CHAPTER VI. 



OBSERVATIONS OF THE UMBER OR GRAYLING, AND 

 DIRECTIONS HOW TO FISH FOR HIM. 



[|0nrtjj ing.] 



PiSC. The Umber and Grayling are thought by some to 

 differ, as the herring and pilchard do. But though they 

 may do so in other nations, I think those in England differ 

 in nothing but their names. Aldrovandus says they be of 

 a trout kind ; and Gesner says that in his country, which 

 is in Switzerland, he is accounted the choicest of all fish. 

 And in Italy he is, in the month of May, so highly valued, 

 that he is sold at a much higher rate than any other fish. 

 The French, which call the chub un vilain, call the umber 

 of the lake Leman un umblc cJicvalicr ; and they value the 

 umber or grayling so highly that they say he feeds on gold 

 and say that many have been caught out of their famous 

 river Loire, out of whose bellies grains of gold have been 

 often taken. And some think that he feeds on water-thyme, 

 and smells of it at his first taking out of the water ; and 



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