j6 The BRITISH ANGLER. 



fift in an Element much colder than the Air? 



Let us recolIe(5l: what we have often difco- 

 vered, as we have been accidentally handling 

 a Fi ill, Oi" cutting one open. The firfl Thing 

 that offers itfelf to our Touch, is a certain glu- 

 tinous Matter, with which the whole Surface of 

 the Creature's Body is duly moiftened. We 

 find, moreover, a Coat, confifting of flrong 

 and beautiful Scales ; and before we conRe to 

 the Animal's Flefh, we obferve a Kind of 

 Lard, or oily Subftance, which extends from 

 Head to Tail, and furrounds the Whole. Tho* 

 we cannot eafily conceive how thefe Scales are 

 formed, or how they gradually increale and 

 are fupplied, or what is the Origin and Refer- 

 voirof this Oil ; yet thefe Scales by their So- 

 lidity, and this Oil by its Antipathy to the 

 Water, keep the Firfi warm, and give him 

 Life and Vigour. He could not pofTibly be 

 furniflied with a lighter Veflment, or one more 

 impenetrable* 



The Sea carries off from the Lands, 

 which it wafhes, a Vitriol and Bitumen, 

 that, like itfelf, being in a perpetual Mo- 

 tion, difperfe and incorporate in fuch a 

 Manner with the fmallefl Particles of the Wa- 

 ter, that no Filtrations, no Alembicks, or any 

 other Devices, how artful foever, have been 

 able to purify and free it from its brackifh 

 Tafte. It is in this naufeous and offenfive 

 Water however, that the all-wife Creator has 

 thought Rt to improve and bring to Perfec- 

 tion the Fiefh of thofe Fifh which the moft 



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