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and late in the evening. He will take any sorts of bait, except a fly; but the best are young roach, dace, gudgeons, loaches, minnows, and bleak. The principal ways of fishing for pike are trolling, trimmer, and snap angling. In the former, the rod must be provided with rings and a winch the line, of green silk or thread, should at least be forty yards long, varying, however, according to the breadth of the river. When you have a bite, follow the old adage of giving line enough, and you will soon land your prize. For trimmer fishing, bait your hook as above, and leave it about mid-water. For snap angling, procure two large hooks, placed back to back, and a perch hook in the middle to hang your bait upon; fix a gudgeon, dace, or roach to the small hook, then let it swim down the current, and when the float disappears give a smart jerk; and without allowing the fish to play, draw him quickly towards the shore, when your landing net may give the coup de grace.

Perch are generally to be found under the hollow of a bank, the piles of bridges, stumps of trees, or in a gentle stream, not over deep; and the best time to angle for them is in cool, cloudy, windy weather. The best baits are minnows and small frogs; the lob worm and the brandling, well scoured in fennel or moss, are the most killing ones. Your tackle should be strong, as you will often meet with a pike in angling for perch. The following rules may be worth remembering :-In March use the red worm at the bottom; in April, the oak worm, a red snail, or a young frog; in May, the dock worm, oak leaf, and the hawthorn; in June, the red worm; in July, the large grasshopper, or dunghill grub; in August and the following months, red worms, brandlings, or gentles. When the perch bites, do not be in too great a hurry, but give him ample time to pouch the hook, especially if he be a large one; if a small one, you may strike quicker. As this fish generally swallows the bait, and as it will be difficult to extract the hook without breaking the line, it will be advisable to carry a gorge in your pocket. This instrument can either be made of wood or iron, about six inches in length, and half an inch thick, with a hollow at the extremity. With this end, and by keeping your line straight, you may with ease disengage the hook.

Roach breed both in rivers and ponds; but those caught in the former are the best. In hot weather the best bait are small white snails, gentles, or flies, under the water; for he will not, like the dace, rise at them. Roach have been caught, measuring from twelve to fourteen inches; and it is on record that one was caught in a gentleman's pond, in Cheshire, weighing nearly four pounds. The best time for fishing in the Thames is from half ebb tide to low water. At one period, the roach fishery afforded great sport to the Londoners; Blackfriars, Westminster, Chelsea, and Putney bridges being the favourite resort for the cockney piscators; but steam-boats and gas have driven the fish and fishermen beyond the sound of Bow bells; Isleworth being now the nearest spot where the London angler can enjoy this amusement. A punt, with an arm chair, a strong rod, a large float, and a hook well baited with gentles, with plenty of ground bait, and a man to assist you, can be procared at any spot between Richmond and Teddington, at a moderate charge per hour or day; and those who have never seen the salmon fisheries of Scotland, or the trout streams of England, may while away many hours in angling for roach.

The salmon is the king of fresh-water fish; but so many able works

have been written upon the subject of salmon fishing, that we shall content ourselves with a very brief notice. There is nothing relating to this fish which has been more talked or written of than its agility in leaping over all obstacles which opposes its passage either to or from the sea. There was a remarkable cataract in the river Tivy, in Pembrokeshire, called the salmon leap, famed for the exploits of this fish, in getting from the sea to the river; another on the Wear, near Durham; and one at Aberdeen, in Scotland. As the great secret in dressing salmon is that it should go from its element at once into the cauldron, at some of these spots huge kettles of boiling water have been placed, into which the fish has occasionally leapt to its own destination, and to the delight of the epicure. The chief rivers in England that yield this exquisite fish are the Severn, Mersey, Trent, Usk, Wye, Dee, and Medway. Few now can be found in the Thames; although, in bygone times, many fine ones have been caught between London and Oxford. The Woodmill salmon, near Southampton, are the best for the table that we have ever seen; and our readers may test our opinion by addressing a line to Mr. Miles, High-street, Southampton, "purveyor of fish," who is "sole agent" for this piscatory luxury. The chief salmon fisheries are on the Scotch coasts, and are of great value to the proprietors of the rivers. The Spey produced ten thousand pounds per annum to the late noble owner of Gordon castle; but the present system of free-trade has reduced that sum some thousands. The fish are packed in ice, and despatched in the steam-boats to the London market; some are hermetically sealed, after having been washed in salt water, and forwarded to foreign parts. We ourselves, a few seasons ago, caught a salmon trout, sealed it up in a tin case, and kept it for nearly a year; at the end of that period it was apparently as fresh, and in taste quite as good, as if it had only been fresh caught. To those of our readers who are desirous of gaining the most instruction in salmon fishing, we recommend the well-known work called "Salmonia," which will give them a thorough insight into this noble sport.

