On our own coast the swordfish is eagerly sought as a food fish, and several hundred vessels and over a thousand men obtain support from the fishery, which extends from Maine to Massachusetts. The largest fleet of swordfishermen congregates south of Cape Cod, and in the waters about Martha's Vineyard hundreds of the gamy fish are caught. A swordfisherman differs but little from other craft. She is generally a fast schooner, about the size of a pilot boat, and upon the bowsprit is an iron stanchion bearing a rest, so that a man can stand here and lean against it. Lashed to the bowsprit is a long harpoon, known, from its supposed resemblance to a lily, as a "lily iron." To this is attached a long rope, which is coiled in a tub, and in turn fastened to a gayly painted keg. Thus equipped, the swordfisherman sets sail, and once upon the grounds a man is sent aloft to "keep his weather-eye out." If good fortune is in store for the gallant craft the man at the masthead soon sings out, "Fish ahoy!" "Where away?" shouts the skipper. "Two points off the weather bow," comes the answer; and forthwith the schooner falls away and follows the directions given by the man who has seen the top or dorsal fin of the swordsman dashing along. In the meantime the mate has taken his place in the cage on the bowsprit, has unlashed the iron lily, and stands ready. Another man sees to the rope that it is clear and stands ready to toss over the keg. The schooner shoots ahead, and soon the man at the wheel sees the fish and steers so as to bring it on the weather bow. Not a word is said, and inch by inch they gain on the dashing privateer—now they are up with it. The man at the wheel gives it a turn; the "nose" of the schooner shoots up into the wind, and the fish is brought across the bow. The harpooner raises his arm; a second of suspense, and the steel lily has gone glistening into the gamy fish that, with a tremendous leap of terror and surprise, disappears in a whirlpool of foam, that, caught by the breeze, drenches the man and deck. The line is rushing over the side, making music that the men like to hear, and the schooner is kept off to give it full play.
Sword Fishing.
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The coils leap from the tub like living things, and sometimes smoke rises from the woodwork, telling of the strength of the noble fish as the end of the rope approaches. The mate takes the keg in hand, and as the last coil goes over, tosses the buoy after it to dance away over the waves, and eventually tire out the swordfish. The schooner now merely follows the keg, which can be plainly seen, and it is but a question of time when the fish will become exhausted. When the keg comes to a standstill the schooner rounds to; the dory is lowered, and it is picked up. The first pull generally starts the fish to renewed exertions, and the schooner falls away again in pursuit of the dory which is now being towed by this finny horse. But the fish is becoming exhausted, and the men now take the line and slowly haul in—a continual struggle until the fish is alongside, when an attempt is made to throw a rope about the sword. In the struggle that ensues, the fish sometimes overturns the boat and throws the crew into the water, or drives its sword into the dory, or gives a vicious slash with its weapon, making the crew lie down to avoid the attack; but finally a rope is thrown about the sword, and the monster is secured and towed alongside the schooner, and soon hoisted aboard. Two days later it is in the Boston market.
A curious fact in connection with the swordfish is that, common as are the adults, probably no fisherman on the American coast has ever seen a young one, or one less than a foot long. This is owing to the fact that the swordfish breeds upon the high seas, or possibly in European waters. Young ones are often seen on the Mediterranean shores, and the fisheries there are probably even more valuable than in America. The young swordfish—the infant—is so unlike its parent that few would recognize a relationship. Instead of a sword, it has jaws of equal length, armed with fine, sharp teeth. Some species have long sharp spines projecting from their various parts, and they change in appearance as they grow older.
The Greek swordfishermen, and especially the Italians, follow the fish in a large rowboat, the harpooner standing upon an elevated perch at the bow. As they row along the men sing songs and utter prayers that are supposed to give them good luck. With the heavy boat, clanking oars, and the sound of many voices, noise enough is produced to alarm the fish if it were in any way timid, yet the men bring in many hundreds of pounds, and are even more successful than the skilled harpooners of American waters. Swordfish duels are not uncommon, and the writer once found a swordfish which had been run through and through by another swordsman of the sea.
ANIMAL RESTORATIONS.
To many persons it seems marvelous that a naturalist can build up a complete animal upon the foundation of a single bone or even a tooth. But for the student of anatomy it is not so difficult as it appears.
