{"collection":"philosophy-ethics","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_50944/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_50944","id":"gutenberg_50944","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/50944","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Nature/Gardening/Animals","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Sports/Hobbies","Fishing"],"text":"Transcriber\u2019s Note\n\nWhen italics were used in the original book, the corresponding text has\nbeen surrounded by _underscores_. Some corrections have been made to the\nprinted text. These are listed in a second transcriber\u2019s note at the end\nof the text.\n\n\n\n\n                               SALMONIA:\n\n                                   OR\n\n                          DAYS OF FLY FISHING.\n\n                                   IN\n\n                       A SERIES OF CONVERSATIONS.\n\n                                  WITH\n\n             SOME ACCOUNT OF THE HABITS OF FISHES BELONGING\n                          TO THE GENUS SALMO.\n\n                             BY AN ANGLER.\n\n\n          \u2014\u2014\u201cEquidem credo quia sit divinitus illis Ingenium.\u201d\n\n\n             FIRST AMERICAN FROM THE SECOND LONDON EDITION.\n\n\n\n\n                             PHILADELPHIA:\n                     CAREY AND LEA\u2014CHESNUT STREET.\n                                ........\n                                 1832.\n\n\n                      E. MERRIAM AND CO. PRINTERS,\n                           Brookfield, Mass.\n\n\n\n\n                                   TO\n\n                           WILLIAM BABINGTON,\n\n                              M.D. F.R.S.\n\n                   THESE CONVERSATIONS ARE DEDICATED,\n\n                             IN REMEMBRANCE\n\n                 OF SOME DELIGHTFUL DAYS PASSED IN HIS\n\n                                SOCIETY,\n\n                            AND IN GRATITUDE\n\n                   FOR AN UNINTERRUPTED FRIENDSHIP OF\n\n                                   A\n\n                         QUARTER OF A CENTURY.\n\n\n\n\n                                PREFACE.\n\n\nTHESE pages formed the occupation of the Author during some months of\nsevere and dangerous illness, when he was wholly incapable of attending\nto more useful studies, or of following more serious pursuits. They\nconstituted his amusement in many hours, which otherwise would have been\nunoccupied and tedious; and they are published in the hope, that they\nmay possess an interest for those persons, who derive pleasure from the\nsimplest and most attainable kind of rural sports, and who practice the\nart, or patronize the objects of contemplation, of the Philosophical\nAngler.\n\nThe conversational manner and discursive style were chosen as best\nsuited to the state of health of the Author, who was incapable of\nconsiderable efforts and long-continued attention; and he could not but\nhave in mind a model, which has fully proved the utility and popularity\nof this method of treating the subject\u2014_The Complete Angler_, by Walton\nand Cotton.\n\nThe characters, chosen to support these Conversations, are\u2014HALIEUS, who\nis supposed to be an accomplished fly fisher; ORNITHER, who is to be\nregarded as a gentleman generally fond of the sports of the field,\nthough not a finished master of the art of angling; POIETES, who is to\nbe considered as an enthusiastic lover of nature, and partially\nacquainted with the mysteries of fly fishing; and PHYSICUS, who is\ndescribed uninitiated as an angler, but as a person fond of inquiries in\nnatural history and philosophy.\n\nThese personages are of course imaginary, though the sentiments\nattributed to them, the Author may sometimes have gained from\nrecollections of real conversations with friends, from whose society\nmuch of the happiness of his early life has been derived; and in the\nportrait of the character of HALIEUS, given in the last dialogue, a\nlikeness, he thinks, will not fail to be recognized to that of the\ncharacter of a most estimable Physician, ardently beloved by his\nfriends, and esteemed and venerated by the public.\n\nHe has limited his description of fish to the varieties of the Salmo\nmost usual in the fresh waters of Europe, and which may be defined as a\ngenus having eight fins, the one above the tail fleshy, and without\nspines.\n\nIt is to be hoped M. Cuvier\u2019s new work on fishes will supply accurate\ninformation on this genus, which is still very imperfectly known.\n\n    _Laybach, Illyria,\n      Sep. 30, 1828._\n\n\n\n\n                               CONTENTS.\n\n\n                               FIRST DAY.\n\nVindication of fly-fishing\u2014Poem in praise of Walton\u2014Distinguished\n  anglers\u2014Fishing, a natural, philosophical, and scientific\n  pursuit\u2014Scenery\u2014Fish possessed of little sensibility\u2014Praise of\n  fly-fishing\u2014Field-sports related to natural history\u2014Proposed fishing\n  excursion\u2014Comparison of a river to human life\n\n                                                              Page 13-29\n\n                              SECOND DAY.\n\nTrout fishing\u2014Flies\u2014May-fly and gray drake\u2014Alder fly\u2014Object of\n  fishing\u2014Escape of a fish after being hooked\u2014Sense of smelling in\n  fish\u2014Baits\u2014The natural fly\u2014Pricked trout\u2014Local habits of animals\u2014Trout\n  of the Colne\u2014Throwing the fly\u2014Trout described\u2014Spots on\n  trout\u2014Perch\u2014Anecdote\u2014Haunts of trout\u2014Evening fishing\u2014Management of a\n  fish when hooked\u2014Flies of different seasons\u2014Fishing season\u2014Difference\n  of the gillaroo from trout\u2014Diminution of flies in some rivers\u2014Gillaroo\n  trout found only in Ireland\u2014Par or samlet\u2014Other varieties of trout\u2014Dr.\n  Darwin\u2014Experiment on trout by Mr. Tonkin of Polgaron\u2014Cause of the\n  varieties of trout\u2014Mule fish\u2014Crossing the breed\u2014Impregnation of the\n  ova of fish\u2014Experiment of Mr. Jacobi on this point\u2014Causes that hasten\n  or retard the maturity of the ova\u2014Why fish approach shallows to\n  spawn\u2014Admiration of the designs of Providence\n\n                                                                   30-91\n\n                               THIRD DAY.\n\nMorning fishing\u2014Effect of shadows in fishing\u2014Anecdotes illustrating the\n  effect of sunshine\u2014Swallows\n\n                                                                   92-98\n\n                              FOURTH DAY.\n\nScenery\u2014Loch Maree\u2014Eagles\u2014The inn\u2014The river Ewe\u2014Sea trout\u2014Poaching\n  highlander\u2014Salmon\u2014Cause of fish being drowned\u2014Salmon\u2014Death by\n  suffocation\u2014Nature of pain\u2014Instances of death without pain\u2014Sea\n  trout\u2014Crimping\u2014The dinner\u2014The double snipe\u2014Value of temperance in\n  eating and drinking\u2014Wading in boots a bad practice\u2014Salmon and trout\n  compared\u2014Varieties of salmon\n\n                                                                  99-132\n\n                               FIFTH DAY.\n\nSalmon fishing\u2014Produce of a morning\u2019s sport\u2014Rivers of Norway and\n  Sweden\u2014English rivers\u2014Salmon rivers\u2014Scotch rivers\u2014Irish rivers\u2014The\n  Sabbath day\u2014Instincts\u2014Instincts to animals what revelation is to man\n\n                                                                 133-170\n\n                               SIXTH DAY.\n\nFlies\u2014Hooks\u2014Salmon of the Ewe\u2014Sense of smelling in animals\u2014Salmon\n  fishing with pars\u2014Food of Salmon\u2014Indications of rainy weather\u2014Omens\n\n                                                                 171-191\n\n                              SEVENTH DAY.\n\nGrayling\u2014Anatomy of the grayling\u2014Grayling fishing\u2014Scenery\u2014Habits of the\n  grayling\u2014Grayling rivers\u2014Baits for grayling\u2014Generation of\n  eels\u2014Migration of eels\u2014The conger eel\n\n                                                                 192-225\n\n                              EIGHTH DAY.\n\nScenery\u2014Natural history\u2014Origin of the common house fly\u2014Bees and ants\u2014The\n  libellula\u2014Ephemer\u00e6\u2014Michaelmas daisy\u2014Humble bee\u2014Thoughts on death,\n  suggested by this insect\n\n                                                                 226-243\n\n                               NINTH DAY.\n\nFishing for hucho\u2014Hereditary instinct\u2014Causes of variety in trout\u2014Salmo\n  hucho\u2014Taking a salmo hucho\u2014Resemblance of the hucho to trout\u2014Interior\n  of the hucho examined\u2014Habits of the hucho\u2014Pleasure of\n  angling\u2014Cockney fishermen\u2014Lame boy and his boats\u2014Amusements\u2014Sea\n  serpent\u2014Kraken\u2014Mermaid\u2014Austrian method of conveying fish\u2014Education\u2014The\n  press\u2014Effect of continuous fishing\u2014Difference of rivers\u2014Angling\n  for frogs\u2014Water ouzel\u2014Umbla\u2014Laveret\u2014Organization of the\n  hucho\u2014Craniology\u2014Fat and flesh of the hucho\u2014Naturalization of fish\u2014The\n  Traun\u2014Colour of water\u2014Colour of the ocean\u2014Waterfalls\u2014Reflections\u2014The\n  late Mr. B. West\n\n                                                                 245-308\n\n                           ADDITIONAL NOTES.\n\nEstimable mention of Dr. Wollaston\u2014On the supposed cross breed of the\n  par\u2014On the scolopax\n\n                                                                     309\n\n\n\n\n                               SALMONIA:\n\n                                  OR,\n\n                          DAYS OF FLY FISHING.\n\n\n\n\n                               FIRST DAY.\n\n                   HALIEUS\u2014POIETES\u2014PHYSICUS\u2014ORNITHER.\n\n                  INTRODUCTORY CONVERSATION\u2014SYMPOSIAC.\n\n\n                            _Scene, London._\n\nPHYS.\u2014HALIEUS, I dare say you know where this excellent trout was\ncaught: I never ate a better fish of the kind.\n\nHAL.\u2014I ought to know, as it was this morning in the waters of the\nWandle, not ten miles from the place where we sit, and it is through my\nmeans that you see it at table.\n\nPHYS.\u2014Of your own catching?\n\nHAL.\u2014Yes, with the artificial fly.\n\nPHYS.\u2014I admire the fish, but I cannot admire the art by which it was\ntaken; and I wonder how a man of your active mind and enthusiastic\ncharacter can enjoy what appears to me a stupid and melancholy\noccupation.\n\nHAL.\u2014I might as well wonder in my turn, that a man of your discursive\nimagination and disposition to contemplation should not admire this\noccupation, and that you should venture to call it either stupid or\nmelancholy.\n\nPHYS.\u2014I have at least the authority of a great moralist, Johnson, for\nits folly.\n\nHAL.\u2014I will allow no man, however great a philosopher, or moralist, to\nabuse an occupation he has not tried; and as well as I remember, this\nsame illustrious person praised the book and the character of the great\nPatriarch of Anglers, Isaac Walton.\n\nPHYS.\u2014There is another celebrated man, however, who has abused this your\npatriarch, Lord Byron, and that in terms not very qualified. He calls\nhim, as well as I can recollect, \u201cA quaint old cruel coxcomb.\u201d[1] I must\nsay, a practice of this great fisherman, where he recommends you to pass\nthe hook through the body of a frog with care, as though you loved him,\nin order to keep him alive longer, cannot but be considered as cruel.\n\nHAL.\u2014I do not justify either the expression or the practice of Walton in\nthis instance; but remember, _I_ fish only with inanimate baits, or\nimitations of them, and I will not exhume or expose the ashes of the\ndead, nor vindicate the memory of Walton, at the expense of Byron, who,\nlike Johnson, was no fisherman: but the moral and religious habits of\nWalton, his simplicity of manners, and his well-spent life, exonerate\nhim from the charge of cruelty; and the book of a coxcomb would not have\nbeen so great a favourite with most persons of refined taste. A noble\nlady, long distinguished at court for pre-eminent beauty and grace, and\nwhose mind possesses undying charms, has written some lines in my copy\nof Walton, which, if you will allow me, I will repeat to you.\n\n              Albeit, gentle Angler, I\n                Delight not in thy trade,\n              Yet in thy pages there doth lie\n              So much of quaint simplicity,\n                  So much of mind,\n                  Of such good kind,\n                That none need be afraid,\n              Caught by thy cunning bait, this book,\n              To be ensnared on thy hook.\n\n              Gladly from thee, I\u2019m lured to bear\n                With things that seem\u2019d most vile before,\n              For thou didst on poor subjects rear\n              Matter the wisest sage might hear.\n                  And with a grace,\n                  That doth efface\n                More labour\u2019d works, thy simple lore\n              Can teach us that thy skilful _lines_,\n              More than the scaly brood _confines_.\n\n              Our hearts and senses, too, we see,\n                Rise quickly at thy master hand,\n              And, ready to be caught by thee,\n              Are lured to virtue willingly.\n                  Content and peace,\n                  With health and ease,\n                Walk by thy side. At thy command\n              We bid adieu to worldly care,\n              And joy in gifts that all may share.\n\n              Gladly, with thee, I pace along,\n                And of sweet fancies dream;\n              Waiting till some inspired song,\n              Within my memory cherish\u2019d long,\n                  Comes fairer forth,\n                  With more of worth;\n                Because that time upon its stream\n              Feathers and chaff will bear away,\n              But give to gems a brighter ray.\n\n                                                             C. C. 1812.\n\nAnd though the charming and intellectual author of this poem is not an\nangler herself, yet I can quote the example of her lovely daughters to\nvindicate fly fishing from the charge of cruelty, and to prove that the\nmost delicate and refined minds can take pleasure in this innocent\namusement. One of these young ladies, I am told, is a most accomplished\nand skilful salmon fisher. And if you require a poetical authority\nagainst that of Lord Byron, I mention the philosophical and powerful\npoet of the lakes, and the author of\n\n                    \u201cAn Orphic tale indeed,\n            A tale divine, of high and passionate thoughts,\n            To their own music chanted;\u201d[2]\n\nwho is a lover both of fly fishing and fly fishermen. Gay\u2019s poem you\nknow, and his passionate fondness for the amusement, which was his\nprincipal occupation in the summer at Amesbury; and the late excellent\nJohn Tobin, author of the Honey Moon, was an ardent angler.\n\nPHYS.\u2014I am satisfied with your poetical authorities.\n\nHAL.\u2014Nay, I can find authorities of all kinds, statesmen, heroes, and\nphilosophers; I can go back to Trajan, who was fond of angling. Nelson\nwas[3] a good fly fisher, and as a proof of his passion for it,\ncontinued the pursuit even with his left hand. Dr. Paley was ardently\nattached to this amusement; so much so, that when the Bishop of Durham\ninquired of him, when one of his most important works would be finished,\nhe said, with great simplicity and good humour, \u201cMy Lord, I shall work\nsteadily at it when the fly fishing season is over,\u201d as if this were a\nbusiness of his life. And I am rather reserved in introducing living\ncharacters, or I could give a list of the highest names of Britain,\nbelonging to modern times, in science, letters, arts, and arms, who are\nornaments of this fraternity, to use the expression borrowed from the\nfreemasonry of our forefathers.\n\nPHYS.\u2014I do not find much difficulty in understanding why warriors, and\neven statesmen, fishers of men, many of whom I have known particularly\nfond of hunting and shooting, should likewise be attached to angling;\nbut I own, I am at a loss to find reasons for a love of this pursuit\namongst philosophers and poets.\n\nHAL.\u2014The search after food is an instinct belonging to our nature; and\nfrom the savage in his rudest and most primitive state, who destroys a\npiece of game, or a fish, with a club or spear, to man in the most\ncultivated state of society, who employs artifice, machinery, and the\nresources of various other animals, to secure his object, the origin of\nthe pleasure is similar, and its object the same: but that kind of it\nrequiring most art may be said to characterize man in his highest or\nintellectual state; and the fisher for salmon and trout with the fly\nemploys not only machinery to assist his physical powers, but applies\nsagacity to conquer difficulties; and the pleasure derived from\ningenious resources and devices, as well as from active pursuit, belongs\nto this amusement. Then as to its philosophical tendency, it is a\npursuit of moral discipline, requiring patience, forbearance, and\ncommand of temper. As connected with natural science, it may be vaunted\nas demanding a knowledge of the habits of a considerable tribe of\ncreated beings\u2014fishes, and the animals that they prey upon, and an\nacquaintance with the signs and tokens of the weather and its changes,\nthe nature of waters, and of the atmosphere. As to its poetical\nrelations, it carries us into the most wild and beautiful scenery of\nnature; amongst the mountain lakes, and the clear and lovely streams\nthat gush from the higher ranges of elevated hills, or that make their\nway through the cavities of calcareous strata. How delightful in the\nearly spring, after the dull and tedious time of winter, when the frosts\ndisappear and the sunshine warms the earth and waters, to wander forth\nby some clear stream, to see the leaf bursting from the purple bud, to\nscent the odours of the bank perfumed by the violet, and enamelled, as\nit were, with the primrose and the daisy; to wander upon the fresh turf\nbelow the shade of trees, whose bright blossoms are filled with the\nmusic of the bee; and on the surface of the waters to view the gaudy\nflies sparkling like animated gems in the sunbeams, whilst the bright\nand beautiful trout is watching them from below; to hear the twittering\nof the water-birds, who, alarmed at your approach, rapidly hide\nthemselves beneath the flowers and leaves of the water-lily; and as the\nseason advances, to find all these objects changed for others of the\nsame kind, but better and brighter, till the swallow and the trout\ncontend as it were for the gaudy May fly, and till in pursuing your\namusement in the calm and balmy evening, you are serenaded by the songs\nof the cheerful thrush and melodious nightingale, performing the offices\nof paternal love, in thickets ornamented with the rose and woodbine.\n\nPHYS.\u2014All these enjoyments might be obtained without the necessity of\ntorturing and destroying an unfortunate animal, that the true lover of\nnature would wish to see happy in a scene of loveliness.\n\nHAL.\u2014If all men were Pythagoreans and professed the Brahmin\u2019s creed, it\nwould undoubtedly be cruel to destroy any form of animated life; but if\nfish are to be eaten, I see no more harm in capturing them by skill and\ningenuity with an artificial fly, than in pulling them out of the water\nby main force with the net; and in general, when taken by the common\nfishermen, fish are permitted to die slowly, and to suffer in the air,\nfrom the want of their natural element; whereas, every good angler, as\nsoon as his fish is landed, either destroys his life immediately, if he\nis wanted for food, or returns him into the water.\n\nPHYS.\u2014But do you think nothing of the torture of the hook, and the fear\nof capture, and the misery of struggling against the powerful rod?\n\nHAL.\u2014I have already admitted the danger of analysing, too closely, the\nmoral character of any of our field sports; yet I think it cannot be\ndoubted that the nervous system of fish, and cold-blooded animals in\ngeneral, is less sensitive than that of warm-blooded animals. The hook\nusually is fixed in the cartilaginous part of the mouth, where there are\nno nerves; and a proof that the sufferings of a hooked fish cannot be\ngreat is found in the circumstance, that though a trout has been hooked\nand played for some minutes, he will often, after his escape with the\nartificial fly in his mouth, take the natural fly, and feed as if\nnothing had happened; having apparently learnt only from the experiment,\nthat the artificial fly is not proper food. And I have caught pikes with\nfour or five hooks in their mouths, and tackle which they had broken\nonly a few minutes before; and the hooks seemed to have had no other\neffect than that of serving as a sort of _sauce piquante_, urging them\nto seize another morsel of the same kind.\n\nPHYS.\u2014Fishes are mute, and cannot plead, even in the way that birds and\nquadrupeds do, their own cause; yet the instances you quote only prove\nthe intense character of their appetites, which seem not so moderate as\nWhiston imagined, in his strange philosophical romance on the Deluge; in\nwhich he supposes, that in the antediluvian world the heat was much\ngreater than in this, and that all terrestrial and aerial animals had\ntheir passions so exalted by this high temperature, that they were lost\nin sin, and destroyed for their crimes; but that fish, living in a\ncooler element, were more correct in their lives, and were therefore\nspared from the destruction of the primitive world. You have proved, by\nyour examples, the intensity of the appetite of hunger in fishes;\nSpalanzani has given us another proof of the violence of a different\nappetite, or instinct, in a cold-blooded animal, that has most of the\nhabits of the genus\u2014the frog; which, in the breeding season, remains\nattached to the female, though a limb, or even his head, is removed from\nthe body.\n\nHAL.\u2014This is likewise in favour of my argument, that the sensibility of\nthis class of animals to physical pain is comparatively small.\n\nPHYS.\u2014The advocates for a favourite pursuit never want sophisms to\ndefend it. I have even heard it asserted, that a hare enjoys being\nhunted. Yet I will allow that fly-fishing, after your vindication,\nappears amongst the least cruel of field-sports;\u2014I can go no farther; as\nI have never thought of trying it, I can say nothing of its\nagreeableness as an amusement, compared with hunting and shooting.\n\nHAL.\u2014I wish that you would allow me to convince you, that for a\ncontemplative man, as you are, and a lover of nature, it is far\nsuperior, more tranquil, more philosophical, and, after the period of\nearly youth, more fitted for a moderately active body and mind,\nrequiring less violent exertion; and, pursued with discretion, affording\nan exercise conducive to health. There is a river, only a few miles off,\nwhere I am sure I could obtain permission for you, and our friend\nPoietes, to fish.\n\nPHYS.\u2014I am open to conviction on all subjects, and have no objection to\nspend one May-day with you in this idle occupation; premising, that you\ntake at least one other companion, who really loves fishing.\n\nHAL.\u2014You, who are so fond of natural history, even should you not be\namused by fishing, will, I am sure, find objects of interest on the\nbanks of the river.\n\nPHYS.\u2014I fear I am not entomologist enough to follow the life of the\nMay-fly, but I shall willingly have my attention directed to its habits.\nIndeed, I have often regretted that sportsmen were not fonder of\nzoology; they have so many opportunities, which other persons do not\npossess, of illustrating the origin and qualities of some of the most\ncurious forms of animated nature; the causes and character of the\nmigrations of animals; their relations to each other, and their place\nand order in the general scheme of the universe. It has always appeared\nto me, that the two great sources of change of place of animals, was the\nproviding of food for themselves, and resting-places and food for their\nyoung. The great supposed migrations of herrings from the poles to the\ntemperate zone have appeared to me to be only the approach of successive\nshoals from deep to shallow water, for the purpose of spawning. The\nmigrations of salmon and trout are evidently for the purpose of\ndepositing their ova, or of finding food after they have spawned.\nSwallows, and bee-eaters, decidedly pursue flies over half the globe;\nthe scolopax or snipe tribe, in like manner, search for worms and\nlarv\u00e6,\u2014flying from those countries where either frost or dryness\nprevents them from boring,\u2014making generally small flights at a time, and\nresting on their travels where they find food. And a journey from\nEngland to Africa is no more for an animal that can fly, with the wind,\none hundred miles in an hour, than a journey for a Londoner to his seat\nin a distant province. And the migrations of smaller fishes or birds\nalways occasion the migration of larger ones, that prey on them. Thus,\nthe seal follows the salmon, in summer, to the mouths of rivers; the\nhake follows the herring and pilchard; hawks are seen in great\nquantities, in the month of May, coming into the east of Europe, after\nquails and land-rails; and locusts are followed by numerous birds, that,\nfortunately for the agriculturist, make them their prey.\n\nHAL.\u2014It is not possible to follow the amusement of angling, without\nhaving your attention often directed to the modes of life of fishes,\ninsects, and birds, and many curious and interesting facts, as it were,\nforced upon your observation. I consider you (_Physicus_), as pledged to\nmake one of our fishing party; and I hope, in a few days, to give you an\ninvitation to meet a few worthy friends on the banks of the Colne. And\nyou (_Poietes_), who, I know, are an initiated disciple of Walton\u2019s\nschool, will, I trust, join us. We will endeavour to secure a fine day;\ntwo hours, in a light carriage with good horses, will carry us to our\nground; and I think I can promise you green meadows, shady trees, the\nsong of the nightingale, and a full and clear river.\n\nPOIET.\u2014This last is, in my opinion, the most poetical object in nature.\nI will not fail to obey your summons. Pliny has, as well as I recollect,\ncompared a river to human life. I have never read the passage in his\nworks, but I have been a hundred times struck with the analogy,\nparticularly amidst mountain scenery. The river, small and clear in its\norigin, gushes forth from rocks, falls into deep glens, and wantons and\nmeanders through a wild and picturesque country, nourishing only the\nuncultivated tree or flower by its dew or spray. In this, its state of\ninfancy and youth, it may be compared to the human mind in which fancy\nand strength of imagination are predominant\u2014it is more beautiful than\nuseful. When the different rills or torrents join, and descend into the\nplain, it becomes slow and stately in its motions; it is applied to move\nmachinery, to irrigate meadows, and to bear upon its bosom the stately\nbarge;\u2014in this mature state, it is deep, strong, and useful. As it flows\non towards the sea, it loses its force and its motion, and at last, as\nit were, becomes lost, and mingled with the mighty abyss of waters.\n\nHAL.\u2014One might pursue the metaphor still further, and say, that in its\norigin\u2014its thundering and foam, when it carries down clay from the bank,\nand becomes impure, it resembles the youthful mind, affected by\ndangerous passions. And the influence of a lake, in calming and clearing\nthe turbid water, may be compared to the effect of reason in more mature\nlife, when the tranquil, deep, cool and unimpassioned mind is freed from\nits fever, its troubles, bubbles, noise and foam. And, above all, the\nsources of a river\u2014which may be considered as belonging to the\natmosphere\u2014and its termination in the ocean, may be regarded as imaging\nthe divine origin of the human mind, and its being ultimately returned\nto, and lost in, the Infinite and Eternal Intelligence from which it\noriginally sprung.\n\n\n\n\n                              SECOND DAY.\n\n                   HALIEUS\u2014POIETES\u2014ORNITHER\u2014PHYSICUS.\n\n                   TROUT FISHING, DENHAM.\u2014MAY, 1810.\n\n\n                               _Morning._\n\nHAL.\u2014I AM delighted to see you, my worthy friends, on the banks of the\nColne; and am happy to be able to say, that my excellent host has not\nonly made you free of the river for this day\u2019s angling, but insists upon\nyour dining with him,\u2014wishes you to try the evening fishing, and the\nfishing to-morrow morning,\u2014and proposes to you, in short, to give up\ntwenty-four hours to the delights of an angler\u2019s May-day.\n\nPOIET.\u2014We are deeply indebted to him; and I hardly know how we can\naccept his offer, without laying ourselves under too great an\nobligation.\n\nHAL.\u2014Fear not: he is as noble minded a man as ever delighted in good\noffices; and so benevolent, that I am sure he will be almost as happy in\nknowing you are amused, as you can be in your sport; and he hopes for an\nadditional satisfaction in the pleasure of your conversation.\n\nPOIET.\u2014So let it be.\n\nHAL.\u2014I will take you to the house; you shall make your bow, and then you\nwill be all free to follow your own fancies. Remember, the dinner hour\nis five; the dressing bell rings at half-past four; be punctual to this\nengagement, from which you will be free at seven.\n\nPOIET.\u2014This is really a very charming villa scene, I may almost say, a\npastoral scene. The meadows have the verdure which even the Londoners\nenjoy as a peculiar feature of the English landscape. The river is\nclear, and has all the beauties of a trout stream, of the larger\nsize,\u2014there rapid, and here still, and there tumbling in foam and fury\nover abrupt dams upon clean gravel, as if pursuing a natural course. And\nthat island with its poplars and willows, and the flies making it their\nsummer paradise, and its little fishing-house, are all in character; and\nif not extremely picturesque, it is at least a very pleasant scene, from\nits verdure and pure waters, for the lovers of our innocent amusement.\n\nHAL.-It is ten o\u2019clock: you may put up your rods, or take rods from the\nhall, for so hospitable is the master of this mansion, that every thing\nis supplied to our hands. And Physicus, as you are the only one of our\nparty ignorant of the art of fly fishing, I will fit you with a rod and\nflies; and let me advise you to begin with a line shorter than your rod,\nand throw at first slowly and without effort, and imitate us as well as\nyou can. As for precepts, they are of little value; practice and\nimitation will make you an angler.\n\nPOIET.\u2014I shall put together my rod, and fish with my own flies. It may\nbe fancy, but I always think I do best with tackle with which I am used\nto fish.\n\nHAL.\u2014You are right; for fancy is always something: and when we believe\nthat we can do things better in a particular way, we really do, by the\ninfluence of imagination, perform them both better and with less effort.\nI agree with moralists, that the standard of virtue should be placed\nhigher than any one can reach; for in trying to rise, man will attain a\nmore excellent state of being than if no effort were made. But to our\nbusiness. As far as the perfection of the material for the angler is\nconcerned, the flies you find on this table are as good as can be made,\nand for this season of the year, there is no great variety on this\nriver. We have had lately some warm days, and though it is but the 18th\nof May, yet I know the May-fly has been out for three or four days, and\nthis is the best period of this destructive season for the fisherman.\nThere are, I observe, many male flies on the high trees, and some\nfemales on the alders.\n\nPHYS.\u2014But I see flies already on the water, which seem of various\ncolors,\u2014brown and gray, and some very pale,\u2014and the trout appear to rise\nat them eagerly.\n\nHAL.\u2014The fly you see is called by fishermen the alder fly, and appears\ngenerally in large quantities before the May-fly. Imitations of this\nfly, and of the green and the gray drake of different shades, are the\nonly ones you will need this morning, though I doubt if the last can be\nmuch used, as the gray drake is not yet on the water in any quantity.\n\nPHYS.\u2014Pray can you give us any account of these curious little animals?\n\nHAL.\u2014We ought to draw upon your stores of science for information on\nthese subjects.\n\nPHYS.\u2014I really know nothing of Entomology, but I am desirous of\nacquiring knowledge.\n\nHAL.\u2014I have made few observations on flies as a philosophical\nnaturalist. What I know I will state at another time. But see, the green\ndrake is descending upon the water, and some are leaving the alders to\nsport in the sunshine, and to enjoy the pleasures of their brilliant,\nthough short existence; and their life, naturally ephemeral, is made one\nof scarcely a moment, by the fishes and birds: that which the swallow or\nthe duck spares is caught by the fish. The fly is new, and in the\nimitation, I recommend the olive tint, or what the Irish call the green\nmonkey. That is, an artificial fly, with a wing of dyed yellow drake\u2019s\nfeather, a body of yellow monkey\u2019s fur, and a small quantity of olive\nmohair for legs. For myself, I shall fish for some time with a large red\nalder fly, and I dare say, with as much success. That is, with a fly\nwith a dark peacock\u2019s harle for body, a red hackle for legs, and wings\nof the land-rail below, and starling above.\n\nPOIET.\u2014The water is quite in motion, what noble fish I see on the feed!\nI never beheld a finer sight, though I have often seen the May-fly on\nwell-stocked waters.\n\nHAL.\u2014This river is most strictly preserved; not a fish has been killed\nhere since last August, and this is the moment when the large fish come\nto the surface, and leave their cad bait search and minnow hunting. But\nI have hardly time to talk; I have hold of a good fish: they take either\nalder or May-fly, and having never been fished for this year, they make\nno distinction, and greedily seize any small object in motion on the\nwater. You see the alder-fly is quite as successful as the May-fly; but\nthere is a fish which has refused it, and because he has been feeding,\nglutton-like, on the May-fly: that is the fifth he has swallowed in a\nminute. Now I shall throw the drake a foot above him. It floats down,\nand he has taken it. A fine fish; I think at least 4lbs. This is the\nlargest fish we have yet seen, but in the deep water still lower down,\nthere are still greater fish. One of 5lbs. I have known taken here, and\nonce a fish a little short only of 6lbs.\n\nPOIET.\u2014I have just landed a fish which I suppose you will consider as a\nsmall one; yet I am tempted to kill him.\n\nHAL.\u2014He is not a fish to kill, throw him back, he is much under 2lbs.,\nand, as I ought to have told you before, we are not allowed to kill any\nfish of less size; and I am sure we shall all have more than we ought to\ncarry away even of this size. Pray put him into the well, or rather give\nhim to the fisherman to turn back into the water.\n\nPOIET.\u2014I cannot say I approve of this manner of fishing: I lose my\nlabour.\n\nHAL.\u2014As the object of your fishing, I hope, is innocent amusement, you\ncan enjoy this, and show your skill in catching the animal; and if every\nfish that took the May-fly were to be killed, there would be an end to\nthe sport in the river, for none would remain for next year.\n\nPHYS.\u2014The number of flies seems to increase as the day advances, and I\nnever saw a more animated water scene: all nature seems alive; even the\nwater-wagtails have joined the attack upon these helpless and lovely\ncreations from the waters.\n\nHAL.\u2014It is now one o\u2019clock; and between twelve and three is the time\nwhen the May-fly rises with most vigour. It is a very warm day, and with\nsuch a quantity of fly, every fish in the river will probably be soon\nfeeding. See, below the wear, there are two or three large trout lately\ncome out; and from the quiet way in which they swallow their prey, and\nfrom the size of the tranquil undulation that follows their rise, I\nsuspect they are the giants of this river. Try if you cannot reach them:\none is near the bank in a convenient place for a throw, for the water is\nsufficiently rough to hide the deception, and these large fish do not\ntake the fly well in calm water, though with natural flies on the hook\nthey might all be raised.\n\nPOIET.\u2014I have him! Alas! he has broken me, and carried away half my\nbottom line. He must have been a fish of 7 or 8lbs. What a dash he made!\nHe carried off my fly by main force.\n\nHAL.\u2014You should have allowed your reel to play and your line to run: you\nheld him too tight.\n\nPOIET.\u2014He was too powerful a fish for my tackle; and even if I had done\nso, would probably have broken me by running amongst the weeds.\n\nHAL.\u2014Let me tell you, my friend, you should never allow a fish to run to\nthe weeds, or to strike across the stream; you should carry him always\ndown stream, keeping his head high, and in the current. If in a weedy\nriver you allow a large fish to run up stream, you are almost sure to\nlose him. There, I have hooked the companion of your lost fish on the\nother side of the stream,\u2014a powerful creature: he tries, you see, to\nmake way to the weeds, but I hold him tight.\n\nPOIET.\u2014I see you are obliged to run with him, and have carried him\nsafely through the weeds.\n\nHAL.\u2014I have him now in the rapids on the shallow, and I have no fear of\nlosing him, unless he strikes the hook out of his mouth.\n\nPOIET.\u2014He springs again and again.\n\nHAL.\u2014He is off; in one of these somersets he detached the steel, and he\nnow leaps to celebrate his escape. We will leave this place, where there\nare more great fish, and return to it after a while, when the alarm\nproduced by our operations has subsided.\n\nPHYS.\u2014That fish take the artificial fly at all is rather surprising to\nme, for in its most perfect form it is but a rude imitation of nature;\nand from the greedy manner in which it is seized, fish, I think, cannot\npossess a refined sense of smell, or any nervous system corresponding to\nthe nasal one in animals that breathe air: no scent can be given to\nwater by an artificial fly, or, at least, none like that of the natural\nfly.\n\nHAL.\u2014The principal use of the nostrils in fishes, I believe, is to\nassist in the propulsion of water through the gills for performing the\noffice of respiration, but I think there are some nerves in these organs\nwhich give fishes a sense of the qualities of the water, or of\nsubstances dissolved in, or diffused through it, similar to our sense of\nsmell, or, perhaps, rather our sense of taste, for there can be no doubt\nthat fishes are attracted by scented pastes and scented worms, which are\nsometimes used by anglers that employ ground-baits; and in old\nangling-books there are usually receipts for attracting fish in this\nmanner, and though the absurdity of many of these prescriptions is\nmanifest, yet I do not think this proves that they are entirely useless,\nfor, upon such principles, all the remedies for diseases in the old\npharmacop\u0153ias would be null.\n\nWith respect to the fly, as it usually touches the stream by a very\nsmall surface, that of the air-bubbles on the fringes on its legs, it\ncan scarcely affect the water so as to give it any power of\ncommunicating smell. And as you have seen a ripple or motion on the\nwater is necessary to deceive fishes; and as they look at the fly from\nbelow, they see distinctly only the legs and body, which, when the\ncolours are like those of the natural fly, may easily deceive them; the\nwings, which are the worst imitated parts of the artificial fly, seldom\nappear to them, except through the different refractive power of the\nmoving water and the atmosphere, and when immersed, they form masses not\nunlike the wings of a drowned fly, or one wetted in rising.\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\nIt is now a quarter of an hour since we left the large pool: let us\nreturn to it; I see the fish are again rising.\n\nPOIET.\u2014I am astonished! It appears to me that the very same fish are\nagain feeding. There are two fish rising nearly in the same spot where\nthey rose before: can they be the same fish?\n\nHAL.\u2014It is very possible. It is not likely that three other fish of that\nsize should occupy the same haunts.\n\nPOIET.\u2014But I thought after a fish had been hooked, he remained sick and\nsulky for some time, feeling his wounds uncomfortable.\n\nHAL.\u2014The fish that I hooked is not rising in the same place, and\ntherefore, probably, was hurt by the hook; but one of these fish seems\nto be the same that carried off your fly, and it is probable that the\nhook only struck him in a part of the mouth where there are no nerves;\nand that he suffered little at the moment, and does not now feel his\nannoyance.\n\nPOIET.\u2014I have seen him take four or five flies: I shall throw over him.\nThere, he rose, but refused the fly. He has at least learnt, from the\nexperiment he has made, to distinguish the natural from the artificial\nfly.\n\nHAL.\u2014This, I think, always happens after a fish has been hooked with an\nartificial fly. He becomes cautious, and is seldom caught that year, at\nleast with the same means in the same pool: but I dare say that fish\nmight be taken with a natural fly; or, what is better, two upon the\nhook.\n\nPOIET.\u2014Pray try him.\n\nHAL.\u2014I am no artist at this kind of angling, but Ornither I know has\nfished in June with the clubs at Stockbridge, where this method of\nfishing is usual. Pray let him try his fortune, though it is hardly fair\nplay; and it is rather to endeavour to recover your tackle, than for the\nsake of the fish, that I encourage him to make the essay.\n\nPOIET.\u2014Pray make no apologies for the trial. Such a fish\u2014certainly a\nmonster for this river\u2014should be caught by fair means, if possible, but\ncaught by any means.\n\nORN.\u2014You lost that fish, and you overrate his size, as you will see, if\nI have good luck. I put my live flies on the hook with some regret and\nsome disgust. I will not employ another person to be my minister of\ncruelty, as I remember a lady of fashion once did, who was very fond of\nfishing for perch, and who employed her daughter, a little girl of nine\nyears of age, to pass the hook through the body of the worm! Now there\nis a good wind, and the fish has just taken a natural fly. I shall drop\nthe flies, if possible, within a few inches of his nose. He has risen.\nHe is caught! I must carry him down stream to avoid the bed of weeds\nabove. I now have him on fair ground, and he fights with vigour.\nFortunately, my silk worm gut is very strong, for he is not a fish to be\ntrifled with. He begins to be tired; prepare the net. We have him safe,\nand see your link hangs to his lower jaw: the hook had struck the\ncartilage on the outside of the bone, and the fly, probably, was\nscarcely felt by him.\n\nPHYS.\u2014I am surprised! That fish evidently had discovered that the\nartificial fly was a dangerous bait, yet he took the natural fly which\nwas on a hook, and when the silk-worm gut must have been visible.\n\nHAL.\u2014I do not think he saw either the gut or the hook. In very bright\nweather and water, I have known very shy fish refuse even a hook baited\nwith the natural fly, scared probably by some appearance of hook or gut.\nThe vision of fishes when the surface is not ruffled is sufficiently\nkeen. I have seen them rise at gnats so small as to be scarcely visible\nto my eye.\n\nPHYS.\u2014You just now said, that a fish pricked by the hook of an\nartificial fly would not usually take it again that season.\n\nHAL.\u2014I cannot be exact on that point: I have known a fish that I have\npricked retain his station in the river, and refuse the artificial fly,\nday after day, for weeks together; but his memory may have been kept\nawake by this practice, and the recollection seems local and associated\nwith surrounding objects; and if a pricked trout is chased into another\npool, he will, I believe, soon again take the artificial fly. Or if the\nobjects around him are changed, as in Autumn, by the decay of weeds, or\nby their being cut, the same thing happens; and a flood, or a rough\nwind, I believe, assists the fly-fisher, not merely by obscuring the\nvision of the fish, but, in a river much fished, by changing the\nappearance of their haunts: large trouts almost always occupy particular\nstations, under, or close to, a large stone or tree; and, probably, most\nof their recollected sensations are connected with this dwelling.\n\nPHYS.\u2014I think I understand you, that the memory of the danger and pain\ndoes not last long, unless there is a permanent sensation with which it\ncan remain associated,\u2014such as the station of the trout; and that the\nrecollection of the mere form of the artificial fly, without this\nassociation, is evanescent.\n\nORN.\u2014You are diving into metaphysics; yet I think, in fowling, I have\nobserved that the memory of birds is local. A woodcock, that has been\nmuch shot at and scared in a particular wood, runs to the side where he\nhas usually escaped, the moment he hears the dogs; but if driven into a\nnew wood, he seems to lose his acquired habits of caution, and becomes\nstupid.\n\nPOIET.\u2014This great fish, that Ornither has just caught, must be nearly of\nthe weight I assigned to him.\n\nHAL.\u2014O no! he is, I think, above 5lbs., but not 6lbs.; but we can form a\nmore correct opinion by measuring him, which I can easily do, the but of\nmy rod being a measure. He measures, from nose to fork, a very little\nless than twenty-four inches, and, consequently, upon the scale which is\nappropriate to well-fed trouts, should weigh 5lbs. 10oz.