CHAP, i.] THE FIBST DAT. 45 



Ven. Sir, we are all so happy as to have a fine, fresh, cool 

 morning, and I hope we shall each be the happier in the 

 other's company. And, gentlemen, that I may not lose 

 yours, I shall either abate or amend my pace to enjoy it ; 

 knowing that, as the Italians say, good company in a journey 

 makes the way to seem the shorter. 



Auc. It may do so, sir, with the help of good discourse, 

 which, methinks, we may promise from you, that both look 

 and speak so cheerfully : and for my part I promise you, as 

 an invitation to it, that I will be as free and open-hearted, 

 as discretion will allow me to be with strangers. 



Ven. And, sir, I promise the like. 



Pise. I am right glad to hear your answer ; and, in con- 

 fidence you speak the truth, I shall put on a boldness to 

 ask you, sir, whether business or pleasure caused you to be 

 so early up, and walk so fast ; for this other gentleman hath 

 declared he is going to see a hawk, that a friend mews 

 for him. 



Ven. Sir, mine is a mixture of both, a little business and 

 more pleasure ; for I intend this day to do all my business, 

 and then bestow another day or two in hunting the otter, 1 



1 Hunting the Otter. " Otter -hunting is now almost obsolete, and has 

 disappeared from the Lea, and nearly all the rivers of the Metropolitan 

 counties. The huntsmen assembled on each side of the river where an 

 otter was supposed to harbour, beating up the hollow banks, reed-beds, 

 and sedges, with hounds trained solely for that purpose ; and, if the game * 

 were at hand, its 'seal,' or the impression produced by the round ball 

 under the soles of its feet, was soon discovered in the mud. Every hunter 

 was armed with a spear, to assist the dogs, and attack the animal when it 

 came to the surface of the water to breathe or vent ; but if the otter were 

 not found by the river-side, it was traced by its seal, the fragments of its 

 prey, and the ' spraints ' or soil, to the place where it had gone to couch. 

 The otter, when wounded, bites violently, and makes towards land ; 

 although the male-otter never utters a cry the pregnant females give 

 a very shrill scream. When the otter fastens upon the dogs in the water, 

 it dives with them, carries them far below the surface, and will seldom 

 quit its hold but with life. The hunting of an otter will last three or four 

 hours, and the most successful time for the pursuit is in snow and hard 

 frost. Otter dogs are a breed between the harrier and the terrier, and are 

 of great strength and activity." MAJOR. 



Ephemera says, " This amphibious animal is destructive to small river 

 fish ; but, strange as it may appear, proves the conservator of salmon, by 

 destroying trout, its worst enemy. The otter, in open water, can seldom 

 catch the salmon, which is too fleet for him, but can run down the trout and 



