ON 



ANGLING, 



CHAPTER I. 

 BOTTOM-FISHING. 



THE ORIGOT OP ANOLIXO POHD-FI8HIXO PUKT-FISH11CO THR NORFOLK 

 STYLB BAJOC-FISHIHO THB GUDGBOX THB POPS THB BLBAJt THB 

 ROACH THE RUDD TUB DACB THB CHUB THB BARBEL. 



THE ART OF ANGLING is a very ancient one, and it is 

 difficult to say when it did not exist. Indeed, man 

 might even have taken a lesson from Nature herself, and 

 doubtless has done so. For the Angler or Fishing-frog 

 (Lophius piacatoriua) has for its necessities as complete 

 a rod, line, and bait appended to its nose, and uses this 

 apparatus with as much skill in decoying within reach of 

 its voracious maw the unwary fish who are deceived by the 

 shining appearance of the filament forming the bait, as the 

 deftest fly-fisher employs amongst his human imitators. 

 The fishing-parties of Antony and Cleopatra will be fresh 

 in the memory of every schoolboy, 1 while representations 



1 The story of Antony employing divers to fasten fish on to his hook is, 

 no doubt, a singular specimen of angling. But the Chinese may be said to 

 practise the plan habitually. The rocks and stones at the bottom of the sea 

 on the Chinese coast are covered with small shell-fish. Two men go out to 

 fish ; one holds a line to which is a baited hook ; the other, a diver, takes 

 the hook and a hammer and dives to the bottom, and there he begins crack- 

 ing and knocking to pieces the masses of shell-fish. The fish draw round 

 to feed. The diver selects his fish, and literally thrusts the hook into its 

 mouth, and his friend above pulls it up. 



B 



