embarbascar con caballos

"Fishing eels with nets is very difficult because of the extreme agility with which they dive into the mud, like snakes, We did not want to use barbasco, made with roots of Piscidia erythrinia, Jacquinia armillaris and other species of phylanthus which, chucked into the pond, numbs fish. This would have weakened the eel. The Indians decided to fish with their horses, embarbascar con caballos. It was hard to imagine this way of fishing; but soon we saw our guides returning from the savannah with a troop of wild horses and mules. There were about thirty of them, and the forced them into the water.

The extraordinary noise made by the stamping of the horses made the fish jump out of the mud and attack. these livid, yellow eels, like great water snakes, swam on the water's surface and squeeze under the bellies of the horses and mules. A fight between such different animals is a picturesque scene. With harpoons and long pointed reeds the Indians tightly circled the pond; some climbed trees whose branches hung over the water's surface. Screaming and prodding with their reeds they stopped the horses leaving the pond. The eels, dazed by the noise, defended themselves with their electrical charges. For a while it seemed they might win. Several horses collapsed from the shocks received on their most vital organs, and drowned under the water. Others, panting, their manes erect, their eyes anguished, stood up and tried to escape the storm surprising them in the water. They were pushed back by the Indians, but a few managed to escape to the bank, stumbling at each step, falling on to the sand exhausted and numbed from the electric shocks.

In less that two minutes two horses had drowned. The eel is about 5 feet long and presses all its length along the belly of the horse, giving it electric shocks. They attack the heart, intestines and the _plexus coeliacus_ of the abdominal nerves. It is obvious that the shock felt my the horse is worse than that felt by a man touched on one small part. But the horses were probably not killed, just stunned. They drowned because they could not escape from among the other horses and eels.

We were sure that they fishing would end with the death of all the animals used. But gradually the violence of the unequal combat died down, and the tired eels dispersed. They need a long rest and plenty of food to recuperate  the lost galvanic energy. The mules and horses seemed less frightened; their manes did not stand on end, and their eyes seemed less terrified. The ells timidly approached the shore of the marshy pond where we fished them with harpoons tied to long strings. While the string is dry the indians do not feel any shocks. In a few minutes we had five huge eels, only slightly wounded. Later, more were caught."

- Alexander von Humbolt




Also, remember this fucking thing? I finished it around this date two years ago.

Well I just fucking finished it again, we will see if this one actually launches or just dies on the pad.