when I saw, about two hundred yards distant, a black
object just visible in the long grass, and there was no doubt in my mind
that it was a black bush-buck. I dropped off my horse, and stalked with
the greatest care to within about eighty yards of it; I suddenly raised
my head to get a peep, and saw only a black back, and recognised a
little movement in the tail, which was very buck-like. The object was
partly hidden by bushes and grass; the spot was most retired.
I guessed where the shoulders would be, and sent my bullet at them into
the long grass; the animal fell over backwards, and I rushed to the spot
to discover an old goat, shot directly through the heart. At the same
time a little Kaffir sprang up close to the corpse, in a great fright.
He informed me that this was the pet ram of an old Kaffir who lived
nearly two miles distant; that the grass having been burnt near his
kraal, he had sent his boy with the pet to graze on this spot, where the
grass was very good. It cost me three shillings to pacify the old
fellow, and an extra fee to secure his silence, as the story would not
have told well for me. This accident I believe saved a Kaffir's life
from being sacrificed to a similar mistake; for I again took for a buck
a black object in a most retired part of the forest. I was about firing
when I remembered the goat mistake, and approached a little closer to
have a better look. I was prepared in case of the buck bounding off,
when I gave a little whistle to alarm it, and enable me to have a full
view. The object moved when I whistled, and rising to nearly six feet
in height, showed itself to me as an old Kaffir man. I was truly
thankful that I had not put a bullet into his head. Upon chatting with
him, he told me that he was residing two or three days in the bush,
previous to his giving a prophecy on some important affair in his kraal.
He certainly was no true Kaffir, if he could not tell a thumping lie,
after three days getting it up, in the solitude of the bush.
Returning one afternoon from shooting, I saw a party of Kaffirs sitting
round my tent, and upon riding up I was informed by one of my dark
servants that a chief had come in from the Umzriububu district, to
transact some business, and being his particular chief he had asked him
to stay and have a talk with me. I was much flattered by this mark of
approbation, and at once asked M'untu Umculu into my tent, where we
squatted down and took pinch after pinch of strong snuff, until my
guest's shining hide became indistinct and shadowy through the tears
that forced themselves from the inmost recesses of my eyes.
We said not a word, but the long-drawn sighs that now and then with
bellows-like expression emanated from M'untu, gave earnest of his
unqualified delight and pure uninterrupted enjoyment.
After half an hour of unsneezing silence, I managed to stutter out,
_Chela pela's indaba incosi_ (tell me the news, chief), to which M'untu
politely replied that "the news should come from me." We had some
pleasant and instructive conversation, during which I discovered that
the six ladies who were sitting round outside were M'untu's wives, the
three men were his servants, and one old fellow, with a very high ring
on his head, was his familiar councillor. I ordered an ox's head for
their lunch, and expressed a wish that I should see my worthy visitor
during the course of the evening. About eight o'clock he came to me in
the mud hovel that served as mess-room, and accepted my offer of a seat.
He appeared with his retinue of wives, etc. It is strange what
different customs exist in different lands. While the princesses of
Oude allow not even their beautiful eyes to be seen, the princesses of
Kaffirland consider statuesque absence of drapery fashionable.
Civilisation prefers the half-way-between-the-two style which many of
our ball-room belles now practise. M'untu Umculu appeared wonderfully
at his ease, and offered me his snuff-box with the solemnity of a judge.
He was decidedly an oracle in his own circle, and although apparently
not more than twenty, seemed to have inspired each and every one of his
six wives with an awe and a reverence for his word and look, that might
give an excellent example to many a man who has only one sixth of his
difficulties.
Having on the table a stone bottle of gin, containing about two gallons,
I poured out a tumbler-full and offered it to my visitor; he took a
little sip, another, then a big draught, and then with one gulp, down it
all went. I watched him attentively, but he never even winked his eye.
I waited for a short time to watch progress, but M'untu's thirsty nature
impelled him to push his tumbler over to me again. I cautioned the
Kaffir chief that the spirit which he wished to drink was very powerful,
and if he repeated his potation it would probably make him drunk. He,
however, still begged for a fresh tumbler-full, and finding that he
would take no denial, I complied with his request, as I considered that
a bad headache in the morning would be a good excuse for me to give a
lecture to my tippling guest. I therefore refilled his glass,--in one
minute it was bottom upwards, the contents having gone down his throat
with a plaintive gurgle--no wink this time either. For quantity and
time I could have laid odds on M'untu against any sot of Saint Giles's.
