deny the existence of large marine animals having analogies to the
serpent; the conger we know is such an animal: I have seen one nearly
ten feet long, and there may be longer ones, but such animals do not
come to the surface. The only sea snake, that has been examined by
naturalists, turned out to be a putrid species of shark—the _squalus
maximus_. Yet all the newspapers gave accounts of this as a real animal,
and endowed it with feet, which do not belong to serpents. And the sea
snakes, seen by American and Norwegian captains, have, I think,
generally been a company of porpoises, the rising and sinking of which
in lines would give somewhat the appearance of the coils of a snake. The
kraken, or island fish, is still more imaginary. I have myself seen
immense numbers of enormous _urticæ marinæ_, or blubbers, in the north
seas, and in some of the Norwegian _fiords_, or inland bays, and often
these beautiful creatures give colour to the water; but it is
exceedingly improbable, that an animal of this genus should ever be of
the size, even of the whale; its soft materials are little fitted for
locomotion, and would be easily destroyed by every kind of fish. Hands
and a finny tail are entirely contrary to the analogy of nature, and I
disbelieve the mermaid upon philosophical principles. The dugong and
manatee are the only animals combining the functions of the mammalia
with some of the characters of fishes, that can be imagined, even as a
link, this part of the order of nature. Many of these stories have been
founded upon the long-haired seal seen at a distance, others on the
appearance of the common seal under particular circumstances of light
and shade, and some on still more singular circumstances. A worthy
baronet, remarkable for his benevolent views and active spirit, has
propagated a story of this kind, and he seems to claim for his native
country the honour of possessing this extraordinary animal; but the
mermaid of Caithness was certainly a _gentleman_, who happened to be
travelling on that wild shore, and who was seen bathing by some young
ladies at so great a distance, that not only _genus_ but gender was
mistaken. I am acquainted with him, and have had the story from his own
mouth. He is a young man, fond of geological pursuits, and one day in
the middle of August, having fatigued and heated himself by climbing a
rock to examine a particular appearance of a granite, he gave his
clothes to his Highland guide, who was taking care of his pony, and
descended to the sea. The sun was just setting, and he amused himself
for some time by swimming from rock to rock, and having unclipped hair
and no cap, he sometimes threw aside his locks, and wrung the water from
them on the rocks. He happened the year after to be at Harrowgate, and
was sitting at table with two young ladies from Caithness, who were
relating to a wondering audience the story of the mermaid they had seen,
which had already been published in the newspapers: they described her,
as she usually is described by poets, as a beautiful animal, with
remarkably fair skin, and long green hair. The young gentleman took the
liberty, as most of the rest of the company did, to put a few questions
to the elder of the two ladies—such as, on what day and precisely where
this singular phenomenon had appeared. She had noted down, not merely
the day, but the hour and minute, and produced a map of the place. Our
bather referred to his journal, and showed, that a human animal was
swimming in the very spot at that very time, who had some of the
characters ascribed to the mermaid, but who laid no claim to others,
particularly the green hair and fish’s tail; but being rather sallow in
the face, was glad to have such testimony to the colour of his body
beneath his garments.
POIET.—But I do not understand upon what philosophical principles you
deny the existence of the mermaid. We are not necessarily acquainted
with all the animals that inhabit the bottom of the sea; and I cannot
help thinking there must have been some foundation for the fable of the
Tritons and Nereids.
HAL.—Ay; and of the ocean divinities, Neptune and Amphitrite!
POIET.—Now I think you are prejudiced.
HAL.—I remember the worthy baronet, whom I just now mentioned, on some
one praising the late Sir Joseph Banks very highly, said, “Sir Joseph
was an excellent man—but he had his prejudices.” What were they? said my
friend. “Why, he did not believe in the mermaid.” Pray still consider me
as the baronet did Sir Joseph—prejudiced on this subject.
ORN.—But give us some reasons for the impossibility of the existence of
this animal.
