104 THE CAEP FAMILY* 



newspapers of 1765 am account is given of the draining of a 

 pool, twenty-seven feet deep, at the LUishaE Limeworks, near 

 Newport, which had not been fished for many years, and from 

 which a gigantic pike was taken that weighed one hundred and 

 seventy pounds, being heavier than a man of twelve stone ! 

 I have seen scores of pike which weighed upwards of half a 

 stone, and a good many double that weight, but the weight 

 is thought now to be on the descending ratio, the giants of 

 the tribe having been apparently all captured. Formerly 

 there used to be great hauls of this fish taken out of the 

 water. Whether or not a pike be good for food depends 

 greatly on where it has been fed, what it has eaten, and how 

 it has been cooked. In fact, as I have already endeavoured to 

 show, the animals of the water are in respect of food not unlike 

 those of the land — their flavour is largely dependent on their 

 feeding; and pike that have been luxuriating on Lochleven 

 trout, or feeding daintily for a few months on young salmon, 

 cannot be very bad fare. 



i The carp family (Oyprinidae) is very numerous, embracing 

 among its members the barbel, the gudgeon, the carp-bream, the 

 white-bream, the red-eye, the roach, the bleak, the dace, and 

 the well-known minnow. There is one of the family which is 

 of a beautiful colour, and with which aU are familiar — I mean 

 the golden carp, which may be seen floating in its crystal prison 

 in nearly every home of taste, and which swarms in the ponds 

 at Hampton Court, in the tropical waters of the Crystal Palace 

 at Sydenham, as also in all the great aquariums. The gold and 

 silver fish are natives of China, whence they were introduced 

 into this country by the Portuguese about the end of the seven- 

 teenth century, and have become, especially of late years, so 

 common as to be hawked about the streets for sale. In China, 

 as we can read, every person of fashion keeps gold-fish by way 

 of having a little amusement. They are contained either in the 

 small basins that decorate the courts of the Chinese houses, or 

 in porcelain vases made on purpose ; and the most beautiful 

 kinds are taken from a small mountain lake in the province of 

 Che-Kyang, where 'they grow to a comparatively large size, 

 some attaining a length of eighteen inches and a comparative 

 bulk, the general run of them being equal in size to our herrings. 

 These lovely fish afford much delight to the Chinese ladies, who 

 tend and cultivate them with great care. They keep them in 

 very large basins, and a common earthen pan is generally placed 



