THE BLEAK — THE POPE — THE LOACH. 329 



most Uglily polished silver ; and as lie darts to and fro 

 a few inches below the surface of the water, and throws 

 himself on his side, as is his habit, he "gleams," 

 " glances," " glitters," and " twinkles." 



A pretty fish, six or seven inches his extreme 

 length, narrow and flat above all our fresh-water fish, but 

 symmetrical withal, he is certainly not wanting in in- 

 terest. Izaak Walton, who seems to appreciate the little 

 bleak, calls him the "fresh- water spi'at" — a capital 

 name for him, for he is very much like our pretty, 

 oleaginous, delicate-looking, and " glittering " sea-sprat, 

 which comes to London with the November fogs — and 

 further says of him that he is " ever in motion, and 

 therefore has been called by some the river swallow ; his 

 back is of a pleasant, sad, sea-water green, his belly 

 white and shining like the mountain snow." Bleak are 

 to be found in almost all rivers in this country which 

 hold the other Lencisci, roach and dace, and in nearly 

 all European rivers; while they disport themselves in 

 myriads in the Caspian Sea. Our Thames is full of 

 them. These little fish have a special interest attached 

 to them from the fact that they were once most exten- 

 sively used in the manufacture of " imitation pearls," the 

 " nacre " from their scales being made into a lustrous 

 paste called " essence of pearls," with which gypsum 

 balls in the various shapes of pearls were coated, or the 

 inside of glass beads lined. The bleak of the Seine, and 

 many other French rivers, as Dr. Badham tells us, 

 were immolated by tons for the purpose of obtaining this 

 " pearly precipitate," four ounces of which demanded a 

 pound of scales, and a pound of scales four thousand bleak, 

 a proportion which might be represented by a whole sheep 



