ELECTRICAL EELS.
Very strange stories are told of these Eels, and its power to give an Electric shock to any person or animal who touches it. Alexander von Humboldt is said to have given the first precise account of this very curious Eel. This celebrated Naturalist tells of a voyage up the Orinoco for the purpose of studying the Electrical Eel, great numbers of which are found in the neighborhood of this river. Some Indians conducted the party to the Cano de Bera, a muddy pond surrounded by rich vegetation, Indian figs and beautiful flowers.
The party of Naturalists were surprised when they learned that it would be necessary to use about thirty half-wild Horses to help them fish for the Electrical Eel, and that the severe shocks of electricity given by the Eels must be expended upon the Horses before it would be safe to touch the Eels.
While our hosts were explaining to us this strange mode of fishing, the troop horses and mules had arrived, and the Indians had made a sort of battue, pressing the horses on all sides, and forcing them into the marsh. The Indians, armed with long canes and harpoons, placed themselves round the basin, some of them mounting the trees, whose branches hung over the water, and by their cries, and still more by their canes, prevented the horses from landing again.
The Eels, stunned by the noise, defended themselves by repeated discharges of their batteries. For a long time it seemed as if they would be victorious over the Horses. Some of the Mules especially, being almost stifled by the frequency and force of the shock, disappeared under the water, and some of the Horses, in spite of the watchfulness of the Indians, regained the bank, where, overcome by the shocks they had undergone, they stretched themselves at their whole length.
The picture presented was now indescribable. Groups of Indians surrounded the basin; the Horses with bristling mane, terror and grief in their eyes, trying to escape from the storm which had surprised them; the Eels, yellow and livid, looking like great aquatic Serpents swimming on the surface of the water, and chasing their enemies, were objects at once appalling and picturesque. In less than five minutes two Horses were drowned.
When the struggle had lasted a quarter of an hour, the Mules and Horses appeared less frightened, the manes became more natural, the eyes expressed less terror, the Eels shunned, in place of attacking them; at the same time approaching the bank, when they were easily taken by throwing little harpoons at them attached to long cords; the harpoon, sometimes hooking two at a time, being landed by means of the long cord. They were drawn ashore without being able to communicate any shock.
Having landed the Eels, they were transported to little pools dug in the soil, and filled with fresh water; but such is the terror they inspire, that none of the people of the country would release them from the harpoon—a task which the travelers had to perform themselves, and receive the first shock, which was not slight—the most energetic surpassing in force that communicated by a Leyden jar, completely charged.
The Electrical Eel surpasses in size and strength all the other Electric Fishes. Humboldt saw them five feet three inches long. They vary in color according to age, and the nature of the muddy water in which they live. Beneath, the head is of a fine yellow color mixed with red; the mouth is large, and furnished with small teeth arranged in many rows.
The Electrical Eel gives the most frightful shocks without the least muscular movement in the fins, in the head, or any other part of the body. The shock, indeed, depends upon the will of the animal, and in this respect differs from a Leyden jar, which is discharged by communicating with two opposite poles. It happens sometimes that an Electrical Eel, seriously wounded, only gives a very weak shock, but if, thinking it exhausted, it is touched fearlessly, its discharge is terrible.