CHAP. VIII.] THE FOT7ETH DAT. 191 



be doubted, that a pike will devour a fish, of his own kind, 1 

 that shall be bigger than his belly or throat will receive, and 

 swallow a part of him, and let the other part remain in his 

 mouth till the swallowed part be digested, and then swallow 

 that other part that was in his mouth, and so put it over by 

 degrees, which is not unlike the ox and some other beasts 

 taking their meat not, out of their mouth, immediate into 

 their belly, but first into some place betwixt, and then chew 

 it, or digest it by degrees after, which is called chewing the 

 cud. And, doubtless, pikes will bite when they are not 

 hungry ; but as some think, even for very anger, when a 

 tempting bait comes near to them. 



And it is observed, that the pike will eat venomous 

 things, as some kind of frogs are, 2 and yet live without being 

 harmed by them ; for, as some say, he has in him a natural 

 balsam, or antidote against all poison. And he has a 

 strange heat, that though it appears to us to be cold, can yet 

 digest or put over, any fish-flesh by degrees, without being 

 sick. And others observe, that he never eats the venomous 

 frog till he have first killed her, and then as ducks are 

 observed to do to frogs in spawning time, at which time 

 some frogs are observed to be venomous so thoroughly 

 washed her, by tumbling her up and down in the water, 

 that he may devour her without danger. 3 And Gresner 

 afiirms, that a Polonian gentleman did faithfully assure 



into the river : but it having been swallowed by a fish, and the fish 

 afterwards taken, the ring was found and restored to him. H. Ephe- 

 mera says, "I believe the largest pike ever caught in the British Isles 

 was that caught many years ago, and the weight of which was about 

 921bs., in the river Shannon, by some visitors at Portumna Castle, 

 the family seat of the Marquis of Clanricarde. I never myself saw 

 a pike that weighed more than 33 Ibs ; but Mr. Grove and other fish- 

 mongers tell me they have frequently had Dutch pike weighing upwards 

 of 40 Ibs., and sometimes reaching 50 Ibs." 



1 A pike of a large size was taken in the river Ouse, by fastening on a 

 lesser one, as the person was drawing it out of the water, who thus caught 

 them both. BROWNE. The keeper of Richmond Park sent me a pike of 

 about seven pounds weight which had been killed, in consequence of its 

 having attempted to swallow a pike nearly as large as itself. ED. 



3 A pike will, perhaps, feed as readily on frogs as anything. I am not 

 aware what Walton means by some kind of frogs being venomous. Did he 

 include toads ? And even the secretion from the pustules of the toad is 

 merely acrid and not venomous. ED. 



3 This is obviously quite fanciful. ED. 



