Natural History / Or, Uncle Philip's Conversations with the Children about Tools and Trades among Inferior Animals

by Francis L. Hawks

"But, Uncle Philip, how do they ever manage to catch them alive? I should think they would be shocked to death."

"I will tell you. A very sensible traveller and learned man [9] gives an account of the manner in which they catch them, by a way called, by the South American Indians, 'fishing with horses.'"

"Fishing with horses! What does that mean?"

"The savannas, or large open plains, in South America have a great many wild horses and mules running over them. M. Humboldt says that the Indians caught about thirty of these, and drove them into the pond where the electrical eels were. The horses made a great noise, and stirred up the mud with their hoofs, and this brought up the eels from the bottom in a great rage. They were very large, and looked more like water-snakes than like eels; and rising to the top of the water, they crowded under the bellies of the horses and mules, and began to shock them. The poor horses would try to get out of the pond; but the Indians, with spears and long reeds, would stand around to hinder them from coming out: some of them, too, would climb upon the trees around the banks, and get out upon the branches which were over the pond, and by crying out aloud, and using their long reeds, kept the horses in the pond. The eels would continue to shock them with tremendous blows, and a great many of the poor creatures were either stunned or killed, and would sink. Those not killed would pant and raise their heads, while their eyes would show their pain, and they would try to get out. The Indians still drove them back, but some few escaped, and reached the shore, stumbling at every step, and would stretch themselves on the bank, tired out, and benumbed in their limbs by the shocks they had received. M. Humboldt says that in less than five minutes after the fight began, two horses were drowned; and he thought that the end of it would be, that every horse which did not get out of the water would be killed: but at last the eels became tired, and began to disperse. This is just what the Indians wish. They know that the eels have spent so much of their electrical power that they will need a long rest. It takes them a great while to get back their strength; so that if, the next day after such a fight, you send in more horses, they cannot kill one. When the eels, tired out in this way, begin to separate, they will swim to the edge of the pond, and there the Indians take them with small harpoons fastened to long cords. When the cords are dry, the Indian feels no shock in raising the eel out of the water. In this way M. Humboldt got five, all alive, and very little hurt. But here we are at the bridge."

"Uncle Philip, suppose we sit down under the shade of this tree, and rest."

"I am willing, boys; but take care of the damp ground: there is an old piece of timber that the men have taken out of the bridge, for I see they have been mending it; we will sit on that."

"But, Uncle Philip, what shall we do with the kite? shall we draw it down?"

"Do with it! Why, just tie the end of your string to that root, and it will take care of itself in this wind."

"What a monstrous piece of timber this is. Uncle Philip! It must have taken a great many men to move it; and see—there are some larger ones still in the bridge. It must be a difficult work to build a bridge."