HAL.—Nay, I did not say impossibility; I am too much of the school of
Isaac Walton to talk of impossibility. It doubtless might please God to
make a mermaid; but I do not believe God ever did make one.
ORN.—And why?
HAL.—Because wisdom and order are found in all his works, and the parts
of animals are always in harmony with each other, and always adapted to
certain ends consistent with the analogy of nature; and a human head,
human hands, and human mammæ, are wholly inconsistent with a fish’s
tail. The human head is adapted for an erect posture, and in such a
posture an animal with a fish’s tail could not swim; and a creature with
lungs must be on the surface several times in a day—and the sea is an
inconvenient breathing place; and hands are instruments of
manufacture—and the depths of the ocean are little fitted for
fabricating that mirror which our old prints gave to the mermaid. Such
an animal, if created, could not long exist; and, with scarcely any
locomotive powers, would be the prey of other fishes, formed in a manner
more suited to their element. I have seen a most absurd fabrication of a
mermaid, exposed as a show in London, said to have been found in the
Chinese seas, and bought for a large sum of money. The head and bust of
two different apes were fastened to the lower part of a kipper salmon,
which had the fleshy fin, and all the distinct characters, of the _salmo
salar_.
ORN.—And yet there were people who believed this to be a real animal.
HAL.—It was insisted on, to prove the truth of the Caithness story. But
what is there which people will not believe?
POIET.—In listening to your conversation we have forgotten our angling,
and have lost some moments of fine cloudy weather.
HAL.—I thought you were tired of catching trouts and graylings, and I
therefore did not urge you to continue your fly-fishing; and this part
of the river does not contain so many grayling as the pools above—but
there are good trout, and it is possible there may be huchos. Let me
recommend to you to put on minnow tackle—that tackle with the five small
hooks; and, as we have minnows and bleaks, you may perhaps hook trout,
or even huchos; and in half an hour our fish dinner at the inn will be
ready. I shall return there, to see that all is right, and shall expect
you when you have finished your fishing.
[_They all meet in the dining-room of the inn._]
HAL.—Well, what sort of sport have you had since I left you?
POIET.—We have each caught a trout and two large chubs, and have had two
or three runs besides—but we saw no huchos; and though several large
grayling rose in one of the streams, and we tried to catch them by
spinning the minnow in every possible way, yet they took no notice of
our bait.
HAL.—This is usually the case. I have heard of anglers who have taken
grayling with minnows, but it is a rare occurrence, and never happened
to me. Your dinner, I dare say, is now ready; and you know it is a
dinner entirely of the _genus salmo_, with vegetables and fruit. You
have hucho from the Traun, and char from Aussee, and trout from the
Traun See, that were brought alive to the inn, and have only just been
killed and crimped, and are now boiling in salt and water; and you have
likewise grayling and laverets from the Traun See, which are equally
fresh, and will be fried.
PHYS.—I think, in this part of the continent, the art of carrying and
keeping fish is better understood than in England. Every inn has a box
containing grayling, trout, carp, or char, into which water from a
spring runs; and no one thinks of carrying or sending _dead_ fish for a
dinner. A fish barrel full of cool water, which is replenished at every
fresh source amongst these mountains, is carried on the shoulders of the
fisherman. And the fish, when confined in wells, are fed with bullock’s
liver, cut into fine pieces, so that they are often in better season in
the tank or stew than when they were taken. I have seen trout, grayling,
and char even, feed voraciously, and take their food almost from the
hand. These methods of carrying and preserving fish have, I believe,
been adopted from the monastic establishments. At Admondt, in Styria,
attached to the magnificent monastery of that name, are abundant ponds
and reservoirs for every species of fresh water fish; and the char,
grayling, and trout are preserved in different waters—covered, enclosed,
and under lock and key.
