Tench

“ Tench from the Continent; a view which, however, is not supported by any evidence, and is practically disposed of by the fact that fossil remains of the fish are found in the Pleistocene deposits of Great Britain. In central Europe it thrives best in enclosed, preserved waters, with a clayey or muddy bottom and with an abundant vegetation; it avoids clear waters with stony ground, and is altogether absent from rapid streams. The tench is distinguished by its very small scales, which are deeply imbedded in a thick skin, whose surface is as slippery as that of an eel. ”

“ And so having according to my promise given you these short Observations concerning the Bream, I shall also give you some Observations concerning the Tench, and those also very briefly.
The Tench is observed to love to live in Ponds; but if he be in a River, then in the still places of the River, he is observed to be a Physician to other fishes, and is so called by many that have been searchers into the nature of fish ”

“ Like the carp, is remarkably tenacious of life. Its body is thick and short, and seldom exceeds twelve inches in length, or four pounds in weight. The eyes are red; the back, dorsal, and ventral fins dusky; the head, sides, and abdomen of a greenish hue, mixed with gold; and the tail very broad. The Tench delights in still water, in the muddy parts of ponds, where it is the most secure from the voracious ramblings and fierce attacks of the tyrant pike, and from the hook of the angler; here it lives nearly motionless, lurking beneath flags, reeds, and weeds. ”

“ It is a hardy fish, and rarely shows signs of exhaustion.
C. Tinea.—The tench is a quiet, shy fish, distinct in outline, and easily recognised; but, like the gudgeon, destitute of any highly attractive features. The tench is the most tenacious of life of any fish in the collection, and never shows signs of exhaustion by gulping air from the surface. Tench are easily tamed, and take great pleasure in nibbling their proprietor’s fingers. Mine eat bread and cheese with me, and nibble my fingers fiercely whenever I permit them. ”

“ But Dorion, mentioning him in his list among the lake and river fish, writes thus: "A scaly fish, whom some people call the cyprinus."
83. There is also the tench. "The tench is very juicy," as Icesius says, "exceedingly attractive to the palate, very easily secreted, not very nutritious, nor is the juice which they give very wholesome. But, in delicacy of flavour, the white kind is superior to the black. But the flesh of the green tench is more dry, and devoid of fat; and they give a much smaller quantity of juice, and what they do give is thinner. ”

“ Although the Tench was not much esteemed by the ancients, yet at present it is considered palatable food; and, in point of flavour, equal to that of Carp. If caught from clear waters, their flesh is much superior to those occasionally inhabiting muddy places.
Tench is a simple fish, and is easily taken: the method of angling for it, differs in no material respect from that for Carp, but the hooks and lines should be rather finer; and the sportsman may either use leads or floats, accordingly as the water happens to be more or less obstructed by weeds.—See the article Carp. ”

“ But I'll
not meddle with them, any farther than to wish them wiser; and shall
tell you next, for I hope I may be so bold, that the Tench is the
physician of fishes, for the Pike especially, and that the Pike, being
either sick or hurt, is cured by the touch of the Tench. And it is
observed that the tyrant Pike will not be a wolf to his physician, but
forbears to devour him though he be never so hungry.
This fish, that carries a natural balsam in him to cure both himself and
others, loves yet to feed in very foul water, and amongst weeds. ”

“ Gill-rakers short, lanceolate; pseudobranchiæ [600] rudimentary. Pharyngeal teeth 4 or 5.-5, cuneiform, slightly hooked at the end.
Fig. 274.—The Tench (Tinca tinca) .
Only one species of “Tench” is known (T. tinca) , found all over Europe in stagnant waters with soft bottom. The “Golden Tench” is only a variety of colour, an incipient albinism like the Gold-fish and Id. Like most other Carps of this group it passes the winter in a state of torpidity, during which it ceases to feed. ”

“ Tench lie in the deep muddy holes. With the exception of the tench, the greater number of the fish in this mere haunt the sandy and stony shores. When the lake is full there are broad stretches of water which are shallow and where the bottom is mud. You may look here in vain for fish: of course there are some; but as you glide over noiselessly in a punt, gazing down into the water as you drift before the gentle summer breeze, you will not see any of those shoals that frequent the other shores where the bottom is clearer. ”

