CONGER EEL FISHING AT JERSEY. 45 



wondered at the prodigious size of these fish : 

 sixteen, twenty, thirty pounds, and even more, 

 had I seen them. To catch a good conger I 

 was determined on. I had been satiated with 

 all sorts of sport. I wanted a little quiet, and 

 so I had resolved on some sea fishing, and hence 

 my visit to " Ccesarea," as it used formerly to 

 be called, the gem of the Channel Islands. 



At the British Hotel I was at home, and 

 soon snug and comfortable ; had my bath, 

 dressed, breakfasted, and started for the club. 

 I needed no introduction. My name I knew was 

 in the visitors' book ; so walking in and asking 

 for some of my friends, I was quickly amongst 

 them. It is a pleasant thing to meet old and 

 familiar faces after years of absence. So many 

 things to hear, tell, ask, and be questioned 

 about. All this had to be gone through before 

 I could intimate to them my determination of 

 having a bout with the congers, which I had no 

 sooner done than one of them at once placed at 

 my disposal a nice half-decked boat of five tons, 

 commanded, as he told me, by one of the great- 

 est liars in the place, but a prime fisherman ; not 

 an islander, but a Kentish man. 



