304 THE NATURAL HISTORY 



For the accuracy of this statement we can vouch, 

 and, if our own testimony as to the monster carp 

 required endorsing, we might produce that of several 

 gentlemen who were present when it was weighed. 



The length of this extraordinary specimen was thirty- 

 four inches, exclusive of the caudal fin, and many of 

 the scales on its flanks behind the pectoral fins were 

 larger than half-crown pieces; a faithful representation 

 of it in oil is still in the possession of one of those who 

 saw it taken out of the water by a noble lord, one of 

 the guests at Uppark at the time. Halting, we believe, 

 has long been celebrated for its fine carp, and doubt- 

 less a goodly number of them found their way to the 

 Refectory of the Holy Fathers of Durford Abbey in 

 the sixteenth century, when the Great Pond extended 

 over an area of probably thirty acres. It was reserved 

 for the present age, however, to make the grand dis- 

 covery that Harting was capable of producing a finer 