“ This fish hath very large fins, very small and smooth scales, a red circle about his eyes, which are big and of a gold colour, and from either angle of his mouth there hangs down a little barb. In every Tench's head there are two little stones which foreign physicians make great use of, but he is not commended for wholesome meat, though there be very much use made of them for outward applications. Rondeletius says, that at his being at Rome, he saw a great cure done by applying a Tench to the feet of a very sick man. ”

“ Tench if kept in suitable waters are extremely prolific, and as they grow within a few years to a weight of 3 or 4 lb, and are then fit for the table, they may be profitably introduced into ponds which are already stocked with other fishes, such as carp and pike. They live on small animals or soft vegetable substances, which they root up from the bottom. ”

“ If any one wants to know if there are Tench in a pool, "let him go and sit beside it some warm evening in June, just before it is dark, and then, if he hears a splashing among the water-plants, and sees the leaves disturbed, he can rest quite certain that there are Tench in the pool, and that they are spawning." ”

“ Tench, he at Whydah, and is willing to come to me, it may in time be much for his interest, as now being a boy, the king will be entirely fond of him, for, though I do nothing for him, he has put me into a house and given me half-a-dozen men and women servants, also a constant supply to maintain myself and them. ”

“ It spawns in May and June. The flesh of the tench is somewhat coarse and insipid. The tench is a member of the carp family, and is frequently placed in ponds with carp.
672.—TENCH, MATELOT OF. (Fr.—Tanche en Matelote.)
Ingredients.—3 tench, 12 sauce oysters, 1 pint of good stock, 1⁄4 of a pint of port wine or claret, 1 oz. of butter, 1 oz. of flour, 1 tablespoonful of finely-chopped onion, 12 button mushrooms, a bouquet-garni (parsley, thyme, bay-leaf) , 2 cloves, 1 blade of mace, 1 teaspoonful of anchovy-essence, 1 dessertspoonful of lemon-juice, salt and pepper, cayenne. ”

“ Tench are a very quiet, unobtrusive fish, and may exist in a pond for a long time without being known to be there. They are very capricious in biting, sometimes biting well for a day or two, and again refusing all baits for weeks without any apparent reason. If taken from clear waters, the tench is a very good table fish second only to the eel. ”

“ Tench, Dawes, and Morgan explored south and west of Rose Hill. They struck the Nepean higher up, nearer its source than on the former occasion, and remained out seven days, penetrating to a considerable distance in a south-west direction. Near the end of the same month, the same party made an excursion to the north-west of Rose Hill, and traced the Nepean to where it was first discovered by Tench's party in 1789. ”

“ Captain Tench wrote the most readable book giving an account of the settlement, and as about half a dozen books were written by different officers of the first fleet, this, if it is all, is something to be said about him.
Lieutenant Collins is the best-known officer. He wrote an official history, and was associated with the colony's progress for many years after the marines went home. His book is drier reading than that of Tench, but it is the standard authority; and all the history-makers, good and bad, have largely drawn upon him for their materials. ”

“ The fish is carried about the streets in so elegant a style it tempts one; a very large round bathing-tub, as we should call it, set barrow-wise on two not very low wheels, is easily pushed along by one man, though full of the most pellucid water, in which the carp, [323] tench, and eels, are all leaping alive, to a size and perfection I am ashamed to relate; but the tench of four and five pounds weight have a richness and flavour one had no notion of till we arrived at Vienna, and they are the same here. ”

“ The tench is one of our most useful fresh-water fishes, for the ease with which it may be preserved, and the goodness of its flesh. It is very usual to breed it in ponds, but naturally, like many others of the carp tribe, it is generally found in lakes and still waters ”

