THE FIFTH DAY. 



CHAP. XVII. Of ROACH and DACE, and how to fish for them; 

 and of CADIS. 



VENATOR. 



OOD Master, as we go now towards London, be still so 

 courteous as to give me more instructions, for I have 

 several boxes in my memory, in which I will keep them all 

 very safe ; there shall not one of them be lost. 



Pise. Well, Scholar, that I will : and I will hide nothing from 

 you that I can remember, and can think may help you forward 

 towards a perfection in this art. And because we have so 

 much time, and I have said so little of Roach and Dace, I will 

 give you some directions concerning them. 



Some say the Roach is so called from rutilus, which, they 

 say, signifies red fins. He is a fish of no great reputation for 

 his dainty taste ; and his spawn is accounted much better than 

 any other part of him. And you may take notice, that, as the 

 Carp is accounted the water-fox for his cunning, so the Roach 

 is accounted the water -sheep for his simplicity or foolishness. It 

 is noted that the Roach and Dace recover strength, and grow 

 in season in a fortnight after spawning : the Barbel and Chub 

 in a month ; the Trout in four months ; and the Salmon in the 

 like time, if he gets into the sea, and after into fresh water. 



Roaches be accounted much better in the river than in a 

 pond, though ponds usually breed the biggest. But there is a 

 kind of bastard small Roach that breeds in ponds, with a very 

 forked tail, and of a very small size, which some say is bred by 

 the Bream and right Roach, and some ponds are stored with 

 these beyond belief; and knowing men that know their dif- 



