AN ANIMAL TORPEDO.
The gymnotus, or electric eel, is a common denizen of the stagnant pools and sluggish lagoons of the Llanos of Venezuela. It is known to the natives under the more suggestive name of arimna or something that deprives of motion.
Our first experience with this curious Animal Torpedo was on the borders of the Llanos, a few days’ journey to the south of Valencia. The pack mules, usually very slow, had preceded us, during the noon hour, while we had leisurely taken luncheon. In the course of an hour, we caught up with them, as they had reached a sluggish estuary of a neighboring river. Before we were in hailing distance, we could see, from the wild and frantic gesticulations of the muleteer, that something unusual had occurred. It proved to be an attack of electric eels upon the first mule, which had attempted to ford the lagoon. The animal had nearly reached the opposite shore before the attack was made, and thus, the first mule had escaped with only a few shocks from the invisible torpedoes. The other pack mules, just entering the stream, were turned upon savagely by the concealed serpents, and were wildly and frantically turning back, when we came upon the scene. Their distended nostrils and bulging, terrified eyes, with excited snorting and plunging, would have made a perfect picture of agonized terror. Their suffering, fortunately, was of short duration, as they soon gained the shore and dashed away madly over the prairie. The first mule, which had crossed, terrified by the electric shocks received, had retreated from the lagoon and, in a state of great fright, had plunged into a browsing herd of cattle, dangling its swaying pack and causing a frightened stampede among the half-wild herd. The latter, ignorant of the immediate peril, rushed toward the lagoon ford, and, if those in front hesitated, they were persistently prodded by those from behind. In a moment all were in the midst of their dreaded enemies in the water. A scene followed which is hard to describe. The poor brutes reared, bellowed and moaned; they gored each other in their agony, while their startled eyes seemed ready to jump from their sockets.
As the herd was numerous, the greater portion soon struggled out, and, with tails reared high in the air, they plunged, like maddened demons, across the prairie. Three cows and a heifer remained in the pool with the eels. The former, much exhausted, finally escaped from their tormentors, but the heifer, unable to withstand the repeated attacks, made one last effort, and, with a gasp, sank below the surface.
We spent some time in collecting our terrified pack mules and scattered baggage, finally crossing the bayou at a shallow point some distance above the ford. In the meantime, one of the mozos speared one of the eels, as they had become very sluggish and were swimming aimlessly about the surface, after having spent so much of their galvanic force. The captured specimen was about two and a half feet in length and would weigh about eight pounds. It had an olive green color and the upper part of the head was mingled with red. Two rows of yellow spots are placed symmetrically along the back, each spot containing an execretary aperture, which were its galvanic batteries. It possessed an enormous swimming bladder, which accounts for its great agility and swiftness in the water. The creature looks more like a fish than an eel, and is very difficult to capture in nets, owing to its agility and a habit of burying itself in the mud when frightened. The electric action of the eel depends entirely upon its own will and a shock can be given whether it is touched by one or both hands to complete the circuit. When wounded, their power is almost destroyed and they are able to give only feeble shocks. Humboldt describes putting both feet upon a newly-captured specimen, which rendered him entirely powerless for a considerable time. The shock was so great that he suffered all day from pains in his knee and back.
Though caught easily with a harpoon, the natives have such an intense dread of them that it is difficult for naturalists to secure specimens. The peons have an idea that one can escape the shock, while going through waters infested by the eels, if he carries a chew of tobacco in his mouth. This supposed influence of tobacco upon animal electricity is not entirely without some scientific basis, but in the form of a quid in the mouth it is, of course, purely imagination.
It is not an uncommon thing for a large colony of these eels, to attack and drown a horse in mid-stream, which they will leisurely devour afterwards. It is recorded that, during the patriot wars in Venezuela, a large army marching through the Llanos was seriously disabled in crossing a bayou infested with these mischievous creatures. At Damarara, British Guiana, in the early days, these eels were employed by the medical fraternity, to cure paralytic troubles, just as the torpedo fish was employed by the ancient Greeks.
Andrew James Miller.