PRINCIPAL FISHING STATIONS. 207 



lakes in the north of England, were formerly caught 

 here in more considerable quantities than at present. 

 These fish are called by the Welsh Torgoch, or 

 Red Belly, from the under parts near the tail being 

 of this colour. They only appear about the time of 

 the winter solstice, and continue to be caught but a 

 very little while ; seldom longer than a fortnight. 

 They rarely wander out of the pool, but traverse it 

 from shore to shore ; and were formerly so abundant, 

 that twenty or thirty dozen have been caught during 

 one night by a single net. The catching of the fish 

 was, however, so precarious, that perhaps not above 

 ten or a dozen in the whole would be taken during 

 the rest of the season. In the frosts and rigours of 

 December, they sport and play near the margin of 

 the pools, where they are taken ; but in the heats of 

 summer, confine themselves entirely to the deep 

 and central parts of the water, that abound with 

 large stones and mud. In the Llanberis lakes, before 

 the copper-mine was established, these fish were so 

 numerous, that the average number annually caught 

 was a hundred dozen.* There are also the common 

 trout. 



* This species is very properly denominated the alpine 

 char by Linnaeus, from its constant residence in the high and 

 mountainous parts of Europe. Seldom does this species ven- 

 ture into any running stream ; its principal resorts are the cold 

 lakes of the Lapland Alps, where it is fed by the innumerable 

 larvae of gnats that infest those dreary regions. When the 

 Laplanders migrate to the distant lakes during summer, they 

 find a ready and luxuriant repast in these fish, which to them 



