TROLLING WITH DEAD GORGE-BAIT. 195 



comparatively recent date. The particulars are given by Mr. 

 Wright :— 



In the Reading Mercury a statement appeared that a lad 

 aged fifteen, named Longhurst, had gone into Inglemere Pond, 

 near Ascot Heath, to bathe, and that when he had walked in to the 

 depth of about 4 feet, a large fish, supposed to be a pike, suddenly 

 rose to the surface and seized his hand and wrist. Finding himself 

 resisted however, he abandoned it, but still followed, and caught 

 hold of the other hand, which he bit severely. The lad, clenching 

 the hand which had been first bitten, struck his assailant a heavy 

 blow on the head, when the fish swam away. W. Barr Brown, 

 Esq., surgeon, dressed seven wounds, two of which were very deep 

 and which bled profusely. 



I wrote to this gentleman, who very politely obtained, and 

 sent this day, September 18, 1857, the whole account, in writing, 

 from the young man's father (Mr. George Longhurst, of Sunning 

 Hill), which I give as I received -it : — 



PARTICULARS OF AN ENCOUNTER WITH A FISH IN THE 

 MONTH OF JUNE, 1856. 



One of my sons, aged fifteen, went with three other boys to 

 bathe in Inglemere Pond, near Ascot racecourse. He walked gently 

 into the water to about the depth of 4 feet, when he spread out his 

 hands to attempt to swim ; instantly a large fish came up and took 

 his hand into his mouth as far up as the wrist, but, finding he could 

 not swallow it, relinquished his hold, and the boy, turning round, 

 prepared for a hasty retreat out of the pond ; his companions who 

 saw it, also scrambled out of the pond as fast as possible. 



My son had scarcely turned himself round when the fish came 

 up behind and immediately seized his other hand crosswise, inflict- 

 ing some very deep wounds on the back of it ; the boy raised his 

 first-bitten and still bleeding arm, and. struck the monster a hard 

 blow on the head, when the fish disappeared. The other boys 

 assisted him to dress, bound up his hand with their handkerchiefs 

 and brought him home. -We took him down to Mr. Brown, surgeon, 

 who dressed seven wounds in one hand ; and so great was the pain 

 the next day, that the lad fainted twice ; the little finger was bitten 

 through the nail, and it was more than six weeks before it was well. 

 The nail came off", and the scar remains to this day. 



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