And the
gentleman that did affirm this to me, told me he saw it; and did declare
his belief to be, and I also believe the same, that he thought the other
Carps, that were so strangely lost, were so killed by the frogs, and then
devoured.
And a person of honour, now living in Worcestershire, assured me he
had seen a necklace, or collar of tadpoles, hang like a chain or necklace
of beads about a Pike's neck, and to kill him: Whether it were for meat
or malice, must be, to me, a question.
But I am fallen into this discourse by accident; of which I might say
more, but it has proved longer than I intended, and possibly may not to
you be considerable: I shall therefore give you three or four more short
observations of the Carp, and then fall upon some directions how you
shall fish for him.
The age of Carps is by Sir Francis Bacon, in his History of Life and
Death, observed to be but ten years; yet others think they live longer.
Gesner says, a Carp has been known to live in the Palatine above a
hundred years But most conclude, that, contrary to the Pike or Luce, all
Carps are the better for age and bigness. The tongues of Carps are noted
to be choice and costly meat, especially to them that buy them: but
Gesner says, Carps have no tongue like other fish, but a piece of
fleshlike fish in their mouth like to a tongue, and should be called a
palate: but it is certain it is choicely good, and that the Carp is to be
reckoned amongst those leather-mouthed fish which, I told you, have
their teeth in their throat; and for that reason he is very seldom lost by
breaking his hold, if your hook be once stuck into his chaps.
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