064 HISTOKY OK 



swim round it with disdain. The cod, on the banks of New- 

 foundland, the instant the hooli:, which is only baited with the 

 guts of the animal last taken, is dropped into the water, darts to 

 it at once, and the fishermen have but to pull up as fast as they 

 throw down. But it is otherwise with those who fish in fresh 

 waters, they must wait whole hours in fruitless expectation ; and 

 the jmtience of a fisherman is proverbial among us. 



This comparative neglect of food, which is found in all the 

 tribes of fresh-water lishes, renders them less turbulent and less 

 destructive among each other. Of all these the pike is the most 

 active and voracious ; and our poets, whose business it is to 

 observe the surface of nature, have called it the tyrant of the 

 watery plain. In fact, in proportion to its strength and celerity, 

 the pike does some mischief; but what are its effects compared 

 to those of the cachalot or the shark ! they resemble the petty 

 depredations of a robber, put in competition with the ravages of 

 a conqueror ! However, the pike will attack every fish less than 

 itself; and it is sometimes seen choked, by attempting to swal- 

 low such as are too large a morsel. It is immaterial of what 

 species the animal it pursues appears to be, whether of another 

 or its own, all are indiscriminately devoured ; so that every fish 

 owes its safety to its minuteness, its celerity, or its courage : 

 nor does the pike confine itself to feed on fish and frogs ; it will 

 draw down the water-rat and the young ducks, as they are swim- 

 ming about. Gesner tells us of a mule that stooped to drink iu 

 the water, when a famished pike, that was near, seized it by the 

 nose, nor was it disengaged till the beast flung it on shore. So 

 great is their rapacity, that they will contend with the otter for 

 his prey, and even endeavour to force it from him. For this 

 reason it is dreaded by all other fish : and the small ones show 

 the same uneasiness and detestation at the presence of their ty- 

 rant, as the little birds do at the sight of a hawk or an owl. 

 When the pike lies asleep near the surface, as is frequently the 

 case, the lesser fish are often observed to swim around it in vast 

 numbers, with a mixture of caution and terror. 



The other tribes of fresh-water fish are much inferior to this 

 animal in courage and rapacity : they chiefly subsist upon worms 

 and insects, pursuing them at the bottom, or jumping after them 

 to the surface of the water. In winter also, their appetite seems 

 entirely to forsake them ; at least they continue in so torpid a 



