282 



THE ANGLER'S SOUVENIR. 



pools in Shropshire. When the big carp come to 

 the side to spawn, their bodies are half out of the 

 water, and they may be approached and shovelled 

 out with a spade. 



In the reeds adjoining the carp-pool we once 

 found a murderous instrument which was used by 

 a gang of sawyers at work in the adjacent wood for 

 destroying the basking carp. It consisted of a 

 large, flat piece of wood, in which wero set long 

 nails, like the teeth of a garden rake. This was 

 attached to a long pole, and woe betide the un- 

 fortunate carp upon whose back it descended ! 



Grouping for trout in the shallow streams is a 

 well-known amusement of country boys ; but the 

 dastardly and cruel practice of liming a brook is 

 not now so often resorted to as it used to be. Wo 

 have seen it done in a mountain brook, when, on 

 account, of our extreme youth, we were powerless 

 to prevent it ; and a schoolboy notion of honour 

 prevented our peaching. A shovelful of quick- 

 lime is taken up the brook to some shallow ford, 

 and then thrown into the water and triturated, 

 so that the stream carries it in a milk-white stream 

 downwards. In a short time the poachers follow, 

 and pick up the trout, which are floating dead on 

 the surface, or swimming in circles on the top of 

 the water, with scorched and blinded eyeballs. 

 The lime penetrates into every crevice of the 

 stream-bed ; and if it does not kill every trout 

 within its range, it cruelly tortures all. We still 



