108 SALMONIA. 



him in to shore. Now gaff him; strike as 

 near the tail as you can. He is Safe ; we must 

 prepare him for the pot. Give him a stunning 

 blow on the head to deprive him of sensation, 

 and then make a transverse cut just below the 

 gills, and crimp him, by cutting to the bone 

 on each side, so as almost to divide him into 

 slices : and now hold him by the tail that he 

 may bleed. There is a small spring, I see, 

 close under that bank, which I dare say has 

 the mean temperature of the atmosphere in 

 this climate, and is much under 50 place 

 him there, and let him remain for ten mi- 

 nutes ; then carry him to the pot, and before 

 you put in a slice let the water and salt boil 

 furiously, and give time to the water to re- 

 cover its heat before you throw in another ; 

 and so proceed with the whole fish : leave the 

 head out, and throw in the thickest pieces first. 



PHYS. Why did you not crimp your trout? 



HAL. We will have him fried. Our 

 poacher prevented me from attending to the 

 preparation ; but for frying he is better not 

 crimped, as he is not large enough to give 

 good transverse slices. 



