238 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i. 



dom to communicate it ; one that loves me and my 

 art ; one to whom I have been beholden for many 

 of the choicest observations that I have imparted 

 to you. This good man, that dares do any thing 

 rather than tell an untruth, did, I say, tell me he 

 lately dissected one strange fish, and he thus de- 

 scribed it to me. 



" The fish was almost a yard broad, and twice 

 " that length ; his mouth wide enough to receive 

 " or take into it the head of a man ; his stomach 

 " seven or eight inches broad. He is of a slow mo- 

 " tion, and usually lies or lurks close in the mud, 

 " and has a moveable string on his head about a 

 " span, or near unto a quarter of a yard long, by 

 " the moving of which, which is his natural bait ; 

 " when he lies close and unseen in the mud, he 

 " draws other smaller fish so close to him, that 

 " he can suck them into his mouth, and so devours 

 " and digests them." 



And, Scholar, do not wonder at this, for, besides 

 the credit of the relator, you are to note, many of 

 these, and fishes, which are of the like, and more 

 unusual shapes, are very often taken on the mouths 

 of our sea-rivers, and on the sea-shore. And this 

 will be no wonder to any that have travelled Egypt ; 

 where 'tis known the famous river Nilus does not 

 only breed fishes that yet want names, but, by the 

 overflowing of that river, and the help of the sun's 

 heat on the fat slime which that river leaves on the 

 banks, when it falls back into its natural channel, 



