g that the anathema bestowed on them by Buffon is not
quite correct, for if wolves are dangerous, and enemies to the public
weal, and "there is nothing good" in them during their lives, they, at
least, become useful after their death.
CHAPTER XXI.
Fishing in Le Morvan--The naturalists--The _Gour_ of Akin--The
English lady--The mountain streams--Chateau de
Chatelux--Sermiselle--New mode of killing pike--Pierre Pertuis--The
rocks and whirlpool there--The syrens of the grotto--Chateau des
Panolas--The Cousin--The ponds of Marot and lakes of Lomervo--Mode
of taking fish with live trimmers--The Scotch farmer.
Having disposed of the quadrupeds of Le Morvan, I must enlarge a little
upon the finny tribe of my native province, who would, I feel sure, be
not a little annoyed if after having mentioned nearly every other
creature capable of affording amusement to the sportsman I were to pass
them over in silence. Besides, the shade of Izaak Walton would haunt me,
and his disciples no doubt wish me well hooked, if I omitted to give
them a chapter on angling,--but it shall be short, and I will avoid all
scientific discussion. Theories sufficient have been hazarded, and books
written without number from the days of old Aristotle, who arranged them
in three great divisions, the Cetaceous, the Cartilaginous, and the
Spinous; down to Gmelin, who divided them into six orders, the Apodal,
the Jugular, the Thoracic, the Abdominal, the Branchiostagous, and the
Chondropterygious.
How men, learned and scientific men, can be so barbarous as to invent
such grotesque names as these is surprizing, or why Apicius should be
remembered for having been the first to teach mankind how to suffocate
fish in Carthaginian pickle; or Quin, for having discovered a sauce for
John Dories; or Mrs. Glasse, for an eel pie; or M. Soyer, celebrated for
depriving barbel of their sight, in order to make them grow fatter, and
be more acceptable to the epicure. Into this wilderness of discoveries,
I have no intention of introducing you, gentle reader. The wisest plan
is to cook and eat your fish in the ordinary mode--fry, broil, bake,
boil, or grill; and call a perch, a perch, not a thoracic; a pike, a
pike, &c., and pay little attention either to cooks or naturalists.
Le Morvan, intersected by numerous rivers, streams, and runs of water,
in the liquid depths of which the various species of the fresh-water
fishy-family are
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