186 SALMONIA. [SEVENTH DAY. 



shorter road; but tell me, have you caught a large 

 fish amongst you, and preserved him for crimping ? 



POIET. We have preserved two fishes in the barrel, 

 but I fear they are much below your proposed size. 



HAL. They are good fish, and of the average size 

 of the large grayling in this stream 16 inches long, 

 and about l|lb. ; they will make a good variety 

 boiled and placed in the middle of the fried fish. 

 And how many have you caught altogether ? 



POIET. I have basketed (to coin a word) three 

 trout and six grayling. 



PHYS. And I have taken seven grayling. I 

 caught trout likewise, but, riot considering them in 

 proper season, I returned them to the river : but 

 Ornither has been the most successful ; he has killed 

 ten grayling. 



HAL. The trout is rarely good in this river at 

 least I never saw one that cut red, and yet I have 

 taken them in July, when their external appearance 

 was perfect and beautiful ; but they have, to my taste, 

 always a flabby and soft character of flesh, and at all 

 seasons here are inferior for the table to grayling ; yet 

 they often attain a considerable size. There are few 

 small fish in these streams, and I suppose the grayling, 

 which are most numerous, deprive the trout of their 

 proper share of the food, depending upon larvae 

 and flies. 



