712 PISCES— TURBOT. 



immersed in the sand or mud, to render them imperceptible. Of this resem« 

 blance they are so conscious, that, whenever they find themselves in danger, 

 they sink into the mud, and continue perfectly motionless. This is a cir- 

 cumstance so well known to fishermen, that within their palings on the 

 strand, they are often under the necessity of tracing furrows with a kind of 

 iron sickle, to detect by the touch what they are not otherwise able to dis- 

 tinguish. But the turbot does not thus hide itself for security alone. It re- 

 sorts to this stratagem as an ambush for obtaining its prey, whence it pounces 

 forth on the smaller kinds of fish that incautiously approach it. 



The finest turbot in the world are found off the northern shore of Eng- 

 land, and some parts of the Dutch coast. The manner of fishing for them 

 off the Yorkshire coast is as follows : three men go out in each of the boats, 

 each man provided with three lines ; every one of which is furnished with 

 two hundred and eighty hooks, placed exactly six feet two inches asunder. 

 These are coiled on an oblong piece of wicker-work, with the hooks baited, 



and placed very regularly in the centre of the coil. When they are used, 

 the nine are generally fastened together so as to form one line with above 

 two thousand hooks, and extending near three miles in length. This is 

 always laid across the current. An anchor and buoy are fixed at the end of 

 each man's line. The boats for this purpose are each about a ton burthen, 

 somewhat more than twenty feet in length, and about five feet in width. 



The general bait used for taking turbots is fresh herring cut into proper 

 sized pieces, at which they bite most readily ; they are also partial to the 

 smaller lampreys, pieces of haddocks, sand-worms, muscles, and limpets; 

 and when none of these are to be had, the fishermen use bullock's liver. 

 They are so extremely delicate in the choice of their baits, as not to touch a 

 piece of herring or haddock that has been twelve hours out of the sea; noi 

 will they touch any bait that has been bitten by another fish. 



