THE SEA FISHER IN FOREIGN PARTS 473 



very misleading, on reading the account of this exciting piece 

 of sport, I wrote to the captor, asking for precise information as 

 to the species. The anglers, it may be premised, were fishing 

 with rods from a little platform near the stern of one of her 

 Majesty's ships, and the fight became perilous as well as in- 

 spiriting when the fish darted under the keel of the ship. After 

 an hour's hard fighting, a welcome break in the monotony of 

 life on the quarter-deck, the prize was landed from a boat. 

 From the communication received I am able to state that this 

 particular Cape salmon is the Otolithus aquidens of Cuvier, and 

 it is called at the Cape 'geelbeck,' or yellow mouth. There 

 are other fish in these waters also called Cape salmon ; one of 

 them, which runs from 30 to 40 Ibs., and gives splendid sport, 

 is the ' Kabeljauw,' Sciczna hololepidota of Cuvier. The best 

 fish in Cape waters is the ' Steenbrasem,' Lithognathus capensis 

 of Cuvier, but it is somewhat lethargic when hooked. 



My correspondent, subsequent to the fight with the Cape 

 salmon, which went the round of the papers, went out fishing 

 between a late breakfast and an early lunch with a friend, and 

 the two rods accounted for five fish, of a total weight of one 

 hundredweight. The largest individual in this fine bit of salt- 

 water angling was a ' Steenbrasem ' of 48 Ibs. The other four 

 were what is called by the Cape men ' seventy-fours,' the same 

 being the Dentex rupestris of science. It is described as a 

 particularly handsome fish with large bright scales, silvery as a 

 clean run salmon, and ranging from 10 to 25 Ibs. Here, 

 as elsewhere in foreign sea fishing, not the least charm is the 

 variety of fish taken. The professor has caught as many as 

 thirteen distinct species in one morning in False Bay. 



In dealing with Simon's Bay it may be mentioned that the 

 Bank of Agulhas is the Dogger Bank of Cape of Good Hope 

 fishing men. From boats running about five knots an hour a 

 little less for choice fishing lines with copper wire traces, and 



3 ? 



