174 OLD PLYMOUTH TRAILS 



and the cusk, both rated as inferior fish, though it 

 is hard to see why. The cusk in particular is es- 

 teemed by the fishermen for their own use above 

 any other fish that is taken from the trawls on 

 the banks. Go down into the forepeak of any 

 Gloucesterman and ask the crew, while they 

 "mug up," if they like baked cusk. You will see 

 their mouths water and their eyes shine in ap- 

 preciation of the suggestion. Yet the cusk is 

 hardly a beauty. In fact, the first man who sug- 

 gested eating him must have been hungry or else 

 adventurous beyond the common run of men. If 

 you will take a bilious looking eel and compress 

 him lengthwise till the becomes a stubby bunch, 

 put on him a pair of yellow goggle eyes that stare 

 madly as if at ghosts, and seem, withal to be 

 sadly afflicted with strabismus, you will have the 

 beginnings of a cusk. Then he must have a 

 broad fin that begins at the back of his neck, 

 promenades his spine- to and including his tail and 

 returns beneath him to the spot where some 

 people wear neckties. That is a part of the para- 

 phernalia of this denizen of the deep sea. Often 

 when brought to the surface this peculiar fish will 

 swell up with imprisoned air until he is enor- 

 mously fat and covered with blisters. 