\u2014which, within\nan ounce, I doubt not, is his weight.\n\nPHYS.\u2014O! I see you take the mathematical law, that similar solids are to\neach other in the triplicate ratio of one of their dimensions.\n\nHAL.\u2014You are right.\n\nPHYS.\u2014But I think you are below the mark, for this appears to me an\nextraordinarily thick fish.\n\nHAL.\u2014He is a well-fed fish, but, in proportion, not so thick as my\nmodel, which was a fish of 17 inches by 9 inches, and weighed 2lbs.;\nthis is my standard solid. We will try him. Ho! Mrs. B.!\u2014bring your\nscales, and weigh this fish. There, you see, he weighs 5lbs. 10\u00bdoz.\n\nPHYS.\u2014Well, I am pleased to see this fish, and amused with your sport;\nbut though I have been imitating you in throwing the fly, as well as I\ncan, yet not a trout has taken notice of my fly, and they seem scared by\nmy appearance.\n\nHAL.\u2014Let me see you perform. There are two good trout taking flies\nopposite that bank, which you can reach. You threw too much line into\nthe water, and scared them both; but I will take you to the rapid of the\nTumbling Bay, where the river falls; there the quickness of the stream\nwill prevent your line from falling deep, and the foam will conceal your\nperson from the view of the fish. And let me advise you to fish only in\nthe rapids till you have gained some experience in throwing the fly.\nThere are several fish rising in that stream.\n\nPHYS.\u2014I have raised one, but he refused my fly.\n\nHAL.\u2014Now you have a fish.\n\nPHYS.\u2014I am delighted;\u2014but he is a small one.\n\nHAL.\u2014Unluckily it is a _dace_.\n\nPHYS.\u2014I have now a larger fish, which has pulled my line out.\n\nHAL.\u2014Give him time. That is a good trout. Now wind up; he is tired, and\nyour own. I will land him. He is a fish to keep, being above 2lbs.\n\nPHYS.\u2014I am well pleased.\n\nHAL.\u2014There are many larger trouts here: go on fishing and you will hook\nsome of them. And when you are tired of this rapid, you will find\nanother a quarter of a mile below. And continue to fish with a short\nline, and drop your fly, or let it be carried by the wind on the water,\nas lightly as possible. Well, Poietes, what success?\n\nPOIET.\u2014I have been fishing in the stream above; but the flies are so\nabundant, that the large fish will not take my artificial fly, and I\nhave caught only three fish, all of which the fisherman has thrown into\nthe water, though I am sure one of them was more than 2lbs.\n\nHAL.\u2014You may trust his knowledge: with a new angler, our keeper would be\napt rather to favour the fisherman than the fish. But we will have all\nfish you wish to be killed, and above 2lbs., put into the well of the\nboat, where they can be examined, and, if you desire, weighed and\nmeasured, and such kept as are worth keeping. No good angler should kill\na fish, if possible, till he is needed to be crimped; for the sooner he\nis dressed after this operation the better;\u2014and I assure you, a well-fed\ntrout of the Colne, crimped and cooled ten minutes before he is wanted\nfor the kettle or the gridiron, is a fish little inferior to the best\nsalmon of the best rivers. It is now nearly two o\u2019clock, and there is a\ncloud over the sun; the fly is becoming less abundant; you are now\nlikely, Poietes, to have better sport. Try in that deep pool, below the\nTumbling Bay; I see two or three good fish rising there, and there is a\nlively breeze. The largest fish refuses your fly again and again; try\nthe others. There, you have hooked him; now carry him down stream, and\nkeep his head high, out of the weeds. He plunges and fights with great\nforce;\u2014he is the best-fed fish I have yet seen at the end of the line,\nand will weigh more in proportion to his length. I will land him for\nyou. There he is,\u2014and measures 19 inches; and I dare say his weight is\nnot much short of 3lbs. We will preserve him in the well.\n\nPOIET.\u2014He has hardly any spots, and is silvery all over; and the whole\nof the lower part of his body is beautifully clean.\n\nHAL.\u2014He is likewise broad-backed; and you may observe his few spots are\nblack, and these are very small. I have always remarked, in this river,\nthat the nearer the fish approach to perfection, the colour of the body\nbecomes more uniform,\u2014pale olive above, and bright silver below; and\nthese qualities are always connected with a small head,\u2014or rather, an\noval body, and deep-red flesh.\n\nPOIET.\u2014May not the red spots be marks of disease\u2014a hectic kind of\nbeauty? For I observed in a very thin and poor fish, and great-headed,\nthat I caught an hour ago, which had leeches sticking to it, a number of\nred spots, and a long black back, and black or bluish marks even on the\nbelly.\n\nHAL.\u2014I do not think red spots a symptom of disease; for I have seen fish\nin other rivers, and even small fish in this river, in perfectly good\nseason, with red spots; but the colours of fish are very capricious, and\ndepend upon causes which cannot be easily defined. The colouring matter\nis not in the scales, but in the surface of the skin immediately beneath\nthem, and is probably a secretion easily affected by the health of the\nanimal. I have known fish, from some lakes in Ireland, mottled in a most\nsingular way,\u2014their colour being like that of the tortoise: the nature\nof the water, exposure to the light, and probably the kind of food,\nproduce these effects. I think it possible, when trout feed much on hard\nsubstances, such as larv\u00e6 and their cases, and the ova of other fish,\nthey have more red spots, and redder fins. This is the case with the\ngillaroo and the char, who feed on analogous substances: and the trout,\nthat have similar habits, might be expected to resemble them. When trout\nfeed most on small fish, as minnows, and on flies, they have more\ntendency to become spotted with small black spots, and are generally\nmore silvery. The Colne trout are, in their advanced state, of this\nkind; and so are the trout called in Ireland buddocks and dolochans,\nfound in Loch Neah. Particular character becomes hereditary, and the\neffects of a peculiar food influence the appearance of the next\ngeneration. I hope, Ornither, you have had good sport.\n\nORN.\u2014Excellent! Since you left me, below the wear, I have hooked at\nleast fifteen or twenty good fish, and landed and saved eight above\n2lbs.; but I have taken no fish like the great one which I caught by\npoaching with the natural flies. The trout rose wonderfully well within\nthe last quarter of an hour, but they are now all still; and the river,\nwhich was in such active motion, is now perfectly quiet, and seems\nasleep and almost dead.\n\nHAL.\u2014It is past four o\u2019clock, and some dark, heavy clouds are come\non,\u2014the fly is off. It is almost the hour for the signal of the dressing\nbell; and there is nothing more to be done now till evening. But see!\nour host is come to examine our fish in the well, and to enquire about\nour sport; and, I dare say, will order some of our fish to be dressed\nfor the table.\n\nHOST.\u2014I hope, gentlemen, you have been amused?\n\nHAL.\u2014Most highly, sir. As a proof of it, there are in the fish-well\neighteen good trout,\u2014and one not much short of 6lbs.; three above 4lbs.,\nand four above 3lbs. in weight. I hope you will order that great fish\nfor your dinner.\n\nHOST.\u2014We will see. He is a fine fish, and fit for a present, even for a\nprince\u2014and you shall take him to a prince. Here is a fish, and there\nanother, of the two next sizes, which I am sure will cut red. Prepare\nthem, fisherman. And, Halieus, you shall catch two or three perch, for\nanother dish; I know there are some good ones below the piles of the\nwear; I saw them hunting small fish there yesterday morning. Some\nminnows, ho!\u2014and the perch rods!\n\nHAL.\u2014I am tired, sir, and would willingly avoid minnow fishing after\nsuch a morning\u2019s sport.\n\nHOST.\u2014Come, then, I will be a fisher for the table. I have one\u2014and\nanother, that will weigh nearly a pound apiece. Now, there is a cunning\nperch that has stolen my minnow; I know he is a large one. He has robbed\nme again and again; and if I fish on in this way, with the hook through\nthe upper lip, will, I dare say, carry away all the minnows in the\nkettle. I shall put on a strong small hook, on a stout, though fine,\ngut, with slender wire round the top, and pass the hook through the back\nfin of the minnow, and try my sagacity against his. Lo! I have him!\u2014and\na very strong fish he is, and gone to the bottom; but even though the\ngreatest perch in the river, he cannot bite the gut,\u2014he will soon be\ntired and taken. He now comes up, and is landed. He must be above\n3lbs.\u2014a magnificent perch! Kill him and crimp him, fisherman; take our\ntwo trout, and the three perch, to the kitchen, and let them be dressed\nas usual. You shall have a good dish of fish, worthy of such determined\nanglers. But I see one of your party coming up by the side of the river,\nwho seems tired and out of spirits.\n\nHAL.\u2014It is Physicus, who has this day commenced his career as a fly\nfisher; and who, I dare say, has been as successful as the uninitiated\ngenerally are. I hope you have followed my advice, and been fortunate?\n\nPHYS.\u2014I caught two trout in the rapid where you left me; but they were\nsmall, and the fisherman threw them in. Below the wear, in the quick\nstream, I caught two dace, and what astonished me very much, a perch,\nwhich you see here, and which I thought never took the fly.\n\nHAL.\u2014O yes, sometimes; and particularly when it is below the surface:\nand what more?\n\nPHYS.\u2014By creeping on my knees, and dropping my fly over the bank, I\nhooked a very large fish which I saw rising, and which was like a\nsalmon; but he was too strong for my tackle, ran out all my line, and at\nlast broke off by entangling my link in a post in the river. I have been\nvery unlucky! I am sure that fish was larger than the great one Ornither\ntook with the natural fly.\n\nHAL.\u2014Come, you have been initiated, and I see begin to take an interest\nin the sport, and I do not despair of your becoming a distinguished\nangler.\n\nPHYS.\u2014With time and some patience: but I am sorry I tortured that\nenormous fish without taking him.\n\nHAL.\u2014I dare say he was a large fish; but I have known very correct, and\neven cool, reasoners in error on a point of this kind. You are\nacquainted with Chemicus; he is not an ardent fisherman, and certainly\nnot addicted to romance; I will tell you an anecdote respecting him. He\naccompanied me to this very spot last year, on a visit to our host, and\npreferred angling for pike to fly fishing. After the amusement of a\nmorning, he brought back with him to the house one pike, and with some\ndegree of disappointment complained that he had hooked another of an\nenormous size, which carried off his tackle by main force, and which he\nwas sure must have been above 10lbs. At dinner, on the table, there were\ntwo pikes; one the fish that Chemicus had caught, and another a little\nlarger, somewhat more than 3lbs. We put some questions as to who had\ncaught this second pike, which we found had been taken by our host, who\nsmiling, and with some kind of mystery, asked Chemicus if he thought it\nweighed 10lbs. Chemicus refused to acknowledge an identity between such\na fish and the monster he had hooked; when my friend took out of his\npocket a paper containing some hooks and tackle carefully wrapped up,\nand asked Chemicus if he had ever seen such an apparatus. Chemicus owned\nthey were the hooks and tackle the great fish had carried away. \u201cAnd I\nfound them,\u201d said our friend, \u201cin the mouth of that very _little_ fish\nwhich you see on the table, and which I caught half an hour ago.\u201d\n\nHOST.\u2014I answer for the correctness of this anecdote, but I do not\nsanction its application to the case of our novitiate in angling. I have\nseen a fish under that bank where he was so unfortunate, which I am sure\nwas above four pounds, and which I dare say was the subject of his\nunsuccessful experiment.\n\nPOIET.\u2014From what our host has just said, I conclude, Halieus, that fish\ndo not usually change their stations.\n\nHAL.\u2014Large trouts unquestionably do not;\u2014they always hide themselves\nunder the same bank, stone, stock, or weed, as I said this morning\nbefore, and come out from their permanent habitations to feed; and when\nthey have fled to their haunt, they may be taken there by the hand; and\non this circumstance the practice of tickling trout is founded. A\nfavourite place for a large trout in rivers is an eddy behind a rock or\nstone, where flies and small fishes are carried by the force of the\ncurrent: and such haunts are rarely unoccupied; for if a fish is taken\nout of one of them, his place is soon supplied by another, who quits for\nit a less convenient situation.\n\nPHYS.\u2014So much knowledge and practice is required to become a proficient,\nthat I am afraid it is too late in life for me to begin to learn a new\nart.\n\nHAL.\u2014Do not despair. There was\u2014alas! that I must say there was\u2014an\nillustrious philosopher, who was nearly of the age of fifty before he\nmade angling a pursuit, yet he became a distinguished fly-fisher, and\nthe amusement occupied many of his leisure hours during the last twelve\nyears of his life. He, indeed, applied his pre-eminent acuteness, his\nscience, and his philosophy to aid the resources, and exalt the\npleasures of this amusement. I remember to have seen Dr. Wollaston, a\nfew days after he had become a fly-fisher, carrying at his buttonhole a\npiece of caoutchouc, or Indian rubber, when, by passing his silk-worm\nlink through a fissure in the middle, he rendered it straight and fit\nfor immediate use. Many other anglers will remember other ingenious\ndevices of my admirable and ever-to-be lamented friend.\n\n(_They go to dinner._)\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\n(_They return from the house._)\n\n\n                                EVENING.\n\nHAL.\u2014You have, I am sure, gentlemen, dined well; no one ever dined\notherwise in this house. It is a beautiful calm evening, and many fish\nmight be caught where we fished in the morning; but I will take you to\nanother part of the river; you shall each catch a fish, and then we will\ngive over; for the evening\u2019s sport should be kept till a late\nseason,\u2014July or August,\u2014when there is little fly on in the day-time: and\nit would be spoiling the diversion of our host, to catch or prick all\nthe fish in the upper water; and with a gentleman so truly liberal, and\nso profuse of his means of giving pleasure to others, no improper\nliberties should be taken. I shall not fish myself, but shall have my\npleasure in witnessing your sport. It must be in a boat, and you must\nsteal slowly up the calm water, and glide like aerial beings on the\nsurface, making no motion in the water, and showing no shadow. Your fly\nmust be an orange or brown palmer with a yellow body; for the gray drake\nis not yet on the water. The fish here are large, and the river weedy,\nso you must take care of your fish and your tackle.\n\nPOIET.\u2014We have at least passed over half-a-mile of water, and have seen\nno fish rise; yet there is a yellowish or reddish fly in the air, which\nmoves like a drake; and there are clouds of pale brown flies encircling\nthe alders. Now I think I see a large trout rise below that alder.\n\nHAL.\u2014That is not a trout, for he rises in a different place now, and is\nprobably a large roach or chub; do not waste your time upon him. You may\nalways know a large trout when feeding in the evening. He rises\ncontinuously, or at small intervals,\u2014in a still water almost always in\nthe same place,\u2014and makes little noise,\u2014barely elevating his mouth to\nsuck in the fly, and sometimes showing his back-fin and tail. A large\ncircle spreads around him, but there are seldom many bubbles when he\nbreaks the water, which usually indicate the coarser fish: we will wait\na few minutes; I know there must be trout here, and the sun is setting,\nand the yellow fly, or dun cut, coming on the water. See, beneath that\nalder is a trout rising, and now there is another thirty yards higher\nup. Take care, get your line out in another part of the water, and in\norder, for reaching the fish, and do not throw till you are sure you can\nreach the spot, and throw at least half-a-yard above the fish.\n\nORN.\u2014He rose, I suppose, at a natural fly, the moment before my fly\ntouched the water.\n\nHAL.\u2014Try again. You have hooked him, and you have done well not to\nstrike when he rose. Now hold him tight, wind up your line, and carry\nhim down the stream. Push the boat down stream, fisherman. Keep your\nfish\u2019s head up. He begins to tire,\u2014and there is landed. A fine well-fed\nfish, not much less than 4lbs. Throw him into the well. Now, Poietes,\ntry that fish rising above,\u2014and there are two more.\n\nPOIET.\u2014I have him!\n\nHAL.\u2014Take care. He has turned you, and you have suffered him to run out\nyour line, and he is gone into the weeds under the willow: let him fall\ndown stream.\n\nPOIET.\u2014I cannot get him out.\n\nHAL.\u2014Then wind up. I fear he is lost, yet we will try to recover him by\ntaking the boat up. The line is loose: he has left the link entangled in\nthe weeds, and carried your fly with him. He must have been a large\nfish, or he could not have disentangled himself from so strong a gut.\nTry again, there are fish now rising above and below; where the water is\nin motion, opposite that willow, there are two fish rising.\n\nPOIET.\u2014I have one of them.\n\nHAL.\u2014Now you are doing well. Down with the boat, and drag your fish\ndownwards. Continue to do so, as there are weeds all round you. You can\nmaster him now; keep him high, and he is your own. Put the net under\nhim, and bring him into the boat; he is a well-fed fish, but not of the\nproper size for a victim: about 2lbs. Now, Physicus, try your fortune\nwith the fish above that rises so merrily still. You have him! Now use\nhim as Poietes did the last. Very well; I see he is a large fish,\u2014take\nyour time. He is landed; a fish nearly of 3lbs., and in excellent\nseason.\n\nPHYS.\u2014Anche Io son Pescatore\u2014I am too a fisherman\u2014a triumph.\n\nHAL.\u2014Now we have finished our fishing, and must return to the light\nsupper of our host. It would be easy now, and between this hour and ten,\nto take half-a-dozen large fish in this part of the water; but for the\nreason I have already stated, it would be improper.\n\nPOIET.\u2014Pray would not this be a good part of the water for day-fishing?\n\nHAL.\u2014Undoubtedly, a skilful angler might take fish here in the day; but\nthe bank is shaded by trees, there is seldom any sensible wind on the\nwater, and the apparatus and the boat in motion are easily perceived in\nthe daylight; and the water is so deep, that a great quantity of fly is\nnecessary to call up the fish; and in general there is a larger quantity\nof fly in hot summer evenings, than even in the brightest sunshine.\n\nPHYS.\u2014The fly appears to me like a moth that is now on the water.\n\nHAL.\u2014It is.\n\nPOIET.\u2014What flies come on late in the season here?\n\nHAL.\u2014Flies of the same species; some darker, and some with a deeper\nshade of red; and there are likewise the true moths, the brown and\nwhite, which, in June and July, are seized with avidity by the fish; and\nbeing large flies, take large fish.\n\nORN.\u2014Surely the May-fly season is not the only season for day-fishing in\nthis river?\n\nHAL.\u2014Certainly not. There are as many fish to be taken perhaps in the\nSpring fishing; but in this deep river they are seldom in good season\ntill the May-fly has been on, and a fortnight hence they will be still\nbetter than even now. In September there may be good fish taken here;\nbut the autumnal flies are less plentiful in this river than the spring\nflies.\n\nPHYS.\u2014Pray tell me what are the species of fly which take in these two\nseasons.\n\nHAL.\u2014You know that trout spawn or deposit their ova and seminal fluid in\nthe end of the autumn or beginning of winter, from the middle of\nNovember till the beginning of January, their maturity depending upon\nthe temperature of the season, their quantity of food, &c. For some time\n(a month or six weeks) before they are prepared for the sexual function,\nor that of re-production, they become less fat, particularly the\nfemales; the large quantity of eggs and their size probably affecting\nthe health of the animal, and compressing generally the vital organs in\nthe abdomen. They are at least six weeks or two months after they have\nspawned before they recover their flesh: and the time when these fish\nare at the worst is likewise the worst time for fly-fishing, both on\naccount of the cold weather and because there are fewer flies on the\nwater than at any other season. Even in December and January there are a\nfew small gnats or water-flies on the water in the middle of the day, in\nbright days, or when there is sunshine. These are generally black, and\nthey escape the influence of the frost by the effects of light on their\nblack bodies, and probably by the extreme rapidity of the motions of\ntheir fluids, and generally of their organs. They are found only at the\nsurface of the water, where the temperature must be above the freezing\npoint. In February a few double-winged water-flies which swim down the\nstream are usually found in the middle of the day,\u2014such as the\nwillow-fly; and the cow-dung-fly is sometimes carried on the water by\nwinds. In March there are several flies found on most rivers. The\ngrannam or green-tail-fly, with a wing like a moth, comes on generally\nmorning and evening, from five till eight o\u2019clock, A. M. in mild weather\nin the end of March and through April. Then there are the blue and the\nbrown, both Ephemer\u00e6, which come on, the first in dark days, the second\nin bright days; these flies, when well imitated, are very destructive to\nfish. The first is a small fly with a palish-yellow body, and slender\nbeautiful wings, which rest on the back as it floats down the water. The\nsecond, called the cob in Wales, is three or four times as large, and\nhas brown wings, which likewise protrude from the back, and its wings\nare shaded like those of a partridge, brown and yellow brown. These\nthree kinds of flies lay their eggs in the water, which produce larv\u00e6\nthat remain in the state of worms, feeding and breathing in the water\ntill they are prepared for their metamorphosis and quit the bottoms of\nthe rivers, and the mud and stones, for the surface, and the light and\nair. The brown fly usually disappears before the end of April, likewise\nthe grannam; but of the blue dun, there is a succession of different\ntints, or species, or varieties, which appear in the middle of the day\nall the summer and autumn long. These are the principal flies on the\nWandle\u2014the best and clearest stream near London. In early spring these\nflies have dark olive bodies; in the end of April and the beginning of\nMay they are found yellow; and in the summer they become\ncinnamon-coloured; and again, as the winter approaches, gain a darker\nhue. I do not, however, mean to say that they are the same flies, but\nmore probably successive generations of Ephemer\u00e6 of the same species.\n\nThe excess of heat seems equally unfavourable, as the excess of cold, to\nthe existence of the smaller species of water-insects, which, during the\nintensity of sunshine, seldom appear in summer, but rise morning and\nevening only. The blue dun has in June and July a yellow body, and there\nis a water-fly which in the evening is generally found before the moths\nappear, called the red-spinner. Towards the end of August, the Ephemer\u00e6\nappear again in the middle of the day: a very pale small Ephemera, which\nis of the same colour as that which is seen in some rivers in the\nbeginning of July. In September and October this kind of fly is found\nwith an olive body, and it becomes darker in October, and paler in\nNovember. There are two other flies which appear in the end of\nSeptember, and continue during October if the weather be mild: a large\nyellow fly with a fleshy body and wings like a moth; and a small fly\nwith four wings, with a dark or claret-coloured body, that when it falls\non the water has its wings like the great yellow fly, flat on its back.\nThis, or a claret-bodied fly, very similar in character, may be likewise\nfound in March or April, on some waters. In this river I have often\ncaught many large trout in April and the beginning of May, with the blue\ndun, having the yellow body; and in the upper part of the stream below\nSt. Albans, and between that and Watford, I have sometimes, even as\nearly as April, caught fish in good condition: but the _true_ season for\nthe Colne is the season of the May-fly. The same may be said of most of\nthe large English rivers containing large trouts, and abounding in\nMay-fly;\u2014such as the Test and the Kennet; the one running by\nStockbridge, the other by Hungerford. But in the Wandle at Carshalton\nand Beddington, the May-fly is not found; and the little blues are the\nconstant, and when well imitated, killing flies on this water; to which\nmay be joined a dark alder-fly, and a red evening fly. In the Avon, at\nRingwood and Fordingbridge, the May-fly is likewise a killing fly; but\nas this is a grayling river, the other flies, particularly the grannam\nand blue and brown, are good in spring, and the alder-fly or pale blue\nlater, and the blue dun in September and October, and even November. In\nthe streams in the mountainous parts of Britain, the spring and autumnal\nflies are by far the most killing. The Usk was formerly a very\nproductive trout stream, and the fish being well-fed by the worms washed\ndown by the winter floods, were often in good season, cutting red, in\nMarch, and the beginning of April: and at this season the blues and\nbrowns, particularly when the water was a little stained after a small\nflood, afforded the angler good sport. In Herefordshire and Derbyshire,\nwhere trout and grayling are often found together, the same periods are\ngenerally best for angling; but in the Dove, Lathkill, and Wye, with the\nnatural May-fly, many fish may be taken; and in old times, in peculiarly\nwindy days, or high and troubled water, even the artificial May-fly,\naccording to Cotton, was very killing.\n\nPOIET.\u2014I have heard various accounts of the excellent fishing in some of\nthe great lakes in Ireland. Can you tell us any thing on the subject,\nand if the same flies may be used in that island?\n\nHAL.\u2014I have been several times in Ireland, but never at this season,\nwhich is considered as best for lake-fishing. I have heard that in some\nof the lakes in Westmeath, very large trout, and great quantities may be\ntaken in the beginning of June, with the very flies we have been using\nthis day. Wind is necessary; and a good angler sometimes takes in a day,\nor rather formerly took, from ten to twelve fish, which weighed from 3\nto 10lbs., and which occasionally were even larger. In the summer after\nJune, and in the autumn, the only seasons when I have fished in Ireland,\nI have seldom taken any large trout; but in the river Boyle, late in\nOctober, after a flood, I once had some sport with these fish, that were\nrunning up the river from Lock Key to spawn. I caught one day two above\n3lbs. that took a large reddish-brown fly of the same kind as a salmon\nfly; and I saw some taken that weighed 5lbs., and heard of one that\nequalled 9lbs. These fish were in good season, even at this late period,\nand had no spots, but were coloured red and brown\u2014mottled like\ntortoise-shell, only with smaller bars. I have in July, likewise, fished\nin Loch Con, near Ballina, and Loch Melvin, near Ballyshannon. In Loch\nCon, the party caught many small good trout, that cut red; and in the\nother I caught a very few trout only, but as many of them were gillaroo\nor gizzard trout as common trout.\n\nPOIET.\u2014This must have been an interesting kind of fishing. In what does\nthe gillaroo differ from the trout?\n\nHAL.\u2014In appearance very little, except that they have more red spots,\nand a yellow or golden-coloured belly and fins, and are generally a\nbroader and thicker fish; but internally they have a different\norganization, possessing a large thick muscular stomach, which has been\nimproperly compared to a fowl\u2019s, and which generally contains a quantity\nof small shell-fish of three or four kinds: and though in those I caught\nthe stomachs were full of these shell-fish, yet they rose greedily at\nthe fly.\n\nPOIET.\u2014Are they not common trout which have gained the habit of feeding\non shell-fish?\n\nHAL.\u2014If so, they have been altered in a succession of generations. The\ncommon trouts of this lake have stomachs like other trouts, which never,\nas far as my experience has gone, contain shell-fish; but of the\ngillaroo trout, I have caught with a fly some not longer than my finger,\nwhich have had as perfect a hard stomach as the larger ones, with the\ncoats as thick in proportion, and the same shells within; so that this\nanimal is at least _now_ a distinct species, and is a sort of link\nbetween the trout and char, which has a stomach of the same kind with\nthe gillaroo, but not quite so thick, and which feeds at the bottom in\nthe same way. I have often looked in the lakes abroad for gillaroo\ntrout, and never found one. In a small lake at the foot of the Crest of\nthe Brenner, above 4000 feet above the level of the sea, I once caught\nsome trout, which, from their thickness and red spots, I suspected were\ngillaroo, but on opening the stomach I found I was mistaken; it had no\nparticular thickness, and was filled with grasshoppers: but there were\n_char_, which fed on _shell-fish_, in the same lake.\n\nPOIET.\u2014Are water-flies found on all rivers?\n\nHAL.\u2014This is a question which I find it impossible to answer; yet from\nmy own experience I should suppose, that in all the habitable parts of\nthe globe certain water-flies exist wherever there is running water.\nEven in the most ardent temperature, gnats and musquitoes are found,\nwhich lay their congeries of eggs on the water, which, when hatched,\nbecome first worms, afterwards small shrimp-like aurelia, and lastly\nflies. There are a great number of the largest species of these flies on\nstagnant waters and lakes, which form a part of the food of various\nfishes, principally of the carp kind: but the true fisherman\u2019s\nflies,\u2014those which are imitated in our art, principally belong to the\nnorthern, or at least temperate part of Europe, and I believe are\nnowhere more abundant than in England. It appears to me, that since I\nhave been a fisherman, which is now the best part of half a century, I\nhave observed in some rivers where I have been accustomed to fish\nhabitually, a diminution of the numbers of flies. There were always some\nseasons in which the temperature was favourable to a quantity of fly;\nfor instance, fine warm days in spring for the grannam, or brown fly;\nand like days in May and June for the alder-fly, May-fly, and stone-fly;\nbut I should say that within these last twenty years I have observed a\ngeneral diminution of the spring and autumnal flies, except in those\nrivers which are fed from sources that run from chalk, and which are\nperennial\u2014such as the Wandle, and the Hampshire and Buckinghamshire\nrivers; in these streams the temperature is more uniform, and the\nquantity of water does not vary much. I attribute the change of the\nquantity of flies in the rivers to the cultivation of the country. Most\nof the bogs or marshes which fed many considerable streams are drained;\nand the consequence is, that they are more likely to be affected by\nsevere droughts and great floods\u2014the first killing, and the second\nwashing away the larv\u00e6 and aurelias. May-flies thirty years ago were\nabundant in the upper part of the Teme river in Herefordshire, where it\nreceives the Clun: they are now rarely seen. Most of the rivers of that\npart of England, as well as of the west, with the exception of those\nthat rise in the still uncultivated parts of Dartmoor and Exmoor, are\nrapid and unfordable torrents after rain, and in dry summers little more\nthan scanty rills; and Exmoor and Dartmoor, almost the only considerable\nremains of those moist, spongy, or peaty soils, which once covered the\ngreatest part of the high lands of England, are becoming cultivated, and\ntheir sources will gradually gain the same character as those of our\nmidland and highly-improved counties. I cannot give you an idea of the\neffects of peat mosses and grassy marshes on the water thrown down from\nthe atmosphere, better, than by comparing their effects to those of\nroofs of houses of thatched straw, as contrasted with roofs of slate, on\na shower of rain. The slate begins to drop immediately, and sends down\nwhat it receives in a rapid torrent, and is dry soon after the shower is\nover. From the sponge-like roof of thatch, on the contrary, it is long\nbefore the water drops; but it continues dropping and wet for hours\nafter the shower is over and the slate dry.\n\nPOIET.\u2014You spoke just now of the gillaroo trout, as belonging only to\nIreland. I can, however, hardly bring myself to believe, that such a\nfish is not to be found elsewhere. For lakes with shell-fish and char\nare common in various parts of Europe, and as the gillaroo trout is\ncongenerous, it ought to exist both in Scotland and the Alpine\ncountries.\n\nHAL.\u2014It is not possible from analogies of this kind to draw certain\ninferences. Subterraneous cavities and subterranean waters are common in\nvarious countries, yet the Proteus Anguinus is only found in two places\nin Carniola\u2014at Adelsburg and Sittich. As I mentioned before, I have\nnever yet met with a gillaroo trout except in Ireland. It is true, it is\nonly lately that I have had my attention directed to this subject, and\nother fishermen or naturalists may be more fortunate.\n\nPOIET.\u2014Have you ever observed any other varieties of the trout kind,\nwhich may be considered as, like the gillaroo, forming a distinct\nspecies?\n\nHAL.\u2014I think the par, samlet, or brandling, common to most of our\nrivers, which communicate with the sea, has a claim to be considered a\ndistinct species; yet the history of this fish is so obscure, and so\nlittle understood, that, perhaps, I ought not to venture to give an\naccount of it. But in doing so, you will consider me as rather asking\nfor new information, than as attempting a satisfactory view of this\nlittle animal.\n\nORN.\u2014I have seen this fish in the rivers of Wales and Herefordshire, and\nhave heard it asserted, on what appeared to me good authority, that it\nwas a mule,\u2014the offspring of a trout and a salmon.\n\nHAL.\u2014This opinion, I know, has been supported by the fact, that it is\nfound only in streams, which are occasionally visited by salmon; yet I\nknow no direct evidence in favour of the opinion, and I should think it\nmuch more probable, if it be a mixed race, that it is produced by the\nsea trout and common trout. In a small river, which runs into the Moy,\nnear Ballina in Ireland, I once caught in October a great number of\nsmall sea trout, which were generally about half-a-pound in weight, and\nwere all _males_; and unless it be supposed, that the females were in\nthe river likewise, and would not take the fly, these fish, in which the\nspermatic system was fully developed, could only have impregnated the\nova of the common river trout. The sea trout and river trout are,\nindeed, so like each other in character, that such a mixture seems\nexceedingly probable; but I know no reason why such mules should always\ncontinue small, except that it may be a mark of imperfection. The only\ndifference between the par and common small trout is in the colours, and\nits possessing one or two spines more in the pectoral fin. The par has\nlarge blue or olive bluish marks on the sides, as if they had been made\nby the impression of the fingers of a hand; and hence the fish is called\nin some places _fingerling_. The river and sea trout seem capable of\nchanging permanently their places of residence; and sea trout appear\noften to become river trout. In this case they lose their silvery\ncolour, and gain more spots; and in their offspring these changes are\nmore distinct. Fish, likewise, which are ill-fed remain small; and pars\nare exceedingly numerous in those rivers where they are found, which are\nnever separated from the sea by impassable falls; from which I think it\npossible that they are produced by a cross between sea and river trout.\nThe varieties of the common trout are almost infinite; from the great\nlake trout, which weighs above 60 or 70lbs., to the trouts of the little\nmountain brook or small mountain lake, or tarn, which is scarcely larger\nthan the finger. The smallest trout spawn nearly at the same time with\nthe larger ones, and their ova are of the same size; but in the large\ntrout there are tens of thousands, and in the small one rarely as many\nas forty,\u2014often from ten to forty. So that in the physical constitution\nof these animals, their production is diminished as their food is small\nin quantity; and it is remarkable, that the ova of the large and\nbeautiful species which exist in certain lakes, and which seem always to\nassociate together, appear to produce offspring, which, in colour, form,\nand power of growth and reproduction, resemble the parent fishes; and\nthey generally choose the same river for their spawning. Thus, in the\nlake of Guarda, the Benacus of the ancients, the magnificent trout, or\n_Salmo fario_, which in colour and appearance is like a fresh run\nsalmon, spawns in the river at Riva, beginning to run up for that\npurpose in June, and continuing to do so all the summer; and this river\nis fed by streams from snow and glaciers in the Tyrol, and is generally\nfoul: whilst the small spotted common trouts, which are likewise found\nin this lake, go into the small brooks, which have their sources not far\noff, and in which, it is probable, they were originally bred. I have\nseen taken in the same net small fish of both these varieties which were\nas marked as possible in their characters:\u2014one silvery, like a young\nsalmon, blue on the back, and with small black spots only; the other,\nwith yellow belly and red spots, and an olive-coloured back. I have made\nsimilar observations in other lakes, particularly in that of the Tarun\nnear Gmunden, and likewise at Loch Neah in Ireland. Indeed, considering\nthe sea trout as the type of the species _trout_, I think all the other\ntrue trouts may not improperly be considered as varieties, where the\ndifferences of food and of habits have occasioned, in a long course of\nages, differences of shape and colours, transmitted to offspring in the\nsame manner as in the variety of dogs, which may all be referred to one\nprimitive type.[4]\n\nPHYS.\u2014I am somewhat amused at your idea of the change produced in the\nspecies of trout by the formation of particular characters by particular\naccidents, and their hereditary transmission. It reminds me of the\ningenious but somewhat unsound views of Darwin on the same subject.\n\nHAL.\u2014I will not allow you to assimilate my views to those of an author,\nwho, however ingenious, is far too speculative; whose poetry has always\nappeared to me weak philosophy, and his philosophy indifferent poetry:\nand to whom I have been often accustomed to apply Blumenbach\u2019s saying,\nthat there were many things new and many things true in his doctrines;\nbut that what was new was not true, and what was true was not new.\n\nPOIET.\u2014I think Halieus is quite in the right to be a little angry at\nyour observation, Physicus, in making him a disciple of a writer, who,\nas well as I can recollect, has deduced the _genesis_ of the human\nbeing, by a succession of changes dependant upon irritabilities,\nsensibilities, and appetencies, from the _fish_; blending the wild\nfancies of Buffon with the profound ideas of Hartly, and thus\nendeavouring to give currency to an absurd romance, by mixing with it\nsome philosophical truths. I hope your parallel will induce him to do us\nthe favour to state his own notions more at large.\n\nHAL.\u2014Physicus has mistaken me; and I will explain. What I mentioned of\nthe varieties of dogs as sprung from one type, he will, I am sure, allow\nme to apply, with some modifications, to all our cultivated breeds of\nanimals, whether horses, oxen, sheep, hogs, geese, ducks, turkies, or\npigeons; and he will allow, that certain characters gained by accidents,\neither from peculiar food, air, water, or domestic treatment, are\ntransmitted to, and often strengthened in the next generation; the\nqualities being, as it were, doubled when belonging to both parents, and\nretained in spite of counteracting causes. It will be sufficient for me\nto mention only a few cases. The blood-horse of Arabia, is become the\nfavourite of the north of Europe, and the colts possess all the superior\nqualities of their parents, even in the polar circle. The offspring of\nthe Merino sheep retain the fineness of their wool in England and\nSaxony. Poultry, bantams, tumbling and carrier pigeons, geese, ducks,\nturkies, &c., all afford instances of the same kind; and in the goose\nand duck, not only is the colour of the feathers changed, but the form\nof the muscles of the legs and wings; those of the wings, being little\nemployed, become weak and slender; those of the legs, on the contrary,\nbeing much used, are strong and fleshy; and it is well to know this, as,\nin the young birds, the muscles of the legs and thighs are the best\nparts for the epicure, a large quantity of flesh being developed there,\nbut not yet hardened or rendered tough by exercise. These facts are of\nthe same kind and depend on the same principles, as the peculiarity of\nthe breeds or races in trouts. Fish in a clear cool river, that feed\nmuch on larv\u00e6, and that swallow their hard cases, become yellower, and\nthe red spots increase so as to outnumber the black ones; and these\nqualities become fixed in the young fishes, and establish a particular\nvariety. If trout from a lake, or another river of a different variety,\nwere introduced into this river, they would not at once change their\ncharacters; but the change would take place gradually. Thus I have known\ntrout from a lake in Scotland, remarkable for their deep red flesh,\nintroduced into another lake, where the trout had only white flesh, and\nthey retained the peculiar redness of their flesh for many years. At\nfirst they all associated together in spawning in the brook which fed\nthe lake, but those newly introduced were easily known from their darker\nbacks and brighter sides. By degrees, however, from the influence of\nfood and other causes, they became changed; the young trout of the\nintroduced variety had flesh less red than their parents; and in about\ntwenty years the variety was entirely lost, and all the fish were in\ntheir original white state. A very speculative reasoner might certainly\ndefend the hypothesis, of the change of _species_ in a long course of\nages, from the establishment of particular characters as hereditary. It\nmight be said, that trout, after having thickened their stomachs by\nfeeding on larv\u00e6 with hard cases, gained the power of eating shell-fish,\nand were gradually changed to gillaroos and to char; their red spots and\nthe yellow colour of their belly and fins increasing. In the same manner\nit might be said, that the large trout which feed almost entirely on\nsmall fishes, gained more spines in the pectoral fins, and became a new\nspecies; but _I_ shall not go so far, and I know no facts of this kind.\nThe gillaroo and the char appear always with the same characters: and I\nhave never seen any fish that seemed in a state of transition from a\ntrout to gillaroo or a char; which I think, must have been the case if\nsuch changes took place. I hope, after this explanation, Physicus will\nnot find any analogy between my ideas and those of a school, to which I\nam not ambitious of being thought to belong; and that he will allow my\nviews to be sound, or at least founded upon correct analogies.\n\nPOIET.\u2014Do you know any facts of a similar kind in confirmation of your\nidea that the par is a mule?\n\nHAL.\u2014I have heard of similar instances, but I cannot say I have myself\nwitnessed them. The common carp and the cruscian are said to produce a\nmixed race, and likewise the rud and the roach; but I have never paid\nmuch attention to varieties of the carp kind. A friend of mine informed\nme, that in a branch of the Test, into which graylings had recently been\nintroduced, his fisherman caught a fish, which appeared to be from a\ncross between the trout and grayling, having the high back fin of the\ngrayling, and the head and spots of the trout: this is the more\nremarkable, if correct, as the grayling spawns in the late spring, and\nthe trout in the late autumn or winter: yet I _do_ recollect that I once\ntook a grayling in the end of November, in which the ova were so large,\nas nearly to be ready for protrusion. The fisherman of the Gr\u00fcndtl See,\nin Styria, informed me, that he had seen a fish which he believed to be\na mule between the trout and char, the fins of which resembled those of\na trout, though the body was in other respects like that of a char. The\nseasons at which these two species spawn approach nearer to each other;\nbut the char spawns in still and the trout in running water. In general\nthe trout are mature before the char, yet I have seen in the\nLeopoldstein See, in Styria, a female char, of which the eggs were\nalmost fully developed as early as June: the fisherman of the Gr\u00fcndtl\nSee said, that these peculiar fish were very rare, and that he caught\nonly one in about 500 char. It is not, I think, impossible, that it may\nbe an umbla, a fish that might be expected to be found in that deep,\ncold, Alpine lake, a peculiar species and not a mixed variety. It is a\nfertile and very curious subject for new experiments, that of crossing\nthe breeds of fishes, and offers a very interesting and untouched field\nof investigation, which I hope will soon be taken up by some enlightened\ncountry gentleman, who in this way might make not only curious but\nuseful discoveries.