106 A DATS GROUND-FISHING. 



if you bayn't right to a boat's length, as you may say, you can't 

 expect to have fish. Pull, Jim ' (to his son) ; ' Back, if you 

 please, sir ' (to your humble servant). Squint number one at 

 the north and south marks ; squint number two at the east and 

 west marks ; and with a ' There, that'll do,' plunge goes the 

 heavy killick stone towards the lower depths, carrying rapidly 

 with it in its course the thin line used as a cable, which Rogers 

 paid out until we were in our required position, when he made 

 all fast, and we lay riding head to the sea. The Downend, 

 forming the north termination of Little Haldon, was now visible 

 in a certain gateway of the high land of Orcombe, near Exmouth, 

 and the Bicton Belvedere, between the red-roofed shed and 

 the limekiln wheel previously mentioned, forming two lines 

 of sight intersecting each other in our position, at as near an 

 approach to a right angle as could be found by selecting from 

 among the objects of the neighbouring coast those four which 

 would best supply the desideratum. 



A supply of Mussels was soon opened, and being larger than 

 were required for a single bait we cut them in half, the tongue 

 of the Mussel in one half, and the circular gristle (by the expan- 

 sion or contraction of which the shell-fish opens or shuts its 

 valve at pleasure) in the other, thus leaving in each a sufficient 

 hold for the hook. The hooks were baited and the leads 

 thrown over without loss of time, you may be sure, as the wind 

 still continued to freshen, and it seemed questionable whether 

 or not we should be able to remain long enough to make a 

 catch. The bottom was hardly sounded, however, and the lines 

 set by raising the leads about four feet above the ground, before 

 the fish struck every line, frequently a pair at once ; then a 

 pause, again a rapid run of sport, until our baskets began to 

 make a fair show, and it was evident we should obtain, for the 

 kind of fishing, a very good day's work. 



I say for the kind of fishing, for we were not so much after 

 large fish as for Pout (Morrhua luscd), here known as Blains, 

 in Cornwall as Bib, in other parts as Short or Rock- Whiting, 

 and in the Channel Islands by the appellation of ' Ponchette.' 

 We had, of course, no objection to Pollack or other large fish 

 which might give us the meeting, and which do so occasionally, 



