108 SALMONIA. 



him in to shore. Now gafF him; strike as 

 near the tail as you can. He is safe ; we must 

 prepare him for the pot. Give him a stunning 

 blow on the head to deprive him of sensation, 

 and then make a transverse cut just below the 

 gills, and crimp him, by cutting to the bone 

 on each side, so as almost to divide him into 

 slices : and now hold him by the tail that he 

 may bleed. There is a small spring, I see, 

 close under that bank, which I dare say has 

 the mean temperature of the atmosphere in 

 this climate, and is much under 50° — place 

 him there, and let him remain for ten mi- 

 nutes ; then carry him to the pot, and before 

 you put in a slice let the water and salt boil 

 furiously, and give time to the water to re- 

 cover its heat before you throw in another ; 

 and so proceed with the whole fish : leave the 

 head out, and throw in the thickest pieces first. 



Phys. — Why did you not crimp your trout? 



Hal. — We will have him fried. Our 

 poacher prevented me from attending to the 

 preparation ; but for frying he is better not 

 crimped, as he is not large enough to give 

 good transverse slices. 



