FISHES. 43 



the length of this line, short lines, called snoods, 

 are placed, each of which carries a baited hook. 

 The long-line is shot across the tide and allowed 

 to sink to the bottom, and hauled up to be ex- 

 amined after the lapse of a tide, or six hours. 



The second method is by hand-lines ; where the 

 fisherman carries a line in each hand, each line 

 armed with two hooks kept apart by a strong- 

 wire ; a leaden weight is employed to sink the 

 hooks, as these fishes feed near the bottom ; and 

 he continually tries with his hands whether he 

 has hooked a fish. For Cod-fish, when bait is 

 scarce, it is dispensed with by the use of an in- 

 strument, called a jigger, consisting of two large 

 hooks soldered together in the shanks by means 

 of lead, which is made to assume the size and 

 form of a small fish ; the points of the hooks 

 are turned in opposite directions. This double 

 hook is dropped without bait, and is continually 

 moved up and down by jerks. The shining lead 

 attracts many Cods, so that the jigging is almost 

 sure to hook many of the fish in succession, and 

 sometimes even two at once. Of course they are 

 often sadly lacerated, and as the hooks frequently 

 break out, the fish escapes in a wounded con- 

 dition, and this is thought to have a tendency to 

 drive the shoals from the ground. 



The capture of fishes for amusement, so much 

 practised in this country, is called Angling ; and 

 calling into action, as it does, skill and dexterity, 

 as well as knowledge derived froni experience 

 and tradition, and embracing many rules em- 

 bodied in treatises of acknowledged authority, is 

 by some elevated to the rank of a science. It 

 has been said that angling is pre-eminently an 



