56 BRITISH SPORTING FISHES, 
account of what takes place there every three 
years: “ Allthe able-bodied men of the country- 
side are engaged for a certain day in October to 
meet at one of the ponds, that on the highest 
level being taken first. The sluices are opened 
three days previously, and the water allowed to 
gradually run off, leaving that bed of deep mud 
which seems to be one of the necessaries of carp 
existence. When there is only a thin rill of 
water left trickling down the centre of the erst- 
while pond, the fishing begins, On all sides the 
carp lie floundering, panting, gasping on the 
expanse of mud; in some places they are two 
or three deep on top of one another. Though 
the quantity of carp in these ponds is something 
extraordinary, they do not seem to suffer indi- 
vidually from their great numbers, for the fish are 
remarkably fine and heavy. The men wade 
through the mud, catching the carp by the gills, 
and flinging them on to the bank. There they 
are weighed by men who have come with carts 
from the nearest town to buy the fish, and, after 
the weighing, the carp are packed amongst straw 
in the carts as tightly as possible. When the 
‘carts are full, they return to the town, and the 
carp are then placed in tanks. A carp takes 
a good deal of killing, and though being tightly 
packed in straw for a whole day, and jolted down- 
