THE CARP 105 



But further exhibition on the part of the inhabitants of the 

 tarn convinced me of their real character. A few trout there 

 were, and of goodly proportions ; but the salmon-like plunges 

 which had strung my nerves so sharply were those of great 

 carp. How came they there, so far from the haunts of men ? 

 It was a puzzle, till, in the course of enquiry, I encountered 

 a tradition that they had been introduced by a certain Admiral 

 long since dead, to serve his table withal. There they had 

 lived and moved and had their being, within sound of the sea, 

 no man troubling them, and there they may remain for aught 

 I shall ever do to disturb them. 



Similarly, in Ireland, carp are found in various scattered 

 localities. Gossip Buckland tells of a nameless lake in that 

 country whereon the peasants informed him that fairies might 

 be seen dancing by the light of the moon. He had the 

 curiosity to visit it under the prescribed conditions ; he saw 

 no fairies, but beheld the calm water ringed and dimpled by 

 the antics of great carp " smacking their lips as they took in 

 gulps of air." * 



Carp dislike strong water, and although they thrive in the 

 Thames and many other rivers, it is only the sluggish parts of 

 them that they frequent, and they may be considered 

 as sharing with the tench the attribute of being a dis- 

 tinctively pond fish. In their diet they may be termed omni- 

 vorous, browsing freely upon grass and water weeds, but far 

 from disdaining worms, larvae, and small fish of other species. 

 To say that the Germans excel the English in the skilful 

 culture of fish is to pay them a very poor compliment, for it 

 is only within recent years that pisciculture has taken rank 

 among the industries of Great Britain. Even so, it is confined 

 almost exclusively to the Salmonidte ; but in Germany the 

 carp is carefully reared and fed as an article of food. Of the 

 herbivorous character of this fish full advantage is taken ; 

 the system being to run the carp ponds dry once every seven 



* Natural History of British Fishes. London, 1880, p. 41. 



