54 POWER OF cod's jaws. 



fisli 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 power, 

 by means of his gills, to create an indraught of water 

 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 jaws. 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 any idea, unless they 

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



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 off. 



I am afraid selfishness prevails among cod-fish as; 

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

 when a mussel was j)i"esented 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 paj^er, pieces of 

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



