DRUM FISHING. 



you give him slack line, he darts toward you, and 

 shakes the hook out of his mouth. " A just me- 

 dium," as Sterne says, " prevents all conclusions." 

 In medio, tutissmus ibis. You must give him play, 

 keeping your line tight, yet not overstrained ; pre- 

 serving an equable pressure ; managing your line 

 with one hand, and keeping the other in reserve, 

 either to draw in rapidly when the run is toward 

 you, or to regulate the velocity when the run is 

 against you, and severe. By degrees, the efforts of 

 the fish relax, and he is drawn to the surface. At 

 the sight of the sun, he makes a final effort to es- 

 cape, and plunges till he has reached the bottom. 

 The fatal hook still adheres to his jaws, and when he 

 reappears exhausted, on the surface of the water, 

 it is only to turn on his back, and resign himself to 

 his fate. A barbed iron, fastened to a wooden staff, 

 is then struck into him, and you lift your prize into 

 the boat. Generally speaking, you are occupied 

 five minutes in taking a fish ; but if the tide be 

 strong, and the fish large, your sport may last fif- 

 teen. 



There is great uncertainty attending this sport ; 

 the patience of the fisherman may be severely 

 tested; sometimes you have the mortification to 

 hoar them drumming beneath your boat, while they 

 stubbornly refuse to be taken rejecting untasted 



