220 GENERAL ANECDOTES CONNECTED 



Boots and Shoes made to resist Water. Smear 

 them over with wax and caoutchouk, even quan- 

 tities melted together ; a single dressing answers. 



Charming Fish. The Indians at Hudson's Bay, 

 when they bait their hooks in angling, first sew a 

 composition of four, five, or six articles, round it, 

 by way of charm. The materials were really not 

 worth notice. Animal substances serve as baits 

 as well as charms. Every master of a family has 

 a bundle of such trash, which they always carry 

 about with them, summer and winter; and with- 

 out these articles few could be induced to put a 

 hook into the water, being fully persuaded they 

 may as well sit in their tent as angle without as- 

 sistance. This superstitious method of alluring is 

 not confined to the hook only, but to a new net. 



Daniel. 



Cats catching Fish. Many a time have I wit- 

 nessed puss (and a very pretty tortoise-shell puss 

 she was, and a great favourite with all) watching 

 at the brink of the pond for its finny inmates, 

 and darting on her prey in spite of the wetting 

 she encountered, and regaling on the delicious 

 fare. This sport she continued until her death. 

 So amused were we with her angling powers, that 

 we threw no obstacle in her way. 



Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. iv. 