I now saw my solemn friend's countenance begin to light up, his tongue's
dignity relaxed, and he commenced talking. His wealth and his
performances were the theme. The third tumbler brought out the warmth
of the savage's heart. Calling each of his wives by name, he made them
drop on all fours and crawl up to him; retaining the tumbler in his own
hands for security, he placed it to their lips, jerked a little up their
noses, and sent them away still crawling and facing him. Oh! what a
refreshing exhibition of domestic obedience! Suddenly, with the tone of
an emperor, he ordered one of his servants to bring some sugar-cane and
honey, both of which he by a wave of his arm indicated were for me and
my heirs for ever. A fourth tumbler caused a continuous and indistinct
utterance of unconnected sentences in a loud voice, whilst a graceful
and unceasing rolling motion pervaded his body. His councillor had
tried to stop this jovial proceeding at the third tumbler, but had
received a backhander from M'untu that had certainly checked any further
interference; the rolling of his body had increased rapidly during the
fourth tumbler, and it had scarcely been emptied before M'untu Umculu,
chair and tumbler, came with a crash to the ground.
The councillor, who had wisely ordered the wives away as soon as he saw
what was going on, now came in, and with the aid of three Kaffirs lifted
M'untu up and bore him away, not without considerable opposition,
however, as he still held out his broken glass; and its splintered
remains were the last thing that disappeared from the door, entreatingly
held towards me at arm's length. I soon after sent for the councillor
and requested him to remind M'untu Umculu in the morning of the
ridiculous exhibition he had made, and to state, that, although my
hospitality obliged me to give him what he had requested, I still did
not think so highly of him as I had done previously, and warned him
against all strong drinks as his greatest enemies. On the following
morning, just as the sun was rising, I heard some talking outside my
tent, and upon opening the canvass door, saw my drunken guest of last
night, sitting down coolly outside. Immediately he saw me he held out
his hand and thanked me in a most gentlemanly manner for my kind
entertainment of the night before. I asked him if his head ached, but
he complained of nothing, and certainly appeared quite right, with the
exception of a slight redness about the eyes. What would some of my
readers give for a cranium of this strength? Perhaps this child of
nature's head did not yet know how to ache. I accepted an invitation to
go and hunt in the district that acknowledged M'untu's rule, and with
the "united kind regards" of the suite they trudged off; M'untu in the
most delicate way having left a gourd snuff-box with my Kaffir, to be
presented to me when he was out of sight. I heard that game was
plentiful near the kraal of this Kaffir, and shortly after, while the
friendship was warm, went down the coast to see him. We had very fair
sport with buck and buffalo.
The shooting amusement at Natal could be changed sometimes, as the
fishing in the bay was excellent. With a boat anchored in the channel a
large number of fish of different kinds were often caught--rock-cod in
great numbers especially, and a fish there called a kiel-back, very like
a cod in appearance, and weighing generally twenty-five or thirty
pounds. Sharks are frequently seen in the bay, and on the bar at the
entrance they swarm, presenting anything but an agreeable prospect, in
case of an upset in the surf-boat. I have heard that on the outside of
the harbour they have frequently taken men down, while inside they are
considered harmless. Why they should thus change their dispositions in
so short a distance it is difficult to say, but that they do not make a
habit of attacking bathers in the bay I am certain, as I was in the
water morning and evening, and frequently swam out a considerable
distance from the shore--thus offering a good bite to a shark. I
believe the reason to be, that inside the bay there are enormous shoals
of small fish, so that a shark could feast for months on them and
scarcely show that he had diminished their numbers. He does not,
therefore, suffer from an unsatisfied appetite so much as his
unfortunate brethren, who may not have such comfortable snug quarters,
or be able to find their way to them when pressed by hunger.
I never tried a fly in the bay, but am convinced it would be taken very
well. There is a fish called a "springer" that makes tremendous leaps
out of the water after insects, and would give capital sport. These
fish are very cunning and not to be caught like common fish with a
simple hook and line; they will come up and look at the bait, swim round
it in all directions, but will not even nibble. If you throw a piece of
the same substance as your bait overboard, twenty of them make a rush at
once to seize it, then have a sniff at your hooked bit, give a kind of
chaffing whisk of their tails, and then sail away. These fellows made
me very angry; I tried the thinnest lines, but it was no go, the water
being so clear; but at last I devised a plan for circumventing them.
