298 ANIMAL FOOD RESOURCES OF DIFFERENT NATIONS. 



marshes, was a very paradise for the eel-fisher, notably 

 so the flat fen counties lying to the east. 



Eels appear to have been early favourites, particularly 

 in the monasteries. The cellaress of Barking Abbey, 

 Essex, in the ancient times of that foundation, was, 

 amongst other eatables, " to provide russ aulx in Lenton, 

 and to bake with elys on Shere Tuesday : " and at Shrove- 

 tide she was to have ready " twelve stubhe eles and nine 

 scha/t eles." The regulation and management for the 

 .sale of eels seems to have formed a prominent feature in 

 the old ordinances of the Fishmongers' Company. There 

 were artificial receptacles made for eels in our rivers, 

 called aiiguikmea, constructed with rows of poles, that 

 they might be more easily taken. 



" In Scotland few people can be found who will venture 

 to partake of eels. Whether the prejudice against this 

 kind of food is founded on the resemblance which the 

 eel bears to the serpent, or is a remnant of the ancient 

 Jewish prohibition of its use as an article of diet, we 

 will not venture to say. The most important eel-fisheries 

 in England are those situated in the estuary of the 

 Severn and the streams which run into that arm of the 

 sea, and here not only full-grown eels, but the fry of 

 eels, called 'elvers/ are captured in large quantities. 

 Like almost every other fish, eels are oviparous, the 

 spawning usually taking place in the brackish waters of 

 estuaries, whence the young fry, called ' elvers ' or ' eel- 

 fare ' soon migrate up-stream in countless myriads. In 

 the Severn this fact is taken advantage of by the fisher- 

 men, who reap an abundant harvest of delicious food 

 during the months of March, April, and May, when 

 other kinds of fish are scarce. The adult eels are caught 

 in their progress down the streams in the later months 

 of the year, in most parts of England ; but it is princi- 

 pally in the Bristol Channel and its tributary streams 

 that the capture of 'elvers' is practised."* 



The best kind, the silver eel, is that found in the 



* Cliambers's Journal, 



