18 FISHING IN AMERICAN WATERS. 



Galileo, when the earth was believed to be a great flat plain, 

 the celestial expanse was divided by them into the northern 

 and southern constellations, the most important of which 

 were named after their favorite fishes. Out of the legends 

 connecting these fishes with heathen divinities there have 

 been evolved and handed down to us, revised and improved, 

 the signs of the zodiac, indicated in almanacs by the figure 

 of a man, which signs are still reverently consulted by both 

 sailor and angler ; and the latter is never confident or hope- 

 ful of great success unless the sign be above the loins. 

 Whether or no this be a superstition bequeathed by the an- 

 cients I have not bestowed much time in examining, but 

 plead guilty to the weakness of individual faith, and feel con- 

 fident of good sport only when the sign is in the head, stom- 

 ach, or bowels, but never when it is in the legs or feet. 



Man, from his inferior share of the earth's surface, to which 

 little space he appears confined without a fin to dive or a 

 wing to soar, contemplates with pleasure the scintillating 

 heavens ; while the sublime roar of the ocean, its breakers 

 beating the shores into fragments with its billowy battalions 

 in close lines, and in storms booming like thunder, penetrate 

 his soul with awe and reverence at the power manifested, to 

 which, in comparison, his own is nothing. 



But it is not my intention to estimate the power of the 

 waters, or their value for bathing or manufacturing purposes. 

 My object is to show the reader the attractions of angling, 

 and to convince him that wherever commensurate efforts 

 have been made, the waters have yielded greater profits to 

 his toil or skill than the land. I strongly advocate the main- 

 tenance of a large maritime power. As a means of wealth, 

 the experience of the British Isles isolated, and compara- 

 tively insignificant on the map of the world as they are 

 proves that nothing is too exalted to be hoped for by a lib- 

 eral maritime power. But it is the wealth of the waters in 

 the riches of their inhabitants to which I would chiefly invite 

 attention. As to the intelligence of fishes, comparatively lit- 



