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The fourth day - continued
The Umber or Grayling
Chapter VI
Piscator Hostess
The Umber and Grayling are thought by some
to differ as the Herring and Pilchard do.
But though they may do so in other nations,
I think those in England differ nothing but
in their names. Aldrovandus says, they be
of a Trout kind; and Gesner says, that in
his country, which is Switzerland, he is accounted
the choicest of all fish. And in Italy, he
is, in the month of May, so highly valued,
that he is sold there at a much higher rate
than any other fish. The French, which call
the Chub Un Villain, call the Umber of the
lake Leman Un Umble Chevalier; and they value
the Umber or Grayling so highly, that they
say he feeds on gold; and say, that many have
been caught out of their famous river of Loire,
out of whose bellies grains of gold have been
often taken. And some think that he feeds
on water thyme, and smells of it at his first
taking out of the water; and they may think
so with as good reason as we do that our Smelts
smell like violets at their being first caught,
which I think is a truth. Aldrovandus says,
the Salmon, the Grayling, and Trout, and all
fish that live in clear and sharp streams,
are made by their mother Nature of such exact
shape and pleasant colours purposely to invite
us to a joy and contentedness in feasting
with her. Whether this is a truth or not,
is not my purpose to dispute: but 'tis certain,
all that write of the Umber declare him to
be very medicinable. And Gesner says, that
the fat of an Umber or Grayling, being set,
with a little honey, a day or two in the sun,
in a little glass, is very excellent against
redness or swarthiness, or anything that breeds
in the eyes. Salvian takes him to be called
Umber from his swift swimming, or gliding
out of sight more like a shadow or a ghost
than a fish. Much more might be said both
of his smell and taste: but I shall only tell
you that St. Ambrose, the glorious bishop
of Milan, who lived when the church kept fasting-days,
calls him the flower-fish, or flower of fishes;
and that he was so far in love with him, that
he would not let him pass without the honour
of a long discourse; but I must; and pass
on to tell you how to take this dainty fish.
First note, that he grows not to the bigness
of a Trout; for the biggest of them do not
usually exceed eighteen inches. He lives in
such rivers as the Trout does; and is usually
taken with the same baits as the Trout is,
and after the same manner; for he will bite
both at the minnow, or worm, or fly, though
he bites not often at the minnow, and is very
gamesome at the fly; and much simpler, and
therefore bolder than a Trout; for he will
rise twenty times at a fly, if you miss him,
and yet rise again. He has been taken with
a fly made of the red feathers of a paroquet,
a strange outlandish bird; and he will rise
at a fly not unlike a gnat, or a small moth,
or, indeed, at most flies that are not too
big. He is a fish that lurks close all Winter,
but is very pleasant and jolly after mid-April,
and in May, and in the hot months. He is of
a very fine shape, his flesh is white, his
teeth, those little ones that he has, are
in his throat, yet he has so tender a mouth,
that he is oftener lost after an angler has
hooked him than any other fish. Though there
be many of these fishes in the delicate river
Dove, and in Trent, and some other smaller
rivers, as that which runs by Salisbury, yet
he is not so general a fish as the Trout,
nor to me so good to eat or to angle for.
And so I shall take my leave of him: and now
come to some observations of the Salmon, and
how to catch him.
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