Trout delight in the cool and small rivers which descend from hills and rocky mountains; and they seem to take pleasure in striving against the stream. Several authors tell us that they are found among the Alps, in waters so very cold that no other fish can live therein. The trout prefer rapid currents and clear, swift streams, with gravelly, stony, sandy, or chalky bottoms; upon which account they are found to abound in the river Stour, Wandle, Dart, Kennet, and in many of the rivers in Hampshire, Wiltshire, and Gloucestershire. The Thames, the Severn, and the Trent have also excellent trout near their sources, and where their streams are small and divided; but in the main rivers, where they are large and deep, this fish is but rarely to be met with. The usual baits for the "swift trout" are the lob, or earth worms, minnow, and fly, either natural or artificial. The best time for trout fishing is from sunrise until ten o'clock in the morning, and from three in the afternoon until sunset, especially when the wind is from the south, which, according to the old distich, "blows the hook into the fish's mouth." There is another method adopted in some parts of England for taking trout, by tickling them. This is managed by groping for them in their lurking places, and "tittivating" their sides, until you can approach their gills, when they become an easy prey.

good friend bestrode, and this was the best horse in the field.

Bone it

had enough for three, and head for four; but in most things it wanted beauty, save that it was like Fum! Fum!

"As fat as a pig

And as sleek as a cadi,
As fresh as a fig

And as fair as a lady;"

being, in fact, nearly white. Tod-the John George Tod, post-captain in the Texan navy, who owned the ground-on a tall brown customer, which I had taken for a wild Mustang when in the Texan prairie, followed next; and after him came Squire Farmer on a grey mare, which was marvellously too near being in the straw to be at all pleasant riding; Josiah Stevens, on a lazy pony, which couldn't, if he would, so far forget his dignity as to go at any pace save a solemn jog-trot, sidled alongside a huge, tall, bony, Kentuckian, who, on a one-eyed and somewhat lofty hack, looked, with his rifle at his back, the very model of a Jonathan Don Quixote. Neither was Sancho Panza wanting, since on Colonel Love's pet mule rode a fat, ragged, and saucy nigger-of course only to look on-who knew as many proverbs, eat as much and drank as much, and told as many lies, as the famed squire of La Mancha.

Such and several, with many an oddity besides, was the congregate mass assembled on the said 13th of January, 1843, to follow the hounds and fox on a Texan prairie. But, sir, the dogs! In country town was it ever your luck to see a poor unfortunate wretch of a canine quadruped, with a saucepan to his tail, followed through Coventry by the lame, the halt, and the blind-by cur, terrier, bull-dog, &c., &c.? If so, you can form some idea of the pack which yelped, and barked, and howled with might and main round their owners. There wasn't one which looked as if it could smell a rat. But looks are not decisive; so patience, good reader, and we shall see what we shall see.

But let us unfold, ere we proceed to record the deeds of deadly note which followed, how this remarkable fox-hunt had been set on foot. Baker, whose chief topics of conversation were his recollections of sport at home, and who cherished certain odd numbers of THE " Review," as things not lightly to be valued, had a few evenings before been astonishing the aborigines by sundry records of sport, in which the names of Lord this and Lord that occurred oftener than was agreeable to the ears of our republican associates. Among other matters he spoke of fox-hunting as his delight, and gave certain very spirited and animated descriptions of the joys of a thorough English day with the Queen's own hounds.

"Well, I can't cypher that no how," exclaimed Josiah Stevens, an outrageously national Yankee. "Its altogither a huckle-berry above my persimmon what there can be in it. It's almighty foolish, to my notion. Now, one man agin a painter, or two agin a bear, is about right; but a matter of a hundred-and-fifty agin a fox its plaguy onfair."

Unfair be dd," responded Baker. "It's the ride, sir; the wild excitement of the chase; the sight of the hounds skimming the plain; the delight of feeling oneself borne along through air, on a glorious steed, with an object before you. The fox, sir, is nothing; we don't eat him-we can't cypher that, Josiah" (and Mr. Baker looked monstrously

sly, as much as to say, "You 'coon-eating Yankees can, though.”) “I only wish we had a fox and a pack, I'd show you some sport." "Well, it arn't altogether impossible," said Stevens: "I'll find the fox, and maybe the dogs, though I can't jist say they'll be the right sort."

"Will you, though ?" cried Baker.

"I guess I will," said Stevens, rising. "At four in the mornin', day a❜ter to-morrow, I'll have the fox; you, the gov'ner, and the cap'n must git Farmer to ride over; I'll ondertake the rest.

Neither I nor Baker had any doubt that Stevens would redeem his promise, since we knew him to be an excellent trapper, and to have pens and traps in all directions, both in and around the timber; many a fat turkey had he thus ensnared and brought to the log in triumph. Hence, though we had our doubts of the existence of foxes, still, having much faith in Stevens, we looked to the hour with anticipations more homely and natural than had been ours for many a day.