POIET.—I admire in this country not only the mode of preserving,
carrying, and dressing fish, but I am delighted, generally, with the
habits of life of the peasants, and with their manners. It is a country
in which I should like to live; the scenery is so beautiful, the people
so amiable and good-natured, and their attentions to strangers so marked
by courtesy and disinterestedness.
PHYS.—They appear to me very amiable and good; but all classes seem to
be little instructed.
POIET.—There are few philosophers amongst them, certainly; but they
appear very happy, and
Where ignorance is bliss, ’tis folly to be wise.
We have neither seen nor heard of any instances of crime since we have
been here. They fear their God, love their sovereign, are obedient to
the laws, and seem perfectly contented. I know you would contrast them
with the active and educated peasantry of the manufacturing districts of
England; but I believe they are much happier, and I am sure they are
generally better.
PHYS.—I doubt this: the sphere of enjoyment, as well as of benevolence,
is enlarged by education.
POIET.—I am sorry to say I think the system carried too far in England.
God forbid, that any useful light should be extinguished! Let persons
who wish for education receive it; but it appears to me, that, in the
great cities in England, it is, as it were, forced upon the population;
and that sciences, which the lower classes can only very superficially
acquire, are presented to them; in consequence of which they often
become idle and conceited, and above their usual laborious occupations.
The unripe fruit of the tree of knowledge is, I believe, always bitter
or sour; and scepticism and discontent—sicknesses of the mind—are often
the results of devouring it.
HAL.—Surely you cannot have a more religious, more moral, or more
improved population than that of Scotland?
POIET.—Precisely so. In Scotland, education is not forced upon the
people—it is sought for, and is connected with their forms of faith,
acquired in the bosoms of their families, and generally pursued with a
distinct object of prudence or interest: nor is that kind of education
wanting in this country.
PHYS.—Where a book is rarely seen, a newspaper never.
POIET.—Pardon me—there is not a cottage without a prayer book; and I am
not sorry, that these innocent and happy men are not made active and
tumultuous subjects of _King Press_, whom I consider as the most
capricious, depraved, and unprincipled tyrant, that ever existed in
England. Depraved—for it is to be bought by great wealth;
capricious—because it sometimes follows, and sometimes forms, the voice
of the lowest mob; and unprincipled—because, when its interests are
concerned, it sets at defiance private feeling and private character,
and neither regards their virtue, dignity, nor purity.
HAL.—My friends, you are growing warm. I know you differ essentially on
this subject; but surely you will allow that the full liberty of the
press, even though it sometimes degenerates into licentiousness, and
though it may sometimes be improperly used by the influence of wealth,
power, or private favour, is yet highly advantageous, and even essential
to the existence of a free country; and, useful as it may be to the
population, it is still more useful to the government, to whom, as
expressing the voice of the people, though not always _vox Dei_, it may
be regarded as oracular or prophetic.—But let us change our
conversation, which is neither in time nor place.
POIET.—This river must be inexhaustible for sport: I have nowhere seen
so many fish.
HAL.—However full a river may be of trout and grayling, there is a
certain limit to the sport of the angler, if continuous fishing be
adopted in the same pools. Every fish is in its turn made acquainted by
diurnal habit with the artificial fly, and either taken or rendered
cautious; so that, in a river fished much by one or two good anglers,
many fish cannot be caught, except under peculiar circumstances of very
windy, rainy, or cloudy weather, when many flies come on; or at night,
or at the time the water is slightly coloured by a flood, or when fish
change their haunts in consequence of a great inundation. In the Usk, in
Monmouthshire, when it was very full of fish in the best fishing time,
when the spring brown and dun flies were on the water, it was not usual
for some excellent anglers, who composed a party of nine, and who fished
in this river for ten continuous days, to catch more than two or three
fish each person. But one day, when the water was coloured by a flood,
in which case the artificial fly could not be distinguished by the fish
from the natural fly, I caught twelve or fourteen of the same fish, that
had been in the habit of refusing my flies for many days successively.
