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KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



and their concord is by musicians termed an 

 octave or eighth, because there are eight dis- 

 tinct tones inclusive, between the tones of the 

 two strings. If the second vibration of the 

 first string strike the ear at the same instant 

 with the third vibration of the second string, 

 the compound sound or concord is termed a 

 fifth, for a similar reason. 



When the vibrations of two or more strings 

 strike the ear at different instants, they are 

 said to jar, or produce discord. To make 

 this explanation of harmony and discord the 

 more intelligible, the following simple expe- 

 riment may be made : — 



Suspend a ball of thread, and poise it in 

 the air, giving it a push with your finger. If 

 you wish to carry on the swinging motion, 

 you must wait till the ball is on the point of 

 turning before you give it another push. If 

 you touch it in the middle of a swing, you 

 will cause it to stop. This is exactly the case 

 with the air, which is swung by a harp string, 

 or put in motion by a flute; for in this respect, 

 wind instruments are the same with the harp. 

 The first case illustrates harmony — the last 

 discord. 



HOTES OF A NATURALIST. 



THE FISHES OF CUMBERLAND. 



" I in these flow'ry meads would be ; 

 Those crystal streams should solace me ; 

 To whose harmonious, bubbling noise 

 I with my angle would rejoice." 



So sang Izaak AValton, father of fishermen ; 

 but, unfortunately for my fame, I am by no means 

 worthy to rank among his sons. The truth is, 

 that I never used, or tried to use a line but once, 

 on a fine summer's day in the Lammermuirs, and 

 caught just nothing. But to my subject. Perhaps 

 no county possesses more keen anglers than does 

 Cumberland. Go into an inn, and the discourse, 

 nine chances out of ten, turns upon fishing, and 

 the comparative merits of different flies, grubs, 

 roe, bracken clocks, and other adjuncts of the 

 piscatorial science. The opportunities afforded 

 by the lakes and becks of this county, tend in no 

 small degree to foster " that solitary vice," and 

 amply reward the sportsman. I can merely here 

 enumerate a few of the different fishes found in 

 the waters of the country. 



To begin, then, with the sea-fisheries, by which 

 not only is pleasure sought, but profit as well — 

 the Irish Sea, a little below the mouth of the 

 Solway Firth, is the scene of the fisherman's 

 labors, and rewards bis toil with all the ordinary 

 fish of such localities, such as plaice, haddock, 

 herring, &c. The latter are often very large; 

 but though fat, are decidedly inferior in flavor to 

 the produce of Loch Fyne, and bear a strong re- 

 semblance to the fish of the east coast of Scot- 

 land. Occasionally too an unwelcome visitor, in 

 the shape of a shark, finds his way into the nets, 

 and in his struggles to free himself, he emanci- 

 pates not a few of his lesser brethren. A young 

 one, measuring four and a-half feet, was lately 



exposed for sale in Keswick market, and found 

 its way to the collection of a gentleman in the 

 neighborhood. It was a specimen of the white 

 shark ; and when opened, seemed, by its empty 

 stomach, to have been about to catch when 

 caught. 



It is to the lakes or rivers, however, that the 

 angler for pleasure betakes himself, when his 

 day's toil is at an end, or perhaps before we well 

 know it is daylight. The perch, or as it is usually 

 called the bass, is one of the commonest fishes ; 

 delighting in the shallows — where it basks in the 

 sun's rays, eludes the murderous attempts of its 

 enemy the pike, feeds on worms, minnows, or 

 even its own young. The perch (Percajluviatilis) 

 is the type of the first order of fishes, being the 

 spine-finned: and is perhaps one of the prettiest 

 of the whole order. It seldom attains to a large 

 size, only now and then reaching half a pound 

 weight. Its eyes are furnished with a beautiful 

 bronze-colored iris; the body is banded with 

 black ; and the fins on its lower part and tail are 

 of a rich vermilion tint. The back, however, is 

 to my mind the most interesting, from the form of 

 the dorsal fin. This is double, and covers two- 

 thirds of the back. The first division is supported 

 by about fourteen bony spines, most of which 

 extend beyond the membrane, making it rather a 

 dangerous task to extricate them from the clasp- 

 net in which they are caught. The second, or 

 lower dorsal, is smaller, and of a more delicate 

 texture than the first, and is generally reddish. I 

 have sat many a sunny day watching the sly 

 motions of these little creatures, and felt all an 

 angler's joy, without his bane. Perch are com- 

 mon in all the lakes, and are taken with either 

 worm, minnow, or in a clasp net. They are 

 seldom eaten, being employed as bait for pike. 



The pike (Esox Indus') is very plentiful in ^ 

 most of the lakes ; I may say, with the exception 

 of Ullswater, m all of them. This is a pretty 

 fish. Its weight often reaches as high as twenty 

 pounds, or more. They have a long, drawn-out 

 appearance; and from the back fin — I dislike 

 technical terms — being placed so near the tail- 

 fin, and right above the lower belly fin, it looks, 

 when swimming, like a wooden cross tumbled 

 into the water. Pike are sometimes caught by 

 the rod ; the more usual method, however, is by 

 means of floats or trimmers. A cylinder of wood, 

 about three inches long, is tied to the end of a 

 line; and the hook is baited with a living perch, 

 which swims about until seized, and hook and 

 perch are both swallowed. The hook is in- 

 serted in the flesh, between the divisions of the 

 dorsal or back fin. A party of three or four get 

 on the lake about three o'clock in the morning, 

 and set their floats. They then keep cruising 

 about till afternoon, taking up the fish as they 

 get struck. The quantity of floats employed by 

 such a boat's crew is usually about forty : and 

 sometimes as many as twenty pike are thus pro- 

 cured, varying from two pounds weight upwards. 

 Should any floats be left on the water, the party 

 who finds them returns them to the owner (his 

 name is always branded on it), but retains the 

 fish for himself. Eels are not unfrequently thus 

 taken, but are less prized. 



Rod-fishing is the most legitimate sport; but 

 the aim is always some of the salmon tribe. 



