e masses that they
are unable to maoeuvre in small bays, and the urchins of coastal towns
hail their yearly advent with delight. They usually make their first
appearance about November 20th (I presume they resort to the rivers to
spawn), and are always followed by a great number of very large sharks
and saw-fish,{*} which commit dreadful havoc in their serried and
helpless ranks. Following the sea-salmon, the rivers are next visited
in January by shoals of very large sea-mullet--blue-black backs, silvery
bellies and sides, and yellow fins and tails. These, too, will not take
a bait, but are caught in nets, and, if a steamer happens to be on the
eve of leaving for Sydney, many hundreds of baskets are sent away; but
they barely pay the cost of freight and commission, I believe. There are
several varieties of sea-mullet, one or two of which will take the hook
freely, and I have often caught them off the rocky coast of New South
Wales with a rod when the sea has been smooth. The arrival of the big
sea-mullet denotes that the season for Jew-fish is at its height, and
if the stranger to Australian waters wants exciting sport, let him try
Jew-fishing at night. In deep water off the coast these great fish are
occasionally caught during daylight, but a dull, cloudy night is best,
when they may be caught from the beach or river bank in shallow water.
Very stout lines and heavy hooks are used, for a 90-lb. or 100-lb.
Jew-fish is very common. Baiting with a whole mullet or whiting, or one
of the arms of an octopus, the most amateurish fisherman cannot fail to
hook two or three Jew-fish in a night. (Even in Sydney Harbour I have
seen some very large ones caught by people fishing from ferry wharves.)
They are very powerful, and also very game, and when they rise to the
surface make a terrific splashing. At one place on the Hastings River,
called Blackman's Point, a party of four of us took thirteen fish,
the heaviest of which was 62 lb. and the lightest 9 lb. Next morning,
however, the Blackman's Point ferryman, who always set a line from his
punt when he turned in, showed us one of over 90 lb. When they grow to
such a size as this they are not eaten locally, as the flesh is very
often full of thin, thread-like worms. The young fish, however, are very
palatable.

* The 'saw-fish' of the Australian tidal rivers is very
distinct from the sword-fish of the deep sea.

The saw-fish, to which I have before alluded as harrying th