the water, as dogs are trained to hunt on land. A line is made fast to
the creature's tail; it is then started in pursuit of prey, and as
soon as it has attached itself to a turtle, or any other 'game,' the
line is hauled in, and the prize secured. While the _Rattlesnake_ lay
at anchor, a number of sucking-fishes took up their quarters under her
bottom, and whenever the sailors dropped a bait overboard, it was
always seized by one of the _remoræ_, greatly to the annoyance of the
anglers on deck. 'Being quite a nuisance,' writes Mr Macgillivray,
'and useless as food, Jack often treated them as he would a shark, by
"spritsail-yarding," or some still less refined mode of torture. One
day, some of us, while walking the poop, had our attention directed to
a sucking-fish, about two and a half feet in length, which had been
made fast by the tail to a billet of wood, by a fathom or so of
spun-yarn, and turned adrift. An immense striped shark, apparently
about fourteen feet in length, which had been cruising about the ship
all the morning, sailed slowly up, and turning slightly on one side,
attempted to seize the seemingly helpless fish; but the sucker, with
great dexterity, made himself fast in a moment to the shark's back.
Off darted the monster at full speed--the sucker holding on as fast as
a limpet to a rock, and the billet towing astern. He then rolled over
and over, tumbling about, when, wearied with his efforts, he lay quiet
for a little. Seeing the float, the shark got it into his mouth, and
disengaging the sucker by a tug on the line, made a bolt at the fish;
but his puny antagonist was again too quick, and fixing himself close
behind the dorsal fin, defied the efforts of the shark to disengage
him, although he rolled over and over, lashing the water with his tail
until it foamed all round.' After such a spirited combat, it is
somewhat tantalising to read, that the final result could not clearly
be made out; it is scarcely possible, however, not to wish success to
the remora.