184 
THE BLACK-FISH. 
with a common drop line made of flax, and from ten to thirty 
yards in length, according to the depth of water. 
When the black fish favors you with a bite, give particu- 
lar attention and pull quickly, for he has a hard, tough mouth, 
and if your hook and tackle are strong, you need not be fear- 
ful of any damage to your tools, and with proper precaution, 
you can call him in. 
Give him no quarter, when using the hand-line, (until you 
quarter him for dinner;) keep your line tight, and draw him 
straight up until he snuff the pure air of heaven, much to his 
chagrin, and greatly to yottr satisfaction: and remember, 
should you be unwatchful, and he take you unawares and go 
to the bottom, your chance is very small; for although he 
may roam occasionally, in search of his favorite food, still ho 
loves his rocky home, and down he will go with your bottom 
tackle, unless you are on the alert. Remember, then, that 
“Eternal vigilance is the price of” — a black fish. 
How to Cook the Black-Fish — Not seemingly by a pro- 
fessor of the rod and line, yet certainly by one who well 
understands how to bring out the gastronomic properties 
of the subject under discussion, the following, from the 
pages of the Knickerbocker magazine, although containing 
much that is extraneous, will, wo think, suit the taste of our 
reader: 
“And now, fair ruler of the destinies of dinner! (for if 
thou beest a man, I have no sympathies toward thee,) smoke- 
compelling Hetty, or Mary, or whatevor else may be the 
happy appelative in which not only thou but all of us rejoice, 
thou hast lying extended before thee one of the most deli- 
cately absorbent substances in nature, imbibing flavor from 
everything which surrounds it, whether of adverse or of pro- 
pitious tendency; subject, as Warren Hastings said of the 
tenuro of the llritish possessions in India, alike ‘to the touch 
of chance, or tho breath of opinion.’ 
