CHAPTER XXV 
THE HALIBUT 
“ Flat fish, with eyes distorted, square, ovoid, rhomboid, long, 
Some cased in mail, some slippery-backed, the feeble and the 
strong ; 
Sedaned on poles, or dragged on hooks, or poured from tubs 
like water, 
Gasp side by side, together piled, in one promiscuous slaughter.” 
— BapuHam. 
Tuat the halibut might be a game fish under 
certain conditions dawned upon me some years 
ago when hunting for the tuna off the Maine 
and New Hampshire coasts. My companion, a 
local fisherman of repute, had anchored the dory 
about six miles offshore, and standing upright, 
with a line to port and starboard, was “codding” 
after the approved method. Every few moments 
he would drop one line and haul vigorously on 
the other, and in due course of time “boat” a 
fine fish, during which operation I took the first 
line and so experienced some of the melancholy 
joys of the deep-water hand-liner. It was while 
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