212 



SURMULLET. 



are caught in a trawl, from the loss of their scales and 

 bruised condition, are still more prone to decay than such as 

 are taken in the trammel; and care in this respect is the more 

 necessary, as a large portion of their rich flavour depends on 

 the particular mnnner in -which they are cooked. It is 

 necessary that the entrails (and especially the liver) should 

 remain -withiu the fish Avh(>n they are roasted or baked, and 

 they arc rolled in paper to protect the skin from being unduly 

 scorched Avith the heat, — a mode of preparation, -which, it is 

 not a little remarkable, has been jiractiscd for at least two 

 thousand years; as wc learn from vl^lian, who says that it was 

 the custom to roast them, and that skilful cooks professed to 

 hinder the belly from bursting by kissing the mouth of the 

 fish.— B. X, C. 7. 



In no article of luxury does it appear that the Homans of 

 the empire went to such extravagant, and even ridiculous ex- 

 tent as in regard to this fish; but that there is no exaggeration 

 in the statements of the poets, appears from the corroboration 

 afforded by the sober relations of the moralists and historians. 

 The utmost pains and cost were bestoAved on the formation 

 of ponds for preserving these fish, and thereby having them 

 always at hand; but unhappily success did not always attend the 

 effort, and Columella (De re llustica, B. 8, C. 17,) informs i;s 

 that when caught, — it must be supposed in what we now term 

 a ground-sean, — and turned into the pond, scarcely one in 

 several thousands survived to reward the care bestowed upon 

 them. This loss he ascribes to the nobility of the fish, which 

 spurned confinement; but we can more readily impute it to 

 the stagnant nature of the water, which admitted of little 

 change in a place Avhere there existed only a very small in- 

 fluence of the tide, and Avhich therefore experienced renewal 

 only from the uncertain influx of waves when the Avind might 

 chance to blow high and in a favourable direction. A\'e speak of 

 the Surmullet as having been the subject of so much extrav- 

 agant attention, but there is reason to believe that what we 

 shall presently find occasion to mention, applies more directly 

 to the plain Red AluUet; — the next in order in our arrange- 

 ment, and much the most abundant along the coasts of the 

 Mediterranean, rather than to the larger and more ornamented 

 lisli which chieflv abounds in Ihitain. But there was little 



