AND ANGLING SONGS. 333 



when lowered. Scarcely had the hooks touched the bottom 

 when I felt a bite, and tugging smartly, was fast in a fish, which 

 I was in hopes might turn out to be a cod or ling. Under this 

 expectation I bent over the edge of the boat while hauling up 

 line, in order to get a view of my prize, the calm and phospho- 

 rescent state of the sea enabling me to discover objects in agita- 

 tion at a great depth. The suspicion that I had got hold of a 

 dog-fish had just come across me, when suddenly, without any 

 extra strain having been put upon it, my line became lightened 

 of its burden. The snood, in fact, immediately above the hook, 

 had been bitten through. The same thing happened three or 

 four times in succession, on the tackle being renewed. I could 

 not, of course, knowing what I had to deal with, have expected 

 otherwise ; but I was unwilling to quit the hope of falling in with 

 more valuable booty. The fishermen, however, gave me no 

 encouragement to persevere, and evidently looked upon my pro- 

 ceedings as a needless waste of tackle. I was on the point at 

 length of submitting to their views, when it occurred to me, in- 

 stead of large tinned hooks tied on horse-hair snoods, to make use 

 of a couple of the double gorge-hooks employed in catching pike, 

 several of which, fitted up with twisted brass wire, I happened to 

 have along with me. The idea was an excellent one, and being 

 acted on led to the capture, in a short space of time, of nearly a 

 score of these petty sharks. What helped to impress the cir- 

 cumstance on my memory was the attention excited by it among 

 the boat's crew, to whom the gorge-hook was a novelty, and who 

 apparently were delighted in seeing the dogs dealt with in such 

 a summary manner. The office of extracting the hooks they 

 took upon them with great gusto, and I must say that in this 

 part of the business I had little inclination to give a helping 

 hand. 



Arising from what took place, it may be asked, Might no^ 

 something be done, through change of tackle, to obviate the loss 



