gat.d the iieerfma-n, who'did not want-fenfe, and was-a-iiiher»-
man by profeffion, why hre had ordered the Paklara to be kil--
]ed, and what harm it had done he' ;anfevered, without hefita-
tion, that the Paklara ufed to take hold o f the rudder with his-
tteth, and retarded the cob rife o f the barb fo fenflbily, that-
.not only he,, but every man who-,fat at the-helm felt- it there:
without feeing it. He added, that many a time he hirpfelf had-
catehed the klarif in the fa il, and .had "frequently killed and
eat it. That i f waS often’ ’ijnet with in -the-Waters of LiJ'a.-
That in iliape it refembled a conger x-el, and its - length did not
ufually exceed a foot and a half.- That i f I-hatJiarnind-tofée,,
and catch- one of them,- I needed only to.go in atljfliing.boat, J a i
the warm feaion,- between the iflatids;-’o f Leiina apri Liffi,.
where,-he had never failed to meet with them eye,p-yyeiar. I willi
not deiire you to believe .every-: thing; my jplot-.feid . .hut; confefs -
that I flrould be very glad to-fee the Pài/ara -when.it had taken•
hold of the rudder o f a back under feil. | The wonderfuhftrenOsthi
of the mufc-les qf feme little marine-animals,.-fuch as the Lepa*
dt s,. that ifo-.ohftinately reiift any ^attempt to difengage¡them;from:
their rooks ; the ftroke;proceeding - with .fuch rapidity , from the
Tcrpedo, known at Veniee-by the najne' o f ■pefee- tremola, ;and .in-
thevfea o f Dalmatia by that o f Prnak ; the vigour ihewn by the
Dentici in their convulfive motions even when out of their own
element; not .to, menti.n the larger âilï, fuch as, Tunny,
Dolphins, &c. give me ground to fhfpeéf, that, i f all-that the
ancients wrote concerning the Remora be not juil literally true,
it is not altogether falfe. It is certainly a thing worthy o f feme
. fefledticn, that .Pliny fpeaks fo-diffufely concerning this phenomenon,.
as of a known fa it that could not be called in quef-
•tion. The “Greeks, al fo adopted thé notion o f this extravagant
faculty, by fuperilitioufly hanging the Remora about women
-with child, to prevent abortion. I am not, however, fo ready
To credit thefe extravagancies, or in the leaft perfuaded o f the
wonderful retarding force of this little fifh-; and think it fuffi.r
cient to believe that the force o f the Paklara may be felt at the
rudder o f a fmall bark, without troubling myfelf further about
the Remora. .. . ; , ,
The Remora o f ,the ancients, and the Paklara qf our days, have
this remarkable difference, i.hqt thq. fkft ,is;valmofl: always, de-
fcribed as o f the teilaceous kind, and the fecon J is o f the, genus
o f the Mura nee.
Adieu, .my moft eilcemed friend, and .pray Heaven to grant .me
Jong tjoufn-iea, and goqd health..
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oils a jb -oO edT .noiy