304 PKOSE HALIEUTICS. 



There can be little doubt, we think^ that had Aristotle 

 reaUy intended this species under the designation /SeXdw; 

 paif>l^, so accurate an observer would scarcely have failed 

 to notice the full large orbs, patent nostrils, and lateral 

 line of scales on each otherwise scaleless side, nor, finally, 

 by any possibility could he have omitted to record those 

 singular green bones of the spiae which are peculiar to 

 the gar-fish, and convey so unfavourable an impression 

 of the owner, when seen for the first time at table.* 



The modern Greek name is aulone, which sounds like, 

 and probably is, a corruption from the old word belone ; 

 at Naples (more corrupted still) aulone becomes angle, 

 aule ; and this, we think, gives the true derivation of 

 our cobbler's awl, a plebeian instrument indeed, but one 

 which lays claim to a truly classic origin.f The gar-fish 

 is indigestible, accordiug to Dorion, one of the worthies 



* Our own mtroduction to the belone was at the miserable 

 'locanda' at Psestum, wliere a year before tte ill-starred Mr. 

 and Mrs. Sunt breathed their last, in consequence of wounds re- 

 ceived from banditti in the neighbourhood. Fatigued and hungry 

 as our party were after a long drive through the desolate region 

 of malaria, wild buffaloes, wild birds, and yet wilder specimens of 

 the human race, which here and there scarecrow the broad, sadly 

 picturesque expanse between the last cork-trees near Salerno, and 

 the treeless vicinage of the temple of Neptune, we dared not ven- 

 ture upon these fish with green bones, — the only dish served up 

 for repast ; and being previously taught to believe that the host of 

 the squalid albergo was himself only a half reclaimed bandit, we 

 all preferred bearing hunger, and 'traversing a second time the 

 fiery plain unrefreshed, to breaking oui fast upon such suspicious 

 diet ; little imagining all the while that it was our sagacity, and 

 not the host's integrity, that was here at faidt. 



t The ^e\6vri of Aristotle, yvdcpiov of Hippocrates, and Kevrrjpwv 

 of Galen, are words of the same import, designating severally an 

 instrument by which prepared hides are pierced to introduce a 

 thread in the process of manufacturing them into shoes. Dr. 

 Johnson's derivation of awl is from the Goth, aal, Sax. sele. Germ, 

 ahl ; but whence aal ? 