Having by great practice acquired the art of throwing the assagy, I
procured one that had a small barbed end, that the Kaffirs used for
fish. I put a piece of lead round the part where the iron joined the
wood, and made a piece of string fast to the spear, harpoon fashion.
Getting the boat into that part of the bay frequented by these artful
fish, I made all ready for a lunge, and told the Kaffir to throw out
some little chopped pieces of meat. A dozen springers rose after them
at once, close to the boat, and not more than a few feet under water.
Allowing for the refraction of the water, the spear was thrown down with
great force; it disappeared, but soon came up again near the top of the
water, the end violently agitated. A gentle, but steady haul on the
line, brought a struggling springer to the boatside, where my Kaffir,
slipping his hand in his gills, landed him.
I rarely succeeded in getting more than one at a time by this plan, for
the alarm soon spread, and I had then to wait for a day or two for them
to forget what had happened, or go to some other part of the bay where
they were not up to the dodge.
A root grew on the Natal flat with which I frequently captured fish; it
had the effect of fuddling them, and made them jump out of the water, if
used in a confined space. It was something like ground-ivy in growth,
the long fibres stretching for several feet round; the leaves were small
and shaped like clover. The root was discovered by taking hold of one
of these creepers and pulling it up until it led to the root, which was
then dug up. The root was about a foot long, and half an inch in
diameter. When a dozen or so had been collected, they were bruised and
fastened on to a long bamboo. The large pools of water left by the high
tides on the bluff amongst the rocks, were the scenes of operations,
into these the root was inserted, and then stirred round for some time.
In less than a minute small and large fish would dart out from the holes
in the rocks, and swim about the pool as though greatly perplexed, and
would very soon after turn on their backs and float, when they could be
taken with the hand. Sometimes with a duck and drake sort of
progression they skipped along over the top of the pool and sought the
dry land. If they were placed in water that was uncontaminated by this
root, they would recover in a few minutes, and might be eaten without
the slightest danger. This root was called by the Kaffirs "_Il, o
zarni_." I do not know if botanists are acquainted with it in any way.
The Kaffirs here made large enclosures of bamboo or stakes, driven so
close together that no fish could escape, but the water could make its
way through. The tops of these dams were covered about two feet deep at
high water; and as the rise and fall of the tide were here about four
feet, the stakes here were above the water when it went down. Mullet,
and many other fish that kept near the surface, amused themselves in
these enclosures until too late to escape, when they fell easy victims
to the assagies of the Kaffir, who paid his traps daily visits at low
water. I think a man might make a capital living by starting at Natal
as a fisherman on a large scale, and sending his fish during the cool
nights by pack-horses to Pietermaritzburg, where it is almost an unknown
luxury. The Kaffirs take some fine fish by spearing. When the tide is
half out, there is a long level sand on the left of the bay, with about
three feet of water on it. The Kaffirs form themselves into a half-moon
shaped line, each with two or three barbed assagies; they keep about ten
yards apart and walk slowly along. Should a fish of any size be seen a
signal is given, and the outsiders rush round so as to enclose the
victim, the others showering their spears at him. He seldom escapes
them, as these fellows make capital shots at forty yards. I often
bought a heavy cargo of fish from these fishermen, as much as I could
carry, for sixpence, or, what they much prefer, a couple of sticks of
tobacco.
There is a great excitement in the sea-fishing, a title that may be
given to the sport in this bay, for one never knows what is coming up
when there is a bite--fish of the most ridiculous shapes, and beautiful
colours, and all sizes,--now a small rock-cod, then a large parrot-fish;
again a tremendous tug at your thick line, and away it flies, with no
chance of holding or staying it--some monster has carried off
everything. A gallant friend of mine, who was not very careful in the
arrangement of his tackle, was near meeting with an accident here. A
bite and tug, such as I have mentioned, pulled the line out of his hand,
and it flew over the side at the rate of twenty miles an hour. I saw
that he had a coil of the line round his body, and had just time, by
snatching up a knife, to cut the line, when the whole piece was carried
overboard. It must have been a ground-shark or some such monster. My
friend would in another instant have been dragged overboard or cut in
two, as the line was nearly as thick as my finger, therefore too strong
to break before it would have seriously damaged him.
Shoals of porpoises frequently played about in the surf, close to the
shore, and good bullet practice might be had at them.