The result of the construction or building up of extinct creatures is called a restoration; and scientific men have become so expert in it that they undoubtedly produce forms which vary but little in appearance from the actual animal represented.
The most remarkable restorations of modern times are those at the Crystal Palace at Sydenham, a few miles from London, where an attempt was made not only to restore some of the gigantic animals of a past age, but to reproduce their surroundings; for it must be remembered that in the past ages the vegetation was as different from that of to-day as were the forms of animals.
The geologist who undertook this was perfectly familiar, through special study, with the huge creatures of the cretaceous or chalk age; and by comparing the bones found in England and other countries with those of existing forms, he was enabled to reclothe them in apparent flesh.
Skull of an Iguanodon.
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It was easily demonstrated that the gigantic iguanodon, the bones of which were discovered in England, was an ally of the South American iguana—one of the lizards. So the skeleton was rehabilitated with the allowances due to the difference of structure.
In this way this mighty lizard was restored. First, a model was made in clay and then enlarged; and the actual life-size model was produced by using hundreds of pounds of mortar, lime, brick, and stone, not to speak of iron columns. The iguanodon was a gigantic lizard. Resting upon the ground, it could reach twenty or thirty feet into the air, and must have been one of the most wonderful creatures of a past age.
In this collection is the megatherium, known to be an ally of the sloth. The latter, now found only in South America, is a small animal found clinging to trees; yet here was an ancestor that weighed perhaps many thousand pounds when it inhabited the earth.
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It rested upon legs colossal in size, more like columns of support than limbs for locomotion, and standing on its hind legs, tore down tall trees, upon which it fed.
Some years ago the report came from Charleston, South Carolina, that extraordinary teeth were being found at that place, some of which were as large as the human hand, if not larger. The geologist immediately recognized them as shark's teeth. The largest were almost identical in form with the teeth of an existing shark known as the white shark or carcharodon. This monster is found in various seas, the largest individual ever caught being thirty-five feet in length.
The teeth of this giant were not more than one inch in length—pygmies when compared with the enormous plates of dentine from the Ashley and Cooper rivers. To the makers of restorations, the difference in size and the similarity in teeth is suggestive.
If the carcharodon with the small teeth was thirty-five feet in length, what must have been the length of the shark with the teeth as large as a man's hand? To determine this question the author once took the jaw of a modern shark, and placed the large teeth in the same position in which they were found in the small jaws. The result was a shark from one hundred to one hundred and twenty-five feet in length, whose enormous mouth could have encompassed a dozen men. Indeed, in a moderate-sized fish of this species, a man might have rested on the lower jaw, using the upper as a protection.
Imagine a man-eating shark as large as the largest whale, and some idea can be conveyed of its appearance. In the day when this giant creature lived, it was the scavenger of the sea, preying upon all other animals—upon the gigantic turtles and other strange forms of the time which happened in its path. What a spectacle must have been presented when its enormous mouth opened, and eight or nine rows of gleaming teeth in each jaw rose up as so many knives to sever the victim!
The teeth of this shark are beautiful objects. They are as brilliant to-day as they were untold ages ago, when the huge shark roamed up and down the Atlantic, which then encroached upon the land much more than at present. The teeth have been found by thousands in what is now Charleston. They have been dredged in the deep sea, and taken from the exposed slopes of big mountains in southern California.
Some years ago a paleontologist discovered some of the bones of a fish in a certain deposit, and from them made, perhaps for his own amusement, a restoration or outline of the fish, showing it to be a curious eel-like creature.
Time went on, and finally came the report that this fish was not extinct, but still lived in the waters of Australia, and this was found to be a fact. The fish, known as the ceratodus, had outlived its age, and now stood as a proof of the correctness of the restoration which had been made from fossil remains.
Thus the ancient inhabitants of the earth can be restored with more or less accuracy, often the smallest bone telling a remarkable story. The splint bone in the horse is an interesting example, as by it the evolutionist traces back the lineage of this domestic animal to a time when it was not larger than a fox, and had three or four toes.
ON GUARD.
IN driving through one of the California lower counties I once came to a field in which there were forty or fifty black pigs, on the back of each of which there were one or two blackbirds.
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The latter espied me immediately and uttered an alarm or warning, at which the pigs looked up and then ran away, some still carrying their sentinels on their backs. Such an exhibition might be accidental, but I have seen it repeated on several occasions; and am certain that birds warn various animals which they affect.