shows the utter indifference to specific accuracy that prevailed among the various writers.

The other figure represents the Coryphene (Coryphaena hippuris), popularly, though very wrongly, called the Dolphin, and celebrated, under that name, for the beautiful colours which fly over the surface of the body as it dies.

The flesh of the Coryphene is excellent, and in the times of classic Rome the epicures were accustomed to keep these fish alive, and at the beginning of a feast to lay them before the guests, so that they might, in the first place, witness the magnificent colours of the dying fish, and, in the second place, might be assured that when it was cooked it was perfectly fresh. Even during life, the Coryphene is a most lovely fish, and those who have witnessed it playing round a ship, or dashing off in chase of a shoal of flying-fishes, can scarcely find words to express their admiration of its beauty.

FISHES.

CHAPTER II.!

Various modes of capturing Fish-The hook and line-Military use of the hook— Putting a hook in the jaws-The fishing spear-Different kinds of net-The casting-net-Prevalence of this form-Technical words among fishermen— Fishing by night—The draught of Fishes-The real force of the miracleSelecting the Fish-The Fish-gate and Fish-market-Fish killed by a draught -Fishing in the Dead Sea-Dagon, the fish-god of Philistina, Assyria, and Siam --Various Fishes of Egypt and Palestine.

As to the various methods of capturing Fish, we will first take the simplest plan, that of the hook and line, as is mentioned in the passage quoted above from Ezekiel. Sundry other references are made to angling, both in the Old and New Testaments. See, for example, the well-known passage respecting the leviathan, in Job xli. 1, 2: "Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down?

"Canst thou put an hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn?"

It is thought that the last clause of this passage refers, not to the actual capture of the Fish, but to the mode in which they were kept in the tanks, each being secured by a ring or hook and line, so that it might be taken when wanted.

On referring to the New Testament, we find that the fisher Apostles used both the hook and the net. See Matt. xvii. 27: "Go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up." Now this passage explains one or two points.

In the first place, it is one among others which shows that, although the Apostles gave up all to follow Christ, they did not throw away their means of livelihood, as some seem to fancy, nor exist ever afterwards on the earnings of others. On the contrary, they retained their fisher equipment, whether boats, nets, or hooks; and here we find St. Peter, after the way of fishermen, carrying about with him the more portable implements of his craft.

Next, the phrase "casting" the hook into the sea is exactly expressive of the mode in which angling is conducted in the sea and large pieces of water, such as the Lake of Galilee. The fisherman does not require a rod, but takes his line, which has a weight just above the hook, coils it on his left arm in lasso fashion, baits the hook, and then, with a peculiar swing, throws it into the water as far as it will reach. The hook is allowed to sink for a short time, and is then drawn towards the shore in a series of jerks, in order to attract the Fish, so that, although the fisherman does not employ a rod, he manages his line very much as does an angler of our own day when "spinning" for pike or trout.

Sometimes the fisherman has a number of lines to manage, and in this case he acts in a slightly different manner. After throwing out the loaded hook, as above mentioned, he takes a short stick, notched at one end, and pointed at the other, thrusts the sharp end into the ground at the margin of the water, and hitches the line on the notch.

He then proceeds to do the same with all his lines in succession, and when he has flung the last hook into the water, he sits down on a heap of leaves and grass which he has gathered together, and watches the lines to see if either of them is moved in the peculiar jerking manner which is characteristic of a

"bite." After a while, he hauls them in successively, removes the Fish that may have been caught, and throws the lines into the water afresh.

This mode of fishing is mentioned in Habakkuk i. 15: "They take up all of them with the angle."

There are one or two passages which seem to refer to the custom of angling, though they really bear on a different subject. One of these is to be found in Ezek. xxxviii.: "And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth and all thine army, horses and horsemen.” There is another passage of a similar character in Amos iv. 2: The Lord God hath sworn by His holiness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you, that He will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fish-hooks.”

66

The word which is here translated as "hook' may more properly be rendered as "ring," and the prophet alludes to the cruel custom then prevalent of passing a sharpened hook through the nose or cheek of a prisoner taken in war, twisting it into a ring, tying a cord to it, and so leading him just as a bull is led by the ring in the nose.

