Travels in the Mogul Empire (Bernier) 23.8

23.8

We caught four-and-twenty with our hands, and observed that out of the mouth of every one issued a bladder, like that of a carp, which was full of air and of a reddish colour at the end. I easily conceived that it was this bladder which prevented the fish from sinking, but could never understand why it thus protruded, unless it were that having been long and closely pursued by the dolphins, they made such violent efforts to escape, that the bladder swelled, became red, and was forced out of the mouth. I have recounted this circumstance to a hundred sailors, whom I found incredulous; with the exception, indeed, of a Dutch pilot, who informed me that, sailing in a large vessel along the coasts of China, his attention was arrested by a similar appearance, and that putting out their boat they caught, as we did, with only their hands, many of the fish.