ea
that, as they are all but scaleless, they are 'poisonous.' This silly
impression also prevails with regard to many other scaleless fish on
the Australian coast, some of which, such as the trevally, are among the
best and most delicate in flavour. The black and white rock cod is also
regarded with aversion by the untutored settlers of the small coast
settlements, yet these fish are sold in Sydney, like the schnapper, at
prohibitive prices.

In conclusion, let me advise anyone who is contemplating a visit to
Australia, and means to devote any of his time to either river or lake
fishing, to take his rods with him; all the rest of his tackle he can
buy as cheap in the colonies as he can in England. Rods are but little
used in salt-water fishing in Australia, and are terribly expensive to
buy. Those who do use a rod are usually satisfied with a bamboo--a
very good rod it makes, too, although inconvenient to carry when
travelling--but the generality of people use hand lines. And the visitor
must not be persuaded that he can get really good river fishing without
going some distance from Sydney or Melbourne. That there is some
excellent sport to be obtained in Port Jackson in summer is true, but it
is lacking in a very essential thing--the quietude that is dear to the
heart of every true fisherman.

THE WRECK OF THE LEONORA: A MEMORY OF 'BULLY' HAYES

The brig _Leonora_, owned and commanded by the notorious Captain 'Bully'
Hayes, has, perhaps, been more written and talked about than any other
vessel, except the _Bounty_, that ever sailed the South Seas, and her
career was as eventful as that of her captain. It was my fortune to fill
the distinguished position of supercargo to that eminent gentleman for
two years, and, as may be imagined by those who have read anything of
Hayes's strange life and doings in the Pacific and the China Seas,
I found the berth a remarkably curious one. How and why I became
supercargo to the famous alleged pirate is another story; but, in
justice to 'Bully's' memory, I may here at once say that the man was
_not_ the remorseless ruffian that his enemies and many writers of tales
of the South Seas have painted him; furthermore, he was one of the best
sailor-men that ever trod a deck. Had he lived in the times of Drake or
Dampier, he would have been a hero, for he was a man born to command and
lead. _Inter alia_, he was also clever with his fists, and my soul was
possessed of the deepest admi