1828.] 
is less sensitive than that of warm-blooded 
ones; and if not, the hook is usually fixed in 
the cartilaginous part of the mouth, where 
there are no nerves. Besides, fishes often, 
after they have been heoked—with the hook 
still sticking in their jaws—will leap at the 
natural fly, and feed as if nothing had hap- 
pened ; and, moreover, the catcher usually 
knocks his prize on the head, and thus puts 
a speedy end to any tortures it may by pos- 
sibility suffer. And as for the moral advan- 
tages of fly-fishing, it so obviously demands 
patience, forbearance, and command of tem- 
per, that not a word need be said—and no 
doubt every fisherman practises with an espe- 
cial view to the cultivation of these virtues. 
The fisherman, moreover, is favourably 
placed for acquiring “ natural’ knowledge. 
His attention is insensibly directed to the 
modes of life of fishes, insects, birds ; and, 
moreover, fly-fishing furnishes materials for 
the poet—“ green meadows—shady trees— 
songs of nightingales—full and clear rivers” 
—and similar stuff. 
The rest of the conversations are taken up 
with the details of eight days’ fishing in the 
Colne and the Wondle, for trout—in the 
lochs and rivers of Scotland, for salmon— 
in the Downton, for graylings—and finally 
in the Traun, of Upper Austria, for something 
else. The whole circle of the sciences is 
enlisted in the service—philesophy, meta- 
physics, and mathematics. Mathematics ? 
—Yes. Similar solids are to each other in 
the triplicate ratio of one of their dimen- 
sions. What then? Why, if you have 
ascertained the proportions and weight of 
one fish, you can, by merely measuring in 
one direction, calculate the weight of another 
of the same species (nature never errs, though 
man may), and thus save the trouble of car- 
rying scales with your fishing-tackle. To 
determine the weight of a fish is evidently — 
by the stress laid upon it through every 
day’s fishing—of indispensable import- 
ance. 
Then, again, Sir Humphrey’s geology and 
chemistry find a place—in discussing the 
colours of waters ; Ornither talks of migra- 
tions, and the physician of the generation 
of eels; and prodigious taste, judgment, 
and ability are shewn by the whole party 
in cookery, flavours, and digestion—the red 
mullet has the most exquisite flavour of all 
our fish—a fresh fish, if not crimped, is gene- 
rally tough—&ce. 
The real knowledge the volume contains 
—which is considerable, and entirely to be 
depended on, we have no doubt—we should 
like, for our own parts, to have had in some 
other shape. The dialogue is all an incum- 
brance, and, we should think, must prove 
so to the most passionate or dogged admirer 
of the sport. How his companions could 
tolerate the insufferable coxcombry and con- 
ceit of Master Halieus, is to us a marvel. 
He is absolutely oppressive with his supe- 
riority, and could surely excite no other 
emulation than which should kick him first 
Domestic and Foreign. 299 
—the temptation to duck him, too, must 
have been irresistible. 
We must give up our hopes of seeing a 
mermaid, we perceive—Sir Humphrey has 
clapped a logical extinguisher upon them. 
After quizzing Sir John Sinclair about his 
Caithness mermaid—which proved to be no- 
thing buta gentleman with unclipped locks, at 
some distance from the shore, seen not by 
himself, but some young ladies, who very 
naturally mistock the genus and the sex— 
“JT do not,” Halieus solemnly declares, 
“ IT do not believe God ever did make a 
mermaid.’’—And why ? 
Because wisdom and order are found in all his 
works, and the parts of the animals are always in 
harmony with each other, and always adapted to 
certain ends consistent with the analogy of na- 
ture; anda human head, human hands, and hu- 
man mamme are wholly inconsistent with a fish’s 
tail. The human head is adapted for an erect 
posture, and in such a posture an animal with a 
fish’s tail could not swim—and a creature with 
lungs must be on the surface several times ina 
day—and the sea is an inconvenient breathing 
place; and hands are instruments of manufac- 
ture—and the depths of the ocean are little fitted 
for fabricating that mirror which our old prints 
gave tothe mermaid. Suchan animal, if created, 
could not long exist; and with scarce any loco- 
motive power, would be the prey of other fishes 
formed in a manner more suited to their ele- 
ment, &c. 
This is not begging the question—nor 
exhausting the resources of nature—nor, in 
some respects, arguing in the teeth of facts— 
Is it ? 
Subterraneous Traveis of Niels Klim, 
from the Latin of Lewis Holberg ; 1828. 
—Niels Klim is a poor scholar of Norway, 
whose ardour for science prompted him to 
explore some distant cavern of unknown di- 
mensions. Scarcely had he descended ten 
or-twelve yards, when the rope by which he 
was let down snapped, and he shot down 
with the rapidity of lightning, for some 
quarter of an hour or so, as near as he could 
guess, tillhe found himself alighting in a 
new world—the reigning inhabitantsof which 
were not human beings, but trees with hu- 
man passions, but with manners and under- 
standings philosophically disciplined. In the 
scale of intellect and honours, these arbo- 
rescents ranked according to their branches 
—the more boughs the more brains; and 
the object of the author is to represent their 
customs and institutions, and contrast them 
with those of us bipeds above—very much, 
of course, to our disadvantage. Among other 
indications of superiority, one is that among 
them offices are assigned according to the 
qualities of individuals ; and Klim himself, 
after due investigation, is made running- 
footman to the government, from the extra- 
ordinary make and length of his legs—the 
extreme quickness and consequent slipperi- 
ness of his intellect disqualifying him for any 
more important appointment among people 
2Q2 
