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CHAPTER XII. 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE PEARCH ; AND DIRECTIONS HOW TO FISH 

 FOR HIM. 



Pise. The Pearch is a very good and a very bold biting 

 fish. He is one of the fishes of prey that, like the pike and 

 trout, carries his teeth in his mouth, which is very large ; 

 and he dare venture to kill and devour several other kinds 

 of fish. He has a hooked or hog back, which is armed with 

 sharp and stiff bristles, and all his skin armed or covered 

 over with thick dry hard scales, and hath, which few other 

 fish have, two fins on his back. He is so bold that he will 

 invade one of his own kind, which the pike will not do wil- 

 lingly, and you may therefore easily believe him. to be a 

 bold biter. 



The pearch is of great, esteem in Italy, saith Aldrovandus, 

 and especially the least are there esteemed a dainty dish. 

 And Gesner prefers the pearch and pike above the trout, or 

 any fresh- water fish : he says the Germans have this proverb, 

 " More wholesome than a pearch of Rhine ;" and he says 

 the river pearch is so wholesome that physicians allow him 

 to be eaten by wounded men, or by men in fevers, or by 

 women in childbed. 



He spawns but once a year, and is, by physicians, held 

 very nutritive ; yet, by many, to be hard of digestion. They 

 abound more in the river Po, and in England, says Konde- 

 letius, than other parts, and have in their brain a stone which 

 is in foreign parts sold by apothecaries, being there noted to 

 be very medicinable against the stone in the reins. These 

 be a part of the commendations which some philosophical 

 brains have bestowed upon the fresh- water pearch j yet they 

 commend the sea-pearch, which is known by having but one 

 fin on his back, of which, they say, we English see but a 

 few, to be a much better fish. 



The pearch grows slowly, yet will grow, as I have been 

 credibly informed, to be almost two feet long ; for an honest 

 informer told me such a one was not long since taken by 

 Sir Abraham Williams, a gentleman of worth, and a brother 



