144 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i. 



called the Tyrant of the Rivers, or the Fresh-water- 

 Wolf, by reason of his bold, greedy, devouring dis- 

 position ; which is so keen, as Gesner relates, a man 

 going to a pond, where it seems a Pike had de- 

 voured all the fish, to water his mule, had a Pike 

 bit his mule by the lips ; to which the Pike hung 

 so fast, that the mule drew him out of the water, 

 and by that accident the owner of the mule angled 

 out the Pike. And the same Gesner observes, that 

 a maid in Poland had a Pike bit her by the foot as 

 she was washing clothes in a pond. And I have 

 heard the like of a woman in Killingworih-\)orid, not 

 far from Coventry. But I have been assured by my 

 friend Mr. Seagrave, of whom I spake to you for- 

 merly that keeps tame Otters, that he hath known 

 a Pike, in extreme hunger, fight with one of his 

 Otters for a Carp that the Otter had caught, and 

 was then bringing out of the water. I have told 

 you who relate these things, and tell you they are 

 persons of credit ; and shall conclude this observa- 

 tion, bv telling you what a wise man has observed; 

 " It is a hard thing to persuade the belly, because 

 " it has no ears." 



But if these relations be disbelieved, it is too evi- 

 dent to be doubted that a Pike will devour a fish 

 of his own kind, that shall be bigger than his belly 

 or throat will receive, and swallow a part of him, 

 and let the other part remain in his mouth till the 

 swallowed part be digested, and then swallow that 

 other part that was in his mouth, and so put it over 

 bv degrees ; which is not unlike the ox and some 



