AND OF STILL WATERS. 23 



unsoundness in fish is more absolutely poison- 

 ous than in any other class of food. And 

 yet, while our poor population are devouring at 

 comparatively high prices the offal of Billings- 

 gate, our inland lakes, ponds, and broads are 

 lying useless. We do not speak of the rivers ; 

 for the cultivation of such fish as pike and eels 

 in rivers would probably raise an outcry amongst 

 trout anglers, as trout have but little chance 

 against the strength and voracity of- the water- 

 wolf. In ponds, large or small, however, pike 

 would well repay cultivation, for they both grow 

 and fatten with great rapidity. An increase of 

 four pounds weight a year is said to be an 

 ordinary average for a pike if well supplied with 

 food, but instances are quoted of an increase of 

 even ten and eleven pounds in the year. 



" From the days of Gesner downwards," said 

 Mr. Frank Buckland, "more lies have been 

 told about the pike than any other fish in the 

 world," which is saying a good deal, since lies 

 are told so profusely about all animals, human 

 or otherwise, who are gifted with any remark- 

 able characteristics, whether pleasant or the 

 reverse. However, the many historians of the 