This was in the end of March, 1809, when the flies always came on the
water with great regularity; the blues in dark days, the browns in
bright days, between twelve and two o’clock in the middle of the day. In
rivers where the artificial fly has never been used, I believe all the
fish will mistake good imitations for natural flies, and in their turn,
to use an angler’s phrase, “taste the steel;” but even very imperfect
imitations and coarse tackle, which are only successful at night or in
turbid water, are sufficient to render fish cautious. This I am
convinced of, by observing the difference of the habits of fish in
strictly preserved streams, and in streams where even peasants have
fished with the coarsest tackle. I might quote the Traun at Ischl, where
the native fisherman used three or four of the coarsest flies on the
coarsest hair links made of four or five or six hairs, and the Traun at
Gmunden, where they are not allowed to fish. The fish that rose took
with much more certainty at Gmunden than at Ischl.
At a time when many flies are on, particularly large ones, a few days of
continuous fishing, even with a single rod, will soon make the sport
indifferent in the best rivers; but the larger and the deeper the river
the longer it continues, because fish change their stations
occasionally, and pricked fish sometimes leave their haunts, which are
occupied by others; and graylings are more disposed to change their
places than trouts.
As instances of the difference in this respect between large and small
rivers, I may quote the Vockla and the Agger in Upper Austria. The first
of these rivers, when I fished in it in 1818, was full of trout and
grayling, and I believe I was the first person, for at least many years,
that had ever thrown an artificial fly upon it. It is a small stream,
from eight to fifteen yards wide, and can every where be commanded by
the double-handed rod, and is generally shallow. The first day that I
fished in this stream, which was in the beginning of August, at every
throw I hooked a fish, and I took out and restored again to their
element in the course of a few hours more than one hundred and fifty
trout and grayling. The next day I fished in the same places, but with a
very different result: I caught only half a dozen large fish: the third
morning, going over the same ground, I had great difficulty even to get
a brace of fish for my dinner, and those, as well as I recollect, I
caught by throwing in places which had not been fished before. I ought
to mention, that the space of water where this experiment was made did
not exceed half a mile in length. I shall now speak of the Agger, which
is a much larger and deeper river than the Vockla, and cannot be
commanded in any part by a double-handed rod, being at least from forty
to sixty yards across. The first time I fished this river, I had the
same kind of sport as in the Vockla; the second day, under the same
favourable circumstances, there were fewer rises than on the first day,
but still sufficient to give good sport; and it was the fourth day
before it became difficult to catch a good dish of fish, and necessary
to seek new water. The greater depth of the water, and the change of
place of the fish, particularly the grayling, explain this, to say
nothing of the greater number of fish which the larger river contained.
I am, of course, speaking of one of the best periods of fly-fishing,
when many large flies, of which imitations are easily found, have been
on the water. In spring (a bad season for fly-fishing in high Alpine
countries) I have thrown great varieties of flies on these two highly
stocked streams, and have found it difficult to get a brace of fish for
the table, as the trout and grayling were all lying at the bottom, not
expecting any _winged food_ at this season.
A river that runs into a large lake affords, at its junction with the
lake, by far the best place for continuous angling, particularly for
trout in autumn. The fish are constantly running up the river for the
purpose of spawning, and every day offers a succession of new shoals, of
which many will take the fly; I say _many_, because at this season some
of the fish, particularly the females, are capricious, and refuse a
bait, of which, under other circumstances they are greedy. I may say the
same with respect to the exit of a river from a lake, to which
successions of fishes resort, and though trout are found abundantly in
such places, yet they are often still better places for grayling when
these fish exist in the lake, the tendency of grayling being rather, as
I said on another occasion, to descend than to ascend waters, whilst
that of the trout is the contrary. The same principles apply to salmon
and sea-trout fishing, which run up rivers from basins of the sea: the
best situations for continuous angling are those parts of the river
where there is a succession of fishes from the tide.