\n\nPOIET.\u2014So much science would be required to make these experiments with\nsuccess, and there would be so many difficulties in the way of\npreserving fishes at the time they are proper for reproduction, that I\nfear very few country gentlemen would be capable of prosecuting the\ninquiry.\n\nHAL.\u2014The science required for this object is easily attained, and the\ndifficulties are quite imaginary. The impregnation of the ova of fishes\nis performed out of the body, and it is only necessary to pour the\nseminal liquor from the melt upon the ova in water. Mr. Jacobi, a German\ngentleman, who made many years ago experiments on the increase of trout\nand salmon, informs us, that the ova and melt of mature fish, recently\ndead, will produce living offspring. His plan of raising trout from the\negg was a very simple one. He had a box made with a small wire grating\nat one end in the cover, for admitting water from a fresh source or\nstream, and at the other end of the side of the box there were a number\nof holes to permit the exit of the water: the bottom of the box was\nfilled with pebbles and gravel of different sizes, which were kept\ncovered with water that was always in motion. In November or the\nbeginning of December, when the trout were in full maturity for\nspawning, and collected in the rivers for this purpose upon beds of\ngravel, he caught males and females in a net, and by the pressure of his\nhands, received the ova in a basin of water, and suffered the melt or\nseminal fluid to pass into the basin; and after they had remained a few\nminutes together, he introduced them upon the gravel in the box, which\nwas placed under a source of fresh, cool, and pure water. In a few weeks\nthe eggs burst, and the box was filled with an immense number of young\ntrout, which had a small bag attached to the lower part of their body\ncontaining a part of the yolk of the egg, which was still their\nnourishment. In this state they were easily carried from place to place\nin confined portions of fresh water for some days, requiring apparently\nno food; but, after about a week, the nourishment in their bag being\nexhausted, they began to seek their food in the water, and rapidly\nincreased in size. As I have said before, Mr. Jacobi assures us, that\nthe experiment succeeded as well with mature fish, that had been killed\nfor the purpose of procuring the roe and melt, these having been mixed\ntogether in cold water immediately after they were taken out of the\nbody. I have had this experiment tried twice, and with perfect success,\nand it offers a very good mode of increasing to any extent the quantity\nof trout in rivers or lakes, for the young ones are preserved from the\nattacks of fishes, and other voracious animals or insects, at the time\nwhen they are most easily destroyed, and perfectly helpless. The same\nplan, I have no doubt, would answer equally well with grayling or other\nvarieties of the salmo genus. But in all experiments of this kind, the\ngreat principle is, to have a constant current of fresh and aerated\nwater running over the eggs. The uniform supply of air to the f\u0153tus in\nthe egg is essential for its life and growth, and such eggs as are not\nsupplied with water saturated with air are unproductive. The\nexperimenter must be guided exactly by the instinct of the parent\nfishes, who take care to deposit the impregnated eggs, that are to\nproduce their offspring, only in sources continually abounding in fresh\nand aerated water.\n\nPHYS.\u2014But as every species of fish has a particular and usually\ndifferent time for spawning, I do not see how it could be contrived to\ncross their breeds, or how the ova of a trout, which spawns in December,\ncould be impregnated by the seminal fluid of the grayling, which spawns\nin May; for I conclude it would be impossible to preserve the eggs of a\nfish out of the body in a state in which they could retain or recover\ntheir vitality.\n\nHAL.\u2014I believe I mentioned before, that I had found instances, in which\nthe ova of fish were developed at a different period from their natural\none; and I have no doubt, that a little inquiry respecting the habits of\nfishes would enable us to acquire a knowledge of the circumstances,\nwhich either hasten or retard their maturity. Plenty of food and a\ngenial season hasten the period of their reproduction, which is delayed\nby want of proper nourishment, and by unfavourable weather. Males and\nfemales likewise, confined from each other, have their generative powers\nimpeded; and trout, grayling, and salmon, will not deposit their ova\nexcept in running water; so that by keeping them in tanks, the period of\ntheir maturity might be considerably altered. I have seen char even,\nwhich had been kept in confined water from September till July; and so\nslow had been the progress of the ova, that they appeared to be about\nthis time fit for exclusion, though, in the natural course of things,\nthey would have been ripe in the end of October of the year before. By\nattending to and controlling all these circumstances, I have no doubt\nmany interesting experiments might be made, as to the possibility of\nmodifying the varieties of the salmo, by impregnating the ova of one\nspecies with the seminal fluid of another. With fishes of other genera\nthe task would be still more easy. Carp, perch, and pike, deposit their\nova in still water in spring and summer, when it is supplied with air by\nthe growth of vegetables: and it is to the leaves of plants, which\nafford a continual supply of oxygen to the water, that the impregnated\neggs usually adhere; so that researches of this kind might be conducted\nwithin doors in close vessels, filled with plants, exposed to the sun. I\nhave myself kept minnows and sticklebacks alive for many months in the\nsame confined quantity of water, containing a few conferv\u00e6; and their\nova and melt increased in the same manner, as if they had been in their\nnatural situation.\n\nORN.\u2014I conclude from your statements, Halieus, that nothing more is\nrequired for the production of fishes from impregnated eggs, than a\nconstant supply of water of a certain temperature furnished with air;\nand of course the same principles will apply to fishes of the sea.\n\nHAL.\u2014There can be no doubt of it: and fishes in spawning time always\napproach great shallows, or shores covered with weeds, that, in the\nprocess of their growth, under the influence of the sunshine, constantly\nsupply pure air to the water in contact with them.\n\nPOIET.\u2014In every thing belonging to the economy of nature, I find new\nreasons for wondering at the designs of Providence,\u2014at the infinite\nintelligence by which so many complicated effects are produced by the\nmost simple causes. The precipitation of water from the atmosphere, its\nrapid motion in rivers, and its falls in cataracts, not only preserve\nthis element pure, but give it its vitality, and render it subservient\neven to the embryo life of the fish; and the storms which agitate the\nocean, and mingle it with the atmosphere, supply at once food to marine\nplants, and afford a principle of life to the fishes which inhabit its\ndepths. So that the perturbation and motion of the winds and waves\npossess a use, and ought to impress us with a beauty higher and more\ndelightful even than that of the peaceful and glorious calm.\n\n\n\n\n                               THIRD DAY.\n\n                   HALIEUS\u2014POIETES\u2014ORNITHER\u2014PHYSICUS.\n\n                             SCENE\u2014DENHAM.\n\n\n                               _Morning._\n\nHAL.\u2014YOU will soon take your leave, gentlemen, of this agreeable villa,\nbut we must catch at least two brace of trout, to carry with us to\nLondon as a present for two worthy patrons of the angle. For though I\nknow our liberal host will have a basket of fish packed up for each of\nour party, yet fish taken this morning will be imagined a more\nacceptable present than those caught yesterday. The May-fly is already\nupon the water, though not in great quantity, and it will consequently\nbe more easy to catch the fish, which I see are rising with great\nactivity. I advise you to go to the deep water below, where you will\nfind the largest fish, and I will soon follow you.\n\nPOIET.\u2014I hope I shall catch a large fish,\u2014a companion to that which\nOrnither took yesterday with a natural fly.\n\n\n[_Halieus leaves them fishing, and returns to the house; but soon comes\nback and joins his companions, whom he finds fishing below in the\nriver._]\n\n\nHAL.\u2014Well, gentlemen, what sport?\n\nPOIET.\u2014The fish are rising every where; but though we have been throwing\nover them with all our skill for a quarter of an hour, yet not a single\none will take, and I am afraid we shall return to breakfast without our\nprey.\n\nHAL.\u2014I will try; but I shall go to the other side, where I see a very\nlarge fish rising. There!\u2014I have him at the very first throw. Land this\nfish, and put him into the well. Now I have another; and I have no doubt\nI could take half a dozen in this very place, where you have been so\nlong fishing without success.\n\nPHYS.\u2014You must have a different fly; or have you some unguent or charm\nto tempt the fish?\n\nHAL.\u2014No such thing. If any of you will give me your rod and fly, I will\nanswer for it, I shall have the same success. I take your rod,\nPhysicus.\u2014And lo! I have a fish!\n\nPHYS.\u2014What can be the reason of this? It is perfectly inexplicable to\nme. Yet Poietes seems to throw as light as you do, and as well as he did\nyesterday.\n\nHAL.\u2014I am surprised, that you, who are a philosopher, cannot discover\nthe reason of this. Think a little.\n\nALL.\u2014We cannot.\n\nHAL.\u2014As you are my scholars, I believe I must teach you. The sun is\nbright, and you have been, naturally enough, fishing with your backs to\nthe sun, which, not being very high, has thrown the shadows of your rods\nand yourselves upon the water, and you have alarmed the fish, whenever\nyou have thrown a fly. You see I have fished with my face towards the\nsun, and though inconvenienced by the light, have given no alarm. Follow\nmy example, and you will soon have sport, as there is a breeze playing\non the water.\n\nPHYS.\u2014Your sagacity puts me in mind of an anecdote which I remember to\nhave heard respecting the late eloquent statesman, Charles James Fox;\nwho, walking up Bond-street from one of the club-houses with an\nillustrious personage, laid him a wager, that he would see more cats\nthan the Prince in his walk, and that he might take which side of the\nstreet he liked. When they got to the top, it was found, that Mr. Fox\nhad seen thirteen cats, and the Prince not one. The royal personage\nasked for an explanation of this apparent miracle, and Mr. Fox said,\n\u201cYour Royal Highness took, of course, the shady side of the way, as most\nagreeable; I knew that the sunny side would be left to me, and cats\nalways prefer the sunshine.\u201d\n\nHAL.\u2014There! Poietes, by following my advice you have immediately hooked\na fish; and while you are catching a brace, I will tell you an anecdote,\nwhich as much relates to fly-fishing as that of Physicus, and affords an\nelucidation of a particular effect of light.\n\nA manufacturer of carmine, who was aware of the superiority of the\nFrench colour, went to Lyons for the purpose of improving his process,\nand bargained with the most celebrated manufacturer in that capital for\nthe acquisition of his secret, for which he was to pay a thousand\npounds. He was shown all the processes, and saw a beautiful colour\nproduced, yet he found not the least difference in the French mode of\nfabrication and that which he had constantly adopted. He appealed to the\nmanufacturer, and insisted that he must have concealed something. The\nmanufacturer assured him that he had not, and invited him to see the\nprocess a second time. He minutely examined the water and the materials,\nwhich were the same as his own, and, very much surprised, said, \u201cI have\nlost my labour and my money, for the air of England does not permit us\nto make good carmine.\u201d \u201cStay,\u201d says the Frenchman, \u201cdo not deceive\nyourself: what kind of weather is it now?\u201d \u201cA bright sunny day,\u201d said\nthe Englishman. \u201cAnd such are the days,\u201d said the Frenchman, \u201con which I\nmake my colour. Were I to attempt to manufacture it on a dark or cloudy\nday, my result would be the same as yours. Let me advise you, my friend,\nalways to make carmine on bright and sunny days.\u201d \u201cI will,\u201d says the\nEnglishman; \u201cbut I fear I shall make very little in London.\u201d\n\nPOIET.\u2014Your anecdote is as much to the purpose as Physicus\u2019s; yet I am\nmuch obliged to you for the hint respecting the effect of shadow, for I\nhave several times in May and June had to complain of too clear a sky,\nand wished, with Cotton, for\n\n                   A day with not too bright a beam;\n                   A warm, but not a scorching, sun.\n\nHAL.\u2014Whilst we have been conversing, the May-flies, which were in such\nquantities, have become much fewer; and I believe the reason is, that\nthey have been greatly diminished by the flocks of swallows, which every\nwhere pursue them: I have seen a single swallow take four, in less than\na quarter of a minute, that were descending to the water.\n\nPOIET.\u2014I delight in this living landscape! The swallow is one of my\nfavourite birds, and a rival of the nightingale; for he cheers my sense\nof seeing as much as the other does my sense of hearing. He is the glad\nprophet of the year\u2014the harbinger of the best season: he lives a life of\nenjoyment amongst the loveliest forms of nature: winter is unknown to\nhim; and he leaves the green meadows of England in autumn, for the\nmyrtle and orange groves of Italy, and for the palms of Africa:\u2014he has\nalways objects of pursuit, and his success is secure. Even the beings\nselected for his prey are poetical, beautiful, and transient. The\nephemer\u00e6 are saved by his means from a slow and lingering death in the\nevening, and killed in a moment, when they have known nothing of life\nbut pleasure. He is the constant destroyer of insects,\u2014the friend of\nman; and, with the stork and the ibis, may be regarded as a sacred bird.\nHis instinct, which gives him his appointed seasons, and teaches him\nalways when and where to move, may be regarded as flowing from a Divine\nSource; and he belongs to the Oracles of Nature, which speak the awful\nand intelligible language of a present Deity.\n\n\n\n\n                              FOURTH DAY.\n\n                   HALIEUS\u2014POIETES\u2014ORNITHER\u2014PHYSICUS.\n\n                   FISHING FOR SALMON AND SEA TROUT.\n\n\n            _Scene\u2014Loch Maree, West of Rosshire, Scotland._\n\n                         _Time\u2014Middle of July._\n\nPOIET.\u2014I BEGIN to be tired. This is really a long day\u2019s journey; and\nthese last ten miles through bogs, with no other view than that of\nmountains half hid in mists, and brown waters that can hardly be called\nlakes, and with no other trees than a few stunted birches, that look so\nlittle alive, that they might be supposed immediately descended from the\nbog-wood, every where scattered beneath our feet, have rendered it\nextremely tedious. This is the most barren part of one of the most\ndesolate countries I have ever passed through in Europe; and though the\ninn at Strathgarve is tolerable, that of Auchnasheen is certainly the\nworst I have ever seen,\u2014and I hope the worst I shall ever see. We ought\nto have good amusement at Pool Ewe, to compensate us for this\nuncomfortable day\u2019s journey.\n\nHAL.\u2014I trust we shall have sport, as far as salmon and sea trout can\nfurnish sport. But the difficulties of our journey are almost over. See,\nLoch Maree is stretched at our feet, and a good boat with four oars will\ncarry us in four or five hours to our fishing ground; a time that will\nnot be misspent, for this lake is not devoid of beautiful, and even\ngrand scenery.\n\nPOIET.\u2014The scenery begins to improve; and that cloud-breasted mountain\non the left is of the best character of Scotch mountains: these woods,\nlikewise, are respectable for this northern country. I think I see\nislands also in the distance: and the quantity of cloud always gives\neffect to this kind of view; and perhaps, without such assistance to the\nimagination, there would be nothing even approaching to the sublime in\nthese countries; but cloud and mist, by creating obscurity and offering\na substitute for greatness and distance, give something of an alpine and\nmajestic character to this region.\n\nORN.\u2014As we are now fixed in our places in the boat, you will surely put\nout a rod or two with a set of flies, or try the tail of the par for a\nlarge trout or salmon: our fishing will not hinder our progress.\n\nHAL.\u2014In most other lakes I should do so; here I have often tried the\nexperiment, but never with success. This lake is extremely deep, and\nthere are very few fish which haunt it generally except char; and salmon\nseldom rest but in particular parts along the shore, which we shall not\ntouch. Our voyage will be a picturesque, rather than an angling one. I\nsee we shall have little occasion for the oars, for a strong breeze is\nrising, and blowing directly down the lake; we shall be in it in a\nminute. Hoist the sails; On we go!\u2014we shall make our voyage in half the\nnumber of hours I had calculated upon; and I hope to catch a salmon in\ntime for dinner.\n\nPOIET.\u2014The scenery improves as we advance nearer the lower parts of the\nlake. The mountains become higher, and that small island or peninsula\npresents a bold, craggy outline; and the birch wood below it, and the\npines above, form a scene somewhat Alpine in character. But what is that\nlarge bird soaring above the pointed rock, towards the end of the lake?\nSurely it is an eagle!\n\nHAL.\u2014Your are right, it is an eagle, and of a rare and peculiar\nspecies\u2014the gray or silver eagle, a noble bird! From the size of the\nanimal, in must be the female; and her aery is in that high rock. I dare\nsay the male is not far off.\n\nPHYS.\u2014I think I see another bird, of a smaller size, perched on the rock\nbelow, which is similar in form.\n\nHAL.\u2014You do: it is the consort of that beautiful and powerful bird; and\nI have no doubt their young ones are near at hand.\n\nPOIET.\u2014Look at the bird! How she dashes into the water, falling like a\nrock, and raising a colume of spray: she has dropped from a great\nheight. And now she rises again into the air: what an extraordinary\nsight!\n\nHAL.\u2014She is pursuing her prey, and is one of our fraternity,\u2014a catcher\nof fish. She has missed her quarry this time, and has soared further\ndown towards the river, to fall again from a great height. There! You\nsee her rise with a fish in her talons.\n\nPOIET.\u2014She gives an interest to this scene, which I hardly expected to\nhave found. Pray are there many of these animals in this country?\n\nHAL.\u2014Of this species, I have seen but these two, and I believe the young\nones migrate as soon as they can provide for themselves; for this\nsolitary bird requires a large space to move and feed in, and does not\nallow its offspring to partake its reign, or to live near it. Of other\nspecies of the eagle, there are some in different parts of the\nmountains, particularly of the Osprey, and of the great fishing or brown\neagle. I once saw a very fine and interesting sight above one of the\nCrags of Ben Weevis, near Strathgarve, as I was going, on the 20th of\nAugust, in pursuit of black game. Two parent eagles were teaching their\noffspring\u2014two young birds, the man\u0153uvres of flight. They began by rising\nfrom the top of a mountain in the eye of the sun (it was about midday,\nand bright for this climate). They at first made small circles, and the\nyoung birds imitated them; they paused on their wings, waiting till they\nhad made their first flight, and then took a second and larger\ngyration,\u2014always rising towards the sun, and enlarging their circle of\nflight so as to make a gradually extending spiral. The young ones still\nslowly followed, apparently flying better as they mounted; and they\ncontinued this sublime kind of exercise, always rising, till they became\nmere points in the air, and the young ones were lost, and afterwards\ntheir parents, to our aching sight. But we have touched the shore, and\nthe lake has terminated: you are now on the river Ewe.\n\nPOIET.\u2014Are we to fish here? It is a broad clear stream, but I see no\nfish, and cannot think it a good angling river.\n\nHAL.\u2014We are nearly a mile above our fishing station, and we must first\nsee our quarters and provide for our lodging, before we begin our\nfishing: to the inn we have only a short walk.\n\nPOIET.\u2014Why this inn is a second edition of Auchnasheen.\n\nHAL.\u2014The interior is better than the exterior, thanks to the Laird of\nBrahan: we shall find one tolerable room and bed; and we must put up our\ncots and provide our food. What is our store, Mr. Purveyor?\n\nPHYS.\u2014I know we have good bread, tea, and sugar. Then there is the\nquarter of roe-buck presented to us at Gordon Castle; and Ornither has\nfurnished us with a brace of wild ducks, three leash of snipes, and a\nbrace of golden plovers, by his mountain expedition of yesterday; and\nfor fish we depend on you. Yet our host says there are fresh herrings to\nbe had, and small cod-fish, and salmon and trout in any quantity, and\nthe claret and the Ferintosh are safe.\n\nHAL.\u2014Why we shall fare sumptuously. As it is not time yet for shooting\ngrouse, we must divide our spoil for the few days we shall stay here.\nYet there are young snipes and plovers on the mountains above, and I\nhave no doubt we might obtain the Laird\u2019s permission to kill a roe-buck\nin the woods or a hart on the mountains; but this is always an uncertain\nevent, and I advise you, Ornither, to become a fisherman.\n\nORN.\u2014I shall wait till I see the results of your skill. At all events,\nin this country I can never want amusement, and I dare say there are\nplenty of seals at the mouth of the river, and killing them is more\nuseful to other fishermen than catching fish.\n\nHAL.\u2014Let there be a kettle of water with salt ready boiling in an hour,\nmine host, for the fish we catch or buy; and see that the potatoes are\nwell dressed: the servants will look to the rest of our fare. Now for\nour rods.\n\nPOIET.\u2014This is a fine river; clear, full, but not too large: with the\ntwo handed rod it may be commanded in most parts.\n\nHAL.\u2014It is larger than usual. The strong wind which brought us so\nquickly down has made it fuller; and it is not in such good order for\nfishing as it was before the wind rose.\n\nPOIET.\u2014I thought the river was always the better for a flood, when\nclear.\n\nHAL.\u2014Better after a flood from rain; for this brings the fish up, who\nknow when rain is coming, and likewise brings down food and makes the\nfish feed. But when the water is raised by a strong wind, the fish never\nrun, as they are sure to find no increase in the spring heads, which are\ntheir objects in running.\n\nPOIET.\u2014You give the fish credit for great sagacity.\n\nHAL.\u2014Call it instinct rather; for if they _reasoned_, they would run\nwith every large water, whether from wind or rain. What the feeling or\npower is, which makes them travel with rain, I will not pretend to\ndefine. But now for our sport.\n\nPOIET.\u2014The fish are beginning to rise; I have seen two here already, and\nthere is a third, and a fourth\u2014scarcely a quarter of a minute elapses\nwithout a fish rising in some parts of the pool.\n\nHAL.\u2014As the day is dark, I shall use a bright and rather a large fly\nwith jay\u2019s hackle, kingfisher\u2019s feather under the wing, and golden\npheasant\u2019s tail, and wing of mixed grouse and argus pheasant\u2019s tail. I\nshall throw over these fish: I ought to raise one.\n\nPOIET.\u2014Either you are not skilful, or the fish know their danger: they\nwill not rise.\n\nHAL.\u2014I will try another and a smaller fly.\n\nPOIET.\u2014You do nothing.\n\nHAL.\u2014I have changed my fly a third time, yet no fish rises. I cannot\nunderstand this. The water is not in good order, or I should certainly\nhave raised a fish or two. Now I will wager ten to one, that this pool\nhas been fished before to-day.\n\nORN.\u2014By whom?\n\nHAL.\u2014I know not; but take my wager and we will ascertain.\n\nORN.\u2014I shall ascertain without the wager if possible. See, a man\nconnected with the fishery advances, let us ask him.\u2014There you see; it\nhas been fished once or twice by one, who claims without charter the\nright of angling.\n\nHAL.\u2014I told you so. Now I know this, I shall put on another kind of fly,\nsuch as I am sure they have not seen this day.\n\nPOIET.\u2014It is very small and very gaudy, I believe made with humming\nbird\u2019s feathers.\n\nHAL.\u2014No. The brightest Java dove\u2019s hackle; kingfisher\u2019s blue, and golden\npheasant\u2019s feathers, and the red feathers of the paroquet. There was a\nfish that rose and missed the fly\u2014a sea trout. There, he has taken it, a\nfresh run fish, from his white belly and blue back.\n\nPOIET.\u2014How he springs out of the water! He must be 6 or 7lbs.\n\nHAL.\u2014Under five, I am sure; he will soon be tired. He fights with less\nspirit: put the net under him. There, he is a fine fed sea trout,\nbetween 4 and 5lbs. But our intrusive brother angler (as I must call\nhim) is coming down the river to take his evening cast. A stout\nHighlander, with a powerful tail,\u2014or, as we should call it in England,\nsuite. He is resolved not to be driven off, and I am not sure that the\nLaird himself could divert him from his purpose, except by a stronger\ntail, and force of arms; but I will try my eloquence upon him. \u201cSir, we\nhope you will excuse us for fishing in this pool, where it seems you\nwere going to take your cast; but the Laird has desired us to stand in\nhis shoes for a few days, and has given up angling while we are here;\nand as we come nearly a thousand miles for this amusement, we are sure\nyou are too much of a gentleman to spoil our sport; and we will take\ncare to supply your fish kettle while we are here, morning and evening,\nand we shall send you, as we hope, a salmon before night.\u201d\n\nPOIET.\u2014He grumbles good sport to us, and is off with his tail: you have\nhit him in the right place. He is a pot fisher, I am sure, and somewhat\nhungry, and, provided he gets the salmon, does not care who catches it!\n\nHAL.\u2014You are severe on the Highland gentleman, and I think extremely\nunjust. Nothing could be more ready than his assent, and a keen\nfisherman must not be expected to be in the best possible humour, when\nhe finds sport which he believes he has a right to, and which perhaps he\ngenerally enjoys without interruption, taken away from him by entire\nstrangers. There is, I know, a disputed point about fishing with the\nrod, between him and the Laird; and it would have been too much to have\nanticipated a courteous greeting from one, who considers us as the\nrepresentatives of an enemy. But I see there is a large fish which has\njust risen at the tail of the pool. I think he is fresh run from the\nsea, for the tide is coming in. My fly and tackle are almost too fine\nfor so large a fish, and I will put on my first fly with a very strong\nsingle gut link and a stretcher of triple gut. He has taken my fly, and\nI hold him\u2014a powerful fish: he must be between 10 and 15lbs. He fights\nwell, and tries to get up the rapid at the top of the pool. I must try\nmy strength with him, to keep him off that rock, or he will break me. I\nhave turned him, and he is now in a good part of the pool: such a fish\ncannot be tired in a minute or two, but requires from ten to twenty,\ndepending upon his activity and strength, and the rapidity of the stream\nhe moves against. He is now playing against the strongest rapid in the\nriver, and will soon give in, should he keep his present place.\n\nPOIET.\u2014You have tired him.\n\nHAL.\u2014He seems fairly tired: I shall bring him in to shore. Now gaff him;\nstrike as near the tail as you can. He is safe; we must prepare him for\nthe pot.\u2014Give him a stunning blow on the head to deprive him of\nsensation, and then make a transverse cut just below the gills, and\ncrimp him, by cutting to the bone on each side, so as almost to divide\nhim into slices: and now hold him by the tail that he may bleed. There\nis a small spring, I see, close under that bank, which I dare say has\nthe mean temperature of the atmosphere in this climate, and is much\nunder 50\u00b0\u2014place him there, and let him remain for ten minutes; then\ncarry him to the pot, and before you put in a slice let the water and\nsalt boil furiously, and give time to the water to recover its heat\nbefore you throw in another; and so proceed with the whole fish: leave\nthe head out, and throw in the thickest pieces first.\n\nPHYS.\u2014Why did you not crimp your trout?\n\nHAL.\u2014We will have him fried. Our poacher prevented me from attending to\nthe preparation; but for frying he is better not crimped, as he is not\nlarge enough to give good transverse slices.\n\nPOIET.\u2014This salmon is a good fish, and fresh as you said from the sea.\nYou see the salt-water louse adheres to his sides, and he is bright and\nsilvery, and a thick fish; I dare say his weight is not less than\n14lbs., and I know of no better fish for the table than one of that\nsize.\n\nPHYS.\u2014It appears to me that so powerful a fish ought to have struggled\nmuch longer: yet, without great exertions on your part, in ten minutes\nhe appeared quite exhausted, and lay on his side as if dying: this\ninduces me to suppose, that there must be some truth in the vulgar\nopinion of anglers, that fish are, as it were, drowned by the play of\nthe rod and reel.\n\nHAL.\u2014The vulgar opinion of anglers on this subject I believe to be\nperfectly correct: though, to apply the word drowning to an animal that\nlives in the water is not quite a fit use of language. Fish, as you\nought to know, respire by passing water, which always holds common air\nin solution, through their gills or bronchial membrane, by the use of a\nsystem of muscles surrounding the fauces, which occasion constant\ncontractions and expansions, or openings and closings of this membrane,\nand the life of the fish is dependant on the process in the same manner\nas that of a quadruped is on inspiring and expiring air. When a fish is\nhooked in the upper part of the mouth by the strength of the rod applied\nas a lever to the line, it is scarcely possible for him to open the\ngills as long as this force is exerted, particularly when he is moving\nin a rapid stream; and when he is hooked in the lower jaw, his mouth is\nkept closed by the same application of the strength of the rod, so that\nno aerated water can be inspired. Under these circumstances he is\nquickly deprived of his vital forces, particularly when he exhausts his\nstrength by moving in a rapid stream. A fish, hooked in a part of the\nmouth where the force of the rod will render his efforts to respire\nunavailing, is much in the same state as that of a deer caught round the\nneck by the lasso of a South American peon, who gallops forwards,\ndragging his victim after him, which is killed by strangulation in a\nvery short time. When fishes are hooked foul, that is, on the outside of\nthe body, as in the fins or tail, they will often fight for many hours,\nand in such cases very large salmon are seldom caught, as they retain\ntheir powers of breathing unimpaired; and if they do not exhaust\nthemselves by violent muscular efforts, they may bid defiance to the\ntemper and the skill of the fisherman. A large salmon, hooked in the\nupper part of the mouth in the cartilage or bone, will sometimes\nlikewise fight for a long while, particularly if he keep in the deep and\nstill parts of the river: for he is able to prevent the force of the\nhook, applied by the rod, from interfering with his respiration, and by\na powerful effort, can maintain his place, and continue to breathe in\nspite of the exertions of the angler. A fish, in such case, is said to\nbe sulky, and his instinct, or his sagacity, generally enables him to\nconquer his enemy. It is, however, rarely that fishes hooked in the\nmouth are capable of using freely the muscles subservient to\nrespiration; and their powers are generally, sooner or later, destroyed\nby suffocation.\n\nPOIET.\u2014The explanation that you have just been giving us of the effects\nof playing fish, I confess alarms me, and makes me more afraid than I\nwas before, that we are pursuing a very cruel amusement; for death by\nstrangling, I conceive, must be very laborious, slow, and painful.\n\nPHYS.\u2014I think as I did before I was an angler, as to the merciless\ncharacter of field-sports; but I doubt if this part of the process of\nthe fly-fisher ought so strongly to alarm your feelings. As far as\nanalogies from warm-blooded animals can apply to the case, the death\nthat follows obstructed respiration is quick, and preceded by\ninsensibility. There are many instances of persons who have recovered\nfrom the apparent death produced by drowning, and had no recollection of\nany violent or intense agony; indeed, the alarm or passion of fear\ngenerally absorbs all the sensibility, and the physical suffering is\nlost in the mental agitation. I can answer from my own experience, that\nthere is no pain which precedes the insensibility occasioned by\nbreathing gasses unfitted for supporting life, but oftener a pleasurable\nfeeling, as in the case of the respiration of nitrous oxide. And in the\nsuffocation produced by the gradual abstraction of air in a close room\nwhere charcoal is burning, we have the record of the son of a celebrated\nchymist, that the sensation which precedes the deep sleep that ends in\ndeath is agreeable. There is far more pain in recovering from the\ninsensibility produced by the abstraction of air than in undergoing it,\nas I can answer from my own feelings; and it is, I believe, quite true,\nwhat has been asserted, that the pain of being born, which is acquiring\nthe power of respiration, is greater than that of dying, which is losing\nthe power.\n\nORN.\u2014I have heard, that persons, who have been recovered from the\ninsensibility produced by hanging, have never any recollection of the\nsufferings which preceded it; and as the blood is immediately determined\nto the head in this operation, probably apoplectic insensibility is\nalmost instantaneous.\n\nThere is on record a very remarkable trial respecting the death of an\nItalian, who was for many years in the habit of being hanged for the\npurpose of producing the temporary excitement of organs that had lost\ntheir power, and who ultimately fell a victim to this depraved and\ndangerous practice; but I will not dwell upon this case, which is well\nauthenticated, and which is equally revolting to good feelings and\ndelicacy.\n\nHAL.\u2014The laws of nature are all directed by Divine Wisdom for the\npurpose of preserving life and increasing happiness. Pain seems in all\ncases to precede the mutilation or destruction of those organs which are\nessential to vitality, and for _the end_ of preserving them; but the\nmere process of dying seems to be the falling into a deep slumber; and\nin animals, who have no fear of death dependent upon imagination, it can\nhardly be accompanied by very intense suffering. In the human being,\nmoral and intellectual motives constantly operate in enhancing the fear\nof death, which, without these motives in a reasoning being, would\nprobably become null, and the love of life be lost upon every slight\noccasion of pain or disgust; but imagination is creative with respect to\nboth these passions, which, if they exist in animals, exist independent\nof reason, or as instincts. Pain seems intended by an all-wise\nProvidence to prevent the _dissolution_ of organs, and cannot follow\ntheir _destruction_. I know several instances in which the process of\ndeath has been observed, even to its termination, by good philosophers;\nand the instances are worth repeating: Dr. Cullen, when dying, is said\nto have faintly articulated to one of his intimates, \u201cI wish I had the\npower of writing or speaking, for then I would describe to you how\npleasant a thing it is to die.\u201d Dr. Black, worn out by age and a\ndisposition to pulmonary hemorrhage, which obliged him to live very low,\nwhilst eating his customary meal of bread and milk, fell asleep, and\ndied in so tranquil a manner, that he had not even spilt the contents of\nthe spoon which he held in his hand. And the late Sir Charles Blagden,\nwhilst at a social meal with his friends, Mons. and Mad. Berthollet and\nGay-Lussac, died in his chair so quietly, that not a drop of the coffee\nin the cup which he held in his hand was spilt.\n\nPOIET.\u2014Give us no more such instances, for I do not think it wise to\ndiminish the love of life, or to destroy the fear of death.\n\nHAL.\u2014There is no danger of this. These passions are founded on immutable\nlaws of our nature, which philosophy cannot change; and it would be good\nif we could give the same security of duration to the love of virtue and\nthe fear of vice or shame, which are connected with immutable interests,\nand which ought to occupy far more the consideration of beings destined\nfor immortality.\u2014But to our business.\n\nNow we have fish for dinner, my task is finished: Physicus and Poietes,\ntry your skill. I have not fished over the best parts of this pool: you\nmay catch a brace of fish here before dinner is ready.\n\nPHYS.\u2014It is too late, and I shall go and see that all is right.\n\nPOIET.\u2014I will take one or two casts; but give me your fly: I like always\nto be sure that the tackle is taking.\n\nHAL.\u2014Try at first the very top of the pool,\u2014though I fear you will get\nnothing there; but here is a cast which I think the Highlander can\nhardly have commanded from the other side, and which is rarely without a\ngood fish. There, he rose: a large trout of 10lbs., or a salmon. Now\nwait a few minutes. When a fish has missed the fly, he will not rise\nagain till after a pause\u2014particularly if he has been for some time in\nthe fresh water. Now try him again. He has risen, but he is a dark fish\nthat has been some time in the water, and he tries to drown the fly with\na blow of his tail. I fear you will not hook him except foul, when most\nlikely he would break you. Try the bottom of the pool, below where I\ncaught my fish.\n\nPOIET.\u2014I have tried all the casts, and nothing rises.\n\nHAL.\u2014Come, we will change the fly for that which I used.\n\nPOIET.\u2014Now I have one: he has taken the fly under water, and I cannot\nsee him.\n\nHAL.\u2014Straighten your line, and we shall soon see him. He is a sea trout,\nbut not a large one.\n\nPOIET.\u2014But he fights like a salmon, and must be near 5lbs.\n\nHAL.\u2014Under 3lbs.; but these fish are always strong and active, and\nsometimes give more sport than larger fish. Shorten your line, or he\nwill carry you over the stones and cut the link gut. He is there\nalready: you have allowed him to carry out too much line; wind up as\nquick as you can, and keep a tight hand upon him. He is now back to a\ngood place, and in a few minutes more will be spent. I have the net.\nThere, he is a sea trout of nearly 3lbs. This will be a good addition to\nour dinner: I will crimp him, that you may compare boiled sea trout with\nbroiled, and with salmon. Now, if you please, we will cool this fish at\nthe spring, and then go to our inn.\n\nPOIET.\u2014If you like. I am endeavouring to find a reason for the effect of\ncrimping and cold in preserving the curd of fish. Have you ever thought\non this subject?\n\nHAL.\u2014Yes: I conclude that the fat of salmon between the flakes of the\nmuscles is mixed with much albumen and gelatine, and is extremely liable\nto decompose, and by keeping it cool, the decomposition is retarded; and\nby the boiling salt and water, which is of a higher temperature than\nthat of common boiling water, the albumen is coagulated, and the\ncurdiness preserved. The crimping, by preventing the irritability of the\nfibre from being gradually exhausted, seems to preserve it so hard and\ncrisp, that it breaks under the teeth; and a fresh fish not crimped is\ngenerally tough. A friend of mine, an excellent angler, has made some\nexperiments on the fat of fish; and he considers the red colour of\ntrout, salmon, and char, as owing to a peculiar coloured oil, which may\nbe extracted by alcohol; and this accounts for the want of it in fish\nthat have fed ill, and after spawning. In general, the depth of the red\ncolour and the quantity of curd are proportional.\n\nPOIET.\u2014Would not the fish be still better, or at least possess more\ncurd, if caught in a net and killed immediately? In the operation of\ntiring by the reel there must be considerable muscular exertion, and I\nshould suppose expenditure of oily matter.\n\nHAL.\u2014There can be no doubt but the fish would be in a more perfect state\nfor the table from the nets; yet a fish in high season does not lose so\nmuch fat during the short time he is on the hook, as to make much\ndifference; and I am not sure, that the action of crimping after does\nnot give a better sort of crispness to the fibre. This, however, may be\nfancy; we will discuss the matter again at table. See! our companion on\nthe lake, the eagle, is coming down the river, and has pounced upon a\nfish in the pool near the sea.\n\nPHYS.\u2014I fear he will interfere with our sport: let us request Ornither\nto shoot him. I wish to see him nearer, and to preserve him as a\nspecimen for the Zoological Society.\n\nHAL.\u2014O! no. He will not spoil our sport; and I think it would be a pity\nto deprive this spot of one of its poetical ornaments. Besides, the pool\nwhere he is now fishing contains scarcely any thing but trout; it is too\nshallow for salmon, who run into the cruives.\n\nPOIET.\u2014I am of your opinion, and shall use my eloquence to prevent\nOrnither from attempting the life of so beautiful a bird; so majestic in\nits form, so well suited to the scenery, and so picturesque in all its\nhabits.\n\nTHE INNKEEPER.\u2014Gentlemen, dinner is ready.\n\n\n                              THE DINNER.\n\nHAL.\u2014Now take your places. What think you of our fish?\n\nPHYS.\u2014I never ate better; but I want the Harvey or Reading sauce.\n\nHAL.\u2014Pray let me intreat you to use no other sauce than the water in\nwhich he was boiled. I assure you this is the true Epicurean way of\neating fresh salmon: and for the trout, use only a little vinegar and\nmustard,\u2014a sauce _\u00e0 la Tartare_, without the onions.\n\nPOIET.\u2014Well, nothing can be better; and I do not think fresh net-caught\nfish can be superior to these.\n\nHAL.\u2014And these snipes are excellent. Either my journey has given me an\nappetite, or I think they are the best I ever tasted.\n\nORN.\u2014They are good, but I have tasted better.\n\nHAL.\u2014Where?\n\nORN.\u2014On the continent; where the common snipe, that rests during its\nmigration from the north to the south in the marshes of Italy and\nCarniola, and the double or solitary snipe, become so fat, as to\nresemble that bird, which was formerly fattened in Lincolnshire, the\nruff; and they have, I think, a better flavour from being fed on their\nnatural food.\n\nHAL.\u2014At what time have you eaten them?\n\nORN.\u2014I have eaten them both in spring and autumn; but the autumnal birds\nare the best, and are like the ortolan of Italy.\n\nHAL.\u2014Where does the double snipe winter?\n\nORN.\u2014I believe in Africa and Asia Minor. They are rarely seen in\nEngland, except driven by an east wind in the spring, or a strong north\nwind in the autumn. Their natural progress is to and from Finland and\nSiberia, through the continent of Europe, to and from the east and\nsouth.[5] In autumn they pass more east, both because they are aided by\nwest winds, and because the marshes in the east of Europe are wetter in\nthat season; and in spring they return, but the larger proportion\nthrough Italy, where they are carried by the _Sirocco_, and which at\nthat time is _extremely wet_. Come, let us have another bottle of\nclaret: a pint per man is not too much after such a day\u2019s fatigue.\n\nHAL.\u2014You have made me president for these four days, and I forbid it. A\nhalf pint of wine for young men in perfect health is enough, and you\nwill be able to take your exercise better, and feel better for this\nabstinence. How few people calculate upon the effects of constantly\nrenewed fever, in our luxurious system of living in England! The heart\nis made to act too powerfully, the blood is thrown upon the nobler\nparts, and, with the system of wading adopted by some sportsmen, whether\nin shooting or fishing, is delivered either to the hemorrhoidal veins,\nor, what is worse, to the head. I have known several free livers, who\nhave terminated their lives by apoplexy, or have been rendered miserable\nby palsy, in consequence of the joint effects of cold feet and too\nstimulating a diet; that is to say, as much animal food as they could\neat, with a pint or perhaps a bottle of wine per day. Be guided by me,\nmy friends, and neither drink nor wade. I know there are old men who\nhave done both, and have enjoyed perfect health; but these are _devil\u2019s\ndecoys_ to the unwary, and ten suffer for one that escapes. I could\nquote to you an instance from this very county, in one of the strongest\nmen I have ever known. He was not intemperate, but he lived luxuriously,\nand waded as a salmon fisher for many years in this very river; but\nbefore he was fifty, palsy deprived him of the use of his limbs, and he\nis still a living example of the danger of the system which you are\nambitious of adopting.\n\nORN.