Late on the night which was to usher in the hunting morn, Josiah entered the log, and intimated that in Big Creek pen (the trapper had a name for every one) there was a fox alive and kicking, of a nature likely to ensure the kind of sport which we had described. Baker's eye flashed, his nose dilated, and despite the drawbacks of a fox-hunt without a horse fit for a hog-hunt, or a dog for a rat-hole, he was so delighted at the idea kindled in his mind, that everything was forgotten save that there was a fox, and that next day he was to afford us a run.

It will readily be credited that Baker was up ere even the musquitoes had made a move. I followed, and found him in the stable (i. e., the prairie) with a halter in one hand, and in the other a pan with a little corn; with this he was making great efforts to tempt the horse which was to bear him through the day's work to surrender his liberty; but, like the Chinese in the tale, it was all No-Gho! Half-an-hour of half light was thus consumed. I, luckily, had hoppled mine over-night, and given him the length of a lazzo and young Schmidt the German butcher's cow-whip (seven yards long), one end of which I had attached to a post, and the other to the horse-rope; unfortunately, however, a portion of it was greasy, and the rascally prairie wolves had eaten it away and set my nag at liberty; still, as he was hoppled, I caught him cleverly, and the only harm done was the destruction of Schmidt's leathern thong.

After a hearty breakfast of pork, venison, coffee, and bitters, we started. Was ever the like seen before? Following Stevens, who perspired in a few minutes from every pore, in vain endeavours to urge his pony to a gallop, the whole party-men, horses, mules, niggers, and dogs-presented the appearance of a posse comitatus of Jew-clothesmen going to arrest a malefactor. Old sou'-westers-the very image of coalheavers' broad-brims-straw hats without crowns, and crowns without brims; red flannel shirts, and deer-skin unmentionables; rifles, pistols, muskets, and cavalry spurs; horses, mules, mastiffs, hounds, bull-dogs, Mount St. Bernard and Newfoundland breed, barking, yelping, running here, running there; Yankee jokes, and roars of laughter at the whole turn-out: such was the order of the day. Baker, however, rode along unmoved, grave, solemn, and sedate. There was no fun in it to him: it was a fox-hunt, and therefore too serious a matter to be laughed at.

Who can tell what thoughts of home, of England, of love and youth, what tender and holy recollections, what deep well-spring of feeling had been excited in my friend's bosom by the matter in hand? Thought, feeling, memory, reminiscences of the past, are to the exile pearls of great price, and are not to be lightly estimated.

At length we reached a small streamlet, which we waded through in fine style, and stood upon the confines of Big Creek pen. In an instant, to save the fox being torn in pieces at the first start, which, seeing he wasn't used to the thing, was exceedingly likely, every man took charge of his own dog, and, despite resistance, hoisted big and little on the saddle before him. This precaution taken, Josiah dismounted and advanced to the pit. Baker and I interchanged glances of anxious import. Behind us was a thick wood; on each side a creek which met in the forest ; before was the prairie, freshly burnt and clear, an island of timber breaking its monotony in the distance. Stevens reached the pen, and in an instant the captive was free. Away it went like the wind; the dogs were loosed, and I dug my spurs furiously into the sides of my antiquated Mustang, just as I heard Baker cry" Good God! It's an

infernal old wolf!"

on.

I fairly roared. Stevens had caught a caiote or prairie wolf for a fox. Still, every dog was after him, some using the nose, and some the eye. The Yankees 'cutely reckoned it almighty fun, and helter skelter every horseman took after in high glee. My steed was tall, and, as I soon found, had life in him. I took the lead, and, excited beyond measure, kept the wolf and two of the dogs in view. Ten minutes passed, when hearing not a sound behind me I glanced in search of my companions. To the right Baker and Josiah were hard at it, with three dogs and two wolves; while to my left, the whole of the rest were scampering after a herd of deer which certain of our hounds had started. But still my wolf kept He was a heavy customer, and but that the dogs were not swift of foot, and suffered much from the prairie stubble, would have been settled in no time. As it was, he held on manfully, keeping a straight line for the island of timber. As this did not suit my views, I whipped up my Rosinante, and diverging to the right, soon passed him at a rattling pace. In another minute he had taken the desired direction, and Baker once more joined me. The two wolves and the two dogs I could not see, but I had" other chins to shave," and accordingly kept on at the heels of Lion and Turk, whose blood being up, gave evident tokens of wolfish propensities. The chase took to a brook, and swam; Lion saw him, and did the same; when Turk-imagining, I suppose, that his confrère would not go wrong-dashed in also. I was in for it, and though doubting my steed's capabilities, made him try the leap. To my astonishment he did it, as did also Baker's, though with his it was touch and go.

At it we went again, the clear music of the dogs in the high grass; we had passed the burn, our only guide, when suddenly we came once more upon clear ground. Lion's nose was within three inches, at the most, of the wolf's tail, and Turk was gaining on him too at a most killing rate. In one instant more, and Lion was at the beast's throat; ere we could come up, the dogs had settled our Texan fox!

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By Jove, captain," cried Baker, whose animated and flushed countenance gave evidence of the delight which he had experienced," it is not so bad after all, though the fox did turn out a wolf!”

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