THE LUXURY OF A LUNCH. 61 



tide is not yet full ; but perhaps we had better use the last 

 of the flood tide to help us up to the light-house on Ber- 

 gen Point Reef, for the best time there is just after the tide 

 has turned ebb, when I never failed of an hour's brisk sport. 

 Let's, therefore, up with our killick and man the sculls, which, 

 with the tide, will carry us there in twenty minutes. 



Well, brother angler, our good arms, assisted by the tide, 

 have enabled us to arrive in time for me to cast anchor on 

 this, my favorite ground. The tide is just high- water slack. 

 Our landmarks are right Let go the anchor. Be seated 

 and ready, but do not cast until the boat toles by a decided 

 ebb of the tide. In the mean time suppose we lunch ? Now, 

 as we enjoy these broiled squab, buttered biscuit, and a mod- 

 icum of claret to moisten them, we will feast our eyes upon 

 the captivating scenery. Comparatively few understand the 

 pleasures of boat fishing. It is removed from the dust and 

 hurry-scurry of terra firma. Our position enables us to sur- 

 vey several shores and the employments of busy life. What 

 can be more lovely on a mild autumn day than scenes like 

 these from a boat ? We are near enough to the metropolis 

 to hear its noises subdued into a musical monotone. That 

 mountain which you perceive at the head of Newark Bay 

 of which we are at the foot is Snake Hill, at the confluence 

 of the waters of the Passaic and the Hackensack, which emp- 

 ty at each prong of the fork formed by the head of this 

 bay. To the south a few miles you perceive a large city, 

 which is Newark. The spires of a town still farther south 

 are over Elizabethtown, while two miles south from us is 

 Elizabethport. On the Staten Island shore, at the east of us, 

 are New Brighton, Factoryville, Port Richmond, and a series 

 of buildings and gardens, as a part of the periphery of Staten 

 Island. Directly in front of us is Bergen Point, being a gar- 

 den charmingly dotted with dwellings of picturesque archi- 

 tecture. Do not these scenes present subjects for contempla- 

 tion sufficiently enchanting to pay the artist for a visit with- 

 out any sporting accessory ? Many innocent persons wonder 



