CONGER. 77 



fishery on the English coast is off Cornwall, where 

 sometimes a boat and three men will bring ashore 

 from five hundredweight to two tons, the produce 

 of a single night's fishing, as the fish will not readily 

 bite during the day, and even on moonlight nights 

 it is more shy than when in the dark, except in 

 deep water ; the bait used in general by the Cornish 

 fishermen is the pilchard, which is devoured with 

 the utmost avidity by the conger and most other 

 fish ; 4 the mackerel is also used cut into four pieces, 

 and the cuttle-fish, or squid, is an excellent bait. 

 The conger is popularly believed to be very indiffer- 

 ent food, and therefore is bought readily by the 

 poor classes ; but I, for my part, consider it one of 

 the best fish that swims, when properly fried, 

 stewed, or made into a pie ;* a large quantity used 

 in former times to be dried in a peculiar manner 

 and exported to Spain, especially the Basque pro- 

 vinces, where the flesh when grated to powder 

 was used to thicken and flavour soup. Congers 

 spawn in December and January, and when full- 

 grown attain an immense size, sometimes more 



* Everything in Cornwall is made into a pie, hence the 

 saying that the Devil was never seen in Cornwall, as he is afraid 

 of being made into a pie and eaten. 