POIET.—You spoke just now of peasants fishing with the fly in Austria: I
thought this art was entirely English; and though I have travelled much,
I do not recollect ever to have seen fly-fishing practised by native
anglers abroad.
HAL.—I assure you there are fishers with the artificial fly in different
parts of Switzerland, Germany, and Illyria, though always with rude
tackle, and usually upon rapid streams. Besides the Traun I can mention
the Rhine, the Rhone, and the Drave, as rivers where I have seen fish
caught with rude imitations of flies used by native anglers. In Italy,
where trout and grayling are very rare, and only found amongst the
highest mountain chains, I have never seen any fly-fishers, but near
Ravenna I have sometimes seen anglers for frogs, who threw their bait
exactly as we throw a fly, and caught great numbers of these animals:
and the nature of their apparatus surprised me more than their method of
using it. Instead of a hook and bait they employed a small dry frog,
tied to a long piece of twine, the fore legs of which projected like two
hooks, and this they threw at a distance, by means of a long rod. The
frogs rose like fish and gorged the small dry frog, by the legs of which
they were pulled out of the water. I was informed by one of these
fishermen, that he sometimes took 200 frogs in this way in a morning,
and that the frogs never swallowed any bait when still or apparently
dead, but caught at whatever was moving or appeared alive on the surface
of the water; so that this amphibia feeds like a nobler animal, the
eagle, only on living prey.
POIET.—You say trout are rare in Italy, yet on Ash-wednesday, a great
day for the consumption of fish in Rome, I remember to have seen some
large trout, which, I was told, were from the Velino, above the falls of
Terni.
HAL.—I once went almost to the source of this river, above Rieti, in the
hopes of catching trout, but I was unsuccessful. I saw some taken by
nets, but the fish were too few, and the river too foul, from the
deposition of calcareous matter, to render it a good stream for the
angler. In this journey I saw some trout in brooks in the Sabine
country, that I dare say might have been taken by the fly, but they were
small, and like the brook trout of England. In these streams, as well as
in the Velino and other torrents, I found the water-ouzel, which, as far
as my knowledge extends, is always a companion of the trout, and I
believe feeds much upon the same larvæ or water-flies.
ORN.—These singular little birds, as I have witnessed, walk under water.
I have often watched them running beneath the surface of the sides of
streams, and passing between stones. I conclude they were then in the
act of searching for, or feeding upon larvæ.
HAL.—I suppose so, and I hope Ornither will shoot one to give us an
opportunity of examining the contents of their stomachs, and of knowing
with certainty the nature of their food.
PHYS.—The char[8] is a most beautiful and excellent fish, and is, of
course, a fish of prey. Is he not an object of sport to the angler?
HAL.—They generally haunt deep cool lakes, and are seldom found at the
surface till late in the autumn. When they are at the surface, however,
they will take either fly or minnow. I have known some caught in both
these ways; and have myself taken a char, even in summer, in one of
those beautiful, small, deep lakes in the Upper Tyrol, near Nazereit;
but it was where a cool stream entered from the mountain; and the fish
did not rise, but swallowed the artificial fly under water. The char is
always in its colour a very brilliant fish, but in different countries
there are many varieties in the tint. I do not remember ever to have
seen more beautiful fish than those of Aussee, which, when in perfect
season, have the lower fins and the belly of the brightest vermilion,
with a white line on the outside of the pectoral, ventral, anal, and
lower part of the caudal fin, and with vermilion spots, surrounded by
the bright olive shade of the sides and back: the dorsal fin in the char
has 11 spines, the pectoral 14, the ventral 9, the anal 10, and the
caudal 20. I have fished for them in many lakes, without success, both
in England and Scotland, and also amongst the Alps; and I am told the
only sure way of taking them is by sinking a line with a bullet, and a
hook having a live minnow attached to it, in the deep water which they
usually haunt; and in this way, likewise, I have no doubt the _umbla_,
or _ombre chevalier_, might be taken.
