A TORPEDO A T ONE END OF THE LINE. 149 



The better to understand the story I have to relate, 

 it is proper to remark that in fishing with a ground- 

 scan in the sea, the operation must be conducted late 

 in the evening or at night ; as, indeed, to be eminently 

 successful, must be every kind of fishing in the ocean ; 

 and when, instead of drawing this sweep-net or sean 

 to land, it is to be received into a boat, a purse, or 

 what is technically termed a bunt, is formed in the 

 body of it, within which the captive fish become col- 

 lected, that they may be the more easily secured and 

 taken on board. On the south coast of Cornwall ten 

 men proceeded together on such an expedition, and 

 were successful in getting a good quantity of fish into 

 their net, and which, while the bunt of the net re- 

 mained in the water, they prepared to take with their 

 hands into the boat. But while thus engaged, the 

 man employed in handling the fish was heard to utter 

 what his comrade described as a most unearthly yell, 

 and then he fell backward to the bottom of the boat, so 

 that his associates supposed that he had been at the 

 least seized with sudden illness. Several minutes 

 passed before he was able to utter a word, and conse- 

 quently to relieve the anxiety of his friends, how it 

 was he had been smitten ; but one of his companions, 

 who manifested less sympathy with the terror under 

 which he laboured than the rest, ascribed it to his 

 being what he termed nervous ; but as in answer to 

 this the sufferer ascribed what he had felt to some- 