There are several references in the Scriptures to the hook used for this cruel purpose. See 2 Kings xix. 28: "Because thy rage against Me and thy tumult is come up into Mine ears, therefore I will put My hook in thy nose, and My bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest."

The reader will perceive how much more forcible is this passage when understood rightly than when the word "hook" is taken as signifying a mere fish-hook, the sum of it being that the Assyrians should be made captives and slaves, and driven back to the country whence they came. The passage in Ezek. xxix. 4 must be taken in the same sense: "But I will put

hooks in thy jaws."

That the spear was used in the old Scriptural times as it is at the present is shown from several passages of Holy Writ. See, for example, Job xli. 7: "Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? or his head with fish-spears?" as also in the same chapter, "The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold the spear, the dart, nor the habergeon.

He esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood.

"The arrow cannot make him flee: sling-stones are turned with him into stubble.

"Darts are counted as stubble: he laugheth at the shaking of a spear" (ver. 26—29).

Fishing with the spear is much used in the smaller tributary streams of the Jordan, and the weapon, instead of being manypointed and barbed in trident fashion, has but one point, and is without barbs. With these spears the people contrive to catch a considerable variety of Fish.

We now come to the practice of catching Fish by the net, a custom to which the various Scriptural writers frequently refer, sometimes in course of historical narrative, and sometimes by way of allegory or metaphor. The reader will remember that the net was also used on land for the purpose of catching wild animals, and that many of the allusions to the net which occur in the Old Testament refer to the land and not to the water.

The commonest kind of net, which was used in the olden times as it is now, was the casting-net. This kind of net is circular, and is loaded all round its edge with weights, and suspended by the middle to a cord. When the fisherman throws this net, he gathers it up in folds in his arms, and, with a peculiar swing of the arms, only to be learned by long practice, flings it so that it spreads out and falls in its circular form upon the surface of the water. It rapidly sinks to the bottom, the loaded circumference causing it to assume a cup-like form, enclosing within its meshes all the Fish that happen to be under it as it falls. When it has reached the bottom, the fisherman cautiously hauls in the rope, so that the loaded edges gradually approach each other, and by their own weight cling together and prevent the Fish from escaping as the net is slowly drawn ashore.

This kind of net is found, with certain modifications, in nearly all parts of the world. The Chinese are perhaps supreme in their management of it. They have a net of extraordinary size, and cast it by flinging it over their backs, the huge circle spreading itself out in the most perfect manner as it falls on the water.

At the present day, when the fishermen use this net they wade into the sea as far as they can, and then cast it. In consequence of this custom, the fishermen are always naked

while engaged in their work, wearing nothing but a thick cap in order to save themselves from sun-stroke. It is probable that on the memorable occasion mentioned by St. John, in chap. xxi., all the fishermen were absolutely, and not relatively nakedi.e. that they wore no clothes at all, not even the ordinary tunic.

That a great variety of nets was used by the ancient Jews is evident from the fact that there are no less than ten words to

signify different kinds of net. At the present day we have. very great difficulty in deciding upon the exact interpretation of these technical terms, especially as in very few cases are we assisted either by the context or by the etymology of the words. It is the same in all trades or pursuits, and we can easily understand how our own names of drag-net, seine, trawl, and keer-drag would perplex any commentator who happened to live some two thousand years after English had ceased to be a living language.

Four or five of the Hebrew words give no clue whatever, being simply derived from a root that signifies weaving, and that therefore merely indicates the fact that the articles in question are nets. Some of them are derived from a word which signifies lying in wait, and another from a word which signifies catching or seizing.

The translators who rendered the Hebrew into the familiar form of the Septuagint either were unable to distinguish between the various Hebrew terms, or did not think that any discrimination was needed, inasmuch as they sometimes render the same Hebrew word by several Greek equivalents, and sometimes use the same Greek word to express several Hebrew terms.

When we come to the New Testament, we find a certain feeling of relief, because the three words used to signify different kinds of nets are easily understood.

There is, for example, the amphibléstron (appißλnoTρov), which is undoubtedly a casting net, as is signified by the etymology of the word, which is derived from two Greek words signifying to cast around. This word is used by Herodotus in a sort of parable related by Cyrus to the Ionians and Æolians, who had refused to revolt from Croesus when Cyrus asked them to do so; but, when they found he was sure to be their master, they sent