Chapt. v. Not such a fool as he looks. 6 1 



Have they not been confirmed in the idea by seeing her 

 working out a hollow in the gravel; else why have they 

 continued to wait upon her? May be they have done 

 the same before and got a good dinner by it. If so they 

 have memory. May be the majority of them crowd after 

 her simply because they see others do so, and conclude 

 that there is probably something to be gained thereby. 

 If so it is drawing certain conclusions from certain pre- 

 mises, which is the process of reasoning. Anyhow depend 

 upon it they are no fools, and the angler who hopes to 

 be successful must commence by disabusing his mind of 

 the idea that he has a fool to deal with. Every man 

 that lives from hand to mouth has of necessity to be wide 

 awake to his immediate surroundings, ever on the alert 

 to notice facts, quick to draw conclusions, and prompt 

 to act upon them. It is the case with civilized man, it 

 is still more markedly so with the savage, while with 

 the animal kingdom it is presumedly the sole field of 

 thought. Still it is thought, and sometimes followed out 

 through a surprisingly long chain, and fish are no ex- 

 ceptions to the general rule, even though their intelli- 

 gence may not be so educated as that of the domesticated 

 animals that have been brought into closer communion 

 with the superior intellect of man; and may not be so 

 much noticed and appreciated by man, because exhibited 

 under the water, an element with which he is necessarily 

 less conversant than earth and air. 



Fish have a brain, why then should they not use it, 

 though it is not as heavy as Cuviers or Byrons? It has 



