THE PIKE OF FABLE AND FANCY 13 



known taxidermist that several large tench, weighing 

 between two and three pounds each, were taken from 

 the stomachs of pike sent to him to stuff. 



The pike, for reasons doubtless satisfactory to 

 himself but unknown to us, will not attack a tench 

 if there are other fish to be found. Of the fresh- 

 water fishes that he has the pleasure of chasing the 

 tench is probably in most waters the most un- 

 familiar. The pike of four or five pounds which I 

 caught with a small tench, somewhat more golden- 

 hued than is usually the case, was taken in what 

 in Lancashire is called a ' lodge,' where the fish live 

 under very artificial conditions, and it was the fact that 

 the majority of the fish in this rectangular reservoir or 

 tank were tench. These fish, moreover, are supposed 

 to lie very low, if not in the mud, during the winter, 

 and are seldom seen except during the spawning time, 

 when they come to the top of the water. 



The supposition of all ancient and some compara- 

 tively modern authors that the tench is furnished with 

 a sort of curative slime or saliva is pure, if pretty, 

 fancy, and it may be ranked with the old idea that the 

 fish had the extraordinary gift of healing humanity. 

 Camden is responsible for the story of a pike whose 

 bowels were ripped open being instantaneously 

 healed by the touch of a tench. The tench is a very 



