THE BEST KINDS OF FISH FOE EIVEES. 125 



The best jack I ever ate was one of four pounds from 

 the Eiver Till, in Northumberland, and it certainly 

 was an enjoyable dish ; but the Till jack have a very 

 high character, and justly. Possibly their food may 

 have something to do with it, as no fish but the 

 salmonidae, minnows, and a very few perch, inhabit 

 the Till. 



Some people even yet waste port wine over carp, 

 but sure I am that it is a mistake, at any rate, as 

 regards our ordinary English pond carp. But I must 

 own that we do not manage our ponds with the same 

 care and skill that they do in Holland. Of this, 

 however, I shall have to speak presently. In a river 

 it cannot be denied that the carp is a far better fish 

 than he is in a pond. Indeed, as regards its desira- 

 bility both as a table and a sporting fish, its capa- 

 bilities are much increased in the river. Of late 

 years many of them have been turned into, and have 

 escaped from private waters into the Thames ; and it 

 is found that the fish does well, increases rapidly, 

 bites boldly, and plays very gamely; and that, too, 

 not merely in dead dull eddies, but in the more rapid 

 streams. There are few eddies, and a strongish stream, 

 in the Richmond deeps ; yet here three or four, from 

 two to four or five pounds 7 weight, are taken almost 

 every day throughout the season ; while in the rough 



