MONSIEUR VIOLET (FISCLE PART-IV) - FREDERICK MARRYAT (books to read this summer txt) 📗

Of

Cases Which Are Known And Spoken Of Must Be But A Fraction Of Those Who

Have Disappeared without Leaving Behind The Smallest Clue Of Their

Former Existence And Unhappy Fate, The Loss Of Human Life Within The

Last Four Or Five Years Must Have Been Awful.

 

 

 

Besides The Alligator And The Cawana, There Are In these Rivers Many

Other Destructive Animals Of A Terrible Appearance, Such As The Devil

Jack Diamond Fish, The Saw Fish, The Horn Fish, And, Above All, The Much

Dreaded gar. The First Of These Is Often Taken In summer In the Lakes

And Bayous, Which, Deprived of Water For A Season, Are Transformed into

Pastures; These Lakes, However, Have Always A Channel Or Deeper Part,

And There The Devil Jack Diamond Has Been Caught, Weighing Four Hundred

Pounds And Upwards.

 

 

 

The Saw Fish Is Peculiar To The Mississippi And Its Tributaries, And

Varies In length From Four To Eight Feet. The Horn Fish Is Four Feet

Long, With A Bony Substance On His Upper Jaw, Strong, Curved, And One

Foot Long, Which He Employs To Attack Horses, Oxen, And Even Alligators,

When Pressed by Hunger. But The Gar Fish Is The Most Terrible Among The

American Ichthyology, And A Louisiana Writer Describes It In the

Following Manner:--

 

 

 

"Of The Gar Fish There Are Numerous Varieties. The Alligator Gar Is

Sometimes Ten Feet Long, And Is Voracious, Fierce, And Formidable, Even

To The Human Species. Its Dart In rapidity Equals The Flight Of A Bird;

Its Mouth Is Long, Round, And Pointed, Thick Set With Sharp Teeth; Its

Body Is Covered with Scales So Hard As To Be Impenetrable By A

Rifle-Bullet, And Which, When Dry, Answers The Purposes Of A Flint In

Striking Fire From Steel; Its Weight Is From Fifty To Four Hundred

Pounds, And Its Appearance Is Hideous; It Is, In fact, The Shark Of

Rivers, But More Terrible Than The Shark Of The Sea, And Is Considered

Far More Formidable Than The Alligator Himself."

 

 

 

It Is, In fact, A Most Terrible Animal. I Have Seen It More Than Once

Seizing Its Prey, And Dragging It Down With The Rapidity Of An Arrow.

One Day While I Was Residing at Captain Finn'S Upon The Red river, I Saw

One Of These Monsters Enter A Creek Of Transparent Water. Following Him

For Curiosity, I Soon Perceived that He Had Not Left The Deep Water

Without An Inducement, For Just Above Me There Was An Alligator

Devouring an Otter.

 

 

 

As Soon As The Alligator Perceived his Formidable Enemy, He Thought Of

Nothing But Escape To The Shore; He Dropped his Prey And Began To Climb,

But He Was Too Slow For The Gar Fish, Who, With A Single Dart, Closed

Upon It With Extended jaws, And Seized it By The Middle Of The Body. I

Could See Plainly Through The Transparent Water, And Yet I Did Not

Perceive That The Alligator Made The Least Struggle To Escape From The

Deadly Fangs; There Was A Hissing Noise As That Of Shells And Bones

Crushed, And The Gar Fish Left The Creek With His Victim In his Jaws, So

Nearly Severed in two, That The Head And Tail Were Towing On Each

Side Of Him.

 

 

 

Besides These, The Traveller Through Rivers And Bayous Has To Fear Many

Other Enemies Of Less Note, And But Little, If At All, Known To

Naturalists. Among These Is The Mud Vampire, A Kind Of Spider Leech,

With Sixteen Short Paws Round A Body Of The Form And Size Of The Common

Plate; The Centre Of The Animal (Which Is Black In any Other Part Of The

Body) Has A Dark Vermilion Round Spot, From Which Dart A Quantity Of

Black Suckers, One Inch And A Half Long, Through Which They Extract The

Blood Of Animals: And So Rapid Is The Phlebotomy Of This Ugly Reptile,

That Though Not Weighing More Than Two Ounces In its Natural State, A

Few Minutes After It Is Stuck On, It Will Increase To The Size Of A

Beaver Hat, And Weigh Several Pounds.

 

 

 

Thus Leeched in a Large Stream, A Horse Will Often Faint Before He Can

Reach The Opposite Shore, And He Then Becomes A Prey To The Gar Fish; If

The Stream Is But Small And The Animal Is Not Exhausted, He Will Run

Madly To The Shore And Roll To Get Rid Of His Terrible Blood-Sucker,

Which, However, Will Adhere To Him, Till One Or The Other Of Them Dies

From Exhaustion, Or From Repletion. In crossing The Eastern Texas

Bayous, I Used always To Descend From My Horse To Look If The Leeches

Had Stuck; The Belly And The Breast Are The Parts Generally Attacked,

And So Tenacious Are These Mud Vampires, That The Only Means Of Removing

Them Is To Pass The Blade Of A Knife Under Them And Cut Them Off.

