208 NATURALIZATION OF FISH. 



and tide Colonel M'Dowai can command a limited 

 supply of the finest fish, and studies at his leisure 

 their instincts and habits. The fish are daily fed. 

 From the back-door, a stair, neatly cut, conducts 

 the visitor to the usual halting place ; a large flat 

 stone projects into the water, and commands a view 

 of every part of the aquatic prison. Fishes hear 

 as well as they see, and the moment the fisherman 

 crosses his threshold and descends the steps, the 

 pond is agitated by hundreds of fins, and other- 

 wise thrown into the greatest commotion ; darting 

 from this, that, and other corners, they move as it 

 were to the common centre, on the first view, to 

 be menacing an attack on the poor fisherman, in- 

 stead of the creel-full of limpets which he carries ; 

 the fish were actually so tame that they fed out of 

 their benefactor's hand. The fisherman discoursed 

 on their different tempers as a thing quite as pal- 

 pable as their different sizes. One gigantic cod, 

 the patriarch of the pond, which the fisherman 

 asserted, answered to his name Tom, most be- 

 seechingly, when he turned up his snout, and most 

 forcibly attracted my attention ; when, from old 

 age or disease, he became blind; from this cause 

 he lost all chance of scramble with the other fish 

 for food ; the fisherman was very kind to him, 

 patted his head, and fed him. The fish in this pond 

 were chiefly cod, haddocks, flounders, blochin, 

 glassin, salmon, and various other kinds. 



