The greatest bustle and animation
prevailed, and there were people and things to see and observe in
endless variety. The fish-market was full of finny monsters of the
deep, all new and strange to us, whose odd Brazilian names would
convey to a stranger but little idea of the fish themselves. There was
an enormous rockfish, weighing about 300 pounds, with hideous face and
shiny back and fins; there were large ray, and skate, and
cuttle-fish--the _pieuvre_ of Victor Hugo's 'Travailleurs de la
Mer'--besides baskets full of the large prawns for which the coast is
famous, eight or ten inches long, and with antennae of twelve or
fourteen inches in length. They make up in size for want of quality,
for they are insipid and tasteless, though, being tender, they make
excellent curry. The oysters, on the other hand, are particularly
small, but of the most delicious flavour. They are brought from a
park, higher up the bay, where, as I have said, they grow on posts and
the branches of the mangrove-tree, which hang down into the water. We
also saw a large quantity of fine mackerel, a good many turtle and
porpoises, and a few hammer-headed sharks. The latter are very curious
creatures, not unlike an ordinary shark, but with a remarkable
hammer-shaped projection on either side of their noses for which it is
difficult to imagine a use.
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