SEPTEMBER 139 



for some time but little sport was experienced ; but as 

 the current eased the fish came on the feed. Pull, 

 strike, an occasional miss or a steady strain followed 

 one another in close succession, and a red-letter day 

 was expected. Every now and then the fish, on being 

 struck, made the rod-point jump as it darted hither and 

 thither, and, on pulling up, a small sea bream would 

 reward the gaze. Small rubbish was also taken, such 

 as wrasse, bullheads, and occasionally a goby. These 

 fish, though useless as food, still are of great interest to 

 all lovers of nature. The beautiful colours of the wrasse 

 beat those of the most wonderful tropical birds; the 

 formidably-armed bullhead never fails to remind us of 

 his ferocious Greenland relative, who chases and devours 

 the lordly salmon in the glory of his prime; while the 

 little goby, with his wonderful ventral fins joined 

 together into a sucker-like organ on the breast, though 

 useless itself to man, still, according to Professor 

 Mclntosh, furnishes, both in the adult and larval forms, 

 food for some of our most important marine food-fishes, 

 such as the cod. 



As the tide eased so did the wind, and about half-past 

 four a slight haze came up from the west, which in half 

 an hour had shut out the land. 



As we were without any means of signalling, and the 

 fog horns of steamers were heard in the vicinity, we 

 determined to get ashore before the wind should drop 

 altogether or change its direction. Before we got with- 

 in sight of the shore the wind had veered northerly, and 

 we were only enabled to keep our direction by the run 

 of the waves, which still continued to roll from the 

 W.S.W. As we got inshore the haze thinned and we 

 ran into the harbour, where hardly a breath of air stirred 

 the surface. Our total catch for the two and a half 

 hours' fishing was thirty-three dabs and seven sea 

 bream. 



Next morning saw us off at 9 a.m. bound for a distant 

 ground, over five miles from the harbour, known as the 

 Billy Boy. Many years ago a coaster, laden with Port- 

 land stone, was ran into and sank in this place. 



