THE SALMON. 199 



scoured, that is to say, kept seven or eight days in moss 

 before you fish with them ; and if you double your time of 

 eight into sixteen, twenty, or more days, it is still the 

 better; for the worms will still be clearer, tougher, and 

 more lively, and continue so longer upon your hook ; and 

 they may be kept longer by keeping them cool and in fresh 

 moss, and some advise to put camphor into it. 



Note also, that many used to fish for a salmon with a 

 ring of wire on the top of their rod, through which the line 

 may run to as great a length as is needful when he is hooked. 

 And to that end, some use a wheel about the middle of 

 their rod, or near their hand, which is to be observed better 

 by seeing one of them than by a large demonstration of 

 words. 



And now I shall tell you that which may be called a 

 secret : I have been a-fishing with old Oliver Henley, now 

 with God, a noted fisher both for trout and salmon, and 

 have observed that he would usually take three or four 

 worms out of his bag, and put them into a little box in his 

 pocket, where he would usually let them continue half an 

 hour or more, before he would bait his hook with them I 

 have asked him his reason, and he has replied : " He did 

 but pick the best out to be in readiness against he baited 

 his hook the next time ; " but he has been observed, both 

 by others and myself, to catch more fish than I or any 

 other body that has ever gone a-fishing with him could do, 

 and especially salmons ; and I have been told lately by one 

 of his most intimate and secret friends, that the box in 

 which he put those worms was anointed with a drop, or 

 two or three, of the oil of ivy-berries, made by expression 

 or infusion ; and told, that by the worms remaining in that 



