P0RP0I8E SERVED AT ROYAL TABLES. 223 



other he suddenly pulls the rope, inflicting fresh wounds : 

 the fish once more leaps, but this time is the last, for a vigor- 

 ous blow aimed at the spine between the head and the 

 neck is fatal. 



Another plan is to use nets for entrapping the porpoise. 

 The weight of one of these fishes is about two thousand 

 five hundred pounds : the largest are sometimes four thou- 

 sand pounds, and these are about twenty-two feet long and 

 fifteen in circumference. 



We may remark here that the flesh of the common por- 

 poise was formerly much esteemed in England, and was 

 reckoned fit for the royal table. Among the singular direc- 

 tions for the management of the household of King Henry 

 VIIL, we find among the dainty dishes to be *' set before the 

 king" a porpoise, " and if too big for a horse-load, an extra 

 allowance to be given to the purveyor." In the time of 

 Queen Elizabeth it was still used by the nobles of England, 

 and was served up with bread-crumbs and vinegar. 



A curious mode of fishing the Gar-fish or Sea-Pike, in 

 the Ionian Islands, is mentioned by a tourist. A small tri- 

 angular raft is formed of three pieces of bamboo, each a foot 

 and a half long ; a little thwart is inserted, in which a small 

 mast is fixed ; it is then rigged with a sail, etc., in imitation 

 of the boats of the country. The fisherman, taking his 

 station on a projecting rock, with deep water alongside, and 

 an ofi"-shore breeze, commits his little raft to the wind, car 

 rying with it a line of about two hundred feet in length. A 

 float is fixed at about every six feet, and from each float de- 

 pends a fine hair-line with a baited hook. When the fish 

 bites it draws the bait down violently once, and then seems 

 to resign itself to death. The fisherman waits till ten or 

 twelve are hooked ; he then hauls in his raft, relieves it of 

 its freight, and again launches it for another cruise. Fifty 

 or sixty are sometimes caught in this way during half an 

 hour. 



