248 FISHES AND FISHING. 



specimens of the finny tribe I ever tasted, these were 

 the very worst ; if herrings, sprats, and bad trout 

 had been mixed to compose them, they could not 

 have been more disgusting. 



I enquired how they were caught, and found it was 

 by a long net, to each end of which a horse with a 

 rider was attached. In some parts near the beach, 

 where the sand was low, near the shore, the tide 

 flowed in round it more rapidly than on the high 

 bank further out, and the fish came with the water 

 into that low part. When the persons accustomed to 

 the sport saw it was the proper time, the horses 

 separated, one on each side of the flowing tide, with 

 the net swiftly sweeping the water of all the fish that 

 had corne in, the horses being put to a gallop. The 

 reason was, that these sands are something like those 

 of the Goodwin, and those on the Somersetshire side 

 of the Bristol Channel, and many other places ; they 

 become a species of quicksand as soon as the tide 

 flows. 



Referring again to the river Wandle, myself and 

 several of my friends used to go, in the middle of 

 summer, in the afternoon, to this river, have the 

 evening fishing till late, go to the Duke's Head, Wal- 

 lington, where we always found, by sending a letter 

 beforehand, a comfortable supper and bed ; and could 

 leave our rod aiid line, with the fly on which we 



