dangerous a couple of weeks later, and that
in a "school" of pink rock bream numbering many hundreds some may have
their poison highly developed, others in but a minor degree, whilst many
may be absolutely free from the taint. In the year 1889 the crew of a
large German ship anchored in one of the Marshall Islands caught some
very large and handsome fish of the bream kind, and the resident natives
pronounced them "good." Three or four days later some more were taken,
and the cook did not trouble to ask native opinion. The result was that
eight or nine men were taken seriously ill, and for some time the lives
of several were despaired of. Two of them had not recovered the use
of their hands and feet at the end of ten weeks, and their faces,
especially the eyes and mouth, seemed to be permanently, though slightly
distorted. All the men agreed in one particular, that at midday they
suffered most--agonising cramps, accompanied by shooting pains in the
head and continuous vomiting to the point of exhaustion, these symptoms
being very pronounced during the first week or eight days after the fish
had been eaten.

That kind-hearted and unfortunate officer, Commodore J. G. Goodenough,
took an interest in the poisonous and stinging fish of the Pacific
Islands, and one day showed me, preserved in spirits of wine, a
specimen of the dreaded _no'u_ fish of the Hervey Group--one of the most
repulsive-looking creatures it is possible to imagine out of a child's
fairy book. The deadly poison which this fish ejects is contained in a
series of sacs at the base of the spines, and the commodore intended to
submit it to an analyist. By a strange coincidence this gallant seaman
a few months afterwards died from the effects of a poisoned arrow shot
into his side by the natives of Nukapu, one of the Santa Cruz group of
islands.

This _no'u_ however, which is the _nofu_ of the Samoans, and is widely
known throughout Polynesia, and Melanesia under different names, does
not disguise its deadly character under a beautiful exterior like the
stinging fish of Micronesia, which I have described above. The
_nofu_ which is also met with on the coasts of Australia, is a devil
undisguised, and belongs to the angler family. Like the octopus or the
death-adder (_Acanthopis antarctica_) of Australia, he can assimilate
his colour to his environment. His hideous wrinkled head, with his
staring goggle eyes, are often covered with fine wavy seaweed, which in
f