CARP AND BREAM. 57 



hill for perhaps four hours, may strike him as 

 a novel experience, it does not do him the very 

 least harm ; as soon as he is released from durance 

 vile and placed in the tanks, he resumes the even 

 tenor of his way. . . . While the fishing goes on, 

 groups of women make fires on the bank, and 

 they heat cauldrons of soup mixed with strong 

 red wine, which is served out unceasingly in 

 bowls to the soaked and muddy fishermen. This 

 is a necessary precaution in a climate where 

 people are sometimes snowed up for days early in 

 November. The gipsy-fires and groups of women, 

 the men wading through the mud and water, 

 mostly dressed in frieze coats of the most brilliant 

 hues, and with high boots to protect them some- 

 what during their task ; the piles of shining, 

 glistening fish, and, in the background, the carts 

 waiting to take away the spoils, altogether make 

 a highly picturesque scene." 



The second naturalised species is the Crucian 

 or Prussian carp. This and the last are much 

 alike in haunt, habit, and food. They spawn 

 somewhat earlier ; but as they rarely bite, and 

 when they do, yield but little sport, they are 

 hardly interesting to the angler. The crucian 

 carp rarely attains to the size of its congener, 

 the common species, and one of two pounds is 

 considered a large fish. There is a well-defined 