POIET.—I have never happened to see this fish.
HAL.—It is very like char in form, but is without spots, and has a white
and silvery belly. On the table, its flesh cuts white or cream-colour,
and it is exceedingly like char in flavour. Feb. 11, 1827, one was
brought me from the lake of Bourget, in Savoy; it was said to be small
for this fish; it was 15 inches long, and 7½ in circumference. In the
dorsal fin there were 12 spines, in the pectoral 9, in the ventral 8, in
the anal 11, and in the caudal 24.
POIET.—Is it found in this country?
HAL.—From some descriptions I have heard of certain species of the salmo
found in the Maun See, Traun See, and Leopoldstadt See, I think it is.
Bloch says, that it is peculiar to the lakes of Geneva and Neufchatel;
but what I have just said must convince you of the inaccuracy of this
statement, as I dare say the fish exists in other deep waters of a like
character amongst the Alps. It is a fish closely allied to the char, and
congenerous both in form and habits.
PHYS.—You mentioned, among the fish for dinner, the laveret: I never
heard of this fish before.
HAL.—It is a fish known in England by the name of _shelley_, or fresh
water herring; in Wales, by that of _guinead_; in Ireland, by that of
_pollan_; and in Scotland, by that of _vengis_. In colour it is most
like a grayling, but with broader and larger scales: it is common in the
large lakes of most Alpine countries, and is known at Geneva by the name
of _ferra_; and I believe that the _salmo ceruleus_, or _wartmann_ of
Bloch, or the _gang-fisch_ of the lake of Constante, from a comparison
that I made of it with the _ferra_, is a variety of the same fish. It
sometimes is as large as 2lbs.; and when quite fresh, and well fried or
boiled, is an exceedingly good fish, and calvers like a grayling. The
laveret of different lakes has appeared to me to vary in the number of
the spines in the fins. One, brought me from the lake of Zurich, 13
inches long, and 8 inches in girth, had 12 spines in the dorsal fin, 15
in the pectoral fins, 11 in the ventral, 13 in the anal, and 18 in the
caudal. The gang-fisch, from the lake of Constanz, which was of a bluer
colour, but, I think decidedly, only a variety of the same fish, was 7¾
inches long, and 4 in girth, had 12 spines in the dorsal fin, 15 in the
pectoral, 11 in the ventral, 12 in the anal, and 18 in the caudal. A
laveret, from the Traun See, had 12 spines in the dorsal fin, 17 in the
pectoral, 13 in the ventral fin, 12 in the anal fin, and 24 in the
caudal fin. One from the Hallstadt See was a larger and broader fish,
but did not differ from the laveret, of the Traun See, except in having
two spines less in the tail.
POIET.—Is this fish ever taken with the line?
HAL.—I believe only with nets. It feeds on vegetables; and in the
stomachs of those I have opened, I have never found either flies or
small fishes.
AT TABLE.
ORN.—Now the hucho is dressed, and on the same table with other species
of the salmo, I perceive his peculiarities more distinctly; and, in
addition to those you have mentioned, he appears to me to have a
stronger upper jaw, and a larger projection of bone below the orbit of
the eye.
HAL.—He has; and you will find a similar character in the pike and
perch, and, I believe, in most fishes of prey; and the use of it seems
to be, to strengthen the fulcrum of the lever on which the lower jaw
moves, so as to afford the means of greater strength to the whole
muscular apparatus, by means of which the fish seizes his prey.
POIET.—These fishes, then, are analogous to the predatory animals of the
feline genus, which have this part of the head exceedingly strong; and
it is here that the craniologists or phrenologists fix the organ of
courage: does not this extensive chain of analogies offer an argument in
favour of this long agitated and generally unpopular doctrine?
PHYS.—In my opinion, it offers, like most of the facts which have been
brought forward to prove the truths of the view of Gall and Spurzheim,
an argument rather unfavourable, when thoroughly and minutely examined.
POIET.—How?