Negroes or Sea-Devils a very ugly fish, having a black scale, there are three sorts of them, one a hideous fish, another about two foot long; of these I have seen store in Black-point Harbour in the water, but never attempted to take any of them.
Squids a soft fish somewhat like a cudgel, their horns like a Snails, which sometimes are found to be of an incredible length, [p. 107.] this fish is much used for bait to catch a Cod, Hacke, Polluck, and the like Sea-fish.
The Dolphin, Bonito, or Dozado, the ashes of their teeth mixed with honey, is good to asswage the pain of breeding teeth in Children.
The Sea-bream, Dorado, or Amber-fish, they follow ships as doth the Dolphin, and are good meat.
The Mackarel, of which there is choicefull plenty all summer long, in the spring they are ordinarily 18 inches long, afterwards there is none taken but what are smaller.
The Liver-fish like a Whiting.
The Herrin which are numerous, they take of them all summer long. In Anno Dom. 1670. they were driven into Black-point Harbour by other great fish that prey upon them so near the shore, that they threw themselves (it being high water) upon dry land in such infinite numbers that we might have gone up half way the leg amongst them for near a quarter of a mile. We used to qualifie a pickled Herrin by boiling of him in milk.
The Alewife is like a herrin, but has a bigger bellie therefore called an Alewife, they come in the end of April into fresh [p. 108.] Rivers and Ponds; there hath been taken in two hours time by two men without any Weyre at all, saving a few stones to stop the passage of the River, above ten thousand. The Italian hath a proverb, that he that hath seen one miracle will easily believe another; but this relation far from a miracle will peranter meet, instead of a belief with an Adulterate construction from those that are somewhat akin to St. Peters mockers, such as deny the last judgement. I have known in England 9 score and 16 Pikes and Pickarel taken with three Angles between the hours of three and ten in the morning, in the River Owse in the Isle of Ely, three quarters of a yard long above half of them; they make red Alewives after the same manner as they do herrins and are as good.
The Basse is a salt water fish too, but most an end taken in Rivers where they spawn, there hath been 3000 Basse taken at a set, one writes that the fat in the bone of a Basses head is his brains which is a lye.
The Salmon likewise is a Sea-fish, but as the Basse comes into Rivers to spawn, a Salmon the first year is a Salmon-smelt; The second a Mort; The third a Spraid; The fourth a Soar; The fifth a Sorrel; The sixth [p. 109.] a forket tail; and the seventh year a Salmon. There are another sort of Salmon frequent in those parts called white Salmons.