\u2014Well, I give up the wine, but I intend to wade in Hancock\u2019s boots\nto-morrow.\n\nHAL.\u2014Wear them, but do not wade in them. The feet must become cold in a\nstream of water constantly passing over the caoutchouc and leather,\nnotwithstanding the thick stockings. They are good for keeping the feet\nwarm, and I think where there is exercise, as in snipe shooting, they\nmay be used without any bad effects. But I advise no one to stand still\n(which an angler must do sometimes) in the water, even with these\ningenious water-proof inventions. All anglers should remember old\nBoerhaave\u2019s maxims of health, and act upon them: \u201cKeep the feet warm,\nthe head cool, and the body open.\u201d\n\nPHYS.\u2014I am sorry we did not examine more minutely the weight and size of\nthe fish we caught, and compare the anatomy of the salmon and the sea\ntrout; but we were in too great a hurry to see them on the table, and\nour philosophy yielded to our hunger.\n\nHAL.\u2014We shall have plenty of opportunities for this examination; and we\ncan now walk down to the fishing-house and see probably half a hundred\nfish of different sizes, that have been taken in the cruives, this\nevening, and examine them at our leisure.\n\nALL.\u2014Let us go!\n\n\nPHYS.\u2014I never saw so many fish of this kind before; and I conclude that\nheap of smaller fish is composed of trout.\n\nHAL.\u2014Certainly. Let us compare one of the largest trout with a salmon. I\nhave selected two fresh run fish, which, from their curved lower jaws,\nare, I conclude, both males. The salmon you see is broader, has a tail\nrather more forked, and the teeth in proportion are rather smaller. The\ntrout, likewise, has larger and more black brown spots on the body; and\nthe head of the trout is a little larger in proportion. The salmon has\n14 spines in the pectoral fins, 10 in each of the ventral, 13 in the\nanal, 21 in the caudal, and 15 in the dorsal. The salmon measures 38\u00bd\ninches in length and 21 inches in girth, and his weight, as you see, is\n22\u00bclbs. The trout has one spine less in the pectoral, and two less in\nthe anal fin, and measures 30\u00bc inches in length, and 16 inches in girth,\nand his weight is 11lbs. We will now open them. The stomach of the\nsalmon, you perceive, contains nothing but a little yellow fluid, and,\nthough the salmon is twice as large, does not exceed much in size that\nof the trout. The stomach of the trout, unlike that of the salmon, will\nbe found full of food: we will open it. See, there are half digested\nsand eels which come out of it.\n\nPHYS.\u2014But surely the stomachs of salmon must sometimes, when opened,\ncontain food?\n\nHAL.\u2014I have opened ten or twelve, and never found any thing in their\nstomachs but tape-worms, bred there, and some yellow fluid; but, I\nbelieve, this is generally owing to their being caught at the time of\nmigration, when they are travelling from the sea upwards, and do not\nwillingly load themselves with food. Their digestion appears to be very\nquick, and their habits seem to show, that after having taken a bait in\nthe river they do not usually seek another, till the work of digestion\nis nearly performed: but when they are taken at sea, and in rivers in\nthe winter, food, I am told, is sometimes found in their stomachs. The\nsea trout is a much more voracious fish, and, like the land trout, is\nnot willingly found with an empty stomach.\n\nPHYS.\u2014I presume the sea trout is the fish called by Linn\u00e6us, in his\nFauna, _Salmo Eriox_?\n\nHAL.\u2014I know not: but I should rather think that fish a variety of the\ncommon salmon.\n\nPHYS.\u2014But there are surely other species of salmon, that live in the sea\nand come into our rivers: I have heard of fish called _grays_, _bull\ntrout_, _scurfs_, _morts_, _peales_, and _whitlings_.\n\nHAL.\u2014I have never been able to identify more than the _salmo salar_, or\nsalmon, and _salmo trutta_, or sea trout, in the rivers of Britain and\nIreland. The whitlings I believe to be the young of the sea trout. A sea\ntrout which I saw in Ireland, called a bull trout, was of the same kind\nas these you see here, but fresh water trout are sometimes carried in\nfloods to the sea, and come back larger and altered in colour and form,\nand are then mistaken for new species: and as each river possesses a\npeculiar variety belonging to it, this, with differences depending upon\nfood and size, will, I think, account for the peculiarities of\nparticular fish, without the necessity of supposing them distinct\nspecies. I remember many years ago, the first time I ever fished for\nsalmon in spring in the Tweed, I caught with the fly, one fine morning\nin March, two fish nearly of the same length: one was a male of the last\nseason, that had lost its melt; the other a female fresh from the sea.\nThey were so unlike, that they did not appear of the same species: the\nspent or kipper salmon was long and lean, showing an immense head,\nspotted all over with black and brown spots, and the belly almost black;\nthe other bright and silvery, without spots, and the head small. Even\nthe pectoral and anal fins had more spines in the newly run fish, some\nof the smaller ones having been probably rubbed off in spawning by the\nother. I would not for some time, till assured by an experienced\nfisherman, believe, that the spent fish was a salmon; and when their\nflesh was compared on the table, one was white, flabby, and bad, and\nwithout curd; the other of the brightest pink, and full of dense curd.\nThen, though of the same length, one weighed only 4lbs., the other\n9\u00bdlbs. When it is recollected, that different salmon and sea trout spawn\nat different times in the same river, and that fish of the same year,\nbeing born at different seasons, from Christmas to Lady-day,\u2014and having\nmigrated to the sea in spring\u2014run up the rivers of all sizes in summer\nand autumn\u2014the young salmon from 2 to 10lbs. in weight, the young sea\ntrout from \u00bd to 3lbs. in weight\u2014it is not difficult to account for the\nvariety of names given by casual observers to individuals of these two\nspecies. But I must not forget my promise of sending a fish to the\nHighlander, with whose sport we have interfered. There is a good salmon,\nwhich shall be taken to him immediately, and for which I shall pay the\ntaxman his usual price of 5_d._ per pound.\n\n\n\n\n                               FIFTH DAY.\n\n                   HALIEUS\u2014POIETES\u2014ORNITHER\u2014PHYSICUS.\n\n\n                                MORNING.\n\nHAL.\u2014WELL, is your tackle all ready? It is a fine fresh and cloudy\nmorning, with a gentle breeze\u2014a day made for salmon fishing.\n\n\n[_They proceed to the river_.]\n\n\nHAL.\u2014Now, my friends, I give up the two best pools to you till one\no\u2019clock; and I shall amuse myself above and below\u2014probably with trout\nfishing. As there is a promise of a mixed day, with\u2014what is rare in this\ncountry\u2014a good deal of sunshine, I will examine your flies a little, and\npoint out those I think likely to be useful; or rather, I will show you\nmy flies, and, as you all have duplicates of them, you can each select\nthe fly which I point out, and place in it a part of the book where it\nmay easily be found. First: when the cloud is on, I advise the use of\none of these three golden twisted flies, with silk bodies, orange, red\nand pale blue, with red, orange, and gray hackle, golden pheasant\u2019s\nhackle for tail, and kingfisher\u2019s blue and golden pheasant\u2019s brown\nhackle under the wing; beginning with the brightest fly, and changing to\nthe darker one. Should the clouds disappear, and it become bright,\nchange your flies for darker ones, of which I will point out three:\u2014a\nfly with a brown body and a red cock\u2019s hackle, one with a dun body and\nblack hackle and light wing, and one with a black body, a hackle of the\nsame colour, and a brown mallard\u2019s wing. All these flies have, you see,\nsilver twist round their bodies, and all kingfisher\u2019s feather under the\nwing, and golden pheasant\u2019s feather for the tail. For the size of your\nflies, I recommend the medium size, as the water is small to-day; but\ntrying all sizes, from the butterfly size of a hook of half an inch in\nwidth, to one of a quarter. Now, Physicus, cast your orange fly into\nthat rapid at the top of the pool; I saw a large fish run there this\nmoment. You fish well, were common trout your object; but, in salmon\nfishing, you must alter your manner of moving the fly. It must not float\nquietly down the water; you must allow it to sink a little, and then\npull it back by a gentle jerk\u2014not raising it out of the water,\u2014and then\nlet it sink again, till it has been shown in motion, a little below the\nsurface, in every part of your cast. That is right,\u2014he has risen.\n\nPHYS.\u2014I hold him. He is a noble fish!\n\nHAL.\u2014He is a large grilse, I see by his play; or a young salmon, of the\nearliest born this spring. Hold him tight; he will fight hard.\n\nPHYS.\u2014There! he springs out of the water! Once, twice, thrice, four\ntimes! He is a merry one!\n\nHAL.\u2014He runs against the stream, and will soon be tired,\u2014but do not\nhurry him. Pull hard now, to prevent him from running round that stone.\nHe comes in. I will gaff him for you. I have him! A goodly fish of this\ntide. But see, Poietes has a larger fish at the bottom of the great\npool, and is carried down by him almost to the sea.\n\nPOIET.\u2014I cannot hold him! He has run out all my line.\n\nHAL.\u2014I see him: he is hooked foul, and I fear we shall never recover\nhim, for he is going out to sea. Give me the rod,\u2014I will try and turn\nhim; and do you run down to the entrance of the pool, and throw stones,\nto make him, if possible, run back. Ay! that stone has done good\nservice; he is now running up into the pool again. Now call the\nfisherman, and tell him to bring a long pole, to keep him if possible\nfrom the sea. You have a good assistant, and I will leave you, for\ntiring this fish will be at least a work of two hours. He is not much\nless than 20lbs. and is hooked under the gills, so that you cannot\nsuffocate him by a straight line. I wish you good fortune; but should he\nturn sulky, you must not allow him to rest, but make the fisherman move\nhim with the pole again; your chance of killing him depends upon his\nbeing kept incessantly in action, so that he may exhaust himself by\nexercise. I shall go and catch you some river trout for your dinner;\u2014but\nI am glad to see, before I take my leave of you, that Ornither has\nlikewise hold of a fish,\u2014and, from his activity, a lusty sea trout.\n\n\n[_He goes, and returns in the afternoon_.]\n\n\nHAL.\u2014Well, Poietes, I hope to see your fish of 20lbs.\n\nPOIET.\u2014Alas! he broke me,\u2014turned sulky, and went to the bottom; and when\nhe was roused again, my line came back without the fly; so that I\nconclude he had cut my links by rubbing them against some sharp stone.\nBut I have caught two grilses and a sea trout since, and lost two\nothers, salmons or grilses, that fairly got the hooks out of their\nmouths.\n\nHAL.\u2014And, Ornither, what have you done? Well, I see,\u2014a salmon, a grilse,\nand a sea trout. And Physicus?\n\nPHYS.\u2014I have lost three fish; one of which broke me, at the top of the\npool, by running amongst the rocks; and I have only one small sea trout.\n\nHAL.\u2014Your fortune will come another day. Why, you have not a single\ncrimped fish for dinner, and it is now nearly two o\u2019clock; and you have\nbeen catching for the picklers, for those fish may all go to the\nboiling-house. I must again be your purveyor. Can you point out to me\nany part of this pool where you have not fished?\n\nALL.\u2014No.\n\nHAL.\u2014Then I have little chance.\n\nPHYS.\u2014O yes! you have a charm for catching fish.\n\nHAL.\u2014Let me know what flies you have tried, and I may perhaps tell you\nif I have a chance. With my small bright humming bird, as you call it, I\nwill make an essay.\n\nPOIET.\u2014But this fishery is really very limited; and two pools for four\npersons a small allowance.\n\nHAL.\u2014If you could have seen this river twenty years ago, when the\ncruives were a mile higher up, then you might have enjoyed fishing.\nThere were eight or ten pools, of the finest character possible for\nangling, where a fisherman of my acquaintance has hooked thirty fish in\na morning. The river was then perfect, and it might easily be brought\nagain into the same state; but even as it is now, with this single good\npool and this second tolerable one, I know no place where I could, in\nthe summer months, be so secure of sport as here\u2014certainly no where in\nGreat Britain.\n\nPOIET.\u2014I have often heard the Tay and the Tweed vaunted as salmon\nrivers.\n\nHAL.\u2014They were good salmon rivers, and are still very good, as far as\nthe profit of the proprietor is concerned; but, for angling, they are\nvery much deteriorated. The net fishing, which is constantly going on,\nexcept on Sundays and in close time, suffers very few fish to escape;\nand a Sunday\u2019s flood offers the sole chance of a good day\u2019s sport, and\nthis only in particular parts of these rivers. I remember the Tweed and\nthe Tay in a far better state. The Tweed, in the late Lord Somerville\u2019s\ntime, always contained taking-fish after every flood in the summer. In\nthe Tay, only ten years ago, at Mickleure, I was myself one of two\nanglers who took eight fine fish,\u2014three of them large salmon,\u2014in a short\nmorning\u2019s fishing: but now, except in spring fishing, when the fish are\nlittle worth taking, there is no certainty of sport in these rivers; and\none, two, or three fish (which last is of rare occurrence,) are all even\nan experienced angler can hope to take in a day\u2019s skilful and constant\nangling.\n\nPOIET.\u2014You have fished in most of the salmon rivers of the north of\nEurope,\u2014give us some idea of the kind of sport they afford.\n\nHAL.\u2014I have fished in some, but perhaps not in the best; for this it is\nnecessary to go into barbarous countries\u2014Lapland, or the extreme north\nof Norway; and I have generally loved too much the comforts of life to\nmake any greater sacrifices than such as are made in our present\nexpedition. I have heard the river at Drontheim boasted of as an\nexcellent salmon river,\u2014and I know two worthy anglers who have tried it;\nbut I do not think they took more fish in a day than I have sometimes\ntaken in Scotland and Ireland. All the Norwegian rivers that I tried\n(and they were in the south of Norway) contained salmon. I fished in the\nGlommen, one of the largest rivers in Europe; in the Mandals, which\nappeared to me the best fitted for taking salmon; the Arendal and the\nTorrisdale;\u2014but, though I saw salmon rise in all these rivers, I never\ntook a fish larger than a sea trout; of these I always caught many\u2014and\neven in the _fiords_, or small inland salt-water bays; but I think never\nany one more than a pound in weight. It is true, I was in Norway in the\nbeginning of July, in exceedingly bright weather, and when there was no\nnight; for even at twelve o\u2019clock the sky was so bright, that I read the\nsmallest print in the columns of a newspaper. I was in Sweden later\u2014in\nAugust: I fished in the magnificent Gotha, below that grand fall\nTrolhetta, which to see is worth a voyage from England: but I never\nraised there any fish worth taking: yet a gentleman from Gothenburg told\nme he had formerly taken large trout there. I caught, in this noble\nstream, a little trout about as long as my hand; and the only fish I got\nto eat at Trolhetta was bream. The Falkenstein, a darker water, very\nlike a second-rate Scotch river\u2014say the Don\u2014abounds in salmon; and there\nI had a very good day\u2019s fishing. I took six fish, which gave me great\nsport; they were grilses, under 6lbs; but I lost a salmon, which I think\nwas above 10lbs. This river, I conceive, must be, generally, excellent;\nit is not covered with saw-mills, like most of the Norwegian rivers; its\ncolour is good, and it is not so clear as the rivers of the south of\nNorway.\n\nPHYS.\u2014Do you think the saw-mills hurt the fishing?\n\nHAL.\u2014I do not doubt it. The immense quantity of sawdust which floats in\nthe water, and which forms almost hills along the banks, must be\npoisonous to the fish, by sometimes choking their gills, and interfering\nwith their respiration. I have never fished for salmon in Germany. The\nElbe and the Weser, when I have seen them, were too foul for fly\nfishing; and in the Rhine, in Switzerland, and its tributary streams, I\nhave never seen a salmon rise. I once hooked a fish, under the fall at\nSchaffausen, which in my youthful ardour I thought was a salmon, but it\nturned out to be an immense chub\u2014a villanous and provoking substitute.\nAnd our islands, as far as I know, may claim the superiority over all\nother lands for this species of amusement. In England it is, however, a\nlittle difficult to get a day\u2019s salmon fishing. The best river I know of\nis the Derwent, that flows from the beautiful lake of Keswick; and I\ncaught once, in October, a very large salmon there, and raised another;\nbut it is only late in the autumn, that there is any chance of sport,\nthough I have heard the spring salmon fishing boasted of. At Whitwell,\nin the Hodder, I have heard of salmon and sea trout being taken\u2014but I\nhave never fished in that river. The late Lord Bolinbroke caught many\nsalmon at Christchurch; but a fish a week is as much as can be expected\nin that beautiful, but scantily stocked, river. Small salmon and sea\ntrout, or sewens, as they are called in the country, may be caught,\nafter the autumnal floods, I believe, in most of the considerable Welsh,\nDevonshire, and Cornish streams; but I have fished in many of them\nwithout success. The Conway I may except: this river, in the end of\nOctober, will sometimes, after a great flood, furnish a good day\u2019s\nsport, and, if the net fishers could be set aside, several days\u2019 sport.\nI have known two salmon, one above 20lbs., taken here in a day; and I\nhave taken myself fine sea trout, or _sewens_,\u2014which, in an autumnal\nflood in Wales, are found in most of the streams near the sea.\n\nPOIET.\u2014I have heard a Northumberland man boast of the rivers of that\ncounty, as affording good salmon fishing.\n\nHAL.\u2014I have no doubt that salmon are sometimes caught in the Tyne, the\nCoquet, and the Till; but, in the present state of these rivers, this is\na rare occurrence. I was once, for a week, on a good run of the North\nTyne; I fished sometimes, but I never saw a salmon rise; and the only\nplace in this river, where, from my own knowledge, I can assert salmon\nhave been caught with the artificial fly, was at Mounsey, very high up\nthe river. There, in 1820, two grilses were caught, in the end of\nAugust. I have recorded this as a sort of historical occurrence; and I\ndare say most of the counties of England, in which there are salmon\nrivers, would, upon a minute inquiry, furnish such instances, if they\ncontained salmon fishers. Yorkshire, Devonshire, and Cornwall, with the\nsea on both sides, ought to furnish a greater number.\n\nPHYS.\u2014Give us some little account of the Scotch and Irish rivers.\n\nHAL.\u2014I fear I shall tire you by attempting any details on this subject,\nfor they are so many, that I ought to take a map in my hands; but I will\nsay a few words on those in which I have had good sport. First, the\nTweed:\u2014of this, as you will understand from what I mentioned before, I\nfear I must now say \u201c_fuit_.\u201d Yet still, for spring salmon fishing, it\nmust be a good river. The last great sport I had in that river was in\n1817, in the beginning of April. I caught, in two or three hours, at\nMerton, four or five large salmon, and as many in the evening at\nKelso\u2014and one of them weighed 25lbs. But this kind of fishing cannot be\ncompared to the summer fishing: the fish play with much less energy, and\nin general are in bad season; and the fly used for fishing is almost\nlike a bird\u2014four or five times larger than the summer fly, and the\ncoarsest tackle may be employed. I have heard, that Lord Home has\nsometimes taken thirty fish in a day, in spring fishing. About, and\nabove Melrose, I have taken, in a morning in July, two or three grilses;\nand in September the same number. I have known eighteen taken earlier,\nby an excellent salmon fisher, at Merton; and the late Lord Somerville\noften took six or seven fish in a day\u2019s angling. The same \u201c_fuit_\u201d I\nmust apply to most of the Scotch rivers. Of the Tay I have already\nspoken. In the Dee I have never caught salmon, though I have fished in\ntwo parts of it, but it was in bad seasons. In the Don I have seen\nsalmon rise, and hooked one, but never killed a fish. In the Spey I\nenjoyed one of the best days\u2019 sport (perhaps the very best) I ever had\nin my life: it was in the beginning of September, in close time; the\nwater was low, and as net fishing had been given over for some days, the\nlower pools were full of fish. By a privilege, which I owed to the late\nDuke of Gordon, I fished at this forbidden time, and hooked twelve or\nthirteen fish in one day. One was above 30lbs., but it broke me by the\nderangement of my reel. I landed seven or eight,\u2014one above 20lbs., which\ngave me great play in the rapids above the bridge. I returned to this\nsame spot in 1813, the year after: the river was in excellent order, and\nit was the same time of the year, but just after a flood,\u2014I caught\nnothing; the fish had all run up the river; the pools, where I had such\nsport the year before, were empty. I have fished there since, with a\nlike result,\u2014but this was before the 12th of August, the close day. In\nthe Sutherland and Caithness rivers, many salmon, I have no doubt, may\nstill be caught. The Brora, Sutherland, in 1813 and 1814, was an\nadmirable river: I have often rode from the mansion of the princely and\nhospitable lord and lady of that county, after breakfast, and returned\nat two or three o\u2019clock, having taken from three to eight salmon\u2014several\ntimes eight. There were five pools below the wears of the Brora, which\nalways contained fish; and at the top of one pool, which from its size\nwas almost inexhaustible, I have taken three or four salmon the same\nday. Another pool, nearer the sea, was almost equal to it; and at that\ntime I should have placed the Brora above the Ewe for certainty of\nsport. When I fished there last, in 1817, the case was altered, and I\ncaught only two or three fish in the very places where I had six years\nbefore been so successful. In the Helmsdale there are some good pools,\nand I have caught fine fish there when the river has been high. I have\nfished in the river at Thurso, but without success\u2014it was always foul\nwhen I made my attempt. I have heard of a good salmon river in Lord\nReay\u2019s county, the Laxford; its name, of Norwegian origin, would seem to\nbe characteristic.[6] Along the coast of Scotland, most of the streams,\nif taken at the right time, afford sport. In this county the Beauly is a\ngood river, and I have caught salmon in that very beautiful spot below\nthe falls of Kilmarnock. The Ness, at Inverness, and the Awe and Lochy,\nI have fished in, but without success. I may say the same of the Ayr,\nand of the rivers which empty themselves into the Solway Frith. A little\npreserved stream, at Ardgowan, was formerly excellent, after a flood in\nSeptember, for sea trout, and later for salmon: I have had good sport\nthere, and some of my friends have had better.\n\nIn Ireland there are some excellent rivers; and, what you will hardly\nbelieve possible, comparing the characters of the two nations, some of\nthem are taken better care of than the Scotch river; which arises a good\ndeal from the influence of the Catholic priests, when they are concerned\nin the interests of the proprietors, on the Catholic peasantry. I should\nplace the Erne, at Ballyshannon, as now the first river, for salmon\nfishing from the banks with a rod, in the British dominions; and the\nexcellent proprietor of it, Dr. Shiel, is liberal and courteous to all\ngentlemen fly fishers. The Moy, at Ballina, is likewise an admirable\nsalmon river; and sport, I believe, may almost always be secured there\nin every state of the waters; but the best fishing can only be commanded\nby the use of a boat. I have taken in the Erne two or three large salmon\nin the morning; and in the Moy, three or four grilses, or, as they are\ncalled in Ireland, _grauls_; and this was in a very bad season for\nsalmon fishing. The Bann, near Coleraine, abounds in salmon: but, in\nthis river, except in close time, when it is unlawful to fish there,\nthere are few good casts. In the Bush, a small river about seven miles\nto the east of the Bann, there is admirable salmon fishing, always after\ngreat floods; but in fine and dry weather it is of little use to try. I\nhave hooked twenty fish in a day, after the first August floods, in this\nriver; and, should sport fail, the celebrated Giant\u2019s Causeway is within\na mile of its mouth, and furnishes to the lovers of natural beauty, or\nof geological research, almost inexhaustible sources of interest. The\nBlackwater, at Lismore, is a very good salmon river: and the Shannon,\nabove Limerick and at Castle Connel, whenever the water is tolerably\nhigh, offers many good casts to the fly fisher; but they can only be\ncommanded by boats. But there is no considerable river along the\nnorthern or western coast,\u2014with the exception of the Avoca, which has\nbeen spoiled by the copper mines,\u2014that does not afford salmon, and if\ntaken at the proper time, offer sport to the salmon fisher.\u2014But it is\ntime for us to return to our inn.\n\n\n                                THE INN.\n\nPOIET.\u2014Should it be a fine day to-morrow, I think we shall have good\nsport: the high tide will bring up fish, and the rain and wind of\nyesterday will have enlarged the river.\n\nHAL.\u2014To-morrow we must not fish: it is the Lord\u2019s day, and a day of\nrest. It ought likewise to be a day of worship and thanksgiving to the\nGreat Cause of all the benefits and blessings we enjoy in this life, for\nwhich we can never sufficiently express our gratitude.\n\nPOIET.\u2014I cannot see what harm there can be in pursuing an amusement on a\nSunday, which you yourself have called innocent, and which is apostolic:\nnor do I know a more appropriate way of returning thanks to the Almighty\nCause of all being, than in examining and wondering at his works in that\ngreat temple of nature, whose canopy is the sky; and where all the\nbeings and elements around us are as it were proclaiming the power and\nwisdom of Deity.\n\nHAL.\u2014I cannot see how the exercise of fishing can add to your devotional\nfeelings; but, independent of this, you employ a servant to carry your\nnet and gaff, and he, at least, has a right to rest on this one day. But\neven if you could perfectly satisfy yourself as to the abstracted\ncorrectness of the practice, the habits of the country in which we now\nare, form an insurmountable obstacle to the pursuit of the amusement: by\nindulging in it, you would excite the indignation of the Highland\npeasants, and might perhaps expiate the offence by a compulsory ablution\nin the river.\n\nPOIET.\u2014I give up the point: I make it a rule never to shock the\nprejudices of any person, even when they appear to me ridiculous; and I\nshall still less do so in a case where your authority is against me; and\nI have no taste for undergoing persecution, when the cause is a better\none. I now remember, that I have often heard of the extreme severity\nwith which the sabbath discipline is kept in Scotland. Can you give us\nthe reason of this?\n\nHAL.\u2014I am not sufficiently read in the Church History of Scotland to\ngive the cause historically; but I think it can hardly be doubted, that\nit is connected with the intense feelings of the early Covenanters, and\ntheir hatred with respect to all the forms and institutes of the church\nof Rome, the ritual of which makes the Sunday more a day of innocent\nrecreation than severe discipline.\n\nPHYS.\u2014Yet the disciples of Calvin, at Geneva, who, I suppose, must have\nhated the pope as much as their brethren of Scotland, do not so rigidly\nobserve the Sunday; and I remember having been invited by a very\nreligious and respectable Genevese to a shooting party on that day.\n\nHAL.\u2014I think climate and the imitative nature of man modify this cause\nabroad. Geneva is a little state, in a brighter climate than Scotland,\nalmost surrounded by Catholics, and the habits of the French and\nSavoyards must influence the people. The Scotch, with more severity and\nsimplicity of manners, have no such examples of bad neighbours, for the\npeople of the north of England keep the Sunday much in the same way.\n\nPOIET.\u2014Nay, Halieus, call them not bad neighbours; recollect my creed,\nand respect at least, what, if error, was the error of the western\nChristian world for 1000 years. The rigid observance of the seventh day\nappears to me rather a part of the Mosaic, than of the Christian\ndispensation. The Protestants of this country consider the Catholics\nbigots, because they enjoin to themselves and perform certain penances\nfor their sins; and surely the Catholics may see a little still more\nresembling that spirit, in the interference of the Scotch in innocent\namusements, on a day celebrated as a festive day, that on which our\nSaviour rose to immortal life, and secured the everlasting hopes of the\nChristian. I see no reason why this day should not be celebrated with\nsinging, dancing, and triumphal processions, and all innocent signs of\ngladness and joy. I see no reason why it should be given up to severe\nand solitary prayers, or to solemn and dull walks; or why, as in\nScotland, whistling even should be considered as a crime on Sunday, and\nhumming a tune, however sacred, out of doors, as a reason for violent\nanger and persecution.\n\nORN.\u2014I agree with Poietes, in his views of the subject. I have suffered\nfrom the peculiar habits of the Scotch church, and therefore may\ncomplain. Once in the north of Ireland, when a very young man, I\nventured after the time of divine service to put together my rods, as I\nhad been used to do in the Catholic districts of Ireland, and fish for\nsea trout in the river at Rathmelton, in pure innocence of heart,\nunconscious of wrong, when I found a crowd collect round me\u2014at first I\nthought from mere curiosity, but I soon discovered I was mistaken; anger\nwas their motive, and vengeance their object. A man soon came up,\nexceedingly drunk, and began to abuse me by various indecent terms: such\nas a Sabbath breaking papist, &c. It was in vain I assured him I was no\npapist, and no intentional Sabbath breaker; he seized my rod and carried\nit off with imprecations; and it was only with great difficulty, and in\nexciting by my eloquence the pity of some women who were present, and\nwho thought I was an ill-used stranger, that I recovered my property.\nAnother time I was walking on Arthur\u2019s Seat, with some of the most\ndistinguished professors of Edinburgh attached to the geological\nopinions of the late Dr. Hutton; a discussion took place upon the\nphenomena presented by the rocks under our feet, and, to exemplify a\nprinciple, Professor Playfair broke some stones, in which I assisted the\nvenerable and amiable philosopher. We had hardly examined the fragments,\nwhen a man from a crowd, who had been assisting at a field preaching,\ncame up to us and warned us off, saying, \u201cYe think ye are only stane\nbreakers; but I ken ye are Sabbath breakers, and ye deserve to be staned\nwith your ain stanes!\u201d\n\nHAL.\u2014Zeal of every kind is sometimes troublesome, yet I generally\nsuspect the persons, who are _very_ tolerant, of scepticism. Those who\nfirmly believe, that a particular plan of conduct is essential to the\neternal welfare of man, may be pardoned if they show even _anger_, when\nthis conduct is not pursued. The severe observance of the Sabbath is\nconnected with the vital creed of these rigid presbyterians; it is not\ntherefore extraordinary, that they should enforce it even with a\nperseverance that goes beyond the bounds of good manners and courtesy.\nThey may quote the example of our Saviour, who expelled the traders from\nthe temple even by violence.\n\nPHYS.\u2014I envy no quality of the mind or intellect in others; be it\ngenius, power, wit, or fancy: but if I could choose what would be most\ndelightful, and I believe most useful to me, I should prefer a firm\nreligious belief to every other blessing; for it makes life a discipline\nof goodness; creates new hopes, when all earthly hopes vanish; and\nthrows over the decay, the destruction of existence, the most gorgeous\nof all lights; awakens life even in death, and from corruption and decay\ncalls up beauty and divinity; makes an instrument of torture and of\nshame the ladder of ascent to paradise: and, far above all combinations\nof earthly hopes, calls up the most delightful visions of palms and\namaranths, the gardens of the blest, the security of everlasting joys,\nwhere the sensualist and the sceptic view only gloom, decay,\nannihilation, and despair!\n\nPOIET.\u2014You transiently referred, Halieus, yesterday, to that instinct of\nsalmons which induces them to run up rivers from the sea on the approach\nof rain. You have had so many opportunities of attending to the\ninstincts of the inferior animals, that I should be very glad to hear\nyour opinion on that very curious subject, the nature and developement\nof instincts in general.\n\nHAL.\u2014You must remember, that, in the conversation to which you allude, I\navoided even to pretend to define the nature of instinct; but I shall\nwillingly discuss the subject; and I expect from yourself, Ornither and\nPhysicus, more light thrown upon it than I can hope to bestow.\n\nORN.\u2014I believe we have each a peculiar view on this matter. In\ndiscussion we may enlighten and correct each other. For myself, I\nconsider instincts merely as results of organization, a part of the\nmachinery of organized forms. Man is so constituted, that his muscles\nacquire their power by habit; their motions are at first automatic, and\nbecome voluntary by associations, so that a child must learn to walk as\nhe learns to swim or write; but in the colt or chicken, the limbs are\nformed with the powers of motion; and these animals walk as soon as they\nhave quitted the womb or the egg.\n\nPHYS.\u2014I believe it possible, that they may have acquired these powers of\nmotion in the embryo state; and I think I have observed, that birds\nlearn to fly, and acquire the use of their wings, by continued efforts,\nin the same manner as a child does that of his limbs.\n\nORN.\u2014I cannot agree with you: the legs of the f\u0153tus are folded up in the\nwomb of the mare; and neither the colt nor the chicken can ever have\nperformed, in the embryo state, any motions of their legs similar to\nthose which they have perfectly at their command when born. Young birds\ncannot fly as soon as they are hatched, because they have no wing\nfeathers; but as soon as these are developed, and even before they are\nperfectly strong, they use their wings, fly, and quit their nests\nwithout any education from their parents. Compare a young quail, when a\nfew days old, with a child of as many months: he flies, runs, seeks his\nfood, avoids danger, and obeys the call of his mother; whilst a child is\nperfectly helpless, and can perform few voluntary motions: has barely\nlearnt to grasp, and can neither stand nor walk. But to see the most\nperfect instance of instinct, as contrasted with acquired knowledge,\nlook at common domestic poultry, as soon as they are excluded from the\negg: they run round their mother, nestle in her feathers, and obey her\ncall, without education: she leads them to some spot where there is soft\nearth or dung, and instantly begins scratching with her feet; the\nchickens watch her motions with the utmost attention; if an earthworm or\nlarva is turned up, they instantly seize and devour it, but they avoid\neating sticks, grass, or straws; and though the hen shows them the\nexample of picking up grain, they do not imitate her in this respect,\nbut for some days prefer ants, or the larv\u00e6 of ants, to a barley corn.\nThey may have heard the cluck of their mother in the egg, and having\nfelt the warmth of her feathers agreeable, you may consider, Physicus,\ntheir collecting under her wings, and obeying her call, as an acquired\nhabit. But I will mention another circumstance where habit or education\nis entirely out of the question. Does the mother see the shadow of a\nkite on the ground, or hear his scream in the air, she instantly utters\na shrill suppressed cry; the chickens, though born that day, and\nsearching round her with glee and animation for the food which her feet\nwere providing for them, instantly appear as if thunder struck; those\nclose to her crouch down and hide themselves in the straw; those further\noff, without moving from the place, remain prostrate; the hen looks\nupward with a watchful eye; nor do they resume their feeding till they\nhave been called again by the cluck of their mother, and warned that the\ndanger is over.\n\nPHYS.\u2014I certainly cannot explain the acquaintance of the little animals\nwith the note of alarm of the mother, except upon the principle you have\nadopted; and I fairly own, that their selection of animal food appears\nlikewise instinctive: yet it is possible, that this selection may depend\nupon some analogy between the smell of these animal matters and the\nyolk, which was for a long time their food in the egg.\n\nORN.\u2014I find I must multiply examples. Examine young ducks which have\nbeen hatched under a hen; they no sooner quit the shell, than they fly\nto their natural element, the water, in spite of the great anxiety and\nterror of their foster-parent, who in vain repeats that sound to which\nher natural children are so obedient. Being in the water, they seize\ninsects of every kind, which they can only know from their instincts to\nbe good for food; and when they are hatched in the May-fly season, they\npursue these large ephemer\u00e6 with the greatest avidity, and make them\ntheir favourite food. It is impossible, I think, to explain these facts,\nexcept by supposing, that they depend upon feelings or desires in the\nanimals developed with their organs, which are not acquired, and which\nare absolutely instinctive. I will mention another instance. A friend of\nmine was travelling in the interior of Ceylon; on the banks of a lake he\nsaw some fragments of shells of the eggs of the alligator, and heard a\nsubterraneous sound: his curiosity was excited, and he was induced to\nsearch beneath the surface of the sand: besides two or three young\nanimals lately come from the shell, he found several eggs which were\nstill entire: he broke the shell of one of them, when a young alligator\ncame forth, apparently perfect in all its functions and motions; and\nwhen my friend touched it with a stick, it assumed a threatning aspect,\nand bit the stick with violence. It made towards the water, which\n(though born by the influence of the sunbeams on the burning sand) it\nseemed to know was its natural and hereditary domain. Here is an animal\nwhich, deserted by its parents, and entirely submitted to the mercy of\nnature and the elements, must die if it had to acquire its knowledge;\nbut all its powers are given, all its wants supplied; and even its means\nof offence and defence implanted by strong and perfect instincts. I will\nmention one fact more. Swallows, quails, and many other birds, migrate\nin large flocks when their usual food becomes scarce; and in these cases\nit may be said (I anticipate a remark of Physicus), that the phenomenon\ndepends upon imitation, and that the young birds follow the old ones who\nhave before made the same flight. But I will select the young cuckoo for\nan unexceptionable example of the instinctive nature of this quality. He\nis produced from an egg deposited by his mother in the nest of another\nbird, generally the hedge sparrow. He destroys all the other young ones\nhatched in the same nest, and is supplied with food by his\nfoster-parent, after he has deprived her of all her natural offspring.\nQuite solitary, he is no sooner able to fly than he quits the country of\nhis birth, and finds his way, with no other guide than his instinct, to\na land where his parents had gone many weeks before him; and he is not\npressed to make this migration by want of food, for the insects and\ngrains on which he feeds are still abundant. The whole history of the\norigin, education, and migration of this singular animal, is a history\nof a succession of instincts, the more remarkable, because in many\nrespects contrary to the usual order of nature.\n\nPHYS.\u2014I have been accustomed to refer many of the supposed instincts of\nanimals, such as migrations, building nests, and selection of food, to\nimitation; but, I confess, I cannot explain the last fact you have\nbrought forward on this principle. Pray, Ornither, let me state your\nview, as I understand it, that we may not differ as to the meaning of\nlanguage. I conclude you adopt Hartley\u2019s view of association, that the\nmotions of the muscles in man are first automatic, and become voluntary\nby association; and that reason is the application of voluntary motions\nfor a particular end. For instance: a child is not afraid of fire, but,\nbringing its hand near the fire, it is burnt, and the convulsions of the\nmuscles produced by the pain ends in removing the hand from the source\nof pain. These motions by association are made voluntary; and after this\nexperiment he avoids the fire by _reason_, and takes care always to\nperform those motions which remove his limbs from this destructive\nagent. But in contrasting instinct with this slow process, you would\nsay, most animals, without having felt the effects of fire, have an\ninnate dread of it; and in the same way, without having been taught, or\nexperienced pleasure or pain from the object, young ducks seek the\nwater, young chickens avoid it: their organs have a fitness or unfitness\nfor certain functions, and they use them for these functions without\neducation. In short, the instinctive application of the organ is\nindependent of experience, and forms part of a train of pure sensations.\n\nORN.\u2014I have no objection to the statement you make of my view of the\nsubject; but I certainly should give to it a little more refinement and\ngenerality. In all the results of reason, ideas are concerned but never\nin those of instinct. Without memory there can be no reason; but in\ninstinct nothing can be traced but pure sensation.\n\nPOIET.\u2014Though in the animal world no ideas seem connected with\ninstincts, yet they are all intended for specific and intelligent ends.\nThus the swallow travels to a country where flies are found; the salmon\nmigrates from the sea to the sources of fresh rivers, where its eggs may\nreceive a supply of aerated water, and without this migration the race\nwould be extinct: and in this way all the instincts of animals may be\nreferred to intelligence, which, though not belonging to the animal,\nmust be attributed to the Divine Mind. Is it not then reasonable to\nrefer instinct to the immediate impulse of the Author of Nature upon his\ncreatures? His omnipresence and omnipotence cannot be doubted, and to\nthe infinite mind the past, the present, and the future are alike; and\ncreative and conservative power must equally belong to it.\n\nHAL.\u2014That instincts depend upon impulses immediately derived from the\nDeity is an opinion which, though it perhaps cannot be confuted, yet\ndoes not please me so much as to believe them dependent upon the\nformation of organs, and the result of the general laws which govern the\nsystem of the universe; and it is in favour of this opinion that they\nare susceptible of modifications. Thus, in domesticated animals they are\nalways changed; the turkey and the duck lose their habits of\nconstructing nests, and the goose does not migrate. In supposing them\nthe result of organization and hereditary, they might be expected to be\nchanged by circumstances, as they are actually found to be. Without\nreferring the instincts of animals to the immediate impulse of the\nDeity, they appear to me to offer the most irresistible and convincing\nargument that can be brought forward against atheism. They demonstrate\ncombinations, the result of the most refined intelligence, which can\nonly be considered as infinite. Take any one of the lowest class of\nanimals, insects for instance, not only is their organization fitted to\nall their wants; but their association in society is provided for, and\nthe laws of a perfect social community, as it were, are adopted by\nbeings, that we are sure cannot reason. In the hive bee, for instance,\nthe instinct of the workers leads them to adopt and obey a queen; and if\nshe is taken away from them, or dies, they have the power of raising\nanother from offspring in the cells by an almost miraculous process:\nthey work under her government for a common object, allow males only to\nexist for the purpose of impregnating females, who preserve the society,\nand under whose government they send forth swarms, which readily place\nthemselves under the protection of man. In the geometrical construction\nof their cells, the secretion of wax from their bodies, the collecting\ntheir food, and the care of the brood, there is a series of results\nwhich it requires a strong reason to follow, and which are the\nconsequences of invariable instincts. Bees, since they have been noticed\nby naturalists, have the same habits, and, as it is probable that there\nhave been many thousand of generations since the creation, it is\nevident, that the instincts of the first bees have been hereditary and\ninvariable in their offspring; and it cannot be doubted, that they do\nnow, as they did four thousand years ago, make some cells in combs\nlarger than others for the purpose of containing the eggs and future\ngrubs of drones, that are to be produced by a grub, which they are\neducating for a queen bee; and that these cells are connected with the\ncommon cells by a series, in which the most exact geometrical laws of\ntransition are observed. An eminent philosopher has deduced an argument\nin favour of the existence of Deity from the analogy of the universe to\na piece of mechanism, which could only be the work of an intelligent\nmind; but there is this difference: in all the productions of nature,\nthe principle, not only of perfection, but likewise of conservation, is\nfound, marking a species of intelligence and power which can be compared\nto nothing human. The first created swarm of bees contained beings\nprovided with all the instincts necessary for the perpetual continuance\nof the species; and some of these instincts can scarcely be understood\nby man, requiring the most profound geometrical knowledge, even to\ncalculate their results; and _other instincts_ involve what in human\nsociety would be the most singular state of policy, combining contrasted\nmoral causes and contradictory interests. It is impossible not to be\nlost in awe at the contemplation of this chain of facts; the human mind\ncannot fail to acknowledge in them the strongest proofs of their being\nproduced by infinite wisdom and unbounded power; and the devout\nphilosopher can scarcely avoid considering with respect a little insect,\nendowed with faculties producing combinations, which human reason vainly\nattempts to imitate, and can scarcely understand.