216 
THE SEA-BAS9K, &C. 
to be on the alert, and jerk strongly at each bite, or your bait 
will be taken off. The fish average from one to four pounds, 
which, together with your pound sinker, makes a consider- 
able weight to take in, in from ten to fifteen fathoms water. 
The finger and hand will often become chafed and blistered, 
where much luck is experienced; to prevent which, the 
knowing ones provide themselves with a pair of old gloves. 
With this additional equipment, you can fully enjoy a hardy 
and active day’s sport, tempered with the benefits arising 
from the bracing ocean air, and the contemplation of the 
works of the Creator on the great deep, so beautifully de- 
scribed by the poet Dana, in the following beautiful lines : 
Type of the Infinite ! I look away 
Over the billows, and I cannot stay 
My thoughts upon a resting-place, or make 
A shore beyond my vision, whore they break ; 
But on my spirit stretches, till it 's pain 
To think ; then rests, and then puts forth again. 
Thou holdst me by a spell ; and on thy beach 
I feci nil soul ; and thoughts unmeasured reach 
Far back beyond all date. ****** 
