FISHING 61 



the much maligned shad (whose position as the 

 parent of the whitebait should surely entitle it 

 to respect) a rod is far more effectual than a 

 hand-line. With the latter it may sometimes 

 happen, when a huge marine monster seizes the 

 bait and bolts for the bed of the ocean at break- 

 neck speed, that the line rushes out so rapidly 

 through the fisherman's grasp as to cause the 

 severest cuticular abrasion. The friction created 

 is sometimes so great as to set the angler's hands 

 on fire or even to amputate a finger. 



A friend of mine was once dibbling for gunnets 

 off the Isle of Wight, when an immense conger 

 eel made off with his tackle, and before he could 

 let go of the line his fingers had been completely 

 severed at the knuckles, and fell with a series of 

 dismal splashes into the sea. Portions of the 

 missing limbs were subsequently recovered from 

 the stomachs of various fish caught in the 

 vicinity by the local fishermen, and it was a long 

 time before the inhabitants of the island, as they 

 sat round their humble boards of an evening, 

 ceased to push away their plates of kedgeree un- 

 tasted, remarking with some bitterness that my 

 poor friend seemed to have a finger in every pie. 



I need not point out the obvious dangers in- 

 curred by the deep-sea angler who fastens his 

 hand-line to a waistcoat button and then goes 

 to sleep at the bottom of the boat, relying upon 