\n\nPHYS.\u2014I agree with you, that if instinct be supposed the result of\norganization, and that the first animal types were so created as to\ntransmit their instincts invariably, generation after generation, it\ndoes offer a most triumphant and incontrovertible argument for the\nexistence of an all-powerful intelligent Cause.\u2014Even in the instance\nwhich led to this conversation, the instinct which carries salmon from\nthe sea to the sources of rivers, it is only lately philosophers have\ndiscovered, that the impregnated eggs cannot produce young fishes\nindependent of the influence of air; and thus an animal goes many\nhundred miles under the direction of an instinct, the use of which human\nreason has at length developed, and man is supplied with an abundant\nfood by the result of a combination, in consequence of which a species\nis preserved.\n\nPOIET.\u2014I do not understand, Halieus, your objections to the view I have\nadopted, which is sanctioned by the authority of a good ethic\nphilosopher, Addison. Allowing the omnipresence and constant power of\nDeity, I do not see how you can avoid admitting his actual interference\nin all the phenomena of living nature.\n\nHAL.\u2014As I said before, I cannot _confute_ your view; but, upon this\nprinciple, gravitation and the motion of the planets round the sun, and\nall the other physical phenomena of the universe, would be owing to the\nimmediate action of the Divinity. I prefer the view, which refers them\nto motion and properties, the results of general laws impressed on\nmatter by Omnipotence. This view is, I think, simpler; but it is\ndifficult to form any distinct opinion on so high and incomprehensible a\nsubject, on which, perhaps, after all, it is wiser to confess our entire\nignorance, and to bow down in humble adoration to the one\nincomprehensible Cause of all being.\n\nPOIET.\u2014I agree with you in your last sentence, but I still adhere to my\nown view, and I hope you will not object to a favourite opinion of mine,\nthat instincts are to animals what revelation is to man, intended to\nsupply wants in their physical constitution, which in man are provided\nfor by reason; and that revelation is to him as an instinct, teaching\nhim what reason cannot\u2014his religious duties, the undying nature of his\nintellectual part, and the relations of his conduct to eternal happiness\nand misery.\n\nHAL.\u2014\u201cDavus sum, non \u0152dipus.\u201d I will not attempt to discuss this view of\nyours, Poietes; but I think I may say, that all the instincts of animals\nseem to be connected with pleasure; and in man the feeling of love and\nthe gratifying the appetites, which approach nearest to instincts, are\nlikewise highly delightful, and perhaps there is no more pleasurable\nstate of the human mind than when, with intense belief, it looks forward\nto another world and to a better state of existence, or is absorbed in\nthe adoration of the supreme and eternal intelligence.\n\n\n\n\n                               SIXTH DAY.\n\n                   HALIEUS\u2014POIETES\u2014ORNITHER\u2014PHYSICUS.\n\n\n                                MORNING.\n\nHAL.\u2014WELL met, my friends! It is a fine warm morning, there is a fresh\nbreeze, the river is in excellent order for fishing, and I trust our\ngood behaviour yesterday will ensure us sport to-day. There must be a\ngreat many fresh run fish in the pool; and after twenty-four hours\u2019\nrest, some of those that were indisposed to take on Saturday evening,\nmay have acquired appetite. Prepare your tackle, and begin: but whilst\nyou are preparing, I will mention a circumstance which every\naccomplished fly fisher ought to know. You changed your flies on\nSaturday with the change of weather, putting the dark flies on for the\nbright gleams of the sun, and the gaudy flies when the dark clouds\nappeared: now, I will tell you of another principle, which it is as\nnecessary to know as the change of flies for change of weather; I allude\nto the different kinds of fly to be used in particular pools, and even\nfor particular parts of pools. You have fished in this deep pool; and if\nyou were to change it for a shallower one, such as that above, it would\nbe proper to use smaller flies of the same colour; and in a pool still\ndeeper, larger flies; likewise in the rough rapid at the top, a larger\nfly may be used than below at the tail of the water: and in the Tweed or\nTay, I have often changed my fly thrice in the same pool, and sometimes\nwith success\u2014using three different flies for the top, middle, and\nbottom. I remember, that when I first saw Lord Somerville adopt this\nfashion, I thought there was fancy in it; but experience soon proved to\nme how accomplished a salmon fisher was my excellent and lamented\nfriend, and I adopted the lesson he taught me, and with good results, in\nall bright waters.\n\nPOIET.\u2014I will try the correctness of your principle. Look at the fly now\non my line; where would you recommend me to cast it?\n\nHAL.\u2014It is a large gaudy fly, and is fit for no part of this pool,\nexcept the extremely rough head of the torrent: there I dare say it will\ntake in _this_ state of the waters.\n\nPOIET.\u2014Good, I hooked a large fish, but alas! he is off: Yet I thought\nhe was fairly caught.\n\nHAL.\u2014The hook, I think, turned round at the moment you struck, and\ncarried off some scales from the outside of his mouth.\n\nPOIET.\u2014You are right: see, the scales are on the hook. I cannot raise\nanother fish: I have tried almost all over the pool. I thought I saw a\nfish rise at the tail of the rapid.\n\nHAL.\u2014You did: he refused the fly. Now put on a fly one third of the size\nand of the same colour, and I think you will hook that fish.\n\nPOIET.\u2014I have done so\u2014and he is fast; and a fine fish; I think a salmon.\n\nHAL.\u2014It is a salmon, and one above 10lbs. Play him with care, and do not\nlet him run into the rough part of the stream, where the large stones\nare.\n\nPOIET.\u2014It is, I think, the most active fish I have yet played with. See\nhow high he leaps! He is making for the sea.\n\nHAL.\u2014Hold him tight, or you will lose him.\n\nPOIET.\u2014Fear me not. I trust, in spite of his strength, I shall turn him.\nYou see, I show him the but of the rod, and his force is counterpoised\nby a very long lever.\n\nHAL.\u2014You do well. But he has made a violent spring, and, I fear, is off.\n\nPOIET.\u2014He is!\u2014but not, I think, by any fault of mine: he has carried off\nsomething.\n\nHAL.\u2014You played that fish so well, that I am angry at his loss: either\nthe hook, link, or line, failed you.\n\nPOIET.\u2014It is the hook, which you see is broken, and not merely at the\nbarb, but likewise in the shank. What a fool I was ever to use one of\nthese London or Birmingham made hooks.\n\nHAL.\u2014The thing has happened to me often. I now never use any hooks for\nsalmon fishing, except those which I am sure have been made by\nO\u2019Shaughnessy, of Limerick; for even those made in Dublin, though they\nseldom break, yet they now and then bend; and the English hooks, made of\ncast steel in imitation of Irish ones, are the worst of all. _There_ is\na fly nearly of the same colour as that which is destroyed; and I can\ntell you, that I saw it made at Limerick by O\u2019Shaughnessy himself, and\ntied on one of his own hooks. Should you catch with it a fish even of\n30lbs. I will answer for its strength and temper: it will neither break\nnor bend.\n\nPOIET.\u2014Whilst I am attaching your present, so kindly made, to my line,\npray tell me how these hooks are made, for I know you interested\nyourself in this subject when at Limerick.\n\nHAL.\u2014Most willingly. I have even made a hook, which, though a little\ninferior in form, in other respects, I think, I could boast as equal to\nthe Limerick ones. The first requisite in hook-making is to find good\nmalleable iron of the softest and purest kind\u2014such as is procured from\nthe nails of old horse-shoes. This must be converted by cementation with\ncharcoal into good soft steel, and that into bars or wires of different\nthickness for different sized hooks, and then annealed. For the larger\nhooks, the bars must be made in such a form as to admit of cutting the\nbarbs; and each piece, which serves for two hooks, is larger at the\nends, so that the bar appears in the form of a double pointed spear,\nthree, four, or five inches long: the bars for the finer hooks are\nsomewhat flattened. The artist works with two files, one finer than the\nother for giving the point and polishing the hook, and he begins by\nmaking the barb, taking care not to cut too deep, and filing on a piece\nof hard wood, such as box wood, with a dent to receive the bar, made by\nthe edge of the file. The barb being made, the shank is thinned and\nflattened, and the polishing file applied to it; and by a turn of the\nwrist round a circular pincers, the necessary degree of curvature is\ngiven to it. The hook is then cut from the bar, heated red hot, by being\nkept for a moment in a charcoal fire; then plunged, while hot, into cold\nwater; then tempered, by being put on iron, that has been heated in the\nsame fire till it becomes a bright blue, and, whilst still hot, it is\nimmersed in candle-grease, where it gains a black colour; it is then\nfinished.\n\nPHYS.\u2014Nothing seems simpler than this process. Surely London might\nfurnish manufacturers for so easy a manipulation; and I should think one\nof our friends, who is so admirable a cutler, might even improve upon\nthe Irish process; at least the tempering might be more scientifically\narranged; for instance, by the thermometer, and a bath of fusible metal,\nthe temperature at which steel becomes blue being 580\u00b0 Fahrenheit, might\nbe constantly preserved.\n\nHAL.\u2014Habit teaches our Irish artists this point with sufficient\nprecision. We should have such hooks in England, but the object of the\nfishing tackle makers is to obtain them cheap, and most of their hooks\nare made to sell, and good hooks cannot be sold but at a good price.\n\nPOIET.\u2014I have heard formerly a good angler complain, that the Limerick\nhooks were too heavy and clumsy. He preferred hooks made at Kendal in\nCumberland.\n\nHAL.\u2014I saw, twenty years ago, hooks far too heavy made at Limerick; but\nthis O\u2019Shaughnessy is, I think, a better maker than his father was, and\nthe curve and the general form of the hook is improved. It has now, I\nthink, nearly the best form of a curve for catching and holding, the\npoint protruding a little. The Kendal hook holds well, but is not so\nreadily fixed by the pull in the mouth of the fish. The early Fellows of\nthe Royal Society, who attended to all the useful and common arts, even\nimproved fish hooks; and Prince Rupert, an active member of that\nillustrious body, taught the art of tempering hooks to a person of the\nname of Kirby; under whose name, for more than a century, very good\nhooks were sold. I shall take a walk towards the lake to enjoy a view of\nits cloud-capped mountains, and I hope to find, on my return, that you\nhave all had your satisfaction in a good day\u2019s salmon fishing.\n\nPHYS.\u2014We shall crimp and cool a salmon, if we catch a good one, for our\ndinner.\n\nHAL.\u2014Do so.\n\nORN.\u2014But before you leave us, I wish you would be good enough to inform\nus why the salmon here are so different from those I have seen\nelsewhere: for instance, some caught in the Alness, in Rosshire, which\nwe saw in passing round the south coast of Ross. These appear to me\nthicker and brighter fish, and one that I measured was 30 inches long,\nand 17 in circumference.\n\nHAL.\u2014I think I have seen broader fish than even those of this river; but\nthe salmon which you happen to remember for comparison, belonged to a\nsmall stream, which, I think, in general, are thinner and longer than\nthose in great rivers; and what I mentioned on a former occasion with\nrespect to trout holds good likewise with regard to salmon; each river\nhas a distinct kind. It is scarcely possible to doubt, that the\nvarieties of the salmon, which haunt the sea, come to the same rivers to\nbreed in which they were born, or where they have spawned before. And\nthis could hardly happen unless they confined their migrations to a\ncertain space in the sea, the boundaries of which may be regarded as the\nshore and probably deep water, which may be considered as effectual a\nlimit almost as land; for fish do not willingly haunt _very_ deep water,\nwhich even in summer is of low temperature, approaching to 40\u00b0, and\ncontains little or no vegetable food or insects, which the smaller\nfishes search for, and the larger fishes follow the smaller. It is\nhowever possible, that in winter, all fish fond of heat will seek water\nrather deeper than in summer; and char and umbla in lakes are usually\nfound in the deepest parts, being fond of _cool_ water, and they come to\nspawn whenever the shallow water of the lakes becomes cool, in October\nor November. We cannot judge of the senses of animals that breathe\nwater,\u2014that separate air from water by their gills; but it seems\nprobable, that, as the quality of the water is connected with their life\nand health, they must be exquisitely sensible to changes in water, and\nmust have similar relations to it, that an animal with the most delicate\nnasal organs has to air. A vulture or a dog scents not only particular\nfood and particular game at great distances, but even makes of the smell\na kind of language; and I doubt not, that when dogs, that have been\nblindfolded and carried away from their home, return to it, it is by the\nsense of smelling: to them each town, lane, or field, must have a\nparticular scent. And I have seen even a blind horse, an animal in which\nthe sense of smelling is less acute, evidently find his way by it to his\nmaster\u2019s house and stable, which was, indeed, near a tan-yard. The state\nof parts of water, in the sea or great lakes, produced by the\nimpregnations carried down by particular streams, is much more permanent\nthan a _like state_ in air: so that though the knowledge given by the\nnasal organs may be more easily communicated at a distance by winds, yet\n_that_ produced by streams on the bronchi\u00e6 of fishes is more invariable,\nand a migratory fish is less likely to be deceived. Yet in great floods,\noften connected with storms, or violent motion in the waters near the\nshore, salmon sometimes mistake their river. I remember in this way,\nowing to a tremendous flood, catching with the fly a large salmon, that\nhad mistaken his river, having come into the Bush, near the Giant\u2019s\nCauseway, instead of the Bann. No fish can be more distinct in the same\nspecies than the fish of these two rivers, their length to their girth\nbeing nearly in a ratio of 20:9 and 20:13.\u2014I am going; good sport to\nyou.\n\n\n                                EVENING.\n\nHAL.\u2014I am sure I may congratulate you on your sport, for I see on the\nbank a fine salmon, three grauls or grilses, and three large sea trout.\n\nORN.\u2014You have not seen all, for we have crimped two fish\u2014one a large\nsalmon, and the other a trout almost a yard long, and both in excellent\nseason. We have had great sport, and sport even of a kind which you will\nnot guess at; for, when the tide was falling, the fish ceased to rise at\nthe fly, and I thought of trying them with a bait; so we sent for our\nswivel tackle, and put par or samlet on our hooks, as we bait for\npike\u2014cutting off one ventral fin on one side, and one pectoral fin on\nthe other; and making the par spin in the most rapid streams, we had\nseveral runs from fish, and it was in this way that Poietes caught this\nlarge sea trout, which gave excellent sport.\n\nHAL.\u2014This kind of fishing is not uncommon. I have often caught salmon in\nthe Tay, fishing with pars; but though the fish ran at the bait, when\nthey would not rise at the fly while the tide was ebbing, they would\nhave taken the par better still while it was flowing.\n\nPHYS.\u2014From my experience to-day, I conclude the salmon has habits\ndifferent from the trout; for I think the fish which broke my hook rose\nagain at the artificial fly in the same place.\n\nHAL.\u2014I think you are mistaken. Salmon are usually shyer even than trout,\nand I never knew one in this season, that had been pricked even\nslightly, rise again at the artificial fly in the same pool. I should\nsay, that their habits were precisely the same, but with more sagacity\non the side of the salmon. It must have been another fish that rose at\nyour fly in the same place. After such severe discipline, I do not think\na fish would rise for many hours, even at a natural bait.\n\nPOIET.\u2014Your experience is so great, that I dare say I was mistaken, yet\nit seemed a fish of the same size.\n\nHAL.\u2014Salmon often in this season haunt the streams in pairs; but so far\nfrom rising again after being pricked, they appear to me to learn, when\nthey have been some time in the river, that the artificial fly is not\nfood, even without having been touched by the hook. In the river at\nGalway, in Ireland, I have seen above the bridge some hundreds of salmon\nlying in rapid streams, and from five to ten fishermen tempting them\nwith every variety of fly, but in vain. After a fish had been thrown\nover a few times, and risen once or twice and refused the fly, he rarely\never took any notice of it again in that place. It was generally nearest\nthe tide that fish were taken, and the place next the sea was the most\nsuccessful stand, and the most coveted; and when the water is low and\nclear in this river, the Galway fishermen resort to the practice of\nfishing with a naked hook, endeavouring to entangle it in the bodies of\nthe fish; a most unartistlike practice. In spring fishing, I have known\na hungry, half-starved salmon rise at the artificial fly a second time,\nafter having been very slightly touched by it; but even this rarely\nhappens, and when I have seen it, the water has been coloured.\n\nPHYS.\u2014Can you tell us why the fish rise better at the fly when the tide\nis flowing, than when it is ebbing? There seems no reason why flies\nshould be sought for by the fish at one of these seasons, rather than at\nthe other.\n\nHAL.\u2014The turn of the salt water brings up aquatic insects, and perhaps\nsmall fish; and I suppose salmon know this, and search for food at a\ntime when it is likely to be found. I cannot think, that in these pools\nthey can be on the look-out for flies, for there are never any on the\nsurface of the water; and I imagine they take the gaudy fly, with its\nblue kingfisher and golden pheasant\u2019s feathers, for a small fish.\n\nORN.\u2014I have always supposed that they took it for a libella, or\ndragon-fly; for I have often seen these brilliant flies haunting the\nwater.\n\nHAL.\u2014I never saw a dragon-fly drop on the water, or taken by a fish; and\nsalmon sometimes rise even in the salt water, where dragon-flies are\nnever found. There is no difficulty in explaining why salmon in inland\nrivers should take flies, where natural flies are abundant; but fish,\nwhen they have lain long in pools in the river and fed on natural flies,\nwill no longer take these bright flies, and then even a trout-fly is\noften most successful. I have sometimes thought that the rising of\nsalmon and sea trout at these bright flies, as soon as they come from\nthe sea into rivers, might depend upon a sort of imperfect memory of\ntheir early food and habits; for flies form a great part of the food of\nthe salmon fry, which, for a month or two after they are hatched, feed\nlike young trouts\u2014and in March and April the spring flies are their\nprincipal nourishment. In going back to fresh water, they may perhaps\nhave their habits of feeding recalled to them, and naturally search for\ntheir food at the surface.\n\nPOIET.\u2014This appears to me very probable.\u2014But it is late, and we must\nreturn and compare the crimped trout and salmon; and I hope we shall\nhave another good day to-morrow, for the clouds are red in the west.\n\nPHYS.\u2014I have no doubt of it, for the red has a tint of purple.\n\nHAL.\u2014Do you know why this tint portends fine weather?\n\nPHYS.\u2014The air, when dry, I believe, refracts more red, or heat-making,\nrays; and as dry air is not perfectly transparent, they are again\nreflected in the horizon. I have generally observed a coppery or yellow\nsunset to foretel rain; but, as an indication of wet weather\napproaching, nothing is more certain than a halo round the moon, which\nis produced by the precipitated water; and the larger the circle, the\nnearer the clouds, and consequently the more ready to fall.\n\nHAL.\u2014I have often observed, that the old proverb is correct\u2014\n\n          A rainbow in the morning is the shepherd\u2019s warning:\n          A rainbow at night is the shepherd\u2019s delight.\n\nCan you explain this omen?\n\nPHYS.\u2014A rainbow can only occur when the clouds containing, or\ndepositing, the rain are opposite to the sun,\u2014and in the evening the\nrainbow is in the east, and in the morning in the west; and as our heavy\nrains, in this climate, are usually brought by the westerly wind, a\nrainbow in the west indicates, that the bad weather is on the road, by\nthe wind, to us; whereas the rainbow in the east proves, that the rain\nin these clouds is passing from us.\n\nPOIET.\u2014I have often observed, that when the swallows fly high, fine\nweather is to be expected or continued; but when they fly low, and close\nto the ground, rain is almost surely approaching. Can you account for\nthis?\n\nHAL.\u2014Swallows follow the flies and gnats, and flies and gnats usually\ndelight in warm strata of air; and as warm air is lighter, and usually\nmoister, than cold air, when the warm strata of air are high, there is\nless chance of moisture being thrown down from them by the mixture with\ncold air; but when the warm and moist air is close to the surface, it is\nalmost certain, that, as the cold air flows down into it, a deposition\nof water will take place.\n\nPOIET.\u2014I have often seen sea-gulls assemble on the land, and have almost\nalways observed, that very stormy and rainy weather was approaching. I\nconclude, that these animals, sensible of a current of air approaching\nfrom the ocean, retire to the land to shelter themselves from the storm.\n\nORN.\u2014No such thing. The storm is their element; and the little petrel\nenjoys the heaviest gale, because, living on the smaller sea insects, he\nis sure to find his food in the spray of a heavy wave\u2014and you may see\nhim flitting above the edge of the highest surge. I believe, that the\nreason of this migration of seagulls, and other sea birds, to the land,\nis their security of finding food. They may be observed, at this time,\nfeeding greedily on the earth worms and larv\u00e6, driven out of the ground\nby severe floods; and the fish, on which they prey in fine weather in\nthe sea, leave the surface, when storms prevail and go deeper. The\nsearch after food, as we agreed on a former occasion, is the principal\ncause why animals change their places. The different tribes of the\nwading birds always migrate when rain is about to take place; and I\nremember once, in Italy, having been long waiting, in the end of March,\nfor the arrival of the double snipe in the Campagna of Rome,\u2014a great\nflight appeared on the 3d of April, and the day after heavy rain set in,\nwhich greatly interfered with my sport. The vulture, upon the same\nprinciple, follows armies; and I have no doubt, that the augury of the\nancients was a good deal founded upon the observation of the instincts\nof birds. There are many superstitions of the vulgar owing to the same\nsource. For anglers, in spring, it is always unlucky to see single\nmagpies,\u2014but _two_ may be always regarded as a favourable omen; and the\nreason is, that in cold and stormy weather one magpie alone leaves the\nnest in search of food, the other remaining sitting upon the eggs or the\nyoung ones; but when two go out together, the weather is warm and mild,\nand thus favourable for fishing.\n\nPOIET.\u2014The singular connexions of causes and effects, to which you have\njust referred, make superstition less to be wondered at, particularly\namongst the vulgar; and when two facts, naturally unconnected, have been\naccidentally coincident, it is not singular that this coincidence should\nhave been observed and registered, and that omens of the most absurd\nkind should be trusted in. In the west of England, half a century ago, a\nparticular hollow noise on the sea coast was referred to a spirit or\ngoblin, called Bucca, and was supposed to foretel a shipwreck: the\nphilosopher knows, that sound travels much faster than currents in the\nair\u2014and the sound always foretold the approach of a very heavy storm,\nwhich seldom takes place on that wild and rocky coast, surrounded as it\nis by the Atlantic, without a shipwreck on some part of its extensive\nshores.\n\nPHYS.\u2014All the instances of omens you have mentioned are founded on\nreason; but how can you explain such absurdities as Friday being an\nunlucky day, the terror of spilling salt, or meeting an old woman? I\nknew a man, of very high dignity, who was exceedingly moved by these\nomens, and who never went out shooting without a bittern\u2019s claw fastened\nto his buttonhole by a ribband\u2014which he thought ensured him good luck.\n\nPOIET.\u2014These, as well as the omens of death watches, dreams, &c., are\nfor the most part founded upon some accidental coincidences; but\nspilling of salt, on an uncommon occasion, may, as I have known it,\narise from a disposition to apoplexy, shown by an incipient numbness in\nthe hand, and may be a fatal symptom; and persons, dispirited by bad\nomens, sometimes prepare the way for evil fortune; for confidence in\nsuccess is a great means of ensuring it. The dream of Brutus, before the\nfield of Philippi, probably produced a species of irresolution and\ndespondency, which was the principal cause of his losing the battle: and\nI have heard, that the illustrious sportsman, to whom you referred just\nnow, was always observed to shoot ill, because he shot carelessly, after\none of his dispiriting omens.\n\nHAL.\u2014I have in life met with a few things, which I found it impossible\nto explain, either by chance coincidences or by natural connexions; and\nI have known minds of a very superior class affected by them,\u2014persons in\nthe habit of reasoning deeply and profoundly.\n\nPHYS.\u2014In my opinion, profound minds are the most likely to think lightly\nof the resources of human reason: it is the pert, superficial thinker\nwho is generally strongest in every kind of unbelief. The deep\nphilosopher sees chains of causes and effects so wonderfully and\nstrangely linked together, that he is usually the last person to decide\nupon the impossibility of any two series of events being independent of\neach other; and in science, so many natural miracles, as it were, have\nbeen brought to light,\u2014such as the fall of stones from meteors in the\natmosphere, the disarming a thunder cloud by a metallic point, the\nproduction of fire from ice by a metal white as silver, and referring\ncertain laws of motion of the sea to the moon,\u2014that the physical\ninquirer is seldom disposed to assert, confidently, on any abstruse\nsubjects belonging to the order of natural things, and still less so on\nthose relating to the more mysterious relations of moral events and\nintellectual natures.\n\n\n\n\n                              SEVENTH DAY.\n\n                   HALIEUS\u2014POIETES\u2014ORNITHER\u2014PHYSICUS.\n\n                           GRAYLING FISHING.\n\n\n                   _Scene\u2014Leintwardine, near Ludlow._\n                      _Time\u2014Beginning of October._\n\nHAL.\u2014YOU have reached your quarters. Here is your home\u2014a rural,\npeaceable, and unassuming inn, with as worthy a host and hostess as may\nbe found in this part of the country. The river glides at the bottom of\nthe garden, and there is no stream in England more productive of\ngrayling. The surrounding scenery is not devoid of interest, and the\ngrounds in the distance are covered with stately woods, and laid out (or\nrather their natural beauties developed) by the hand of a master, whose\nliberal and enlightened mind even condescended to regard the amusements\nof the angler; and he could hardly have contributed in a more effectual\nmanner to their comforts, than by placing the good people, who were once\nhis servants, in this comfortable inn.\n\nPHYS.\u2014Are we to fish according to any rule, as to quantity or size of\nfish?\n\nHAL.\u2014You are at perfect liberty to fish as you like; but as it is\npossible you may catch grayling only of this year, and which are not\nlonger than the hand, I conclude you will return such pigmies to the\nriver, as a matter of propriety, though not of necessity.\n\nPOIET.\u2014This river seems formed of two other streams, which join above\nour inn. What are the names of its sources?\n\nHAL.\u2014The small river to the left is called the Teme, or Little Teme, and\nthough the least stream, it gives name to the river: the other, and more\ncopious stream, is called the Clun. The Little Teme contains principally\ntrout; the Clun, both trout and grayling: but the fish are more abundant\nin the meadows, between this place and Downton, than in other parts of\nthe river; for above, the stream is too rapid and shallow to be\nfavourable to their increase; and below, it is joined by other streams,\nand becomes too abundant in coarse fish.\n\nPOIET.\u2014I cannot understand why the grayling should be so scarce a fish\nin England. It is abundant in many districts on the continent; but in\nthis island it is found, I believe, only in a few rivers, and does not\nexist, I think, either in Ireland or Scotland. Yet, being an Alpine\nfish, and naturally fond of cool water, it might have been expected\namong the Highlands.\n\nHAL.\u2014I formerly used to account for this, by supposing it an _imported_\nfish, and not indigenous; but, in some of my continental excursions, I\nhave seen it living only under such peculiar circumstances, that I doubt\nthe correctness of this my early opinion.\n\nPOIET.\u2014Which was, I conclude, that it was introduced by the monks, in\nthe time when England was under the See of Rome. As a favourite fish of\nSt. Ambrose it was worth cultivating, as well as for its own sake; and I\nthink you have done wrong to relinquish this idea, for, as far as my\nrecollection serves me, the rivers that contain it are near the ruins of\ngreat monasteries. The Avon, near Salisbury; the Ure, near Fountain\u2019s\nAbbey; the Wye, near the great Abbey of Tintern; and, if I am not\nmistaken, in the lower part of this valley there are the remains of an\nextensive establishment of friars.\n\nHAL.\u2014But there are rivers near the ruins of some of the most magnificent\nestablishments of this kind in Europe, and those nearest the continent,\nwhere the grayling is not found; for instance, in the Stour, at\nCanterbury. And if the grayling _be_ an imported fish, it is wonderful,\nthat it should not be found in the rivers in Kent, and along the\nsouth-west coast of England, as in Dorsetshire, Devonshire, and\nCornwall, where the monastic establishments were numerous; and why it\nshould be found in some rivers in the mountainous parts of Wales, as in\nthat near Llan-wrted and the Dee; not near Val Crusis Abbey, but fifteen\nmiles higher up, between Corwen and Bala.\n\nPOIET.\u2014It may have been a fish imported from the continent, and carried\nto a number of rivers, only a few of which may have suited its habits,\nand has remained there and multiplied.\n\nHAL.\u2014There may be truth in what you are now imagining, for the grayling\nrequires a number of circumstances in a river to enable it to increase.\n\nPOIET.\u2014What circumstances are these?\n\nHAL.\u2014A temperature in the water which must be moderate\u2014neither too high\nnor too low. Grayling are never found in streams that run from\nglaciers\u2014at least near their source; and they are killed by cold or\nheat. I once put some grayling from the Teme, in September, with some\ntrout, into a confined water, rising from a spring in the yard at\nDownton; the grayling all died, but the trout lived. And in the hot\nsummer of 1825, great numbers of large grayling died in the Avon, below\nRingwood, without doubt killed by the heat in July.\n\nPOIET.\u2014But I have heard of grayling being common in Lapland\u2014at least so\nsays Linn\u00e6us.\n\nHAL.\u2014I think it must be another species of the same genus; the same as\nBack\u2019s grayling found by Captain Franklin and his companions in North\nAmerica, and distinguished by a much larger back fin. Having travelled\nwith the fishing-rod in my hand through most of the Alpine valleys in\nthe south and east of Europe, and some of those in Norway and Sweden, I\nhave always found the char in the coldest and highest waters; the trout,\nin the brooks rising in the highest and coldest mountains; and the\ngrayling always lower, where the temperature was milder: and if in hot\ncountries, only at the foot of mountains, not far from sources which had\nthe mean temperature of the atmosphere,\u2014as in the Vipacco, near\nGoritzia, and in the streams which gush forth from the limestone caverns\nof the Nordic Alps. Besides temperature, grayling require a peculiar\ncharacter in the disposition of the water of rivers. They do not dwell,\nlike trout, in rapid shallow torrents; nor, like char or chub, in deep\npools or lakes. They require a combination of stream and pool; they like\na deep still pool for rest, and a rapid stream above, and a gradually\ndeclining shallow below, and a bottom where marl or loam is mixed with\ngravel; and they are not found abundant except in rivers that have these\ncharacters. It is impossible to have a more perfect specimen of a\ngrayling river than that now running before us, in this part of its\ncourse. You see a succession of deep still pools under shady banks of\nmarl, with gentle rapids above, and a long shelving tail, where the fish\nsport and feed. Should there be no such pools in a river, grayling would\nremain, provided the water was clear, and would breed; but they cannot\nstem rapid streams, and they are gradually carried down lower and lower,\nand at last disappear. You know the Test, one of the finest trout\nstreams in Hampshire, and of course in England; when I first knew this\nstream, twenty years ago, there were no grayling in it. A gentleman\nbrought some from the Avon, and introduced them into the river at\nLongstock, above Stockbridge. They were for two or three years very\nabundant in that part of the river; but they gradually descended, and\nthough they multiplied greatly, there are now scarcely any above\nStockbridge. There were, four years ago, many in the river just below;\nbut this year there are very few there, and the great proportion that\nremains is found below Houghton. I ought to mention, that the water is\nparticularly fitted for them, and they become larger in this river than\nin their native place, the Avon,\u2014some of them weighing between 3 and\n4lbs. The trout, in all its habits of migration, runs upward, seeking\nthe fresh and cool waters of mountain sources to spawn in: the grayling,\nI believe, has never the same habit of running up stream; I never saw\none leaping at a fall, where trout are so often seen. Their large back\nfin seems intended to enable them to rise and sink rapidly in deep\npools; and the slender nature of the body, towards the tail, renders\nthem much more unfit for leaping cataracts than trout and salmon. The\ntemperature of the water, and its character as to still and stream, seem\nof more importance than clearness; for I have seen grayling taken in\nstreams, that are almost constantly turbid,\u2014as in the Inn and the Salza\nin the Tyrol. This fish appears to require food of a particular kind,\nfeeding much upon flies and their larv\u00e6, and not usually preying upon\nsmall fish, as the trout. It has a very strong stomach, in texture like\nthat of the gillaroo trout, and is exceedingly fond of those larv\u00e6 which\ninhabit cases, and are usually covered with sand or gravel. I once\ncaught a grayling in the Wochain Save, that weighed about a pound and a\nhalf, the stomach of which equalled in size a very large walnut, and\ncontained some small shells, and two or three white round pebbles as\nlarge as small beans. In accordance with their general habits of\nfeeding, grasshoppers are amongst their usual food in the end of summer\nand autumn; and at all seasons, maggots, upon fine tackle and a small\nhook, offer a secure mode of taking them,\u2014the pool having been\npreviously baited for the purpose of angling, by throwing in a handful\nor two a few minutes before.\n\nPOIET.\u2014You just now said, that you thought the Lapland fish, considered\nby Linn\u00e6us as grayling, was the same as Back\u2019s grayling; but I find, in\nthe Appendix to Captain Franklin\u2019s narration, two graylings described as\nbelonging to the northern regions,\u2014one the Coregonus Signifer, and\nanother, which appears to differ very little from it, except being small\nin size. This seems to agree as nearly as possible with our grayling,\nwith a difference of at most one spine in the back fin. May not this in\nfact be the same fish as the grayling of the Alps, only rendered in a\nsuccession of generations fit for a colder climate?\n\nHAL.\u2014This is certainly possible: there is no doubt, that, in many\nsuccessive generations, animals may be fitted to bear changes, which\nwould have destroyed their progenitors. It is said by Bloch, that\ngraylings are found in the Caspian Sea, and in the Baltic,\u2014masses of\nsaline water; though, as I have proved, the grayling of England will not\nbear even a brackish water, without dying. And notwithstanding the\nseverity of the winter in high northern latitudes, streams under the ice\nmay retain a temperature not much lower than some of the Alpine rivers.\nI have seen grayling in Carniola, in a source at the hottest season not\nquite 50\u00b0; and as, in large bodies of water, the deepest part, in frost,\nis generally the warmest\u2014about 40\u00b0, the degree at which water is\nheaviest\u2014I see no reason why grayling may not be habituated to such a\ntemperature\u2014coolness being generally favourable to their existence. But\nsee, the fog which had filled the valley and hid the mountains from our\nsight is clearing away, and I fear it will be a hot day. Before the sun\nbecomes too bright is the best time for fishing, in such a day as this.\nAs soon as the fog is fairly off, the water-flies will begin to appear,\nand fish to sport.\n\nPHYS.\u2014I see the fog has already disappeared from the deep water in the\nmeadow, where I suppose the warmth of the air from the considerable mass\nof the water, is greater; and which is further removed from the hills\nsending down currents of cold air, from the mixture of which with the\nmoist warm air above the river this phenomenon is produced. I see some\nyellow flies beginning to come out; they have already felt the influence\nof the warm air: and look! a fish has just risen opposite that bank, and\nhe rises again: let us prepare our tackle.\n\nPOIET.\u2014What flies shall we employ?\n\nHAL.\u2014I recommend at least three; for the grayling lies deeper and is not\nso shy a fish as the trout; and, provided your link is fine, is not apt\nto be scared by the cast of flies on the water. The fineness of the\nlink, and of the guts to which your flies are attached, is a most\nessential point, and the clearer the stream the finer should be the\ntackle. I have known good fishermen foiled by using a gut of ordinary\nthickness, though their fly was of the right size and colour. Very\nslender transparent gut of the colour of the water is one of the most\nimportant causes of success in grayling fishing. Let me see your book: I\nwill select a fine stretcher. Now, for the lowest fly, use a\nyellow-bodied fly, with red hackle for legs, and landrail\u2019s wing: for\nthe second, a blue dun, with dun body; and for the highest, the claret\ncoloured body, with blue wings; and let your first dropper fly be about\nthree feet from the stretcher and from the other dropper, and let the\nhanging link which attaches them be 3\u00bd inches long.\n\nPHYS.\u2014There are several fish rising: I shall throw at that opposite\u2014he\nappears large.\n\nHAL.\u2014It is a trout and not a grayling.\n\nPHYS.\u2014How do you know?\n\nHAL.\u2014By his mode of rising. He is lying at the top of the water, taking\nthe flies as they sail down by him, which a grayling scarcely ever does.\n_He_ rises rapidly from the bottom or middle of the water, on the\ncontrary\u2014darting upwards, and, having seized his fly, returns to his\nstation. There! a grayling has risen. I do not mean, however, that this\nhabit is invariable; I have sometimes seen trout feed like grayling, and\ngrayling like trout, but neither of these fish emits bubbles of air in\nrising, as dace and chub do.\n\nPHYS.\u2014I have one! He has taken my blue dun, and must be a small one, for\nhe plays with no vigour.\n\nHAL.\u2014He is about \u00belb.\u2014a fish of two years and a half old\u2014very good for\nthe table. I will land him if possible.\n\nPHYS.\u2014There! He is off!\n\nHAL.\u2014This happens often with grayling: their mouths are tender, and\nunless the hook catches in the upper lip, which is rather thick, it is\nmore than an equal chance that the fish escapes you.\n\nPHYS.\u2014Here, I have another, that has taken the stretcher, and as it is a\nlarger hook, I hope he may be held. He is likewise a larger fish\u2014but how\noddly he spins! This, I suppose, must be owing to his large back fin, by\nwhich the stream carries him round. There he is: he has quite twisted my\nlink; it would not be amiss to have swivels for this kind of fishing.\n\nHAL.\u2014It is a fish in good season,\u2014dark above, fair below, and weighs, I\nshould suppose, about 1\u00bclb.\n\nPHYS.\u2014As this is the first grayling I have seen of my own taking, I must\nmeasure, weigh, and examine him.\n\nHAL.\u2014We can do this hereafter. See, our fish barrel; he can be kept\nalive till a more convenient time of the day.\n\nPHYS.\u2014I am disposed to gratify my curiosity immediately: for to acquire\ninformation is at least as interesting to me as catching fish. I shall\nkill him by a blow on the head. He is not, I suppose, worth crimping\nafterwards?\n\nHAL.\u2014Certainly not, at this time; and it is not necessary with a fish of\nthis size, which ought to be fried; but if we catch a large grayling,\napproaching to 2lbs., he shall be killed, crimped, and boiled, like our\nDenham trout; you will then find him excellent, and not inferior, in my\nopinion, to the best perch\u2014more like the most exquisitely tasted of all\nour fish, the red mullet.\n\nPHYS.\u2014Out of the water, this is a handsome fish, broader round the\nmiddle, and more hog-backed than the trout, but gracefully tapering\ntowards the tail. The belly, I see, is silvery with yellow; and the\npectoral, ventral, and anal fins are almost gold-coloured; the back gray\nwith small black spots, and the back fin of a beautiful bright purple,\nwith black and blue spots. It has likewise an agreeable odour; so that\nboth from its colour and smell it does not seem undeserving the title\ngiven it by St. Ambrose, of _the flower of fishes_. It measures, I find,\n14 inches in length; in girth 7\u00bd. It weighs 17 ounces. It has 10 spines\nin the pectoral fin, 23 in the dorsal, 16 in the ventral, 14 in the\nanal, and 18 in the caudal.\n\nHAL.\u2014Now for its anatomy. Its stomach is very thick, not unlike that of\na char or gillaroo trout, and contains flies, gravel, and larv\u00e6, with\ntheir cases. The liver and bowels do not differ much from those of a\ntrout; and the ovaria or roe, with eggs as large as mustard seed, are on\neach side the air bladder. Though a thicker fish, the grayling does not\nweigh much more than the trout in proportion to his length: the greater\nbreadth of back is compensated by the more rapid tapering of tail, and a\ntrout in very high season will sometimes equal in weight a grayling of\nthe same length. The ova in this fish, and in the species generally, are\nvery small at this time of the year; but in the beginning of April, the\nseason of their spawning, they become nearly as large as the ova of the\ntrout\u2014of the size of pepper-corns. But I see, Poietes, your rod is in\norder, and there are many fish rising in this deep pool, some of which\nare large grayling. The blue dun is on in quantity, and we have both\ncloud and wind, which half an hour ago we had no right to expect. Let me\nadvise you to use three flies of different shades of the dun: the\nstretcher, a pale blue with yellow body; the first dropper, a winged fly\nwith dun body; and the third, a similar fly with dark body. There, you\nsee; he rose and refused your stretcher\u2014and again he has a second time\nrefused it. I think the colour of the dubbing is too bright: try a\nwinged fly for the stretcher with a greenish body. Good\u2014he has taken it,\nand ought to be a large fish. Now we have him: he is at least sixteen\ninches long, and in good season. Ornither, I advise you to use the same\nkind of fly, and to put up your tackle precisely in the same way as\nPoietes has done.