CHAP, vm.] THE FOURTH DAY. 137 



the middle of April till August ; and then the frog's mouth grows 

 up, and he continues so for at least six months without eating, 

 but is sustained, none but He whose name is Wonderful knows 

 how : I say, put your hook, I mean the arming-wire, through his 

 mouth, and out at his gills ; and then with a fine needle and silk 

 sew the upper part of his leg, with only one stitch, to the arming- 

 wire of your hook ; or tie the frog's leg, above the upper joint, to 

 the armed-wire ; and, in so doing, use him as though you loved 

 him, that is, harm him as little as you may possibly, that he may 

 live the longer. 



And now, having given you this direction for the baiting your 

 ledger-hook with a live fish or frog, my next must be to tell you, 

 how your hook thus baited must or may be used ; and it is thus : 

 having fastened your hook to a line, which if it be not fourteen 

 yards long should not be less than twelve, you are to fasten that 

 line to any bough near to a hole where a Pike is, or is likely to 

 lie, or to have a haunt ; and then wind your line on any forked 

 stick, all your line, except half a yard of it or rather more ; and 

 split that forked stick, with such a nick or notch at one end of it 

 as may keep the line from any more of it ravelling from about 

 the stick than so much of it as you intend. And choose your 

 forked stick to be of that bigness as may keep the fish or frog 

 from pulling the forked stick under the water till the Pike bites ; 

 and then the Pike having puUed the line forth of the cleft or nick 

 of that stick in which it was gently fastened, he will have line 

 enough to go to his hold and pouch the bait. And if you would 

 have this ledger-bait to keep at a fixt place undisturbed by wind 

 or other accidents which may drive it to the shore-side, for you 

 are to note, that it is likeliest to catch a Pike in the midst of the 

 water, then hang a small plummet of lead, a stone, or piece of 

 tile, or a turf, in a string, and cast it into the water with the 

 forked stick to hang upon the ground, to be a kind of anchor to 

 keep the forked stick from moving out of your intended place till 

 the Pike come : this 1 take to be a very good way to use so many 

 ledger-baits as you intend to make trial of. 



Or if you bait your hooks thus with live fish or frogs, and in a 

 windy day, fasten them thus to a bough or bundle of straw, and 

 by the help of that wind can get them to move across a pond or 

 mere, you are like to stand still on the shore and see sport pres- 

 ently, if there be any store of Pikes. Or these live baits may 

 make sport, being tied about the body or wings of a goose or duck, 



