ANTIQUITY OF PIKE. 7 



often served the double purpose of defence and fish 

 preserves. In the immediate neighbourhood of abbeys 

 we usually find large fish-ponds, unless (as is frequently 

 the case) these religious buildings stood near some 

 well-known stream. No doubt at this time, in spite 

 of the difficulty of transit, European fish were more 

 or less interchanged, so that it does not do to accept 

 their present geographical distribution as a natural 

 one. It is all but certain that the carp was brought 

 from southern Europe to the more northerly parts ; 

 its great size and esteemed flavour rendering it a 

 favourite. The pike is said to have been introduced 

 into England in like manner, but this is hardly 

 likely, as we find its remains in the post-glacial 

 river-bed of Mundesley, in Norfolk. Thus we have 

 incontestable evidence of the existence in Britain 

 of the pike long before the historic period, and 

 when the physical geography of the surface was, in 

 Norfolk at least, very different from what it is now. 

 Tastes, as regards fish and other aquatic animals, 

 have differed much since mediaeval times. The 

 upper classes regarded pike and tench as fit only for 

 the lower orders, whilst they did not scruple to enjoy 

 the coarse flesh of the sea dog, the porpoise, and even 

 the whale ! In an old document of the thirteenth 

 century, about fifty kinds of fish are mentioned which 

 were retailed in the French markets. Lacroix says 

 that a century later, the flesh of the whale was salted 

 down for the use of the common people. Congers, 



