A TORPEDO A T ONE END OF THE LINE. 147 



A TORPEDO AT ONE END OF 

 THE LINE. 



To the fisherman whether belonging to the genus 

 angler proper, or to the successors of those who once let 

 down their nets into the Lake of Gennesereth there 

 can be little doubt that sport is one of the principal 

 attractions of his craft, and his sport may be pro- 

 nounced of the most harmless as well as the most 

 amusing kind ; but whether the following can be 

 termed harmless to those who were engaged in it, is 

 left to the judgment of the reader, to whom also will 

 probably be confined the amusement to be obtained 

 in the adventure itself which I have to relate. The 

 fishermen concerned in it had too little enjoyment in 

 what they met with to be desirous of experiencing a 

 repetition of it, although when all is past the story 

 may be related with some degree of glee. 



It is to be supposed that the general habits and 

 also the special faculties of the more common species 

 of the Torpedo, emphatically called in English the 

 Cramp Ray, are well known ; as they were in very 

 ancient times in the Mediterranean, where this fish 



