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CURIOUS CREATURES. 255
THE DOG-FISH AND RAY.
Olaus Magnus writes of " The cruelty of some Fish,
and the kindness of others. There is a fish of the kind
of Sea-Dogfish, called Boloma, in Italian, and in Norway,
Haafisck, that will set upon a man swimming in the
Salt- Waters, so greedily, in Troops, unawares, that he
will sink a man to the bottome, not only by his biting,
but also by his weight ; and he will eat his more tender
parts, as his nostrils, fingers, &c., until such time as the
Ray come to revenge these injuries ; which runs thorow
the Waters armed with her natural fins, and with some
violence drives away these fish that set upon the drown'd
man, and doth what he can to urge him to swim out.
And he also keeps the man, until such time as his spirit
being quite gone ; and after some days, as the Sea
naturally purgeth itself, he is cast up. This miserable
spectacle is seen on the Coasts of Norway when men
go to wash themselves, namely, strangers and Marriners
that are ignorant of the dangers, leap out of their ships
into the sea. For these Dogfish, or Boloma, lie hid
under the ships riding at Anchor as Water Rams, that
they may catch men, their malicious natures stirring