\n\nPOIET.\u2014How well they rise! At that moment I had two on my line: one of\nthem is gone, but I hope I shall land the other.\n\nHAL.\u2014Fish with activity while the cloud lasts. I fear the sun is coming\nout, when it will be more difficult to take fish. I shall try the next\npool, and I advise you to follow me and fish by turns,\u2014passing each\nother, and taking different pools below, and so wend your way downwards,\nfishing wherever you see fish sporting. There is no better part of the\nriver than that pool below you, and you cannot take a wrong direction.\nImmediately beyond Burrington Bridge you will find two excellent pools,\nand I advise you to go no farther down to-day. If you take a fish\napproaching 2lbs., keep him alive in the fish barrel for crimping; the\nsmaller fish you can kill, and carry with some rushes in your basket; we\nshall at least be able to send a dish of grayling to the patron of our\nsport at Downton.\n\n\n                                 NOON.\n\nHAL.\u2014Well, gentlemen, I hope you have been successful.\n\nPOIET.\u2014We have had good sport; but I have been for some time reposing on\nthis bank, and admiring the scene below. How fine are these woods! How\nbeautiful these banks! the hills in the distance approach to the\ncharacter of mountains; and the precipitous cliff, which forms the\nsummit of that distant elevation, looks like a diluvian monument, and as\nif it had been bared and torn by a deluge, which it had stemmed.\n\nHAL.\u2014It is one of the Clee hills, and its termination is basaltic, and\nsuch rocks usually assume such forms. But though this spot is beautiful,\nto-morrow, I hope to show you a more exquisite landscape,\u2014cliffs and\nwoods, and gushing waters, of a character still more romantic. We will\nreturn to our inn by a shorter road; but tell me, have you caught a\nlarge fish amongst you, and preserved him for crimping?\n\nPOIET.\u2014We have preserved two fishes in the barrel, but I fear they are\nmuch below your proposed size.\n\nHAL.\u2014They are good fish, and of the average size of the large grayling\nin this stream\u201416 inches long, and about 1\u00bdlb.; they will make a good\nvariety boiled and placed in the middle of the fried fish. And how many\nhave you caught altogether?\n\nPOIET.\u2014I have basketed (to coin a word) three trout and six grayling.\n\nPHYS.\u2014And I have taken seven grayling. I caught trout likewise, but, not\nconsidering them in proper season, I returned them to the river: but\nOrnither has been the most successful\u2014he has killed ten grayling.\n\nHAL.\u2014The trout is rarely good in this river\u2014at least I never saw one\nthat cut red, and yet I have taken them in July, when their external\nappearance was perfect and beautiful; but they have, to my taste, always\na flabby and soft character of flesh, and at all seasons here are\ninferior for the table to grayling; yet they often attain a considerable\nsize. There are few small fish in these streams, and I suppose the\ngrayling, which are most numerous, deprive the trout of their proper\nshare of the food, depending upon larv\u00e6 and flies.\n\nPHYS.\u2014As we are walking through these meadows, pray give us some\ninformation as to the habits of the grayling, and its localities in\nEngland: I have been so much pleased with my sport, that I shall become,\nwith St. Ambrose, a patron of the fish.\n\nHAL.\u2014The habits of the grayling, like those of most other fish, are very\nsimple. He is, I believe, to a certain extent, gregarious\u2014more so than\nthe trout, and less so than the perch, and the usual varieties of the\ncarp species known in England. His form and appearance you have seen. He\nis as yet scarcely in his highest or most perfect season, which is in\nthe end of November or beginning of December, when his back is very\ndark, almost black, and his belly and lower fins are nearly\ngold-coloured; but his brightness, like that of most other fishes,\ndepends a good deal upon the nature of the water: and on the continent I\nhave seen fishes far more brilliantly coloured than in England\u2014the lower\npart almost a bright orange, and the back fin approaching to the colour\nof the damask rose, or rather of an anemone. The grayling spawns in\nApril, and sometimes as late as the beginning of May: the female is\ngenerally then followed by two or three males. She deposits her ova in\nthe tales of sharp streams, and the males, rubbing against her, shed\nupon the ova the melt or semi-fluid. I do not know how long a time is\nrequired for the exclusion of the young ones; but in the end of July, or\nbeginning of August, they are of the size of sprats, four or five inches\nlong, and already sport merrily at a fly. Though I have often taken\ngrayling in bad season, yet I have rarely observed upon them the same\nkind of leech,[7] or louse, which is so often found upon the trout; from\nwhich I infer, that they seldom hide themselves, or become torpid in the\nmud. The grayling hatched in May or June, I conclude, become the same\nyear, in September or October, nine or ten inches long, and weigh from\n_five ounces_ to _half a pound_; and the year after they are from twelve\nto fifteen inches long, and weigh from three-quarters to a pound; and\nthese two sizes, as you have seen, are the fish that most usually rise\nat the fly. The first size in this river is called _shote_, which is a\nCeltic word, I believe, applied likewise in the west of England to small\ntrout. Of their growth after the second year I cannot speak; this must\ndepend much on their food and place of residence. Marsigli says, they do\nnot grow after the third year, and at this age, in Austria, they are\nsometimes a cubit long; but though I have fished much in that country, I\nnever saw any so long. If they are taken into new and comparatively\nstill water recently made, and where food is plenty, they grow very\nfast: under these circumstances, I have seen them above 3lbs. In the\nTest, where, as I mentioned before, the grayling has been only recently\nintroduced, they have sometimes been caught between 3 and 4lbs.\u2014in this\nriver I never took one above 2lbs. but I have heard of one being taken\nof 2\u00bdlbs. The grayling is a rare fish in England, and has never been\nfound in Scotland and Ireland (as Poietes observed before;) and there\nare few rivers containing all the conditions necessary for their\nincrease. I know of no grayling river farther west than the Avon, in\nHampshire: they are found in some of the tributary streams of this river\nwhich rise in Wiltshire. I know of no river containing them on the north\ncoast west of the Severn: there are very few only in the upper part of\nthis river, and in the streams which form it in North Wales. There are a\nfew in the Wye and its tributary streams. In the Lug, which flows\nthrough the next valley, in Herefordshire, many grayling are found. In\nthe Dee, as I have said before, they are found, but are not common. In\nDerbyshire and Staffordshire, the Dove, the Wye, the Trent, and the\nBlithe, afford grayling; in Yorkshire, on the north coast, some of the\ntributary streams of the Ribble,\u2014and in the south, the Ure, the Wharfe,\nthe Humber, the Derwent, and the streams that form it, particularly the\nRye. There may be some other localities of this fish unknown to me; but\nas I have fished much, and enquired much respecting the places where it\nis found, I think my information tolerably correct and complete.\n\nPHYS.\u2014Is this fish to be fished for in spring?\n\nHAL.\u2014He is to be fished for at all times, for he is rarely so much out\nof season as to be a bad fish; and when there are flies on the water, he\nwill generally take them: but as the trout may be considered as a spring\nand summer fish, so the grayling may be considered as a winter and\nautumnal fish.\n\nPHYS.\u2014Of course the grayling is taken in spring with the same imitation\nof flies as the trout?\n\nHAL.\u2014The same. As far as flies are concerned, these two species feed\nalike; though I may say, generally, that the grayling prefers smaller\nflies, and the varieties of the ephemer\u00e6 or phrygane\u00e6, of the smallest\nsize, form their favourite food. Yet grayling do not refuse large flies;\nand in the Avon and Test, May flies, and even moths, are greedily taken\nin the summer by large grayling. Flies, likewise, that do not inhabit\nthe water, but are blown from the land, are good baits for grayling.\nThere is no method more killing, for large grayling, than applying a\ngrasshopper to the point of a leaded hook, the lead and shank of which\nare covered with green and yellow silk, to imitate the body of the\nanimal. This mode of fishing is called sinking and drawing. I have seen\nit practised in this river with as much success as maggot fishing; and\nthe fish taken were all of the largest size; the method being most\nsuccessful in deep holes, where the bottom was not visible, which are\nthe natural haunts of such fish. In the winter, grayling rise for an\nhour or two, in bright and tolerably warm weather; and, at this time,\nthe smallest imitations of black or pale gnats that can be made, on the\nsmallest sized hook, succeed best in taking them. In March, the\ndark-bodied willow fly may be regarded as the earliest fly; the\nimitation of which is made by a dark claret dubbing and a dun hackle, or\nfour small starling\u2019s wing feathers. The blue dun comes on in the middle\nof the day in this month, and is imitated by dun hackles for wings and\nlegs, and an olive dubbing for body. In milder weather, in morning and\nevening in this month, and through April, the green tail, or grannom,\ncomes on in great quantities, and is well imitated by a hen pheasant\u2019s\nwing feather, a gray or red hackle for legs, and a dark peacock\u2019s harle,\nor dark hare\u2019s ear fur, for the body. The same kind of fly, of a larger\nsize, with paler wings, kills well in the evening, through May or June.\nThe imitation of a water insect called the spider fly, with a\nlead-coloured body and woodcock\u2019s wings, is said to be a killing bait,\non this and other rivers, in the end of April and beginning of May; but\nI never happened to see it on the water. The dark alder fly, in May and\nJune, is taken greedily by the fish: it is imitated by a dark-shaded\npheasant\u2019s wing, black hackle for legs, and a peacock\u2019s harle, ribbed\nwith red silk, for the body. At this season, and in July, imitations of\nthe black and red palmer worms, which I believe are taken for black or\nbrown, or red beetles or cockchaffers, kill well; and, in dark weather,\nthere are usually very light duns on the water. In August, imitations of\nthe house fly and blue bottle, and the red and black ant fly, are taken,\nand are particularly killing after floods in autumn, when great\nquantities of the fly are destroyed and washed down the river. In this\nmonth, in cloudy days, pale-blue duns often appear; and they are still\nmore common in September. Throughout the summer and autumn, in fine calm\nevenings, a large dun fly, with a pale yellow body, is greedily taken by\ngrayling after sunset; and the imitation of it is very killing. In the\nend of October, and through November, there is no fly fishing but in the\nmiddle of the day, when imitations of the smaller duns may be used with\ngreat success; and I have often seen the fish sport most, and fly\nfishing pursued with the greatest success, in bright sunshine, from\ntwelve till half-past two o\u2019clock, after severe frosts in the morning;\nand I once caught, under these circumstances, a very fine dish of fish\non the 7th of November. It was in the year 1816; the summer and autumn\nhad been peculiarly cold and wet, and, probably in consequence of this,\nthe flies were in smaller quantity at their usual season, and there was\na greater proportion later in the year.\n\nGrayling, if you take your station by the side of a river, will rise\nnearer to you than trout, for they lie deeper, and therefore are not so\nmuch scared by an object on the bank; but they are more delicate in the\nchoice of their flies than trout, and will much oftener rise and refuse\nthe fly. Trout, from lying nearer the surface, are generally taken\nbefore grayling, where the water is slightly coloured, or after a flood:\nand in rain, trout usually rise better than grayling, though it\nsometimes happens, when great quantities of flies come out in rain,\ngrayling, as well as trout, are taken with more certainty than at any\nother time;\u2014the artificial fly, in such cases, looks like a wet fly, and\nallures even the grayling, which generally is more difficult to deceive\nthan trout in the same river.\n\nPHYS.\u2014As I was looking into a ditch coming down the river, which is\nconnected with it, I saw a very large eel at the bottom, that appeared\nto me to be feeding on a small grayling:\u2014are there many of this fish in\nthe Teme, and do they breed here?\n\nHAL.\u2014There are many of this fish in the river; but to your question, do\nthey breed here? I must answer in the negative. The problem of their\ngeneration is the most abstruse, and one of the most curious, in natural\nhistory; and though it occupied the attention of Aristotle, and has been\ntaken up by most distinguished naturalists since his time, it is still\nunsolved.\n\nPHYS.\u2014I thought there was no doubt on the subject. Lacepede, whose book\nis the only scientific one on fishes I have read with attention,\nasserts, in the most unqualified way, that they are viviparous.\n\nHAL.\u2014I remember his assertion, but I looked in vain for proofs.\n\nPHYS.\u2014I do not remember any _facts_ brought forward on the subject; but\ntell us what you think upon it.\n\nHAL.\u2014I will tell you all I know, which is not much. This is certain,\nthat there are two migrations of eels,\u2014one up and one down rivers, one\n_from_ and the other _to_ the sea; the first in spring and summer, the\nsecond in autumn or early winter. The first, of very small eels, which\nare sometimes not more than two or two and a half inches long; the\nsecond, of large eels, which sometimes are three or four feet long, and\nweigh from 10 to 15, or even 20lbs. There is great reason to believe,\nthat all eels found in fresh water are the results of the first\nmigration: they appear in millions in April and May, and sometimes\ncontinue to rise as late even as July and the beginning of August. I\nremember this was the case in Ireland, in 1823. It had been a cold\nbackward summer, and when I was at Ballyshannon, about the end of July,\nthe mouth of the river, which had been in flood all this month, under\nthe fall, was blackened by millions of little eels, about as long as the\nfinger, which were constantly urging their way up the moist rocks by the\nside of the fall. Thousands died, but their bodies remaining moist,\nserved as the ladder for others to make their way; and I saw some\nascending even perpendicular stones, making their road through wet moss,\nor adhering to some eels, that had died in the attempt. Such is the\nenergy of these little animals, that they continue to find their way, in\nimmense numbers, to Loch Erne. The same thing happens at the fall of the\nBann, and Loch Neagh is thus peopled by them: even the mighty Fall of\nShaffhausen does not prevent them from making their way to the Lake of\nConstance, where I have seen many very large eels.\n\nPHYS.\u2014You have shown, that some eels come from the sea, but I do not\nthink the facts prove, that all eels are derived from that source.\n\nHAL.\u2014Pardon me\u2014I have not concluded. There are eels in the Lake of\nNeufchatel, which communicates by a stream with the Rhine; but there are\nnone in the Leman Lake, because the Rhone makes a subterraneous fall\nbelow Geneva; and though small eels can pass by moss or mount rocks,\nthey cannot penetrate limestone, or move against a rapid descending\ncurrent of water, passing, as it were, through a pipe. Again: no eels\nmount the Danube from the Black Sea; and there are none found in the\ngreat extent of lakes, swamps, and rivers communicating with the\nDanube,\u2014though some of these lakes and morasses are wonderfully fitted\nfor them, and though they are found abundantly in the same countries, in\nlakes and rivers connected with the ocean and the Mediterranean. Yet,\nwhen brought into confined water in the Danube, they fatten and thrive\nthere. As to the instinct, which leads young eels to seek fresh water,\nit is difficult to reason;\u2014probably they prefer warmth, and, swimming at\nthe surface in the early summer, find the lighter water warmer, and\nlikewise containing more insects, and so pursue the courses of fresh\nwater, as the waters from the land, at this season, become warmer than\nthose of the sea. Mr. J. Couch (Lin. Trans. T. xiv. p. 70) says, that\nthe little eels, according to his observation, are produced within reach\nof the tide, and climb round falls to reach fresh water from the sea. I\nhave sometimes seen them, in spring, swimming in immense shoals in the\nAtlantic, in Mount Bay, making their way to the mouths of small brooks\nand rivers. When the cold water from the autumnal floods begins to swell\nthe rivers, this fish tries to return to the sea; but numbers of the\nsmaller ones hide themselves during the winter in the mud, and many of\nthem form, as it were, masses together. Various authors have recorded\nthe migration of eels in a singular way,\u2014such as Dr. Plot, who, in his\nHistory of Staffordshire, says, that they pass in the night, across\nmeadows, from one pond to another: and Mr. Arderon (in Trans. Royal\nSoc.) gives a distinct account of small eels rising up the flood-gates\nand posts of the water-works of the city of Norwich; and they made their\nway to the water above, though the boards were smooth planed, and five\nor six feet perpendicular. He says, when they first rose out of the\nwater upon the dry board, they rested a little\u2014which seemed to be till\ntheir slime was thrown out, and sufficiently glutinous\u2014and then they\nrose up the perpendicular ascent with the same facility as if they had\nbeen moving on a plane surface.\u2014(Trans. Abr. vol. ix. p. 311.) There\ncan, I think, be no doubt, that they are assisted by their small scales,\nwhich, placed like those of serpents, must facilitate their progressive\nmotion: these scales have been microscopically observed by\nLewenhoeck.\u2014(Phil. Trans. vol. iv.) Eels migrate from the salt water of\ndifferent sizes, but I believe never when they are above a foot long\u2014and\nthe great mass of them are only from two and a half to four inches. They\nfeed, grow, and fatten in fresh water. In small rivers they are seldom\nvery large; but in large deep lakes they become as thick as a man\u2019s arm,\nor even leg; and all those of a considerable size attempt to return to\nthe sea in October or November, probably when they experience the cold\nof the first autumnal rains. Those that are not of the largest size, as\nI said before, pass the winter in the deepest parts of the mud of rivers\nand lakes, and do not seem to eat much, and remain, I believe, almost\ntorpid. Their increase is not certainly known in any given time, but\nmust depend upon the quantity of their food: but it is probable they do\nnot become of the largest size, from the smallest, in one or even two\nseasons; but this, as well as many other particulars, can only be\nascertained by new observations and experiments. Blotch states, that\nthey grow slowly, and mentions, that some had been kept in the same pond\nfor fifteen years. As very large eels, after having migrated, never\nreturn to the river again, they must (for it cannot be supposed that\nthey all die immediately in the sea) remain in salt water; and there is\ngreat probability, that they are then confounded with the conger, which\nis found of different colours and sizes\u2014from the smallest to the\nlargest\u2014from a few ounces to one hundred pounds in weight. The colour of\nthe conger is generally paler than that of the eel; but, in the\nAtlantic, it is said, that pale congers are found on one side of the\nWolf Rock, and dark ones on the other. The conger has breathing tubes,\nwhich are said not to be found in the other eel; but to determine this\nwould require a more minute examination than has yet been made. Both the\nconger and common eel have fringes along the air bladder, which are\nprobably the ovaria; and Sir E. Home thinks them hermaphrodite, and that\nthe seminal vessels are close to the kidneys. I hope this great\ncomparative anatomist will be able to confirm his views by new\ndissections, and some chemical researches upon the nature of the fringes\nand the supposed melt. If viviparous, and the fringes contain the ova,\none mother must produce tens of thousands, the ova being remarkably\nsmall; but it appears more probable, that they are oviparous, and that\nthey deposit their ova in parts of the sea near deep basins, which\nremain warm in winter. This might be ascertained by experiment,\nparticularly on the coasts of the Mediterranean. I cannot find, that\nthey haunt the Arctic ocean, which is probably of too low a temperature\nto suit their feelings or habits; and the Caspian and the Black Sea are\nprobably without them, from their not being found in the Volga or\nDanube; these, being shallow seas, are perhaps too cold for them in\nwinter. From the time (April) that small eels begin to migrate, it is\nprobable that they are generated in winter; and the pregnant eels ought\nto be looked for in November, December, and January. I opened one in\nDecember, in which the fringes were abundant, but I did not examine them\nunder the microscope, or chemically. I trust this curious problem will\nnot remain much longer unsolved.\n\n\n\n\n                              EIGHTH DAY.\n\n                   HALIEUS\u2014POIETES\u2014ORNITHER\u2014PHYSICUS.\n\n\n                             SCENE\u2014DOWNTON.\n\nPOIET.\u2014THIS is a beautiful day, and, I think, for fishing, as well as\nfor the enjoyment of the scenery, finer than yesterday. The wind blows\nfrom the south, and is balmy; and though a few clouds are collecting,\nthey are not sufficiently dense to exclude the warmth of the sun; and,\nas lovers of the angle, we ought prefer his warmth to his light.\n\nHAL.\u2014I do not think, as the day advances, there will be any deficiency\nof light; and I shall not be sorry for this, as it will enable you to\nsee the grounds of Downton, and the distances in the landscape, to more\nadvantage: nor will light interfere much with our sport in this valley,\nwhere, as you see, there is no want of shade.\n\nPOIET.\u2014This spot is really very fine. The fall of water, the picturesque\nmill, the abrupt cliff, and the bank, covered with noble oaks, above the\nriver, compose a scene such as I have rarely beheld in this island.\n\nHAL.\u2014We will wander a little longer through the walks. There you will\nenter a subterraneous passage in the rock beyond the mossy grotto.\nBehold, the castle, or mansion-house, clothed in beautiful vegetables,\nof which the red creeper is most distinct, rises above on the hill!\nAfter we have finished our walk and our fishing, I will, if you please,\ntake you to the house, and introduce you to its worthy master, whom to\nknow is to love, to whom all good anglers should be grateful, and who\nhas a strong claim to a more extensive gratitude\u2014that of his country and\nof society\u2014by his scientific researches on vegetable nature, which are\nnot merely curious, but useful, and which have already led to great\nimprovements in our fruits and plants, and generally extended the\npopularity of horticulture.\n\nPHYS.\u2014We shall be much obliged to you for the favour\u2014provided always,\nyou know it will not be an intrusion.\n\nHAL.\u2014Trust this to me. And now, as all circumstances are favourable,\nbegin your fishing. I recommend to you that fine pool below the bridge;\nthere are always grayling to be caught there\u2014and already I see some\nrising.\n\nPHYS.\u2014With what imitation of flies shall we fish?\n\nHAL.\u2014As yesterday; a yellow fly for your stretcher, and two duns for the\ndroppers. There, you have a good fish. And now another\u2014both grayling.\n\nPHYS.\u2014I shall try the rapid at the top of this long large pool; I see\nseveral fish rising there.\n\nHAL.\u2014Do so. You will catch fish there\u2014trout, but I fear no grayling.\n\nPHYS.\u2014Why not?\n\nHAL.\u2014In that part of the stream the water is too rough for grayling, and\nthey like to be nearer the deep water. Lower down, in the same pool,\nthere are large grayling to be caught.\n\nPHYS.\u2014You are in the right; the fish I have is a large trout\u2014at least he\nis not much less than 2lbs. I have landed him; shall I keep him?\n\nHAL.\u2014As you please: he is as good as he ever was, or ever will be in\nthis water.\n\nPHYS.\u2014There are now more yellow flies out than I have seen before this\nseason. They have appeared suddenly, as if sprung from that large alder.\nThough you gave us in a former conversation some account of the flies\nused in fishing, yet I hope you have not forgot your promise, to favour\nus with some more details on this subject, which, both as connected with\nangling, and with a curious part of natural history, is very\ninteresting.\n\nHAL.\u2014I wish it was in my power to give you information from my own\nexperience, but, I am sorry to say, this has been very limited; and\nthough the English are peculiarly the fly fishing nation, yet our\nphilosophical anglers have not contributed much to this department of\nscience, and what has been done is principally by foreigners, amongst\nwhom Swammerdam, Reaumur, and above all De Geer, are pre-eminent. To\nattempt to collect and apply the knowledge accumulated by these\ncelebrated men, would carry us far beyond the limits of a day\u2019s\nconversation; and as a great proportion of the insects that fly, walk,\nor crawl, are the food of fishes, a dissertation, or discourse on this\nsubject, would be almost a general view of natural history. You know\nthat frogs, crawfish, snails, earthworms, spiders, larv\u00e6 of every kind,\nmillipedes, beetles, squill\u00e6, moths, water flies, and land flies, are\nall eaten by trout; and I once heard the late Sir Joseph Banks say, that\nhe found a large toad stuck in the throat of a trout; but as the skin of\nthis animal is furnished with an exceedingly acrid secretion, it\nprobably had been disgorged after being swallowed by a fish exceedingly\nhungry. But though I have found most of the insect tribes, and many\nsmall fishes, even of the most ravenous kind, as pike, in the stomachs\nof trout, it never happened to me to see a toad there. I might give you\nan account of the birth and life of frogs, which, with respect to their\ngeneration, resemble fish, and which, when first excluded from the egg,\nmay be considered in the tadpole state as fish; and you would not find\ntheir singular metamorphosis without interest. Or I could detail to you\nthe true histories which naturalists have given of the habits of snails\nand earthworms, and of the sexual relations of these apparently\ncontemptible animals;\u2014but this is too delicate a subject to dwell on.\nEven the renewing or change of shell in the crawfish, when it falls in\nits soft state an easy prey to fish, is a curious inquiry not only for\nthe physiologist, but likewise for the chemist. On these points, I must\nrequest you to refer to writers in Natural History: yet I shall perform\nmy promise, and say a few words on winged insects, which, in their\norigin and metamorphosis, offer the most extraordinary known miracles\nperhaps of terrestrial natures. You must be acquainted with the origin\nof our common house flies?\n\nPHYS.\u2014We know, that they spring from maggots, and that both the common\nand blue bottle fly deposit their ova in putrid animal matter, were the\neggs are hatched and produce maggots, that, after feeding upon the\ndecomposing animal material, gradually change, gain a hard or horny\ncoat, seem as if entombed, and wait in a kind of apparent death or\nslumber, till they are mature for a new birth, when they burst their\ncoatings and appear in the character of novel beings\u2014fitted to inhabit\nanother element.\n\nHAL.\u2014The history of the birth and metamorphosis of all other winged\ninsects is very similar, but with peculiarities dependent upon their\norgans, wants, and habits. You know the curious details with which we\nhave been furnished by natural historians of bees and ants, which live\nin a kind of society. The ant flies, of which, as I mentioned to you,\nimitations are sometimes used by fishermen, were originally maggots, and\nbecame furnished with wings\u2014not, however, passing through the aurelia\nstate for this last transformation.\n\nPOIET.\u2014I beg your pardon, but, having lately read an account of these\nanimals in the very interesting book, called \u201cAn Introduction to\nEntomology,\u201d I think I can correct you in one particular; which is, that\nthe maggot of the ant _does_ assume the form of a chrysalis or pupa,\nbefore it becomes a winged animal.\n\nHAL.\u2014It is true, that the _immediate_ transition of the maggot is into a\npupa, _then_ into an ant, which is furnished with a kind of case, from\nwhich the wings emerge for their perfect transformation into the fly or\nimago state. The males die soon after the sexual intercourse; the\nfemales, when impregnated, lose their wings, and either voluntarily or\nby force enter into society with neuter or working ants, for the purpose\nof raising a new generation.\n\nPOIET.\u2014You are perfectly right; and though it would be irrelevant to our\npresent object, I could almost wish, for the sake of amusing our\nfriends, that you would detail to us some other parts of the marvellous\nhistory of these wonderful animals, which, if not so well authenticated,\nmight be supposed a philosophical romance. Such as the neuter or working\nants feeding each other and the offspring; the manner in which they\nmake, defend, and repair their dwellings, provide their food, watch and\nattend to the female, and take care of her eggs; their extraordinary\nmode of acquiring and defending the aphides and cocci, which bear to\nthem the same relation that cattle do to man, which are fed by them with\nso much care, and the milk of which forms so important a part of their\nfood; the predatory excursions of a particular species to carry off\npupa, which they bring up as slaves.\n\nHAL.\u2014To enter into any of the details of the history of insects in\nsociety, would carry us into an interminable, though interesting\nsubject, that would soon lose all relation to fly fishing; and I fear\nwhat I have to say, even on the winged insects connected with this\namusement, will occupy too much of your time, for we have not more than\nan hour to devote to this object.\n\nPOIET.\u2014Tell us what you please; we are attentive.\n\n[Illustration: PHRYGANE\u00c6,\n\n_With their Imitations._\n\n_Frederick Sc._]\n\n[Illustration: EPHEMER\u00c6\n\n_With their Imitations or Hooks_\n\n_Frederick Sc._]\n\n[Illustration: EPHEMER\u00c6,\n\n_With their Imitations or Hooks_\n\n_Frederick Sc._]\n\nHAL.\u2014The various individuals of the _gryllus_, or grasshopper tribe,\nspring from larv\u00e6, that do not differ much from the perfect insect,\nexcept in possessing no wings. The eggs are deposited in our meadows,\nand many species of this animal are gregarious, and their immigrations\nin swarms are well known. The butterfly and moths, as you know, lay eggs\nwhich produce caterpillars, and these caterpillars, after feeding upon\nvegetable food, spin themselves or frame houses or beds, cocoons, in\nwhich they are transformed into aurelias, and from which they burst\nforth as perfect winged insects. The _libellula_, or dragon fly, the\nmost voracious of the winged insect tribe, deposits her eggs in such a\nmanner, that the larv\u00e6 fall into the water, and, after destroying and\nfeeding upon almost all the aquatic insects found in this element, and\nchanging their skins at various times, they emerge in their winged form\nthe tyrants of the insect generations in the air. The gnats and tipul\u00e6\nhave a similar existence. The gnat, the female of which only is said by\nDe Geer to bite man, or suck human blood, in Sweden, lays her egg in a\nkind of little boat or cocoon of her own spinning. These eggs are\nhatched on the surface of the water, and produce the larv\u00e6, which\nundergo another change into peculiar nymph\u00e6, that still retain the power\nof swimming and moving, from which the perfect insect is produced during\nthe summer heat. The flies, which I mentioned to you in a former\nconversation, under the name of the grannom, or green tail, (_see fig._\n2,) are of the class _phrygane\u00e6_, which includes all those water flies\nthat have long antenn\u00e6, and wings something like those of moths, but\nusually veined and without powder. The yellow flies, which you saw a\nshort time since sporting on the banks of the river, are of this kind.\nThe phrygane\u00e6 (_see fig._ 1, 2, 3, and 4,) have four wings, which, when\nclosed, lie flat on their backs, the two upper ones being folded over\nthe lower ones: the flies called by anglers the willow fly, the alder\nfly, (_see fig._ 4,) and the dun cut, are of this kind. The phrygane\u00e6\nlay their eggs on the leaves of willows, or other trees, that overhang\nthe water; they are fastened by a sort of gluten to the surface of the\nleaf: when hatched, they produce small hexapode larv\u00e6, which fall into\nthe water, and by a curious economy of nature collect round themselves,\nsome, parts of plants, or small sticks; some, gravel; and some, even\nshell fish. They spin themselves a sort of case of silk from their\nbodies, and by a gluten, that exudes from this case, cement their\nmaterials together. They feed upon aquatic plants, and sometimes upon\ninsects, protruding only their head and legs from the case. When about\nto undergo transmutation, they quit their cases, rise to the surface,\nand wait for this process of nature in the air; but some species fix\nthemselves on plants or stones: they burst the skin of the larv\u00e6, and\nappear perfect animals, male and female, fitted for the office of\nreproduction. In the early spring, the species which are called green\ntails, from the colour of the bags of eggs in the female, appear in the\nwarm gleams of sunshine that happen in cloudy days, and they then cover\nthe face of the water, and are greedily seized on by the fish. As the\nseason advances they appear principally in the morning and evening. In\nthe heat of summer the phrygane\u00e6 are almost nocturnal flies, and seem to\nhave the habits of moths: at this season, _now_, I should say, the few\nflies that appear are generally seen in the day-time. The _ephemer\u00e6_,\nanother class of flies peculiarly interesting to the fisherman, differ\nfrom the phrygane\u00e6 in carrying their wings perpendicularly on their\nbacks, and in having long filaments or hairs in their tails. The March\nbrown, (_see fig._ 8,) the various shades of duns, (_see fig._ 5, 6, and\n7,) which I described to you on a former occasion; the green (_see fig._\n9 and 10,) and white May fly, the red spinner, (_see fig._ 11,) are all\nof the class ephemer\u00e6. These flies are produced from larv\u00e6 which inhabit\nthe water, which can both crawl and swim, and which generally live in\nholes they make in the bottom. They change their coats several times\nbefore they become nymph\u00e6. They quit their skin on the surface of the\nwater, but even after they are flies, they have another transformation\nto undergo before they are perfect animals fitted for generation. They\nmake use of their wings only to fly to some dry bank, or trunk of a\ntree, where they gradually disencumber themselves of the whole of the\noutward habiliment they brought from the water, including their wings.\nThey become lighter, more beautiful in colour, and then begin their\nsports in the sunshine\u2014appearing like what might be imagined of spirits\nfreed from the weight of their terrestrial covering. This last\ntransmutation has been observed and fully described by some celebrated\nnaturalists, in the case of the May flies, and one or two other species,\nand it probably will be found a general circumstance attached to the\nclass: I have often observed what appeared to me to be the cast-off\nskins of the small species of ephemer\u00e6 on the banks of rivers and\nfloating in the water. The green ephemera, or May fly, lays her eggs\nsitting on the water, which instantly sink to the bottom: and most of\nthe duns, or small slender-winged flies, do the same. The gray or\nglossy-winged May fly, commonly called the gray drake, performs regular\nmotions in the air above the water, rising and falling, and sitting, as\nit were, for a moment on the surface, and rising again, at which time\nshe is said to deposit her eggs. To attempt to describe all the variety\nof ephemer\u00e6, that sport on the surface of the water at different times\nof the day, throughout the year, would be quite an endless labour. Some\nof them appear to live only a few hours, and none of them, I believe,\nhave their existence protracted to more than a few days. In spring and\nautumn a new variety of these flies sometimes appears every day, or even\nin different parts of the same day. Of the beetle, or colyoptera genus,\nthere are many varieties fed on by fishes. These insects, which are\ndistinguished, as you know, by four wings, two husky-like shells above,\nand two slender and finer ones below, are bred from eggs, which they\ndeposit in the ground, or in the excrement of animals, and which,\nproducing larv\u00e6 in the usual way, are converted into beetles, and these\nlarv\u00e6 themselves are good bait for fish. The brown beetle, or\ncockchaffer, the fern fly, and the gray beetle, which are abundant in\nthe meadows in the summer, are often blown into the water, and are the\nmost common insects of this kind eaten by fishes. Whether the ditisci\nand hydrophili, the water beetles, are ever eaten by trout, I know not,\nbut it is most probable. These singular animals are most commonly found\nin stagnant waters; fitted for flying, swimming, diving, and walking,\nthey are omnivorous, and usually fly from pool to pool in the evening.\nThey deposit their eggs in the water, where their larv\u00e6 live, but which,\nto undergo transmutation into the beetle, migrate to the land. But there\nis hardly any insect that flies, including the wasp, the hornet, the\nbee, and the butterfly, that does not become at some time the prey of\nfishes. I have not, however, the knowledge, or if I had, have not the\ntime, to go through the lists of these interesting little animals; but\nof the family of one of them I must speak\u2014the ichneumons, that deposit\ntheir eggs in caterpillars, or the larv\u00e6 of other flies, and which feed\non the unfortunate animal in which they are hatched, and come out of its\ninterior when dead, as if it had been their parent. To enter into the\nphilosophy of this subject, and to study the organs and faculties of\nthese various insect tribes, in their functions of respiration,\nnutrition, and reproduction, would be sufficient for the labour of a\nlife. To know what has already been done would demand the close and\nstudious application of a comprehensive mind; and to complete this\nbranch of science in all its parts is probably almost above human\npowers: but much might be done if enlightened persons would follow the\nexample of De Geer, Reaumur, and Huber, and study minutely the habits of\nparticular tribes; and it is probable, that physiology might be much\nadvanced by minutely investigating the simplest forms of living beings;\nand that particularly with respect to the functions of generation a\nminute study of the modifications of which the forms of animals seems\nsusceptible, particularly in the hymenopterous, or bee tribe, might lead\nto very important results.\n\nPOIET.\u2014Even in a moral point of view, I think the analogies derived from\nthe transformation of insects admit of some beautiful applications, that\nhave not been neglected by pious entomologists. The three states\u2014of the\ncaterpillar, pupa, or aurelia, and butterfly\u2014have, since the time of the\nGreek poets, been applied to typify the human being\u2014its terrestrial\nform, apparent death, and ultimate celestial destination; and it seems\nmore extraordinary that a sordid and crawling worm should become a\nbeautiful and active fly\u2014that an inhabitant of the dark and f\u0153tid\ndunghill should in an instant entirely change its form, rise into the\nblue air, and enjoy the sunbeams,\u2014than that a being, whose pursuits here\nhave been after an undying name, and whose purest happiness has been\nderived from the acquisition of intellectual power and finite knowledge,\nshould rise hereafter into a state of being, where immortality is no\nlonger a name, and ascend to the source of Unbounded Power and Infinite\nWisdom.\n\nPHYS.\u2014I have been listening, Halieus, to your account of water-flies\nwith attention, and I only regret, that your details were not more\ncopious; let me now call your attention to that Michaelmas daisy. A few\nminutes ago, before the sun sunk behind the hill, its flowers were\ncovered with varieties of bees, and some wasps, all busy in feeding on\nits sweets. I never saw a more animated scene of insect enjoyment. The\nbees were most of them humble bees, but many of them some new varieties\nto me, and the wasps appeared different from any I have seen before.\n\nHAL.\u2014I believe this is one of the last autumnal flowers that insects of\nthis kind haunt. In sunny days it is their constant point of resort, and\nit would afford a good opportunity to the entomologist to make a\ncollection of British bees.\n\nPOIET.\u2014I neither hear the hum of the bee, nor can I see any on its\nflowers. They are now deserted.\n\nPHYS.\u2014Since the sun has disappeared, the cool of the evening has, I\nsuppose, driven the little winged plunderers to their homes; but see,\nthere are two or three humble bees which seem languid with the cold, and\nyet they have their tongues still in the fountain of honey. I believe\none of them is actually dead, yet his mouth is still attached to the\nflower. He has fallen asleep, and probably died whilst making his last\nmeal of ambrosia.\n\nORN.\u2014What an enviable destiny, quitting life in the moment of enjoyment,\nfollowing an instinct, the gratification of which has been always\npleasurable! so beneficent are all the laws of Divine Wisdom.\n\nPHYS.\u2014Like Ornither, I consider the destiny of this insect as desirable,\nand I cannot help regarding the end of human life as most happy, when\nterminated under the impulse of some strong energetic feeling, similar\nin its nature to an instinct. I should not wish to die like Attila in a\nmoment of gross sensual enjoyment: but the death of Epaminondas or\nNelson in the arms of victory, their whole attention absorbed in the\nlove of glory and of their country, I think really enviable.\n\nPOIET.\u2014I consider the death of the martyr or the saint as far more\nenviable; for in this case, what may be considered as a divine instinct\nof our nature, is called into exertion, and pain is subdued, or\ndestroyed, by a secure faith in the power and mercy of the Divinity. In\nsuch cases man rises above mortality, and shows his true intellectual\nsuperiority. By intellectual superiority I mean that of his spiritual\nnature, for I do not consider the results of reason as capable of being\ncompared with those of faith. Reason is often a dead weight in life,\ndestroying feeling, and substituting, for principle, calculation and\ncaution; and, in the hour of death, it often produces fear or\ndespondency, and is rather a bitter draught than nectar or ambrosia in\nthe last meal of life.\n\nHAL.\u2014I agree with Poietes. The higher and more intense the feeling,\nunder which death takes place, the happier it may be esteemed; and I\nthink even Physicus will be of our opinion, when I recollect the\nconclusion of a conversation in Scotland. The immortal being never can\nquit life with so much pleasure as with the feeling of immortality\nsecure, and the vision of celestial glory filling the mind, affected by\nno other passion than the pure and intense love of God.\n\n\n\n\n                               NINTH DAY.\n\n                   HALIEUS\u2014POIETES\u2014ORNITHER\u2014PHYSICUS.\n\n                           FISHING FOR HUCHO.\n\n\n              _Scene\u2014The Fall of the Traun, Upper Austria.\n                              Time\u2014July_.\n\nPOIET.\u2014THIS is a glorious scene! And the fall of this great and clear\nriver, with its accompaniments of wood, rock, and snow-clad mountain,\nwould alone furnish matter for discussion and conversation for many\ndays. This place is quite the paradise of a poetical angler; the only\ndanger is that of satiety with regard to sport; for these great grayling\nand trout are so little used to the artificial fly, that they take\nalmost any thing moving on the top of the water. You see I have put on a\nsalmon fly, and still they rise at it, though they never can have seen\nany thing like it before\u2014and it is, in fact, not like any thing in\nnature.\n\nHAL.\u2014You are right, they never have seen any thing like it before; but,\nin its motion, it is like a large fly, and this is the season for large\nflies. The stone fly and the May fly, you see, occasionally drop upon\nthe water, and the colour of your large fly is not unlike that of the\nstone fly; but if, instead of being here in the beginning of July, you\nhad visited this spot, as I once did, in the beginning of June, you\nwould have found more difficulty in catching grayling here, though not\nso much as in our English rivers\u2014in the Test, the Derwent, or the Dove.