CHAP. ii. THE SECOND DAY. 45 



HUNT. It is worth ten shillings to make glov^^ \ thfi 

 of aii^ttcrl^-elihej^e^ that can be 



though tj)n_against wet weather. 



^I^Fsc. I pray, honestfTTiintsman, let me ask you a pleasant 

 question : do you hunt a beast or a fish ? <TAI 



HUNT. Sir, it is not in my power to resolve you; I leave it to 

 be resolved by the college of Carthusians, who have made vows 

 never to eat flesh. But I have heard the question hath been 

 debated among- many great clerks, and they seem to differ about 

 it ; yet most agree _that her tail is fisli: and if her body be fish 

 too, then I may say that a fish will walk upon land ; for an otter 

 does so, sometimes, five or six or ten miles in a night, to catch 

 for her young ones, or to glut herself with fish. And I can tell 

 you that pigeons will fly forty miles for a breakfast; but, sir, I 

 am sure the otter devours much fish, and kills and spoils much 

 more than he eats. And I can tell you that this dog-fisher, for 

 so the Latjris^call him, can smelj^a fish in the water a hundred 

 yards from him : Gesner says much farther ; and thaUm^tones 

 are good against the, falling sickness ; and that there is an herb, 

 benione, which being hung in a linen cloth, near a fish pond, 01 

 any haunt that he uses, makes him to avoid the place; which 

 proves he smells both by water and land ; and I can tell you 

 there is brave hunting this water-dog in Cornwall, where there 

 have been so many, that our learned Camden says there is a 

 river called Ottersey, which was so named by reason of the 

 abundance of otters that bred and fed in it. 



And this much for my knowledge of the otter, which you may 

 now see above water at vent, and the dogs close with him ; I 

 now see he will not last long, follow therefore my masters, 

 follow, for Sweetlips was like toJjayAl^^aJLlhlsJa^st vent. 



VEN. Oh meT~a"Trthe horse are got over the river, what shall 

 we do now ? Shall we follow them over the water ? 



HUNT. No, sir, no, be not so eager; stay a little and follow 

 me, for both they and the dogs will be suddenly on this side 

 again I warrant you; and the otter too, it* may be: now have 

 at him with Kilbuck. for he vents again. 



VEN. Marry so he does, for look he vents in that corner. 



