THE BARBEL. 199 



indeed sometimes practised in the summer months when, by baiting 

 the ground plentifully, the barbels are induced to feed so heartily 

 as to become as lethargic as an overfed Esquimaux, and allow the 

 tormentor to be drawn stealthily towards them. To carry on this 

 kind of fishing the tackle ought to be remarkably strong, as the 

 strain upon it is infinitely greater than when a fish is only hooked 

 in the ordinary manner. And if the fish being hooked near the 

 middle, turns a broadside to the current, no ordinary tackle can 

 possibly hold him, unless you can follow the course of the stream, 

 or he will kindly make for the land. 



Walton, who quotes Rondeletius, states, that " there be such 

 store of this fish in the Danube, that they may in some places of it, 

 and in some months of the years, be taken by those who dwell 

 near to the river with their hands, eight or ten load at a time ;" 

 and Mr. Yarrell says, that so numerous are these fish about Shep- 

 perton and Walton, that 150 Ibs. weight have been taken in five 

 hours ; and on one occasion 2801bs. of large sized barbel were 

 taken in one day.* The learned zoologist does not indeed state 

 in precise terras that these fish were taken by angling, but there 

 can be little doubt he intended to convey that meaning, as he al- 

 ludes to the subject in the midst of some quotations he had taken 

 from Mr. Jesse's observations on angling for this fish ; added to 

 which, a catch like those above mentioned, if effected merely by a 

 net, would have been wholly unworthy of notice. 



The barbel is both a sly and a shy fish ; much more so in- 

 deed than a slight acquaintance of his habits would induce a 

 casual observer to imagine. It is true you may see him muzzling 

 away at the bottom heedless of your presence, when, if he makes 

 any use at all of his eyes, he must have detected it, and when a 

 trout or a salmon would most assuredly have made a bolt of it; 

 but though he sees you plain enough, he knows he may rely upon 

 the current for his safety ; whilst he has fully made up his mind 

 not to put himself in your power, or to accept the slightest gift at 

 your hands. If you wish to be convinced to the contrary, only drift 

 the very morsel he is in search of just before his nose, and see 

 how decidedly he will decline the invitation. Mr. Jesse indeed, 

 whose elaborate remarks on the habits of fishes must ever be read 

 with the greatest interest, when describing the habits of those he 



* Yarrell's British Fishes, Vol. 1, p. 322. 



