ELECTRICAL EELS.

selves by repeated attacks on the intruders. Duringa long time they seem to prove victorious. Severalhorses sink beneath the violence of these invisiblestrokes which they receive from all sides, and,stunned by the frequency and force of the electricshocks, disappear under the water. Others panting,with mane erect and haggard eyes, raise themselvesand endeavour to escape. They are driven back bythe Indians into the middle of the water, so that onlya few regain the shore, stumbling at every step.These stretch themselves on the sand exhausted withfatigue, and their limbs benumbed by the electricshocks of the gymnoti. The eels being four, five, oreven six feet long, press themselves against the belliesof the horses, and in so doing give a shock of con-siderable extent; not in one point merely, as whenwe receive a shock from the jar of an electrifyingmachine. The horses are probably not killed by thegymnoti, but only stunned. They are drowned,from the impossibility of rising amid the struggle

between'the other horses and the eels." We had little doubt but that the fishing would

end by the death of all the animals engaged; but bydegrees the fierceness of the combat diminished, andthe wearied gymnoti dispersed. They require a long

rest, and abundant nourishment to restore what theyhave lost of electrical force. The mules and horses

appear less frightened, their manes are no longer0OZQ