CHAPTER IV. 



ANGLEKS' FISHES. 



Fresh -Water Fish not of much Value The Angler and his Equipment 

 Pleasures of the Country in May Anglers' Fishes Trout, Pike, Perch, 

 and Carp Gipsy Anglers Angling Localities Gold Fish The River 

 Scenery of England The Thames Thames Anglers Sea Angling 

 Various Kinds of Sea-FishProper kinds of Bait The Tackle Neces- 

 sary The Island of Arran Corry Goatfell, etc. 



ALTHOUGH it may be deemed necessary in a work like 

 the present to devote some space to the subject, I do 

 not set much store by the common anglers' fishes, so far, 

 at least, as their food value is concerned ; for although we 

 were to cultivate them to their highest pitch, and by means of 

 artificial spawning multiply them exceedingly, they would 

 never (the salmon, of course, excepted) form an article of any 

 great commercial value in this beef-eating country. In France, 

 where the Church enjoins so many fasts and has such strict 

 sumptuary laws, the people are differently situated, and re- 

 quire, especially in the inland districts, to have recourse to the 

 meanest produce of the rivers in order to carry out the injunc- 

 tions of their priests. The fresh waters are therefore assidu- 

 ously cultivated in nearly all continental countries ; but the 

 fresh-water fishes of the British Islands have at present but a 

 very slight commercial value, as they are not captured, either 

 individually or in the aggregate, for the purposes of commerce ; 

 but to persons fond of angling they afford sport and healthful 



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