104 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



upon a vine-stem, and generally sitting close to a 

 liot-water pipe, but he came back contentedly to his 

 little draughty fowl-house in w-inter weather, where 

 one would almost have fancied — 



" Tlie owl for all his feathers was a-cold." 



M. A. D. 



SMELTS AND SMELTING. 



THERE are few of our readers who have not 

 enjoyed that most delicate of all delicacies — 

 the Smelt. If they have not, we have no other 

 feeling for them than that of profound pity, tem- 

 pered by envy at their prospective enjoyment. 

 Not to have partaken of this fish, is to be ignorant 

 of how appreciative is the human palate. 



Were you, gentle reader, to make your appear- 

 ance in " what used to be " the ancient city of 

 Norwich — as a local magnate unwittingly termed it 

 —you would see the process of " smelting " going 

 on every night with considerable energy. Do not full 

 into the error that something metallic is here meant, 

 and that your eyes would be greeted with a " Black 

 Country " sort of appearance. We are referring 

 to fishing, not to iron or steel manufacture. At the 

 head of the river Wensum is a place called the 

 New Mills, -where the water from what is called 

 the " Back River " has to pay toll in the shape of 

 turning large water-wheels before it is allowed to 

 emerge. This part is very deep and tolerably broad. 

 The sides of the river are flanked all the way down 

 by quaint, peaked cottages or granaries, whose 

 warm, red tiles look remarkably picturesque. Here 

 and there the barges peculiar to Eastern counties 

 rivers, with their single tan-coloured sails, are 

 moored to the quay. The water boils and surges 

 into foam, and at night the effect is heightened by 

 about a dozen flat-bottomed boats, to the sides of 

 each of which a large oil-lamp is attached, whose 

 flame is sputtering and flaring, and casting its 

 yellow glare over the water, giving to the scene quite 

 a Rembrandtesque effect. You have not to wait long 

 before you see that each of the men in the boats 

 is clothed with home-made oil-skin garments, and 

 that he is armed with a fine-meshed net, to which 

 a rope is attached. This is a "cast-net," and every 

 now and then you observe him gathering up the 

 net over his left arm, and with his right, making a 

 move or two before he throws the whole away 

 from him. The result is that the net falls on 

 the surface of the water in a regular circle ; the 

 rope is attached to the centre, and around the 

 edges are a series of perforated leaden bullets, 

 which innnediately sink the net to the bottom, 

 causing it to inclose any fish that may have been 

 attracted to the spot by the glare of the light. And 

 this is the way in which the Smelts are obtained. 



The Smelt {Osmerus eperlanus) comes up the 



river Yare from Yarmouth every spring to spawn. 

 Yarrell mentions that in some parts of England 

 this fish inhabits fresh water from August to May. 

 We know not how this may be, but are certain 

 that along the Eastern coast their fluviatile migra- 

 tions end when Yarrell says they begin. On the 

 night of the 10th of March the smelters commence 

 their work. As regularly at the end of April the 

 smelt-fishing is over. It seems a pity that this 

 fish should be so largely taken when full of spawn, 

 for nobody attempts to catch it when the season 

 is over, and, early in May, you may see shoals of 

 them, thin, emaciated, and shotten, hurrying down 

 to the sea. In the numbers which arrive consider- 

 able variation occurs ; not unfrequently, three or 

 four smelters will be out the whole night, and not 

 take more than a dozen fish among them. The 

 labour of "cast-netting" is considerable, for when 

 wetted, the net weighs twenty-five pounds, and a 

 smelt-fisher's patience must rank next to that of 

 Job, or he would never make one throw after an- 

 other without taking a fish ! On other occasions he 

 may take a score or two at a single cast. As the 

 market price is about three to four shillings a dozen, 

 there is considerable of the gambling spirit imported 

 into the fishing. Who knows but the next throw 

 may be worth five shillings ? And thus the patient 

 fisherman is deluded into making a night of it, 

 always intending to go home after he " has had 

 just one more cast " ! A good deal of this uncer- 

 tainty is due to the fact that about twelve miles 

 down the river, nets are now drawn across, so 

 that only those which get through the meshes 

 find their way to Norwich. The men in the latter 

 place grumble sorely, but they are unable to help 

 themselves. 



Fig. 67. Scale of Smelt, x 16. 



Wehave known the smelts to come up in such num- 

 bers that it was easy to detect the peculiar cucumber 

 smell which distinguishes them, by walking along 

 the riverside ! This odour is supposed to have given 

 them their name. Perhaps the circumstance of this 

 fish entering fresh water elsewhere at a different 

 season of the year may be due to local causes. Dr_ 

 Parnell mentions that it ascends the Forth in 



