ips, to
which the _Pike_ hung so fast, that the Mule drew him out of the water,
and by that accident the owner of the Mule got the _Pike_; I tell you
who relates it, and shall with it tel you what a wise man has observed,
_It is a hard thing to perswade the belly, because it hath no ears_.

But if this relation of _Gesners_ bee dis-believed, it is too evident
to bee doubted that a _Pike_ will devoure a fish of his own kind, that
shall be bigger then this belly or throat will receive; and swallow a
part of him, and let the other part remaine 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. And it is observed, that
the _Pike_ will eat venemous things (as some kind of _Frogs_ are) and
yet live without being harmed by them: for, as some say, he has in him
a natural Balsome or Antidote against all Poison: and others, that he
never eats a venemous _Frog_ till he hath 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 venemous) so throughly washt her,
by tumbling her up and down in the water, that he may devour her
without danger. And _Gesner_ affirms, that a _Polonian_ Gentleman did
faithfully assure him, he had seen two young Geese at one time in the
belly of a _Pike_: and hee observes, that in _Spain_ there is no
_Pikes_, and that the biggest are in the _Lake Thracimane_ in _Italy_,
and the next, if not equal to them, are the _Pikes_ of _England_.

The _Pike_ is also observed to be a melancholly, and a bold fish:
Melancholly, because he alwaies swims or rests himselfe alone, and
never swims in sholes, or with company, as _Roach_, and _Dace_, and
most other fish do: And bold, because he fears not a shadow, or to see
or be seen of any body, as the _Trout_ and _Chub_, and all other fish
do.

And it is observed by _Gesner_, that the bones, and hearts, & gals of
_Pikes_ are very medicinable for several Diseases, as to stop bloud, to
abate Fevers, to cure Agues, to oppose or expel the infection of the
Plague, and to be many wayes medicinable and useful for the good of
mankind; but that the biting of a _Pike_ is venemous and hard to be
cured.

And it is observed, that the _Pike_ is a fish that breeds but once a
year, and that other fish (as namely _Loaches_) do breed oftner; as we
are certaine Pigeons do almost every month, and yet the Hawk, a bird of
prey (a