CONSTANCE CHUB AND WELRER. 209 



it with a spoon, it was so soft. Perhaps we were 

 set against this fish from his excessive ugliness, for 

 his whole appearance was revolting, and enough to 

 spoil any one's appetite. The welrer has something 

 the look of the burbot or lota about him, but the 

 latter does not run large, and is excellent eating, 

 and though an ugly-looking fish, with rather a toad- 

 like-looking head and mouth, he is a perfect gentleman 

 in appearance to my friends of the Mindel See. 



There was a mode of fishing in the Lago Maggiore 

 for pike and large trout which I never saw anywhere 

 else, but which at times answered well. It was, 

 however, to me worse than dragging a bait spinning 

 after a boat, and I considered it a most underground 

 and stupid mode of fishing. It was called the tire- 

 landana, and consisted of a long and strong line of 

 from fifty to sixty yards, or more. To the end of 

 this line was attached a bait, which never spun much, 

 as swivels were not a product of the country. At 

 about six feet from the bait there was a long-shaped 

 light lead, at about six feet from that another, and 

 so on, at the same distance, till there were six or 

 seven, or sometimes even more, according to the 

 depth of the water, which in some parts of the lake 

 was almost without any bottom at all ; and in this 



p 