 

 

 

But Let Us Leave These Disgusting animals, And Return To The Upland

Woods And Prairies, Where Nature Seems Ever Smiling, And Where The

Flowers, The Birds, And Harmless Quadrupeds Present To The Eye A Lively

And Diversified spectacle. One Of The Prettiest _Coups-D'Oeil_ In the

World Is To Witness The Gambols And Amusements Of A Herd Of Horses, Or A

Flock Of Antelopes. No Kitten Is More Playful Than These Beautiful

Animals, When Grazing Undisturbed in the Prairies; And Yet Those Who,

Like The Indian, Have Time And Opportunity To Investigate, Will Discover

Vices In gregarious Animals Hitherto Attributed solely To Man.

 

 

 

It Would Appear That, Even Among Animals, Where There Is A Society,

There Is A Tyrant And Paria. On Board Vessels, In a School, Or Any

Where, If Man Is Confined in space, There Will Always Be Some One

Lording Over The Others, Either By His Mere Brutal Strength Or By His

Character; And, As A Consequence, There Is Also Another, Who Is Spurned,

Kicked, And Beaten By His Companions, A Poor Outcast, Whom Everybody

Delights In insulting and Trampling Upon; It Is The Same Among

Gregarious Brutes. Take A Flock Of Buffaloes Or Horses, Or Of Antelopes;

The First Glance Is Always Sufficient To Detect The Two Contrasts. Two

Of The Animals Will Stand Apart From The Herd, One Proudly Looking

About, The Other Timid And Cast Down; And Every Minute Some Will Leave

Their Grazing, Go And Show Submission, And Give A Caress To The One, And

A Kick Or A Bite To The Other.

 

 

 

Such Scenes I Have Often Observed, And I Have Also Witnessed the

Consequence, Which Is, That The Outcast Eventually Commits Suicide,

Another Crime Supposed to Be Practised only By Reasoning Creatures Like

Ourselves. I Have Seen Horses, When Tired of Their Prairie Life, Walk

Round And Round Large Trees, As If To Ascertain The Degree Of Hardness

Required; They Have Then Measured their Distance, And Darting With

Furious Speed against It, Fractured their Skull, And Thus Got Rid Of

Life And Oppression.

 

 

 

I Remember A Particular Instance; It Was At The Settlement. I Was Yet A

Boy, And During The Hotter Hours Of The Day, I Used to Take My Books And

Go With One Of The Missionaries To Study Near A Torrent, Under The Cool

Shade Of A Magnolia.¸

 

 

 

All The Trees Around Us Were Filled with Numerous Republics Of

Squirrels, Scampering and Jumping From Branch To Branch, And, Forgetful

Of Everything Else, We Would Sometimes Watch Their Sport For Hours

Together. Among Them We Had Remarked one, Who Kept Solitary Between The

Stems Of An Absynth Shrub, Not Ten Yards From Our Usual Station. There

He Would Lie Motionless For Hours Basking In the Sun, Till Some Other

Squirrels Would Perceive Him. Then They Would Jump Upon Him, Biting and

Scratching Till They Were Tired, And The Poor Animal Would Offer No

Resistance, And Only Give Way To His Grief By Plaintive Cries.

 

 

 

At This Sight, The Good Padre Did Not Lose The Opportunity To Inculcate

A Lesson, And After He Had Finished speaking, He Would Strike His Hands

Together To Terrify The Assailants.

 

 

 

"Yes," Observed i, Using His Own Words, "It Is Nature."

 

 

 

"Alas! No," He Would Reply; "'Tis Too Horrible To Be Nature; It Is Only

One Of The Numerous Evils Generated from Society." The Padre Was A Great

Philosopher, And He Was Right.

 

 

 

One Day, While We Were Watching This Paria Of A Squirrel, We Detected a

Young One Slowly Creeping Through The Adjoining Shrubs; He Had In his

Mouth A Ripe Fruit, A Parcimon, If I Remember Right. At Every Moment He

Would Stop And Look As If He Were Watched, Just As If He Feared

Detection. At Last He Arrived near The Paria, And Deposited before Him

His Offering To Misery And Old Age.

 

 

 

We Watched this Spectacle With Feelings Which I Could Not Describe;

There Was Such A Show Of Meek Gratitude In the One And Happiness In the

Other, Just As If He Enjoyed his Good Action. They Were, However,

Perceived by The Other Squirrels, Who Sprang By Dozens Upon Them; The

Young One With Two Bounds Escaped, The Other Submitted to His Fate. I

Rose, All The Squirrels Vanished except The Victim; But That Time,

Contrary To His Habits, He Left The Shrub And Slowly Advanced to The

Bank Of The River, And Ascended a Tree. A Minute Afterwards We Observed

Him At The Very Extremity Of A Branch Projecting Over The Rapid Waters,

And We Heard His Plaintive Shriek. It Was His Farewell To Life And

Misery; He Leaped into The Middle Of The Current, Which In a Moment

Carried him To The Shallow Water A Little Below.

 

 

 

In Spite Of His Old Age, The Padre Waded into The Stream And Rescued

The Suicide. I Took It Home With Me, Fed it Well, And In a Short Time

Its Hair Had Grown Again Thick And Glossy. Although Left Quite Free, The

Poor Animal Never Attempted to Escape To The Woods, And He Had Become So

Tame, That Every Time I Mounted my Horse, He Would Jump Upon Me And

Accompany Me On My Distant Excursions. Eight Or Ten Months Afterwards He

Was Killed by A Rattle-Snake, Who Surprised him Sleeping Upon My

Blanket, During One Of Our Encampments.

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Publication Date: 08-14-2014

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