PLATE XXIX. 
in August, and I believe it : but doubtless the lob-worm well scoured, 
and the gentle not too much scoured, and cheese ordered as I have 
directed, are baits enough, and, I think, will serve in any month , 
though I shall commend any angler that tries conclusions, and is in- 
dustrious to improve the art.” 
“ Fishing for Barbel,” says one of his annotators, on the contrary, 
“ is at best but a dull recreation. They are a sullen fish, and bite but 
slowly. The angler drops in his bait, the bullet at the bottom of the line 
fixes it to one spot of the river. Tired with waiting for a bite, he gene- 
tally lays down his rod, and exercising the patience of a setting dog 
Waits till he sees the top of the rod move ; then begins a struggle 
between him and the fish, which he calls his sport; and that being 
over, he lands his prize, fresh baits his hook, and lays in for another. 
“ The young brood of wasps, hornets, and humble bees are re- 
puted good baits for this fish.” 
A slight description of this common fish may be sufficient. It 
sometimes grows to the length of two or three feet in oui waters , 
and in the Danube, were formerly, if they are not at present, taken 
frequently of a much larger size. After a dreadful carnage between 
the Turks and Austrians, on the banks of the before-mentioned river, 
Barbels were found in it of such a vast size, and in such numbers as 
to become a matter of record ; and their propensity for human flesh 
being well known, the circumstance was attributed to the heaps ®f 
dead bodies that had been thrown into the water. The form of this 
fish is not inelegant; the colours vary at different periods of growth, 
being sometimes whitish or silvery, and olive on the back, and at 
others yellowish more or less tinged with a golden hue. I he second 