“ All flocked to inspect the pedigree except Mr. Gordon, who resumed the “Times” newspaper.
“I never could quite make out what kind of fishes these are,” said the Rev. John Stalworth. “They are certainly not pike which formed the emblematic blazon of the Hotofts, and are still grim enough to frighten future Shakspeares on the scutcheon of the Warwickshire Lucys.”
“I believe they are tenches,” said Mr. Mivers. “The tench is a fish that knows how to keep itself safe by a philosophical taste for an obscure existence in deep holes and slush.” ”

“ These trees reached to the margin of a very fine sandy beach, which entirely surrounds the island; a great number of canoes were lying on the beach, and, from the number of natives we saw there, besides what were in the canoes, there cannot be less than a thousand inhabitants on the island. Lieutenant Ball named this place Tench's Island, after Captain Watkin Tench of the marines: it is situated in 1° 39' south latitude, and 150° 31' east longitude. ”

“ Then I am keeping on the old man, Tidmarsh, nicknamed the Titmouse, who has always come in for two days a week and done the garden. He can give me full time and knows of a garden boy who will also do the boots and knives and all the other jobs that modern servants won't do. The boy's name is Tench. Of course, Ross christened him 'the Stench' at once. The registry office at Tarnley sent a girl up this evening as parlourmaid. She amused me very much by saying, 'I don't consider myself an ordinary servant, I am very superior, and so is my family. ”

“ Another source of trouble with the prisoners, which, however, brought with it its own punishment, was their constant attempts to escape across country. Those who did not get 'bushed' and starved to death were generally murdered by the natives. Some, after undergoing dreadful hardships, returned to the settlement. A party once tried to walk to China. Tench saw them after their experiences. ”

“ The blacks looked upon the spectacle of a man being flogged with feelings which does them honour, for on another occasion Tench says:—
'But toil cannot be long supported without adequate refreshment. The first step in every community, which wishes to preserve honesty, should be to set the people above want. The throes of hunger will ever prove too powerful for integrity to withstand. ”

“ This man was the first successful 'experiment' among the convicts, and Phillip, one can imagine, signed the first land grant of thirty acres with a great deal of satisfaction.
Against the industrious Ruse there was a set-off of many failures, and among the rascals were some whose rogueries were amusing. For example. Tench tells us of one Daly, who was hanged for breaking into the public stores, but previous to this crime he 'was the author of a discovery of a gold mine a few months before. He produced a composition resembling ore mingled with earth, which he pretended to have brought from it. ”

“ Curse the man! I could have struck him down for the chilling level of his tone. I forced myself to go on, realizing that I was damning myself at every step.
"An absolute zero is a cold so intense it will destroy flesh, bone and tissue. Remove them," my voice rose in spite of myself, "leaving absolutely no trace."
NO trace! Something attracted my eyes. The chief had opened his hand. The diamond there flashed and sparkled as if mocking me. I pulled myself together, and went on. ”

“ If it be asked why the same intelligent spirit which led them to contemplate and applaud the success of the sportsman and the skill of the surgeon, did not equally excite them to meditate on the labours of the builder and the ploughman, I can only answer that what we see in its remote cause is always more feebly felt than that which presents to our immediate grasp both its origin and effect.
Their leading good and bad qualities I shall concisely touch upon. Of their intrepidity no doubt can exist. Their levity, their fickleness, their passionate extravagance of character, cannot be defended. ”

“ To retreat, his excellency now thought would be more dangerous than to advance. He therefore cried out to the man, Weeeree, Weeree, (bad; you are doing wrong) displaying at the same time, every token of amity and confidence. The words had, however, hardly gone forth, when the Indian, stepping back with one foot, aimed his lance with such force and dexterity, that striking* the governor's right shoulder, just above the collar-bone, the point glancing downward, came out at his back, having made a wound of many inches long. ”

“ For the last time I repeat, that the behaviour of all classes of these people since our arrival in the settlement has been better than could, I think, have been expected from them.
Temporary wooden storehouses covered with thatch or shingles, in which the cargoes of all the ships have been lodged, are completed; and an hospital is erected. Barracks for the military are considerably advanced; and little huts to serve, until something more permanent can be finished, have been raised on all sides. Notwithstanding this the encampments of the marines and convicts are still kept up ”