CHAP, iv.] HEAVY PIKE. 143 



to be two centuries and a half old, which, weighed three hun- 

 dred and fifty pounds, and was seventeen feet long. There is 

 abundant evidence of the size of pike : individuals have been 

 captured in Scotland, so we are told in the Scots Magazine, 

 that weighed seventy-nine pounds. In the London newspapers 

 of 1765 an account is given of the draining of a pool, twenty- 

 seven feet deep, at the Lilishall Limeworks, near Newport, 

 which had not been fished for many years, and from which a 

 gigantic pike was taken that weighed one hundred and 

 seventy pounds, being heavier than a man of twelve stone ! 

 I have seen scores of pike which weighed upwards of half a 

 stone, and a good many double that weight, but, as in the case 

 of the salmon, the weight is now on the descending ratio, the 

 giants of the tribe having been apparently all captured. 

 Formerly there used to be great hauls of this fish taken out of 

 the water. Whether or not a pike be good for food depends 

 greatly on where it has been fed, what it has eaten, and how 

 it has been cooked. In fact, as I have already endeavoured 

 to show, the animals of the water are in respect of food not 

 unlike those of the land their flavour is largely dependent 

 on their feeding ; and pike that have been luxuriating on 

 Lochleven trout, or feeding daintily for a few months on young 

 salmon, cannot be very bad fare. As a general rule, however, 

 pike are not highly esteemed as a dish even when cooked 

 a la Walton, who recommended them to be roasted, and basted 

 during the process with claret, anchovies, and butter. Old 

 Isaac says a dish of pike so prepared is too good for any but 

 anglers or very honest men. The pike is a comparatively ugly 

 fish as regards its shape, but at certain seasons is very bril- 

 liant in colour. It is extensively distributed, and is found 

 over the greater part of Europe, and also in America and Asia 

 The mascalogne, Esox estor, is the name of the largest Ameri- 

 can pike ; it is found only in the great lakes and waters of the 

 St. Lawrence basin, and grows to a very large size, thirty 



