178 SEA-FISH. 
Peek, and this is very suitable for sea-fishing. 
Care must be taken, however, not to let it touch 
the bottom, else the catch is released, and the bait 
comes out ex bloc. 
As regards the composition of ground-baits used 
in salt water, 1 may say that it is not nearly as 
complicated as that of the wondrous compounds of 
clay, bran, bread, worms, and all the rest that are 
employed for the mustering of bream and roach. 
A couple of dozen common shore crabs, a quart of 
large mussels, and a handful or two of the “innerds,” 
obtainable at the fishmonger’s ; these pounded to- 
gether make an admirable “ guffin,” as they call it 
in Cornwall. In Australia the correct name is 
“berley” ; and indeed the colonial compound is 
particularly offensive, among its choicest ingredients 
being condemned tinned salmon, sour herrings, and 
cheese. Some of the most cunningly compounded 
of ground-baits for sea-fishing which I ever came 
across were those in use among the Livornese, 
with whom I fished for three or four months some 
years ago. The simplest of these consisted of a 
couple of fresh anchovies. The whole proceeding 
of getting it near the hooks was so inelegant that I 
hesitate to enlarge on it; but, to put the matter 
tersely, the native anglers used to chew the fish and 
zmpel it, without using their hands, with wonderful 
accuracy right against the line. There being little 
or no inshore tide in the Mediterranean, the prin- 
ciple aforementioned did not operate, yet this 
primitive ground-baiting conduced unmistakably to 
a full bag. Two other ground-baits I learnt from 
my Italian acquaintances; the one a stiff mixture of 
anchovies, sand, and shells, which was thrown out 
in pellets; the other, very useful in angling for 
