CHAPTER XXV 



THE HALIBUT 



" Flat fish, with eyes distorted, square, ovoid, rhomboid, long, 

 Some cased in mail, some slippery-backed, the feeble and the 



strong ; 

 Sedaned on poles, or dragged on hooks, or poured from tubs 



like water, 



Gasp side by side, together piled, in one promiscuous slaughter." 



BADHAM. 



THAT the halibut might be a game fish under 

 certain conditions dawned upon me some years 

 ago when hunting for the tuna off the Maine 

 and New Hampshire coasts. My companion, a 

 local fisherman of repute, had anchored the dory 

 about six miles offshore, and standing upright, 

 with a line to port and starboard, was " codding " 

 after the approved method. Every few moments 

 he would drop one line and haul vigorously on 

 the other, and in due course of time "boat" a 

 fine fish, during which operation I took the first 

 line and so experienced some of the melancholy 

 joys of the deep-water hand-liner. It was while 



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