320 
THE FAMILY OF EELS. 
was seen with its throat and neck much distended; but observing 
that itself was closely watched, it endeavoured to get to a 
distance, in doing which its efforts to retain or swallow its 
prize appeared to have become relaxed, which an Eel seized 
the advantage of and escaped from its jaws with great activity. 
The bird immediately dived after it, and again brought the 
captive to the surface; but experience had taught the lesson 
that something further was needed before another attempt 
should be made to gulp down the prey. Violent and repeated 
pecks were made with the powerful bill along the length of 
the fish; and then, supposing it to be sufficiently disabled, it 
was taken up and held across the mouth as if to be swallowed. 
So much liveliness remained, however, to shew that the fish 
was not yet rendered sufficiently limp and helpless, and it was 
again treated in the same way as before, with repeated pecks, 
until it was reduced to a condition to prevent all further fear 
of any effort to escape. 
As food among ourselves Eels have been valued differently 
in different districts; for while in the west of England they 
are little esteemed, and in Scotland are altogether rejected, in 
London the sale is said to be at the value of £20,000 yearly, 
and the numbers sold in Billingsgate in the same time are 
little short of ten millions. Turner remarks in his “History 
of the Anglo-Saxons,” that in the fifth century, and we may 
add, probably long before, when the agriculture of Britain was 
the best that was known among civilized nations, a portion of 
it consisted in appropriating the marshy grounds to the breeding 
of Eels; and this practise continued at least through the middle 
ages, having probably been learnt from the Romans while 
settled in our island; for we have reason to believe that these 
people were accustomed to procure these favourite delicacies 
from their own marshes, and we do not find them mentioned 
by Columella as being kept in their magnificent fishponds. 
Venerable Bede, who lived in the north of England, in his 
“History of the Anglo-Saxon Church,” mentions only two sorts 
of fisheries for which Britain was famous, which were for 
Salmon and Eels; and the value set on these last-named fish 
at luxurious and noble tables may in some measure be judged 
from an incident related of the magnificence of the famous 
Archbishop Thomas a’Becket, who, when he travelled in France, 
