HALIEUTICA, I. 24r-50 



dispense a never-failing bath ; and by the green- 

 fringed streams are low beds of grass, a soft couch 

 in sunny weather for sleep after toil, and seasonable 

 repast to eat of woodland fruits which grow abundant 

 on the hills. Pleasure more than sweat attends the 

 hunt. And those who prepare destruction for birds, 

 easy for them too and visible is their prey. For some 

 they capture unawares asleep upon their nests * ; 

 others they take with limed reeds ; others fall of 

 themselves into the fine-plaited nets, seeking for a 

 bed, and a woeful roost they find. But for the toil- 

 some fishermen their labours are uncertain,'' and 

 unstable as a dream is the hope that flatters their 

 hearts. For not upon the moveless •= land do they 

 labour, but always they have to encounter the chill 

 and ^vildly raging water, which even to behold from 

 the land brings terror and to essay it only vdih the 

 eyes. In tiny barks they wander obsequious to the 

 stormy winds, their minds ever on the stirging waves ; 

 always they scan the dark clouds and ever tremble 

 at the blackening tract of sea ; no shelter have they 

 from the raging winds nor any defence against the 

 rain nor bulwark against summer heat. Moreover, 

 they shudder at the terrors awful to behold of the 

 grim sea, even the Sea-monsters ** which encounter 

 them when they traverse the secret places of the 

 deep. No hounds guide the fishers on their seaward 



ing," Carmichael, Carmina Gadelica (Edin. 1900). p. 355. 

 *' Plough the sea ! " said Triptoieraus ; '* that's a furrow 

 requires small harrowing," Scott, The Pirate, c. 5. 



' Walton, C<mipleat Angler, c. i. Venator: The Earth is 

 a solid, settled element. 



■* (c^ros {H. i. 360 n.) denotes Whales, Dolphins, Seals, 

 Sharks, Tunnies, and the large creatures of the sea 

 generally. 



203 



