The Compleat ^Angler 



gotten out of marsh-ground or meadows, which should be well 

 scoured : but this, though it be most excellent meat, yet it wants 

 scales, and is, as I told you, therefore an abomination to the Jews. 



But, scholar, there is a fish that they in Lancashire boast very much 

 of, called a char ; taken there (and I think there only), in a mere 

 called Winander Mere : a mere, says Camden, that is the largest in 

 this nation, being ten miles in length, and some say as smooth in the 

 bottom as if it were paved with polished marble. This fish never 

 exceeds fifteen or sixteen inches in length ; and 'tis spotted like a 

 trout ; and has scarce a bone but on the back. But this, though I 

 do not know whether it make the angler sport, yet I would have you 

 take notice of it, because it is a rarity, and of so high esteem with 

 persons of great note. 



Nor would I have you ignorant of a rare fish called a guiniad ; of 

 which I shall tell you what Camden and others speak. The river Dee 

 (which runs by Chester) springs in Merionethshire ; and, as it runs 

 toward Chester, it runs through Pemble-Mere, which is a large water: 

 and it is observed, that though the river Dee abounds with salmon, 

 and Pemble-Mere with the guiniad, yet there is never any salmon 

 caught in the mere, nor a guiniad in the river. And now my next 

 observation shall be of the Barbel. 



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