\n\nPOIET.\u2014How could this be?\n\nHAL.\u2014At this season the large flies had not yet appeared; the small blue\ndun was on the water, and I was obliged to use a fly the same as that\nwhich suits our spring and late autumnal fishing. The fish refused all\nlarge flies, but took greedily small ones; and, as usually happens when\nsmall flies are used, more fish escaped after being hooked than were\ntaken; and these I found, the next day, were become as sagacious as our\nDove or Test fish, and refused the artificial fly, though they greedily\ntook the natural fly.\n\nPHYS.\u2014These fish, then, have the same habits as our English salmons and\ntrouts?\n\nHAL.\u2014The principle to which I have referred in two former conversations\nmust be general, though it has seemed to me, that they lost this memory\nsooner than the fish of our English rivers, where fly fishing is common.\nThis, however, may be fancy, yet I have referred it to a kind of\nhereditary disposition, which has been formed and transmitted from their\nprogenitors.\n\nPHYS.\u2014However strange it may appear, I can believe this. When the early\nvoyagers discovered new islands, the birds upon them were quite tame,\nand easily killed by sticks and stones, being fearless of man; but they\nsoon learned to know their enemy, and this newly acquired sagacity was\npossessed by their offspring, who had never seen a man. Wild and\ndomesticated ducks are, in fact, from the same original type: it is only\nnecessary to compare them, when hatched together under a hen, to be\nconvinced of the principle of the hereditary transmission of habits,\u2014the\nwild young ones instantly fly from man, the tame ones are indifferent to\nhis presence.\n\nPOIET.\u2014No one can be less disposed than I am to limit the powers of\nliving nature, or to doubt the capabilities of organized structures; but\nit does appear to me quite a dream, to suppose that a fish, pricked by\nthe hook of the artificial fly, should transmit a dread of it to its\noffspring, though he does not even long retain the memory of it himself.\n\nHAL.\u2014There are instances quite as extraordinary\u2014but I will not dwell\nupon them, as I am not quite sure of the fact which we are discussing; I\nhave made a guess only, and we must observe more minutely to establish\nit; it may be even as you suppose\u2014a mere dream.\n\nPOIET.\u2014I shall go and look at the fall: I am really satiated with sport;\nthis is the twentieth fish I have taken in an hour, and it is a grayling\nof at least fifteen inches long; and there is a trout of eighteen, and\nseveral salmon trout, which look as if they had run from the sea.\n\nHAL.\u2014These salmon trout have run from a sea, but not from a salt sea;\nthey are fish of the Traun See, as it is called by the Germans, or Traun\nLake, which is emptied by this river.\n\nPHYS.\u2014Tell us why they are so different from the river trout, or why\nthere should be two species or varieties in the same water.\n\nHAL.\u2014Your question is a difficult one, and it has already been referred\nto in a former conversation; but I shall repeat what I stated\nbefore,\u2014that qualities occasioned by food, peculiarities of water, &c.\nare transmitted to the offspring, and produce varieties which retain\ntheir characters as long as they are exposed to the same circumstances,\nand only slowly lose them. Plenty of good food gives a silvery colour\nand round form to fish, and the offspring retain these characters.\nFeeding much on larv\u00e6 and on shell-fish thickens the stomach, and gives\na brighter yellow to the belly and fins, which become hereditary\ncharacters. Even these smallest salmon trout have green backs, _only_\nblack spots, and silvery bellies; from which it is evident, that they\nare the offspring of lake trout, or _lachs forelle_, as it is called by\nthe Germans; whilst the river trout, even when 4 or 5lbs., as we see in\none of these fish, though in excellent season, have red spots.\u2014But why\nthat exclamation?\n\nPOIET.\u2014What an immense fish! There he is!\n\nHAL.\u2014I see nothing.\n\nPOET.\u2014At the edge of the pool, below the fall, I saw a fish, at least\ntwo or three feet long, rising with great violence in the water, as if\nin the pursuit of small fish; and at the same time I saw two or three\nminnows or bleaks jump out of the water. What fish is it?\u2014a trout? It\nappeared to me too long and too slender for a trout, and had more the\ncharacter of a pike;\u2014yet it followed, and did not, like a pike, make a\nsingle dart.\n\nHAL.\u2014I see him: it is neither a pike nor a trout, but a fish which I\nhave been some time hoping and expecting to see here, below the fall\u2014a\n_salmo hucho_, or _huchen_. I am delighted, that you have an opportunity\nof seeing this curious fish, and of observing his habits. I hope we\nshall catch him.\n\nPOIET.\u2014Catch him! we have no tackle strong enough.\n\nHAL.\u2014I am surprised to hear a salmon fisher talk so: yet he _is_ too\nlarge to take a fly, and must be trolled for. We must spin a bleak for\nhim, or small fish, as we do for the trout of the Thames or the salmon\nof the Tay. Ornither, you understand the arrangement of this kind of\ntackle\u2014look out in my book the strongest set of spinning hooks you can\nfind, and supply them with a bleak; and whilst I am changing the reel, I\nwill give you all the information (which, I am sorry to say, is not\nmuch) that I have been able to collect respecting this fish from my own\nobservation or the experience of others. The hucho is the most predatory\nfish of the salmo genus, and is made like an ill-fed trout, but longer\nand thicker. He has larger teeth, more spines in the pectoral fin, a\nthicker skin, a silvery belly, and dark spots only on the back and\nsides\u2014I have never seen any on the fins. The ratio of his length to his\ngirth is as 8 to 18, or, in well fed fish, as 9 to 20; and a fish, 18\ninches long by 8 in girth, weighed 16,215 grains. Another, 2 feet long,\n11 inches in girth, and 3 inches thick, weighed 4lbs. 2\u00bcoz. Another, 26\ninches long, weighed 5lbs. 5oz. Of the spines in the fins, the anal has\n9, the caudal 20, the ventral 9, the dorsal 12, the pectoral 17: having\nnumbered the spines in many, I give this as correct. The fleshy fin\nbelonging to the genus is, I think, larger in this species than in any I\nhave seen. Bloch, in his work on fishes, states that there are black\nspots on all the fins, with the exception of the anal, as a character of\nthis fish: and Professor Wagner informs me he has seen huchos with this\npeculiarity; but, as I said before, I never saw any fish with spotted\nfins\u2014yet I have examined those of the Danube, Save, Drave, Mur, and\nIzar: perhaps this is peculiar to some stream in Bavaria\u2014yet the huchos\nin the collection at Munich have it not. The hucho is found in most\nrivers tributary to the Danube\u2014in the Save and Laybach rivers always;\nyet the general opinion is, that they run from the Danube twice a year,\nin spring and autumn. I can answer for their migration in spring, having\ncaught several in April, in streams connected with the Save and Laybach\nrivers, which had evidently come from the still dead water into the\nclear running streams, for they had the winter leech, or louse of the\ntrout upon them: and I have seen them of all sizes, in April, in the\nmarket at Laybach, from six inches to two feet long; but they are found\nmuch larger, and reach 30, or even 40, pounds. It is the opinion of some\nnaturalists, that it is _only_ a fresh water fish; yet this I doubt,\nbecause it is never found beyond certain falls\u2014as in the Traun, the\nDrave, and the Save; and, there can be no doubt, comes into these rivers\nfrom the Danube; and probably, in its larger state, is a fish of the\nBlack Sea. Yet it can winter in fresh water; and does not seem, like the\nsalmon, obliged to haunt the sea, but falls back into the warmer waters\nof the great rivers, from which it migrates in spring, to seek a cooler\ntemperature and to breed. The fishermen at Gratz say they spawn in the\nMur, between March and May. In those I have caught at Laybach, which,\nhowever, were small ones, the ova were not sufficiently developed to\nadmit of their spawning that spring. Marsigli says, that they spawn in\nthe Danube in June. You have seen how violently they pursue their prey:\nI have never taken one without fish in his stomach; yet, when small,\nthey will take a fly. In the Kleingraben, which is a feeder to the\nLaybach river, and where they are found of all sizes\u2014from 20lbs.\ndownwards\u2014the little ones take a fly, but the large ones are too\nravenous to care about so insignificant a morsel, and prey like the\nlargest trout, often hunting in company, and chasing the small fish into\nthe narrow and shallow streams, and then devouring them.\u2014But I see your\ntackle is ready. As a more experienced angler in this kind of fishing,\nyou will allow me to try my fortune with this fish. I still see him\nfeeding; but I must keep out of sight, for he has all the timidity\npeculiar to the salmo genus, and, if he catch sight of me, will\ncertainly not run at the bait.\n\nORN.\u2014You spin the bleak for him, I see, as for a great trout. O! there!\nhe has run at it\u2014and you have missed him. What a fish! You surely were\ntoo quick, for he sprung out of the water at the bleak.\n\nHAL.\u2014I was not too quick; but he rose just as the bleak was on the\nsurface, and saw me.\n\nPOIET.\u2014I think I see him moving in another part of the pool.\n\nHAL.\u2014You are right; he has run again at the bleak, but only as it shone\non the surface. He has taken it.\n\nORN.\u2014He fights well, and runs towards the side where the rock is.\n\nHAL.\u2014Take the net and frighten him from that place, which is the only\none where there is danger of loosing him. He is clear now, and begins to\ntire, and in a few minutes more he will be exhausted.\u2014Now land him.\n\nPOIET.\u2014A noble fish! But how like a trout\u2014exactly like a sea trout in\nwhiteness, and I think in spots.\n\nHAL.\u2014He is much narrower, or less broad, as you would immediately\ndiscover, if you had a sea trout here. But now we must try another pool,\nor the tail of this; that fish was not alone, and at the moment he took\nthe bait, I think I saw the water move from the stir of another. Take\nyour rod and fit your own tackle, Ornither; half the glory of catching\nthis fish is yours, as you prepared the hooks. I see you are in earnest;\nthe blood mounts in your face. Oh! oh! Ornither! you have pulled with\ntoo much violence, and broken your tackle. Alas! alas! the fish you\nhooked was the consort of mine: he will not take again.\n\nORN.\u2014The gut was bad, for I do not think I struck too violently. What a\nloss! How hard, to let the first fish of the kind I ever angled for\nescape me!\n\nHAL.\u2014There are probably more: try again.\n\nORN.\u2014Behold! the loss was more owing to the imperfection of the tackle\nthan to my ardour; for the two end hooks only are gone, and you may see\nthe gut worn.\n\nHAL.\u2014The thing is done, and is not worth comment. If you can, let the\nnext fish that rises hook himself. When we are ardent, we are bad judges\nof the effort we make; and an angler, who could be cool with a new\nspecies of salmo, I should not envy. Now all is right again: try that\npool. There is a fish\u2014ay! and another, that runs at your bait; but they\nare small ones, not much more than twice as large as the bleak; yet they\nshow their spirit, and though they cannot swallow it, they have torn it.\nPut on another bleak. There! you have another run.\n\nORN.\u2014Ay, it is a small fish, not much more than a foot long; yet he\nfights well.\n\nHAL.\u2014You have him, and I will land him. I do not think such a fish a bad\ninitiation into this kind of sport. He does not agitate so much as a\nlarger one, and yet gratifies curiosity. There, we have him. A very\nbeautiful fish; yet he has the leech, or louse, though his belly is\nquite white.\n\nORN.\u2014This fish is so like a trout, that, had I caught him when alone, I\nshould hardly have remarked his peculiarities; and I am not convinced,\nthat it is not a variety of the common trout, altered, in many\ngenerations, by the predatory habits of his ancestors.\n\nHAL.\u2014How far the principle of change of character and transmission of\nsuch character to the offspring will apply, I shall not attempt to\ndetermine, and whether all the varieties of the salmo with teeth in\ntheir mouth may not have been produced from one original; yet this fish\nis _now_ as distinct from the trout, as the _char_ or the _umbla_ is;\nand in Europe, it exists only below great falls in streams connected\nwith the Danube, and is never found in rivers of the same districts\nconnected with the Rhine, Elbe, or which empty themselves into the\nMediterranean; though trout are common in all these streams, and salmon\nand sea trout in those connected with the ocean. According to the\ndescriptions of Pallas, it occurs in the rivers of Siberia, and probably\nexists in those that run into the Caspian; and it is remarkable, that it\nis not found where the eel is usual\u2014at least this applies to all the\ntributary streams of the Danube, and, it is said, to the rivers of\nSiberia. Wherever I have seen it, there have been always coarse fish\u2014as\nchub, white fish, bleak, &c., and rivers containing such fish are its\nnatural haunts, for it requires abundance of food, and serves to convert\nthese indifferent poor fish into a better kind of nourishment for man.\nWe will now examine the interior of these fish. You see the stomach is\nlarger than that of a trout, and the stomachs of both are full of small\nfish. In the larger one there is a chub, a grayling, a bleak, and two or\nthree small carp. The skin you see is thick; the scales are smaller than\nthose of a trout; it has no teeth on the palate, and the pectoral fin\nhas four spines more, which, I think, enables it to turn with more\nrapidity. You will find at dinner, that, fried or roasted, he is a good\nfish. His flesh is white, but not devoid of curd; and though rather\nsofter than that of a trout, I have never observed in it that\n_muddiness_, or peculiar flavour, which sometimes occurs in trout, even\nwhen in perfect season.\n\nI shall say a few words more on the habits of this fish. The hucho, as\nyou have seen, preys with great violence, and pursues his object as a\nfoxhound or a greyhound does. I have seen them in repose: they lie like\npikes, perfectly still, and I have watched one for many minutes, that\nnever moved at all. In this respect their habits resemble those of most\ncarnivorous and predatory animals. It is probably in consequence of\nthese habits, that they are so much infested by lice, or leeches, which\nI have seen so numerous in spring as almost to fill their gills, and\ninterfere with their respiration, in which case they seek the most rapid\nand turbulent streams to free themselves from these enemies. They are\nvery shy, and after being hooked avoid the baited line. I once saw a\nhucho, for which I was fishing, follow the small fish, and then the lead\nof the tackle; it seemed as if _this_ had fixed his attention, and he\nnever offered at the bait afterwards. I think a hucho, that has been\npricked by the hook, becomes particularly cautious, and possesses, in\nthis respect, the same character as the salmon. In summer, when they are\nfound in the roughest and most violent currents, their fins\n(particularly the caudal fin) often appear worn and broken; at this\nseason they are usually in constant motion against the stream, and are\nstopped by no cataract or dam, unless it be many feet in height, and\nquite inaccessible. In the middle of September I have caught huchos\nperfectly clean in rapid cool streams, tributary to the Laybach and the\nSava rivers; and, from the small developement of their generative system\nat this time, I have no doubt that they spawn in spring. On the 13th of\nSeptember, 1828, I caught, by spinning the dead small fish, three\nhuchos, that had not a single leech upon their bodies, and they were the\nfirst fish of the kind I ever saw free from these parasites.\n\nORN.\u2014I am so much pleased with my good fortune in catching this fish,\nthat I shall try all day to-morrow with the bait, for more of the same\nkind.\n\nHAL.\u2014You may do so; but many of these fish cannot be caught; they\nmigrate generally when the water is foul, and, except in the spring and\nautumn, do not so readily run at the bait. I was once nearly a month\nseeking for one in rivers in which they are found, between the end of\nJune and that of July, without being able to succeed in even _seeing_\none alive; and as far as my information goes, the two places where there\nis most probability of taking them, are at Laybach and Ratisbon, in the\ntributary streams to the Sava, and in the Danube; and the best time, in\nthe first of these situations, is in March and April, and in the second,\nin May. I am told, likewise, that the Izar, which runs by Munich, is a\nstream where they may be caught, when the water is clear: but I have\nnever fished in this stream\u2014it having been foul, either from rain, or\nthe melting of the snows, whenever I have been at Munich; but I have\nseen in the fish-market at Munich very large huchos. Late in the autumn,\nor in early spring, this river must be an interesting one to fish in, as\nthe _schill_, or _perca lucio perca_, and three other species of _perca_\nare found in it\u2014the zingel, the apron, and the _perca_ schratz\u2014all fish\nof prey, and excellent food. I have eaten them, but never taken them;\nthey are rare in European rivers, though not, like the hucho, peculiar\nto the tributary streams of the Danube. The schill is found likewise in\nthe Sprey and in the Hungarian lakes, and, according to Bloch, the\nzingel in the Rhone.\n\nPOIET.\u2014I should like extremely to fish in the Izar: it is, I think, a\nnew kind of pleasure to take a new kind of fish, even though it is not\nunknown to Natural Historians. But the most exquisite kind of angling,\nin my opinion, would be that of angling in a river never fished in by\nEuropeans before; and I can scarcely imagine sport of a higher kind than\nthat which involves a triple source of pleasure\u2014catching a fish,\nprocuring good food for the table, and making a discovery in Natural\nHistory, at the same time. Sir Joseph Banks, who was always a great\namateur of angling, had often this kind of gratification. And to Captain\nFranklin and Dr. Richardson, in their expedition to the Arctic Ocean,\nwhen they were almost starving, what a delightful circumstance it must\nhave been, to have taken with a fly those large grayling, which they\nmention, of a new species, equally beautiful in their appearance, and\ngood for the table!\n\nHAL.\u2014When a boy, I have felt an interest in sea fishing, for this\nreason\u2014that there was a variety of fish; but the want of skill in the\namusement\u2014sinking a bait with a lead and pulling up a fish by main\nforce, soon made me tired of it. Since I have been a fly-fisher, I have\nrarely fished in the sea, and then only with a reel and fine tackle from\nthe rocks, which is at least as interesting an amusement as that of the\nCockney fishermen, who fish for roach and dace in the Thames, which I\nhave tried twice in my life, but shall never try again.\n\nPHYS.\u2014You are severe on Cockney fishermen, and, I suppose, would apply\nto _them only_, the observation of Dr. Johnson, which on a former\noccasion you would not allow to be just: \u201cAngling is an amusement with a\nstick and a string; a worm at one end, and a fool at the other.\u201d And to\nyourself you would apply it with this change: \u201ca fly at one end, and a\nphilosopher at the other.\u201d Yet the pleasure of the Cockney Angler\nappears to me of much the same kind, and perhaps more continuous than\nyours; and he has the happiness of constant occupation and perpetual\npursuit in as high a degree as you have; and if we were to look at the\nreal foundations of your pleasure, we should find them, like most of the\nfoundations of human happiness\u2014vanity or folly. I shall never forget the\nimpression made upon me some years ago, when I was standing on the pier\nat Donegal, watching the flowing of the tide: I saw a lame boy of\nfourteen or fifteen years old, very slightly clad, that some persons\nwere attempting to stop in his progress along the pier; but he resisted\nthem with his crutches, and, halting along, threw himself from an\nelevation of five or six feet, with his crutches, and a little parcel of\nwooden boats, that he carried under his arm, on the sand of the beach.\nHe had to scramble or halt at least 100 yards, over hard rocks, before\nhe reached the water, and he several times fell down and cut his naked\nlimbs on the bare stones. Being in the water, he seemed in an ecstacy,\nand immediately put his boats in sailing order, and was perfectly\ninattentive to the counsel and warning of the spectators, who shouted to\nhim, that he would be drowned. His whole attention was absorbed by his\nboats. He had formed an idea, that one should outsail the rest, and when\nthis boat was foremost he was in delight; but if any one of the others\ngot beyond it he howled with grief; and once I saw him throw his crutch\nat one of the unfavoured boats. The tide came in rapidly\u2014he lost his\ncrutches, and would have been drowned, but for the care of some of the\nspectators: he was however wholly inattentive to any thing save his\nboats. He is said to be quite insane and perfectly ungovernable, and\nwill not live in a house, or wear any clothes, and his whole life is\nspent in this one business\u2014making and managing a fleet of wooden boats,\nof which he is sole admiral. How near this mad youth is to a genius, a\nhero, or to an angler, who injures his health and risks his life by\ngoing into the water as high as his middle, in the hope of catching a\nfish which he sees rise, though he already has a pannier full.\n\nHAL.\u2014Or a statesman, working by all means, fair and foul, to obtain a\nblue ribband. Or a fox-hunter, risking his neck to see the hounds\ndestroy an animal, which he preserves to be destroyed, and which is good\nfor nothing. Or an aged, licentious voluptuary, using all the powers of\na high and cultivated intellect to destroy the innocence of a beautiful\nvirgin\u2014for a transient gratification to render her miserable, and by\nmaking a flaw in an inestimable and brilliant gem, utterly to destroy\nits value.\n\nPHYS.\u2014You might go on and cite almost all the objects of pursuit of\nrational beings, as, by distinction, they are called. But to return to\nyour favourite amusement. I wonder, that, with such a passion for\nangling, you have never made an expedition in one of our whalers\u2014with\nCaptain Scoresby for instance: you would then have enjoyed sport of a\nnew kind.\n\nHAL.\u2014I should like much to see a whale taken, but I do not think the\nsight worth the dangers and privations of such a voyage. It would only\nbe an amusing spectacle and not an enterprise, unless indeed I employed\nmyself the harpoon; and after all it must be a tedious operation, that\nof watching the sinking and rising of a fish obedient to a natural\ninstinct, which, in this instance, is the cause of his death.\n\nPOIET.\u2014How?\n\nHAL.\u2014The whale, having no air bladder, can sink to the lowest depths of\nthe ocean, and, mistaking the harpoon for the teeth of a sword fish or a\nshark, he instantly descends, this being his manner of freeing himself\nfrom these enemies, who cannot bear the pressure of a deep ocean, and\nfrom ascending and descending in small space, he puts himself in the\npower of the whaler; where as, if he knew his force, and were to swim on\nthe surface in a straight line, he would break or destroy the machinery\nby which he is arrested, as easily as a salmon breaks the single gut of\na fisher when his reel is entangled.\n\nPOIET.\u2014My amusement in such a voyage would be to look for the kraken and\nthe sea snake.\n\nHAL.\u2014You have a vivid imagination, and might see them.\n\nPOIET.\u2014Then you do not believe in the existence of these wonderful\nanimals?\n\nHAL.\u2014No more than I do in that of the merman, or mermaid.\n\nPOIET.\u2014Yet we have histories, which seem authentic, of the appearance of\nthese monsters, and there are not wanting persons who assert, that they\nhave seen the mermaid even in these islands.\n\nHAL.\u2014I disbelieve the authenticity of these stories. I do not mean to\ndeny the existence of large marine animals having analogies to the\nserpent; the conger we know is such an animal: I have seen one nearly\nten feet long, and there may be longer ones, but such animals do not\ncome to the surface. The only sea snake, that has been examined by\nnaturalists, turned out to be a putrid species of shark\u2014the _squalus\nmaximus_. Yet all the newspapers gave accounts of this as a real animal,\nand endowed it with feet, which do not belong to serpents. And the sea\nsnakes, seen by American and Norwegian captains, have, I think,\ngenerally been a company of porpoises, the rising and sinking of which\nin lines would give somewhat the appearance of the coils of a snake. The\nkraken, or island fish, is still more imaginary. I have myself seen\nimmense numbers of enormous _urtic\u00e6 marin\u00e6_, or blubbers, in the north\nseas, and in some of the Norwegian _fiords_, or inland bays, and often\nthese beautiful creatures give colour to the water; but it is\nexceedingly improbable, that an animal of this genus should ever be of\nthe size, even of the whale; its soft materials are little fitted for\nlocomotion, and would be easily destroyed by every kind of fish. Hands\nand a finny tail are entirely contrary to the analogy of nature, and I\ndisbelieve the mermaid upon philosophical principles. The dugong and\nmanatee are the only animals combining the functions of the mammalia\nwith some of the characters of fishes, that can be imagined, even as a\nlink, this part of the order of nature. Many of these stories have been\nfounded upon the long-haired seal seen at a distance, others on the\nappearance of the common seal under particular circumstances of light\nand shade, and some on still more singular circumstances. A worthy\nbaronet, remarkable for his benevolent views and active spirit, has\npropagated a story of this kind, and he seems to claim for his native\ncountry the honour of possessing this extraordinary animal; but the\nmermaid of Caithness was certainly a _gentleman_, who happened to be\ntravelling on that wild shore, and who was seen bathing by some young\nladies at so great a distance, that not only _genus_ but gender was\nmistaken. I am acquainted with him, and have had the story from his own\nmouth. He is a young man, fond of geological pursuits, and one day in\nthe middle of August, having fatigued and heated himself by climbing a\nrock to examine a particular appearance of a granite, he gave his\nclothes to his Highland guide, who was taking care of his pony, and\ndescended to the sea. The sun was just setting, and he amused himself\nfor some time by swimming from rock to rock, and having unclipped hair\nand no cap, he sometimes threw aside his locks, and wrung the water from\nthem on the rocks. He happened the year after to be at Harrowgate, and\nwas sitting at table with two young ladies from Caithness, who were\nrelating to a wondering audience the story of the mermaid they had seen,\nwhich had already been published in the newspapers: they described her,\nas she usually is described by poets, as a beautiful animal, with\nremarkably fair skin, and long green hair. The young gentleman took the\nliberty, as most of the rest of the company did, to put a few questions\nto the elder of the two ladies\u2014such as, on what day and precisely where\nthis singular phenomenon had appeared. She had noted down, not merely\nthe day, but the hour and minute, and produced a map of the place. Our\nbather referred to his journal, and showed, that a human animal was\nswimming in the very spot at that very time, who had some of the\ncharacters ascribed to the mermaid, but who laid no claim to others,\nparticularly the green hair and fish\u2019s tail; but being rather sallow in\nthe face, was glad to have such testimony to the colour of his body\nbeneath his garments.\n\nPOIET.\u2014But I do not understand upon what philosophical principles you\ndeny the existence of the mermaid. We are not necessarily acquainted\nwith all the animals that inhabit the bottom of the sea; and I cannot\nhelp thinking there must have been some foundation for the fable of the\nTritons and Nereids.\n\nHAL.\u2014Ay; and of the ocean divinities, Neptune and Amphitrite!\n\nPOIET.\u2014Now I think you are prejudiced.\n\nHAL.\u2014I remember the worthy baronet, whom I just now mentioned, on some\none praising the late Sir Joseph Banks very highly, said, \u201cSir Joseph\nwas an excellent man\u2014but he had his prejudices.\u201d What were they? said my\nfriend. \u201cWhy, he did not believe in the mermaid.\u201d Pray still consider me\nas the baronet did Sir Joseph\u2014prejudiced on this subject.\n\nORN.\u2014But give us some reasons for the impossibility of the existence of\nthis animal.\n\nHAL.\u2014Nay, I did not say impossibility; I am too much of the school of\nIsaac Walton to talk of impossibility. It doubtless might please God to\nmake a mermaid; but I do not believe God ever did make one.\n\nORN.\u2014And why?\n\nHAL.\u2014Because wisdom and order are found in all his works, and the parts\nof animals are always in harmony with each other, and always adapted to\ncertain ends consistent with the analogy of nature; and a human head,\nhuman hands, and human mamm\u00e6, are wholly inconsistent with a fish\u2019s\ntail. The human head is adapted for an erect posture, and in such a\nposture an animal with a fish\u2019s tail could not swim; and a creature with\nlungs must be on the surface several times in a day\u2014and the sea is an\ninconvenient breathing place; and hands are instruments of\nmanufacture\u2014and the depths of the ocean are little fitted for\nfabricating that mirror which our old prints gave to the mermaid. Such\nan animal, if created, could not long exist; and, with scarcely any\nlocomotive powers, would be the prey of other fishes, formed in a manner\nmore suited to their element. I have seen a most absurd fabrication of a\nmermaid, exposed as a show in London, said to have been found in the\nChinese seas, and bought for a large sum of money. The head and bust of\ntwo different apes were fastened to the lower part of a kipper salmon,\nwhich had the fleshy fin, and all the distinct characters, of the _salmo\nsalar_.\n\nORN.\u2014And yet there were people who believed this to be a real animal.\n\nHAL.\u2014It was insisted on, to prove the truth of the Caithness story. But\nwhat is there which people will not believe?\n\nPOIET.\u2014In listening to your conversation we have forgotten our angling,\nand have lost some moments of fine cloudy weather.\n\nHAL.\u2014I thought you were tired of catching trouts and graylings, and I\ntherefore did not urge you to continue your fly-fishing; and this part\nof the river does not contain so many grayling as the pools above\u2014but\nthere are good trout, and it is possible there may be huchos. Let me\nrecommend to you to put on minnow tackle\u2014that tackle with the five small\nhooks; and, as we have minnows and bleaks, you may perhaps hook trout,\nor even huchos; and in half an hour our fish dinner at the inn will be\nready. I shall return there, to see that all is right, and shall expect\nyou when you have finished your fishing.\n\n\n[_They all meet in the dining-room of the inn._]\n\n\nHAL.\u2014Well, what sort of sport have you had since I left you?\n\nPOIET.\u2014We have each caught a trout and two large chubs, and have had two\nor three runs besides\u2014but we saw no huchos; and though several large\ngrayling rose in one of the streams, and we tried to catch them by\nspinning the minnow in every possible way, yet they took no notice of\nour bait.\n\nHAL.\u2014This is usually the case. I have heard of anglers who have taken\ngrayling with minnows, but it is a rare occurrence, and never happened\nto me. Your dinner, I dare say, is now ready; and you know it is a\ndinner entirely of the _genus salmo_, with vegetables and fruit. You\nhave hucho from the Traun, and char from Aussee, and trout from the\nTraun See, that were brought alive to the inn, and have only just been\nkilled and crimped, and are now boiling in salt and water; and you have\nlikewise grayling and laverets from the Traun See, which are equally\nfresh, and will be fried.\n\nPHYS.\u2014I think, in this part of the continent, the art of carrying and\nkeeping fish is better understood than in England. Every inn has a box\ncontaining grayling, trout, carp, or char, into which water from a\nspring runs; and no one thinks of carrying or sending _dead_ fish for a\ndinner. A fish barrel full of cool water, which is replenished at every\nfresh source amongst these mountains, is carried on the shoulders of the\nfisherman. And the fish, when confined in wells, are fed with bullock\u2019s\nliver, cut into fine pieces, so that they are often in better season in\nthe tank or stew than when they were taken. I have seen trout, grayling,\nand char even, feed voraciously, and take their food almost from the\nhand. These methods of carrying and preserving fish have, I believe,\nbeen adopted from the monastic establishments. At Admondt, in Styria,\nattached to the magnificent monastery of that name, are abundant ponds\nand reservoirs for every species of fresh water fish; and the char,\ngrayling, and trout are preserved in different waters\u2014covered, enclosed,\nand under lock and key.\n\nPOIET.\u2014I admire in this country not only the mode of preserving,\ncarrying, and dressing fish, but I am delighted, generally, with the\nhabits of life of the peasants, and with their manners. It is a country\nin which I should like to live; the scenery is so beautiful, the people\nso amiable and good-natured, and their attentions to strangers so marked\nby courtesy and disinterestedness.\n\nPHYS.\u2014They appear to me very amiable and good; but all classes seem to\nbe little instructed.\n\nPOIET.\u2014There are few philosophers amongst them, certainly; but they\nappear very happy, and\n\n            Where ignorance is bliss, \u2019tis folly to be wise.\n\nWe have neither seen nor heard of any instances of crime since we have\nbeen here. They fear their God, love their sovereign, are obedient to\nthe laws, and seem perfectly contented. I know you would contrast them\nwith the active and educated peasantry of the manufacturing districts of\nEngland; but I believe they are much happier, and I am sure they are\ngenerally better.\n\nPHYS.\u2014I doubt this: the sphere of enjoyment, as well as of benevolence,\nis enlarged by education.\n\nPOIET.\u2014I am sorry to say I think the system carried too far in England.\nGod forbid, that any useful light should be extinguished! Let persons\nwho wish for education receive it; but it appears to me, that, in the\ngreat cities in England, it is, as it were, forced upon the population;\nand that sciences, which the lower classes can only very superficially\nacquire, are presented to them; in consequence of which they often\nbecome idle and conceited, and above their usual laborious occupations.\nThe unripe fruit of the tree of knowledge is, I believe, always bitter\nor sour; and scepticism and discontent\u2014sicknesses of the mind\u2014are often\nthe results of devouring it.\n\nHAL.\u2014Surely you cannot have a more religious, more moral, or more\nimproved population than that of Scotland?\n\nPOIET.\u2014Precisely so. In Scotland, education is not forced upon the\npeople\u2014it is sought for, and is connected with their forms of faith,\nacquired in the bosoms of their families, and generally pursued with a\ndistinct object of prudence or interest: nor is that kind of education\nwanting in this country.\n\nPHYS.\u2014Where a book is rarely seen, a newspaper never.\n\nPOIET.\u2014Pardon me\u2014there is not a cottage without a prayer book; and I am\nnot sorry, that these innocent and happy men are not made active and\ntumultuous subjects of _King Press_, whom I consider as the most\ncapricious, depraved, and unprincipled tyrant, that ever existed in\nEngland. Depraved\u2014for it is to be bought by great wealth;\ncapricious\u2014because it sometimes follows, and sometimes forms, the voice\nof the lowest mob; and unprincipled\u2014because, when its interests are\nconcerned, it sets at defiance private feeling and private character,\nand neither regards their virtue, dignity, nor purity.\n\nHAL.\u2014My friends, you are growing warm. I know you differ essentially on\nthis subject; but surely you will allow that the full liberty of the\npress, even though it sometimes degenerates into licentiousness, and\nthough it may sometimes be improperly used by the influence of wealth,\npower, or private favour, is yet highly advantageous, and even essential\nto the existence of a free country; and, useful as it may be to the\npopulation, it is still more useful to the government, to whom, as\nexpressing the voice of the people, though not always _vox Dei_, it may\nbe regarded as oracular or prophetic.\u2014But let us change our\nconversation, which is neither in time nor place.\n\nPOIET.\u2014This river must be inexhaustible for sport: I have nowhere seen\nso many fish.\n\nHAL.\u2014However full a river may be of trout and grayling, there is a\ncertain limit to the sport of the angler, if continuous fishing be\nadopted in the same pools. Every fish is in its turn made acquainted by\ndiurnal habit with the artificial fly, and either taken or rendered\ncautious; so that, in a river fished much by one or two good anglers,\nmany fish cannot be caught, except under peculiar circumstances of very\nwindy, rainy, or cloudy weather, when many flies come on; or at night,\nor at the time the water is slightly coloured by a flood, or when fish\nchange their haunts in consequence of a great inundation. In the Usk, in\nMonmouthshire, when it was very full of fish in the best fishing time,\nwhen the spring brown and dun flies were on the water, it was not usual\nfor some excellent anglers, who composed a party of nine, and who fished\nin this river for ten continuous days, to catch more than two or three\nfish each person. But one day, when the water was coloured by a flood,\nin which case the artificial fly could not be distinguished by the fish\nfrom the natural fly, I caught twelve or fourteen of the same fish, that\nhad been in the habit of refusing my flies for many days successively.\nThis was in the end of March, 1809, when the flies always came on the\nwater with great regularity; the blues in dark days, the browns in\nbright days, between twelve and two o\u2019clock in the middle of the day. In\nrivers where the artificial fly has never been used, I believe all the\nfish will mistake good imitations for natural flies, and in their turn,\nto use an angler\u2019s phrase, \u201ctaste the steel;\u201d but even very imperfect\nimitations and coarse tackle, which are only successful at night or in\nturbid water, are sufficient to render fish cautious. This I am\nconvinced of, by observing the difference of the habits of fish in\nstrictly preserved streams, and in streams where even peasants have\nfished with the coarsest tackle. I might quote the Traun at Ischl, where\nthe native fisherman used three or four of the coarsest flies on the\ncoarsest hair links made of four or five or six hairs, and the Traun at\nGmunden, where they are not allowed to fish. The fish that rose took\nwith much more certainty at Gmunden than at Ischl.\n\nAt a time when many flies are on, particularly large ones, a few days of\ncontinuous fishing, even with a single rod, will soon make the sport\nindifferent in the best rivers; but the larger and the deeper the river\nthe longer it continues, because fish change their stations\noccasionally, and pricked fish sometimes leave their haunts, which are\noccupied by others; and graylings are more disposed to change their\nplaces than trouts.\n\nAs instances of the difference in this respect between large and small\nrivers, I may quote the Vockla and the Agger in Upper Austria. The first\nof these rivers, when I fished in it in 1818, was full of trout and\ngrayling, and I believe I was the first person, for at least many years,\nthat had ever thrown an artificial fly upon it. It is a small stream,\nfrom eight to fifteen yards wide, and can every where be commanded by\nthe double-handed rod, and is generally shallow. The first day that I\nfished in this stream, which was in the beginning of August, at every\nthrow I hooked a fish, and I took out and restored again to their\nelement in the course of a few hours more than one hundred and fifty\ntrout and grayling. The next day I fished in the same places, but with a\nvery different result: I caught only half a dozen large fish: the third\nmorning, going over the same ground, I had great difficulty even to get\na brace of fish for my dinner, and those, as well as I recollect, I\ncaught by throwing in places which had not been fished before. I ought\nto mention, that the space of water where this experiment was made did\nnot exceed half a mile in length. I shall now speak of the Agger, which\nis a much larger and deeper river than the Vockla, and cannot be\ncommanded in any part by a double-handed rod, being at least from forty\nto sixty yards across. The first time I fished this river, I had the\nsame kind of sport as in the Vockla; the second day, under the same\nfavourable circumstances, there were fewer rises than on the first day,\nbut still sufficient to give good sport; and it was the fourth day\nbefore it became difficult to catch a good dish of fish, and necessary\nto seek new water. The greater depth of the water, and the change of\nplace of the fish, particularly the grayling, explain this, to say\nnothing of the greater number of fish which the larger river contained.\nI am, of course, speaking of one of the best periods of fly-fishing,\nwhen many large flies, of which imitations are easily found, have been\non the water. In spring (a bad season for fly-fishing in high Alpine\ncountries) I have thrown great varieties of flies on these two highly\nstocked streams, and have found it difficult to get a brace of fish for\nthe table, as the trout and grayling were all lying at the bottom, not\nexpecting any _winged food_ at this season.\n\nA river that runs into a large lake affords, at its junction with the\nlake, by far the best place for continuous angling, particularly for\ntrout in autumn. The fish are constantly running up the river for the\npurpose of spawning, and every day offers a succession of new shoals, of\nwhich many will take the fly; I say _many_, because at this season some\nof the fish, particularly the females, are capricious, and refuse a\nbait, of which, under other circumstances they are greedy. I may say the\nsame with respect to the exit of a river from a lake, to which\nsuccessions of fishes resort, and though trout are found abundantly in\nsuch places, yet they are often still better places for grayling when\nthese fish exist in the lake, the tendency of grayling being rather, as\nI said on another occasion, to descend than to ascend waters, whilst\nthat of the trout is the contrary. The same principles apply to salmon\nand sea-trout fishing, which run up rivers from basins of the sea: the\nbest situations for continuous angling are those parts of the river\nwhere there is a succession of fishes from the tide.\n\nPOIET.\u2014You spoke just now of peasants fishing with the fly in Austria: I\nthought this art was entirely English; and though I have travelled much,\nI do not recollect ever to have seen fly-fishing practised by native\nanglers abroad.\n\nHAL.\u2014I assure you there are fishers with the artificial fly in different\nparts of Switzerland, Germany, and Illyria, though always with rude\ntackle, and usually upon rapid streams. Besides the Traun I can mention\nthe Rhine, the Rhone, and the Drave, as rivers where I have seen fish\ncaught with rude imitations of flies used by native anglers. In Italy,\nwhere trout and grayling are very rare, and only found amongst the\nhighest mountain chains, I have never seen any fly-fishers, but near\nRavenna I have sometimes seen anglers for frogs, who threw their bait\nexactly as we throw a fly, and caught great numbers of these animals:\nand the nature of their apparatus surprised me more than their method of\nusing it. Instead of a hook and bait they employed a small dry frog,\ntied to a long piece of twine, the fore legs of which projected like two\nhooks, and this they threw at a distance, by means of a long rod. The\nfrogs rose like fish and gorged the small dry frog, by the legs of which\nthey were pulled out of the water. I was informed by one of these\nfishermen, that he sometimes took 200 frogs in this way in a morning,\nand that the frogs never swallowed any bait when still or apparently\ndead, but caught at whatever was moving or appeared alive on the surface\nof the water; so that this amphibia feeds like a nobler animal, the\neagle, only on living prey.\n\nPOIET.\u2014You say trout are rare in Italy, yet on Ash-wednesday, a great\nday for the consumption of fish in Rome, I remember to have seen some\nlarge trout, which, I was told, were from the Velino, above the falls of\nTerni.\n\nHAL.\u2014I once went almost to the source of this river, above Rieti, in the\nhopes of catching trout, but I was unsuccessful. I saw some taken by\nnets, but the fish were too few, and the river too foul, from the\ndeposition of calcareous matter, to render it a good stream for the\nangler. In this journey I saw some trout in brooks in the Sabine\ncountry, that I dare say might have been taken by the fly, but they were\nsmall, and like the brook trout of England. In these streams, as well as\nin the Velino and other torrents, I found the water-ouzel, which, as far\nas my knowledge extends, is always a companion of the trout, and I\nbelieve feeds much upon the same larv\u00e6 or water-flies.