54 POWER OF cod's jaws. 



fish actually scrambled up the sloping side of the rock 

 for a mussel ; but he never came so far but that his tail 

 was in the water. They took the mussels with a tre- 

 mendous gulp, making a gulping noise like the last sighs 

 of a pail of water as it retires down a sink-hole ; and 

 here, for the first time, I found out that a fish has po^ver, 

 by means of his gills, to create an indraught of w^ater 

 towards his stomach, so that he does not depend entirely 

 on his lips to seize his food. 



After a time the cod and I became such friends that 

 they took the mussels freely out of my hand, and then 

 I got another lesson as to the power of a fish's jaw^s. I 

 held the mussel in my fingers and let them swallow my 

 hand; their mouths were plenty big enough to take it in 

 up to the wrist. Nobody can have anj^ idea, unless they 

 have tried it, of the tremendous power of a cod's jaw^s. 



The rascals can nip uncommonly hard : their little 

 rough, file-like teeth can hurt considerably ; the bite 

 amounts to a good sharp pinch, with a decided touch of 

 saw-like motion : the pinching muscles are the part of 

 the cod's head so good to eat. I fed my friends for 

 about half-an-hour, and had my fingers nipped almost 

 to bleeding by most of them ; they were uncommonly 

 sore for a week afterwards ; and at one time I thought I 

 was going to get a poisoned hand, but luckily the 

 threatened danger passed oft'. 



I am afraid selfishness prevails among cod-fish as. 

 among men, as I am sorry to find from experience : 

 when a mussel was presented to the fish, there was a 

 rush at it ; and it was a decided case of " first come, 

 first served." 



A very curious thing occurred ; when the mussels 

 were all gone, I fed the cod with bits of paper, pieces of 

 tobacco, ofiicial red-tape, bits of my mackintosh, &c. ; 



