I picture him frugal of speech,
  But in action a regular peach—­
  A figure that might be compared
  With a Highlander, chieftain or laird,
  Like THE MACKINTOSH, monarch of Moy,
  Redoubtable General OI.

  Anyhow, with so striking a name
  You’d be sure of success if you came
  To our shores, and might get an invite
  To Elmwood to stay for the night,
  And sit for your portrait to “POY,”
  Irresistible General OI.

  So here’s to you, excellent chief,
  Whose name is so tunefully brief. 
  May your rule be productive of peace,
  Like that of our good Captain Reece,
  And no murmur, no [Greek:  otototoi]
  Be raised over General OI!

* * * * *

THE BRITISH TARPON.

By our Piscatorial Expert.

I have read with great interest, tempered by a little disappointment, the article of Mr. F.A.  MITCHELL-HEDGES on “Big Game Fishing in British Waters,” in The Daily Mail of September 1st.  He tells us of his experiences in catching the “tope,” a little-known fish of the shark genus which may be caught this month at such places as Herne Bay, Deal, Margate, Ramsgate, Brighton and Bournemouth, where he has captured specimens measuring 7-1/2 feet long within two hundred-and-fifty yards of the shore.

Personally I have a great respect for the tope and for the topiary art, but I cannot help regretting that Mr. MITCHELL-HEDGES has omitted all mention of another splendid fish, the stoot, which visits our shores every year in the late summer and may be caught at places as widely distant as Barmouth and Great Yarmouth, Porthcawl and Kylescue.

The stoot, be it noted, is a cross between the porpoise and the cuttle-fish; hence its local name of the porputtle.  It is a clean feeder, a great fighter and a great delicacy, tasting rather like a mixture of the pilchard, the anchovy and the Bombay duck.

For tackle I recommend a strong greenheart bamboo pole, like those used in pole-jumping, about eighteen feet in length, and about three hundred yards of wire hawser, with a Strathspey foursome reel sufficiently large to hold it.  Do not be afraid of the size of the hook.  The stoot-fisher cannot afford to take any risks.  I do not wish to dogmatise, but it must be big enough to cover the bait.  And the stoot is extremely voracious.  Almost anything will do for bait, if one remembers, as I have said above, that the stoot is a clean feeder.  At different times I have tried a large square of corridor soap, a simulation pancake, three pounds of tough beefsteak or American bacon, or a volume of Sir HENRY HOWORTH’S History of the Mongols, and never without satisfactory results.