\n\nORN.\u2014These singular little birds, as I have witnessed, walk under water.\nI have often watched them running beneath the surface of the sides of\nstreams, and passing between stones. I conclude they were then in the\nact of searching for, or feeding upon larv\u00e6.\n\nHAL.\u2014I suppose so, and I hope Ornither will shoot one to give us an\nopportunity of examining the contents of their stomachs, and of knowing\nwith certainty the nature of their food.\n\nPHYS.\u2014The char[8] is a most beautiful and excellent fish, and is, of\ncourse, a fish of prey. Is he not an object of sport to the angler?\n\nHAL.\u2014They generally haunt deep cool lakes, and are seldom found at the\nsurface till late in the autumn. When they are at the surface, however,\nthey will take either fly or minnow. I have known some caught in both\nthese ways; and have myself taken a char, even in summer, in one of\nthose beautiful, small, deep lakes in the Upper Tyrol, near Nazereit;\nbut it was where a cool stream entered from the mountain; and the fish\ndid not rise, but swallowed the artificial fly under water. The char is\nalways in its colour a very brilliant fish, but in different countries\nthere are many varieties in the tint. I do not remember ever to have\nseen more beautiful fish than those of Aussee, which, when in perfect\nseason, have the lower fins and the belly of the brightest vermilion,\nwith a white line on the outside of the pectoral, ventral, anal, and\nlower part of the caudal fin, and with vermilion spots, surrounded by\nthe bright olive shade of the sides and back: the dorsal fin in the char\nhas 11 spines, the pectoral 14, the ventral 9, the anal 10, and the\ncaudal 20. I have fished for them in many lakes, without success, both\nin England and Scotland, and also amongst the Alps; and I am told the\nonly sure way of taking them is by sinking a line with a bullet, and a\nhook having a live minnow attached to it, in the deep water which they\nusually haunt; and in this way, likewise, I have no doubt the _umbla_,\nor _ombre chevalier_, might be taken.\n\nPOIET.\u2014I have never happened to see this fish.\n\nHAL.\u2014It is very like char in form, but is without spots, and has a white\nand silvery belly. On the table, its flesh cuts white or cream-colour,\nand it is exceedingly like char in flavour. Feb. 11, 1827, one was\nbrought me from the lake of Bourget, in Savoy; it was said to be small\nfor this fish; it was 15 inches long, and 7\u00bd in circumference. In the\ndorsal fin there were 12 spines, in the pectoral 9, in the ventral 8, in\nthe anal 11, and in the caudal 24.\n\nPOIET.\u2014Is it found in this country?\n\nHAL.\u2014From some descriptions I have heard of certain species of the salmo\nfound in the Maun See, Traun See, and Leopoldstadt See, I think it is.\nBloch says, that it is peculiar to the lakes of Geneva and Neufchatel;\nbut what I have just said must convince you of the inaccuracy of this\nstatement, as I dare say the fish exists in other deep waters of a like\ncharacter amongst the Alps. It is a fish closely allied to the char, and\ncongenerous both in form and habits.\n\nPHYS.\u2014You mentioned, among the fish for dinner, the laveret: I never\nheard of this fish before.\n\nHAL.\u2014It is a fish known in England by the name of _shelley_, or fresh\nwater herring; in Wales, by that of _guinead_; in Ireland, by that of\n_pollan_; and in Scotland, by that of _vengis_. In colour it is most\nlike a grayling, but with broader and larger scales: it is common in the\nlarge lakes of most Alpine countries, and is known at Geneva by the name\nof _ferra_; and I believe that the _salmo ceruleus_, or _wartmann_ of\nBloch, or the _gang-fisch_ of the lake of Constante, from a comparison\nthat I made of it with the _ferra_, is a variety of the same fish. It\nsometimes is as large as 2lbs.; and when quite fresh, and well fried or\nboiled, is an exceedingly good fish, and calvers like a grayling. The\nlaveret of different lakes has appeared to me to vary in the number of\nthe spines in the fins. One, brought me from the lake of Zurich, 13\ninches long, and 8 inches in girth, had 12 spines in the dorsal fin, 15\nin the pectoral fins, 11 in the ventral, 13 in the anal, and 18 in the\ncaudal. The gang-fisch, from the lake of Constanz, which was of a bluer\ncolour, but, I think decidedly, only a variety of the same fish, was 7\u00be\ninches long, and 4 in girth, had 12 spines in the dorsal fin, 15 in the\npectoral, 11 in the ventral, 12 in the anal, and 18 in the caudal. A\nlaveret, from the Traun See, had 12 spines in the dorsal fin, 17 in the\npectoral, 13 in the ventral fin, 12 in the anal fin, and 24 in the\ncaudal fin. One from the Hallstadt See was a larger and broader fish,\nbut did not differ from the laveret, of the Traun See, except in having\ntwo spines less in the tail.\n\nPOIET.\u2014Is this fish ever taken with the line?\n\nHAL.\u2014I believe only with nets. It feeds on vegetables; and in the\nstomachs of those I have opened, I have never found either flies or\nsmall fishes.\n\n\n                               AT TABLE.\n\nORN.\u2014Now the hucho is dressed, and on the same table with other species\nof the salmo, I perceive his peculiarities more distinctly; and, in\naddition to those you have mentioned, he appears to me to have a\nstronger upper jaw, and a larger projection of bone below the orbit of\nthe eye.\n\nHAL.\u2014He has; and you will find a similar character in the pike and\nperch, and, I believe, in most fishes of prey; and the use of it seems\nto be, to strengthen the fulcrum of the lever on which the lower jaw\nmoves, so as to afford the means of greater strength to the whole\nmuscular apparatus, by means of which the fish seizes his prey.\n\nPOIET.\u2014These fishes, then, are analogous to the predatory animals of the\nfeline genus, which have this part of the head exceedingly strong; and\nit is here that the craniologists or phrenologists fix the organ of\ncourage: does not this extensive chain of analogies offer an argument in\nfavour of this long agitated and generally unpopular doctrine?\n\nPHYS.\u2014In my opinion, it offers, like most of the facts which have been\nbrought forward to prove the truths of the view of Gall and Spurzheim,\nan argument rather unfavourable, when thoroughly and minutely examined.\n\nPOIET.\u2014How?\n\nPHYS.\u2014In these rapacious and predatory animals, the organization of the\nhead must be connected with the functions of the jaws, as the\nconstruction of the shoulder-blade must be related to the use of the\nfore leg, which, being intended to strike and seize by talons, must have\na powerful support and a strong bony apparatus in the shoulder, which\nmight as well be called the organ of courage as the projection below the\nfrontal bone: but these animals have no more what is called courage in\nman, than they have what is called reason: they face danger when they\nare hungry, but almost always fly when their appetite is satisfied: a\nhen, in defending her chickens against a powerful dog, or the game cock,\nin fighting for the female, or the timid stag, at the time of the sexual\nintercourse, shows quite as much of this quality as the most ferocious\nroyal tiger. Courage is the result of strong passions or strong motives;\nand in man it usually results from the love of glory or the fear of\nshame; and it appears to me a perfectly absurd idea, that of connecting\nit with an organ, which is merely intended to assist the predatory\nhabits and the mastication of a carnivorous animal.\n\nHAL.\u2014I agree with Physicus in this view of the subject. I once heard a\nphysiologist of some reputation deducing an argument in favour of\ncraniology from the form of the skull of the beaver, which he called a\nconstructive animal, and contended, that there was something of the same\ncharacter in the skulls of distinguished architects: now, the skull of\nthe beaver is so formed, that he is able to use his jaws for cutting\ndown the trees with which he makes his dam; and if this analogy were\ncorrect, the architect ought unquestionably to employ his teeth for the\nsame purpose; and though I have known distinguished men, who have been\nin the habit of using knives for cutting furniture with a sort of\nnervous restlessness of hand, I do not recollect to have heard of the\nteeth being employed in the same way; and I think it would be quite as\ncorrect, to find the architectural or constructive organ in the opposite\npart of the body, the tail, as the beaver makes a more ingenious use of\nthis part than even of his mouth. Pray, have you ever observed, Poietes,\nany particular protuberance in the nether parts of any of our\ndistinguished architects?\n\nPOIET.\u2014I am not a craniologist; but I would have the doctrine overturned\nby facts, and not by ridicule; and I have certainly seen some remarkable\ninstances, which were favourable to the system.\n\nHAL.\u2014My experience is entirely on the opposite side; and I once saw a\ndistinguished craniologist in error on a point, which he considered as\nthe most decided. He was shown two children, one of whom was possessed\nof great mathematical acquirements, the other of extraordinary musical\ntaste. With the utmost confidence he pronounced judgment, and was\nmistaken. It appeared to me, that, whilst he was examining the two\nheads, he hummed an air, which, being out of tune, was not responded to\nby the musical child; but somehow struck the fancy of the mathematical\none.\n\nORN.\u2014This hucho is a very good fish, and, indeed, I can praise all the\nvarieties of the salmon on the table that I have yet tasted.\n\nPHYS.\u2014Amongst them, I prefer the char, which, I think, is even better\nthan the best fresh salmon I ever tasted.\n\nPOIET.\u2014This char is surprisingly red and full of curd; I wonder at its\nfat: It comes from the Grundtl See, which is a high Alpine lake, covered\nwith ice more than half the year: what food can the fish find in so pure\nand cold a water?\n\nHAL.\u2014Minnows and small chubs are found in this lake; and the flies which\nhaunt it in summer have been aquatic larv\u00e6 in the autumn, winter, and\nspring; and there are usually great quantities of small shell fish,\nwhich live in the deeper parts of this water; so that char may find food\neven in winter; and cold, or the repose to which it leads, seems\nfavourable to the development or conservation of fat. Most of the polar\nanimals (the whale, moose, seal, and white bear, for instance) are\nloaded with this substance; and the salmon of the Arctic Ocean are\nremarkable for their quantity of curd: those that run up the rivers in\nRussia from the White Sea are said to be fatter and better, than those\ncaught in the streams which run into the Baltic.\n\nORN.\u2014I agree with Physicus in his praise of the char: we are indebted to\nyou for an excellent entertainment.\n\nHAL.\u2014At Lintz, on the Danube, I could have given you a fish dinner of a\ndifferent description, which you might have liked as a variety. The four\nkinds of perch, the _spiegel carpfen_, and the _siluris glanis_; all\ngood fish, and which I am sorry we have not in England, where I doubt\nnot they might be easily naturalized, and they would form an admirable\naddition to the table in inland counties. Since England has become\nProtestant, the cultivation of fresh water fish has been much neglected.\nThe _burbot_, or lotte, which already exists in some of the streams\ntributary to the Trent, and which is a most admirable fish, might be\ndiffused without much difficulty; and nothing could be more easy than to\nnaturalize the _spiegel carpfen_ and _siluris_; and I see no reason why\nthe _perca lucio perca_ and _zingel_ should not succeed in some of our\nclear lakes and ponds, which abound in coarse fish. The new Zo\u00f6logical\nSociety, I hope, will attempt something of this kind; and it will be a\nbetter object than introducing birds and beast of prey\u2014though I have no\nobjection to any source of rational amusement or philosophical\ncuriosity.\n\nPOIET.\u2014A fish dinner such as you have just described, combined with one\nsuch as we have enjoyed to-day, might, I think, be made an interesting\nexperimental lecture on natural history. The analogies of the different\nspecies and genera of fishes, so distinct in the form of their organs,\nare likewise marked in the appearance and taste of their flesh. The\nsalmon and the char may be regarded as the generic types of the salmo.\nBy trout, which have sometimes red and sometimes white flesh, they are\nconnected with the grayling and hucho. By the grayling the trout is\nconnected with the laveret, and by the laveret the genus salmo is\nconnected with the carp genus. The char is immediately connected with\nthe grayling, and laveret by the umbula. By the sea trout the salmon is\nconnected with the trout; and by the hucho, with the pike and perch\nfamilies.\n\nHAL.\u2014We will arrange a dinner of this kind in England, and by means of\nit follow the analogies of salt and fresh water fishes. But the time for\nour parting is almost arrived.\u2014Let us drink a glass each of this old\nwine of the Danube to our next happy meeting, and go and take a last\nlook of the Fall of Traun, whilst our carriages are preparing.\n\n\n[_They walk to the rock above the Fall of the Traun._]\n\n\nHAL.\u2014See, the cataract is now in great beauty; the river above is\ncoloured by the setting sun, and the glow of the rosy light on the upper\nstream is beautifully and wonderfully contrasted with the tints of the\ncataract below. Have you ever seen any thing so fine?\n\nPOIET.\u2014The lights are beautiful; but I have certainly seen a finer\ncombination of features in the Fall of the Velino, at Terni, though that\nwater is not clear; but, even with this defect, it is certainly the most\nperfect of European falls. This cascade of the Traun, though not so\nelevated as that of Terni, and not so large as that of Schaffhausen,\nyet, from its perfect clearness, and the harmony of the surrounding\nobjects, ranks high, as to picturesque effect, amongst the waterfalls of\nEurope; and the wonderful transparency of its pale-green water gives it\na peculiar charm in my eyes, enhanced as it is now by the light of the\nglowing western sky; and the tints of the quadrant iris on its spray are\nnot brighter than those of its stream and foam.\n\nORN.\u2014We have now followed this water at least thirty miles, and wherever\nwe have seen it, it has always displayed the same characters of\nclearness and rapidity\u2014of green stream and white foam; and we have\ntraced it from the snowy mountains of Styria to the plains of Upper\nAustria, where it serves to purify the darker Danube. How is it, that it\nhas preserved its transparency, though so many of its tributary streams\nhave been foul, either from the thunder storm, or from the sudden\nmelting of snows?\n\nHAL.\u2014The three small lakes and the two larger ones, which are in fact\nits reservoirs, are the cause of this. The Gr\u00fcndtl See furnishes its\nprincipal stream, and this lake is fed by two others\u2014T\u00f6plitz See and\nLahngen See; and the tributary streams, which unite at Aussee, from\nAlten Aussee and Oden See, though one is blue and the other yellow, yet\ncombine to give a tint, which is nearly the same as that from the stream\nof the Gr\u00fcndtl See, and which the river retains throughout its course\nYet I have seen even this river very foul, but only in a part of its\ncourse, below Ischel. I was once at that place, when the thunder storm\nof a night having washed the dust of the roads into the river, it was\nextremely turbid from Ischel to the Traun See. It rendered the upper\npart of this large lake coloured; but, notwithstanding this, the river\ncame from the lower part of it perfectly clear, and I caught fish in it\nthere with a fly, which, at its entrance into the lake was quite\nimpossible.\n\nPOIET.\u2014You, Halieus, must certainly have considered the _causes_ which\nproduce the colours of waters. The streams of our own island are of a\nvery different colour from these mountain rivers, and why should the\nsame element or substance assume such a variety of tints?\n\nHAL.\u2014I certainly have often thought upon the subject, and I have made\nsome observations and _one_ experiment in relation to it. I will give\nyou my opinion with pleasure, and, as far as I know, they have not been\nbrought forward in any of the works on the properties of water, or on\nits consideration as a chemical element. The purest water with which we\nare acquainted is undoubtedly that which falls from the atmosphere.\nHaving touched air alone, it can contain nothing but what it gains from\nthe atmosphere, and it is distilled without the chance of those\nimpurities, which may exist in the vessels used in an artificial\noperation. We cannot well examine the water precipitated from the\natmosphere, as rain, without collecting it in vessels, and all\nartificial contact gives more or less of contamination; but in snow,\nmelted by the sunbeams, that has fallen on glaciers, themselves formed\nfrom frozen snow, water may be regarded as in its state of greatest\npurity. Congelation expels both salts and air from water, whether\nexisting below, or formed in, the atmosphere; and in the high and\nuninhabited regions of glaciers, there can scarcely be any substances to\ncontaminate. Removed from animal and vegetable life, they are even above\nthe mineral kingdom; and though there are instances in which the rudest\nkind of vegetation (of the fungus or mucor kind) is even found upon\nsnows, yet this is a rare occurrence; and red snow, which is occasioned\nby it, is an extraordinary and not a common phenomenon towards the pole,\nand on the highest mountains of the globe. Having examined the water\nformed from melted snow on glaciers in different parts of the Alps, and\nhaving always found it of the same quality, I shall consider it as pure\nwater, and describe its characters. Its colour, when it has any depth,\nor when a mass of it is seen through, is bright blue; and, according to\nits greater or less depth of substance, it has more or less of this\ncolour: as its insipidity, and its other physical qualities, are not at\nthis moment objects of your inquiry, I shall not dwell upon them. In\ngeneral, in examining lakes and masses of water in high mountains, their\ncolour is of the same bright azure. And Captain Parry states, that the\nwater on the Polar ice has the like beautiful tint. When vegetables grow\nin lakes, the colour becomes nearer the sea green, and as the quantity\nof impregnation from their decay increases\u2014greener, yellowish green, and\nat length, when the vegetable extract is large in quantity\u2014as in\ncountries where peat is found\u2014yellow, and even brown. To mention\ninstances, the Lake of Geneva, fed from sources (particularly the higher\nRhone) formed from melting snow, is blue; and the Rhone pours from it,\ndyed of the deepest azure, and retains partially this colour till it is\njoined by the Soane, which gives to it a greener hue. The Lake of Morat,\non the contrary, which is fed from a lower country, and from less pure\nsources, is grass green. And there is an illustrative instance in some\nsmall lakes fed from the same source, in the road from Inspruck to\nStutgard, which I observed in 1815 (as well as I recollect) between\nNazareit and Reiti. The highest lake fed by melted snows in March, when\nI saw it, was bright blue. It discharged itself by a small stream into\nanother, into which a number of large pines had been blown by a winter\nstorm, or fallen from some other cause: in this lake its colour was blue\ngreen. In a third lake, in which there were not only pines and their\nbranches, but likewise other decaying vegetable matter, it had a tint of\nfaded grass green; and these changes had occurred in a space not much\nmore than a mile in length. These observations I made in 1815: on\nreturning to the same spot twelve years after, in August and September,\nI found the character of the lakes entirely changed. The pine wood\nwashed into the second lake had disappeared; a large quantity of stones\nand gravel, washed down by torrents, or detached by an avalanche,\nsupplied their place: there was no perceptible difference of tint in the\ntwo upper lakes; but the lower one, where there was still some vegetable\nmatter, seemed to possess a greener hue. The same principle will apply\nto the Scotch and Irish rivers, which, when they rise or issue from pure\nrocky sources, are blue, or bluish green; and when fed from peat bogs,\nor alluvial countries, yellow, or amber-coloured, or brown\u2014even after\nthey have deposited a part of their impurities in great lakes.\nSometimes, though rarely, mineral impregnations give colour to water:\nsmall streams are sometimes green or yellow from ferruginous\ndepositions. Calcareous matters seldom affect their colour, but often\ntheir transparency, when deposited, as is the case with the Velino at\nTerni, and the Anio at Trivoli; but I doubt if pure saline matters,\nwhich are in themselves white, ever change the tint of water.\n\nORN.\u2014On what then does the tint of the ocean depend, which has itself\ngiven name to a colour?\n\nHAL.\u2014I think probably on vegetable matter, and, perhaps, partially, on\ntwo elementary principles, iodine and brome, which it certainly\ncontains, though these are possibly the results of decayed marine\nvegetables. These give a yellow tint, when dissolved in minute portions\nin water, and this, mixed with the blue of pure water, would occasion\nsea green. I made, many years ago, being on the _Mer de Glace_, an\nexperiment on this subject. I threw a small quantity of iodine, a\nsubstance then recently discovered, into one of those deep blue basins\nof water, which are so frequent on that glacier, and, diffusing it as it\ndissolved with a stick, I saw the water change first to sea green in\ncolour, then to grass green, and lastly to yellowish green: I do not,\nhowever, give this as a proof, but only as a fact favourable to my\nconjecture.\n\nPOIET.\u2014It appears to me to confirm your view of the subject, that snow\nand ice, which are merely pure crystallized water, are always blue, when\nseen by transmitted light. I have often admired the deep azure in\ncrevices in masses of snow in severe winters, and the same colour in the\nglaciers of Switzerland, particularly at the arch where the Arve issues,\nin the Valley of Chamouni. We thank you for your illustration.\n\nHAL.\u2014In return, I ask you for some further remarks on this grand\nwaterfall. You said just now, you preferred the fall of the Velino for\npicturesque effect to any other waterfall you have seen; yet it is a\nsmall river compared even with the Traun, and nothing compared with the\nGotha, the Rhine, or, above all, the Glommen.\n\nPOIET.\u2014Size is merely comparative: I prefer the fall of the Velino,\nbecause its parts are in harmony. It displays all the force and power of\nthe element, in its rapid and precipitous descent, and you feel, that\neven man would be nothing in its waves, and would be dashed to pieces by\nits force. The whole scene is embraced at once by the eye, and the\neffect is almost as sublime as that of the Glommen, where the river is\nat least one hundred times as large; for the Glommen falls, as it were,\nfrom a whole valley upon a mountain of granite, and unless where you see\nthe giant pines of Norway, fifty or sixty feet in height, carried down\nby it and swimming in its whirlpools like straws, you have no idea of\nits magnitude and power: yet still, I think, considering it in all its\nrelations, this is the most awful fall of water I have seen, as that of\nVelino is the most perfect and beautiful. I am not sure, that I ought\nnot to place the fall of the Gotha above that of the Rhine, both for\nvariety of effect and beauty; and the river, in my opinion, is quite as\nlarge, and the colour of the water quite as beautiful.\n\nHAL.\u2014But our horses are ready, and the time of separation arrives. I\ntrust we shall all have a happy meeting in England in the winter. I have\nmade you idlers at home and abroad, but I hope to some purpose; and, I\ntrust, you will confess the time bestowed upon angling has not been\nthrown away. The most important principle perhaps in life is to have a\npursuit\u2014a useful one if possible, and at all events an innocent one. And\nthe scenes you have enjoyed\u2014the contemplations to which they have led,\nand the exercise in which we have indulged, have, I am sure, been very\nsalutary to the body, and, I hope, to the mind. I have always found a\npeculiar effect from this kind of life; it has appeared to bring me back\nto early times and feelings, and to create again the hopes and happiness\nof youthful days.\n\nPHYS.\u2014I felt something like what you described, and were I convinced\nthat in the cultivation of the amusement, these feelings would increase,\nI would devote myself to it with passion; but, I fear, in my case this\nis impossible. Ah! could I recover any thing like that freshness of\nmind, which I possessed at twenty-five, and which, like the dew of the\ndawning morning, covered all objects and nourished all things that grew,\nand in which they were more beautiful even than in mid-day\nsunshine,\u2014what would I not give!\u2014All that I have gained in an active and\nnot unprofitable life. How well I remember that delightful season, when,\nfull of power, I sought for power in others; and power was sympathy, and\nsympathy power;\u2014when the dead and the unknown, the great of other ages\nand of distant places, were made, by the force of the imagination, my\ncompanions and friends;\u2014when every voice seemed one of praise and love;\nwhen every flower had the bloom and odour of the rose; and every spray\nor plant seemed either the poet\u2019s laurel, or the civic oak\u2014which\nappeared to offer themselves as wreaths to adorn my throbbing brow. But,\nalas! this cannot be; and even you cannot have _two springs_ in\nlife\u2014though I have no doubt you have fishing days, in which the feelings\nof youth return, and that your autumn has a more _vernal_ character than\nmine.\n\nPOIET.\u2014I do not think Halieus had ever any season, except a perpetual\nand gentle spring; for the tones of his mind have been always so quiet,\nit has been so little scorched by sunshine, and so little shaken by\nwinds, that, I think, it may be compared to that sempivernal climate\nfabled of the Hesperides, where the same trees produced at once buds,\nleaves, blossoms, and fruits.\n\nHAL.\u2014Nay, my friends! spare me a little, spare my gray hairs. I have not\nperhaps abused my youth so much as some of my friends, but all things\nthat you have known, I have known; and if I have not been so much\nscorched by the passions from which so many of my acquaintances have\nsuffered, I owe it rather to the constant employment of a laborious\nprofession, and to the exertions called for by the hopes, wants, and\nwishes of a rising family, than to any merits of my own, either moral or\nconstitutional. For my health, I may thank my ancestors, after my God,\nand I have not squandered what was so bountifully given; and though I do\nnot expect, like our arch-patriarch, Walton, to number ninety years and\nupwards, yet, I hope, as long as I can enjoy in a vernal day the warmth\nand light of the sunbeams, still to haunt the streams\u2014following the\nexample of our late venerable friend, the President of the Royal\nacademy,[9] in company with whom, when he was an octogenarian, I have\nthrown the fly, caught trout, and enjoyed a delightful day of angling\nand social amusement, in the shady green meadows by the bright clear\nstreams of the Wandle.\n\n\n\n\n                           ADDITIONAL NOTES.\n\n\n                        (_On the par, page 75._)\n\nThe author, in supposing that the par may be produced from a cross\nbetween the river trout and the sea trout, does not mean to attach any\nimportance to this idea. The fish differs so little from the common\ntrout, that it may be questioned, whether it is not more entitled to the\ncharacter of a variety than of a species. In many rivers on the\ncontinent, the author has seen small trout with olive or brown marks,\nlike those of the British par; and a friend informs him, that he has\ncaught fish of the same kind in the streams connected with the Lake of\nGeneva. In rivers, flowing into the Danube, these small fish are very\ncommon; but, as well as he remembers, their marks are pale, or\nyellowish-brown, or olive, and not dark or blue like those of our par.\nThe salmon does not belong to any of these localities, but the hucho\nhaunts the tributary streams of the Danube. The smelts, or young of the\nsalmo hucho, and sea trout, and lake trout, are all distinguished by the\n_uniform_ dark colour of the back, and the silvery whiteness of the\nbelly. He does not remember to have seen any of the streaked, or par\nvarieties of trout in rivers, in which there was only _one_ species, or\nvariety of large salmo. The mottled colour of the skin is, he thinks,\nthe strongest argument in favour of this little fish, being from a cross\nof two varieties, or races, which may be the case, and yet the fish be\ncapable of breeding, and gaining this character of a peculiar variety;\nand he supposes different kinds of pars may be produced by crosses of\nthe sea trout, the hucho, the lake trout, with the river trouts, or\nperhaps of the salmon, and this would account for their great numbers,\nand the various tints of the marks on their _sides_. If the hucho, as he\nbelieves, generally spawns late in the winter, it may sometimes meet\nwith trout spawning at the same time. He has seen salmon and trout in\nthe Tweed in a similar state of maturity at the same period; and, in\n1816, he remembers, that he took large female salmon, that had the\nperiod of parturition protracted as late as March.\n\n\n                    (_On the scolaphax, page 124._)\n\nI shall say a few words on the congeners of this bird (the solitary\nsnipe,) and on the three varieties so much better known in Europe. The\nwoodcock feeds indiscriminately upon earthworms, small beetles, and\nvarious kinds of larv\u00e6, and its stomach sometimes contains seeds, which\nI suspect have been taken up in boring amongst the excrements of cattle;\nyet the stomach of this bird has something of the gizzard character,\nthough not so much as that of the land-rail, which I have found half\nfilled with seeds of grasses, and even containing corn, mixed with\nmay-bugs, earth-worms, grasshoppers, and caterpillars. The woodcock, I\nbelieve, breeds habitually only in high northern latitudes, yet there\nare woods in England, particularly one in Sussex, near the borders of\nHampshire, in which one or two couple of these birds, it is said, may\nalways be found in summer. I suspect these woodcocks are from the\noffspring of birds which had paired for their passage, but being\ndetained by an accident happening to one of them, staid and raised a\nyoung brood in England, and the young ones probably had their instincts\naltered by the accidents of their being born in England, and being in a\nplace well supplied with food. It is not improbable, that they likewise\nraised young ones, and that the habit of staying has become hereditary.\nThere can be no doubt, that woodcocks are very constant to their local\nattachments; woodcocks, that have been preserved in a particular wood\nfor a winter, always return to it, if possible, the next season. Many\nwoodcocks breed in Norway and Sweden in the great, extensive, and moist\npine woods, filled with bogs and morasses, which cover these wild\ncountries, but probably a still greater number breed further north, in\nLapland, Finland, Russia, and Siberia. It is I believe a fable, that\nthey ever raise their young habitually in the high Alpine or mountainous\ncountries of the central or southern parts of Europe. These countries\nindeed in summer are very little fitted for their feeding; they cannot\nbore where it is either dry or frosty, and the glacier, as well as the\narid sand or rock, are equally unfitted for their haunts. They leave the\nnorth with the first frost, and travel slowly south till they come to\ntheir accustomed winter quarters; they do not usually make a quick\nvoyage, but fly from wood to wood, reposing and feeding on their\njourney: they prefer for their haunts, woods near marshes or morasses;\nthey hide themselves under thick bushes in the day, and fly abroad to\nfeed in the dusk of the evening. A laurel, or a holly-bush, is a\nfavourite place for their repose: the thick and varnished leaves of\nthese trees prevents the radiation of heat from the soil, and they are\nless affected by the refrigerating influence of a clear sky, so that\nthey afford a warm seat for the woodcock. Woodcocks usually begin to fly\nnorth on the first approach of spring, and their flights are generally\nlonger, and their rests fewer, at this season than in the autumn.\n\nIn the autumn they are driven from the north to the south by the want of\nfood, and they stop wherever they can find food. In the spring, there is\nthe influence of another powerful instinct added to this, the sexual\nfeeling. They migrate in pairs, and pass as speedily as possible to the\nplace where they are likely to find food, and to raise their young, and\nof which the old birds have already had the experience of former years.\nScarcely any woodcocks winter in any part of Germany. In France there\nare a few found, particularly in the southern provinces, and in Normandy\nand Brittany. The woods of England, especially of the west and south,\ncontain always a certain quantity of woodcocks, but there are far more\nin the moist soil and warmer climate of Ireland; but in the woods of\nsouthern Italy and Greece, near marshes, they are far more abundant; and\nthey extend in quantities over the Greek Islands, Asia Minor, and\nnorthern Africa.\n\nThe snipe is one of the most generally distributed birds belonging to\nEurope. It feeds upon almost every kind of worm, or larv\u00e6, and, as I\nhave said before, its stomach sometimes contains seeds and rice; it\nprefers a country cold in the summer to breed in; but wherever there is\nmuch fluid water, and great morasses, this bird is almost certain to be\nfound. Its nest is very inartificial, its eggs large, and the young ones\nsoon become of an enormous size, being, often before they can fly,\nlarger than their parents. Two young ones are usually the number in a\nnest, but I have seen three. The old birds are exceedingly attached to\ntheir offspring, and if any one approach near the nest they make a loud\nand drumming noise above the head, as if to divert the attention of the\nintruder. A few snipes always breed in the marshes of England and\nScotland, but a far greater number retire for this purpose to the\nHebrides and the Orkneys. In the heather surrounding a small lake in the\nIsland of Hoy, in the Orkneys, I found in the month of August, in 1817,\nthe nests of ten or twelve couple of snipes. I was grouse-shooting, and\nmy dog continually pointed them, and, as there were sometimes three\nyoung ones and two old ones in the nest, the scent was very powerful.\nFrom accident of the season these snipes were very late in being\nhatched, for they usually fly before the middle of July; but this year,\neven as late as the 15th of August, there were many young snipes that\nhad not yet their wing feathers. Snipes are usually fattest in frosty\nweather, which, I believe, is owing to this, that in such weather they\nhaunt only warm springs, where worms are abundant, and they do not\nwillingly quit these places, so that they have plenty of nourishment and\nrest, both circumstances favourable to fat. In wet, open weather they\nare often obliged to make long flights, and their food is more\ndistributed. The jack-snipe feeds upon smaller insects than the snipe:\nsmall white larv\u00e6, such as are found in black bogs, are its favourite\nfood, but I have generally found seeds in its stomach, once hemp-seeds,\nand always gravel. I know not where the jack-snipe breeds, but I suspect\nfar north. I never saw their nest or young ones in Germany, France,\nHungary, Illyria, or the British Islands. The common snipe breeds in\ngreat quantities in the extensive marshes of Hungary and Illyria; but I\ndo not think the jack-snipe breeds there, for, even in July and August,\nwith the first very dry weather, many snipes, with ducks and teal, come\ninto the marshes in the south of Illyria, but the jack-snipe is always\nlater in its passage, later even than the double-snipe, or the woodcock.\nIn 1828, in the drains about Laybach, in Illyria, common snipes were\nseen in the middle of July. The first double snipes appeared the first\nweek in September, when likewise woodcocks were seen; the first\njack-snipe did not appear till three weeks later than the 29th of\nSeptember. I was informed at Copenhagen, that the jack-snipe certainly\nbreeds in Zealand, and I saw a nest with its eggs, said to be from the\nisland of Sandholm, opposite Copenhagen, and I have no doubt that this\nbird and the double-snipe sometimes make their nests in the marshes of\nHolstein and Hanover. An excellent sportsman and good observer informs\nme, that, in the great royal decoy, or marsh-preserve, near Hanover, he\nhas had ocular proofs of double-snipes being raised from the nest there;\nbut these birds require solitude and perfect quiet, and, as their food\nis peculiar, they demand a great extent of marshy meadow. Their stomach\nis the thinnest amongst birds of the scolopax tribe, and, as I have said\nbefore, their food seems to be entirely the larv\u00e6 of the tibul\u00e6, or\n_congenerous_ flies.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nFootnote 1:\n\n  From Don Juan, Canto XII. Stanza CVI.\n\n            \u201cAnd Angling, too, that solitary vice,\n              Whatever Isaac Walton sings or says:\n            The quaint old cruel coxcomb in his gullet\n            Should have a hook and a small trout to pull it.\u201d\n\nFootnote 2:\n\n  The Friend, page 303, by S. T. Coleridge.\n\nFootnote 3:\n\n  I have known a person who fished with him at Merton, in the Wandle. I\n  hope this circumstance will be mentioned in the next edition of that\n  most exquisite and touching Life of our Hero, by the Laureate, an\n  immortal monument raised by Genius to Valour.\n\nFootnote 4:\n\n  I have known the number of spines in the pectoral fins different, in\n  different varieties of trout; I have seen them 12, 13, and 14: but the\n  anal fin always, I believe, contains 11 spines, the dorsal 12 or 13,\n  the ventral 9, and the caudal 21. The smallest brook trout, when well\n  and copiously fed, will increase in stews to four or five pounds in\n  weight, but never attains the size or characters of lake trout.\n\n  Mr. Tonkin of Polgaron put some small river trout, 2\u00bd inches in\n  length, into a newly-made pond. He took some of these out the second\n  year, and they were above 12 inches in length; the third year, he took\n  one out that was 16 inches; and the fourth year, one of 25 inches:\n  this was in 1734. (_Carew\u2019s Survey of Cornwall_, p. 87. Lord de\n  Dunstanville\u2019s edition.)\n\nFootnote 5:\n\n  From the food, and the remains of food, found in the stomach of the\n  double snipe, I think I have ascertained, that it requires a kind of\n  worm, which is not found in winter even in the temperate climes of\n  Europe; and that it feeds differently from the snipe. There are\n  certainly none found after the end of October in either Illyria or\n  Italy; and I believe the same may be said of the end of May, as to\n  their summer migration, or their breeding migration. I have opened the\n  stomachs of at least a dozen of these birds, and their contents were\n  always of the same kind, long slender white hexapode larv\u00e6, or their\n  skins, of different sizes, from that of the maggot of the horse-fly to\n  one thrice as long. I believe all these insects were the larv\u00e6 of\n  tibul\u00e6 of different species. In the stomach of the common snipe, which\n  is stronger and larger, I have generally found earth-worms, and often\n  seeds, and rice, and gravel. I conjecture, that, in the temperate\n  climates of Europe, most of the aquatic larv\u00e6 on which the solitary\n  snipe feeds are converted into flies in the late spring and autumn,\n  which probably limits the period of their migration. In 1827 the\n  solitary snipe passed through Italy and Illyria between the 15th of\n  March and the 6th of May. I heard of the first at Ravenna the 17th of\n  March, and I shot two near Laybach on the 5th of May; but though I was\n  continually searching for them for a fortnight after, I found no more.\n  This year they returned from the north early; and I saw some in the\n  marshes of Illyria on the 19th of August. In 1828 they were later in\n  their vernal passage, and likewise in their return. I found them in\n  Illyria through May, as late as the 17th, on which day I shot three,\n  and they did not re-appear till the beginning of September. I found\n  one on the 3d, and three on the 4th, and twenty were shot on the 7th.\n\n  As this bird is rarely seen in England, I shall mention its\n  peculiarities. It is more than one-third larger than the common snipe,\n  and has a breast spotted with gray feathers. Its beak is shorter than\n  that of the snipe; the old ones have feathers almost pure white in\n  their tails, and as they spread them when rising, they are easily\n  distinguished by this character from the snipe; but in the young birds\n  that I have seen in August, this character was wanting. They are\n  usually very fat, particularly the young birds; their weight varies\n  from six to nine ounces; but even the fattest ones are rarely above\n  seven ounces and a half; and though I have killed more than a hundred,\n  I can speak of half-a-dozen only that weighed above eight ounces and a\n  half. In spring they are usually found in pairs, the female being\n  rather larger, and having a paler breast: in autumn they are solitary.\n  They prefer wet meadows to bogs, or large, deep marshes. They usually\n  lie closer than snipes, and seldom fly far. Their flight is straight,\n  like that of a jack snipe, and they are easily shot.\n\n  Attention to the migrations of birds might, I have no doubt, lead to\n  important indications respecting the character and changes of the\n  weather and the seasons. The late migration of the solitary snipe this\n  year (1828) seems to have been an indication of a wet and backward\n  summer in the north of Europe. But to form opinions upon facts of this\n  kind requires much knowledge and caution. The perfection of the larv\u00e6\n  of the tibul\u00e6 on which this snipe feeds depends upon a number of\n  circumstances: the temperature of the last year; the period when the\n  eggs were laid; the heat of the water when they were deposited, and\n  the quantity of rain since. The migration of the solitary snipe is\n  only one link in a great chain of causes and effects, all connected,\n  and extending from Africa to Siberia.\n\nFootnote 6:\n\n  _Lax_ is the Teutonic word for salmon.\n\nFootnote 7:\n\n  I may mention one remarkable instance as an exception, which has\n  recently occurred to me, the 21st of May, 1828. I was fishing in the\n  Save, between Wochain and Veldes, in some deep, clear, bright, green\n  pools. I caught five or six grayling between 15 and 17 inches long,\n  that had all leeches near the tail; they were beautifully coloured,\n  and had probably got these parasitic animals after their spawning,\n  when they reposed. Of course this was the time when they were in their\n  worst season, as they were just beginning to recover from the work of\n  generation. At this time they often rose at and refused the fly, but\n  there were as yet no large flies on the water. The leech was a small\n  greenish dark worm, about an inch or an inch and a half long, like a\n  common leech in form and colour.\n\nFootnote 8:\n\n  S\u00e4lmling of the Germans.\n\nFootnote 9:\n\n  Benjamin West.\n\n\n\n\n                          Transcriber\u2019s Notes\n\n\nSome presumed printer\u2019s errors have been corrected, including\nnormalizing punctuation and capitalization. Inconsistent spelling and\nhyphenation has been left as printed unless specifically noted below. In\nthe original book, some fractions were printed in the form 1 1-2 and\nothers in the form 1\u00bd. These have all been normalized to the form 1\u00bd. An\nincorrect page number in the Table of Contents has been changed. Further\ncorrections are listed below.\n\n     p. x hy -> by\n     p. 33 he May-fly -> the May-fly\n     p. 35 this river it -> this river is\n     p. 43 knats -> gnats\n     p. 62 autumual -> autumnal\n     p. 63 antumn -> autumn\n     p. 63 tepemrature -> temperature\n     p. 65 Wandel -> Wandle\n     p. 80 as it mere -> as it were\n     p. 135 lttle -> little\n     p. 137 thar -> that\n     p. 147 Kilmornack -> Kilmarnock\n     p. 150 youself -> yourself\n     p. 161 Phyicus -> Physicus\n     p. 162 orign -> origin\n     p. 168 eggs cannot produced -> eggs cannot produce\n     p. 173 I thing -> I think\n     p. 185 porends -> portends\n     p. 187 sea-guls -> sea-gulls\n     p. 192 comfort\u2019s -> comforts\n     p. 193 seemes -> seems\n     p. 196 graying -> grayling\n     p. 197 Noric -> Nordic\n     p. 218 abtruse -> abstruse\n     p. 226 the all of water -> the fall of water\n     p. 231 accquainted -> acquainted\n     p. 231 were the eggs are hatched -> where the eggs are hatched\n     p. 232 purpose of of -> purpose of\n     p. 253 pursue their pray -> pursue their prey\n     p. 253 Kliengraben -> Kleingraben\n     p. 258 carniverous -> carnivorous\n     p. 260 Daunbe -> Danube\n     p. 262 pply -> apply\n     p. 267 immagined -> imagined\n     p. 272 flyfishing -> fly-fishing\n     p. 279 coarest -> coarsest\n     p. 286 vermillion -> vermilion\n     p. 293 morse -> moose\n     p. 303 picturesqe -> picturesque\n     p. 307 consitutional -> constitutional\n     p. 310 wood cocks -> woodcocks","title":"Salmonia; Or, Days of Fly Fishing: In a series of conversations. With some account of the habits of fishes belonging to the genus Salmo","tradition":"philosophy-ethics","translated_text":null,"word_count":64200}