4 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



habits of fish more closely than those of any other animals. They were 

 not only familiar with them, but they preferred them as food even to the 

 choicest poultry. The modern Greeks inherited from them this love of 

 the sea and its inhabitants, and still preserve it ; while the Romans* 

 weighed down beneath the most cruel despotism, the most fearful im- 

 morality, and the most insane luxury that ever disgraced a noble nation, 

 still clung to their love for the inhabitants of the deep. It is by no 

 means improbable that they inherited it from those ancient nations of 

 the East, among whom these characteristic traits may still be observed.* 



The nearness of the coast, and the nature of the sea which surrounded 

 their country as it did on almost every side, naturally inspired them 

 with a love for ocean life ; and it may well be said, " that this circum- 

 stance is more closely connected with the progress of civilization than 

 is usually supposed. We find that it vanishes completely first in those 

 unfortunate portions of Europe and Asia where barbaric hordes of wild 

 huntsmen, issuing forth from their northern forests, succeeded by their 

 numbers and fierceness in changing the customs and ideas of the con- 

 quered nations." 



These words of Buffon form the theme and starting-point for the fol- 

 lowing observations, which are partly taken from ancient Greek and 

 Roman authors themselves ; partly from more recent writers, such as 

 PaulJovius [Giovio], Aldrovaudi, Petrus Artedi, Gesner, Buffon, Sabin 

 Berthelot, and partly from the very able writings of Noel dela Moriniere, 

 of Rouen, on this subject. 



The archetypes of our modern fishing implements, the net and the line, 

 have been known and used throughout the whole world from times im- 

 memorial. In Homer we find the fisheries in a flourishing condition, 

 and he frequently takes his similes from the art which, in all probability 

 not only the twin-sister of agriculture, but together with hunting, consti- 

 tuted the first mode of securing subsistence in the earliest days of the 

 human race. In the Odyssey, e. g., Penelope's sighing lovers are com- 

 pared to the fish gasping on the shore, where the fisherman's net has 

 been emptied. Hesiod places on the shield of Hercules a fisherman on 

 his lookout, ready to cast his net over some of the finny tribe which are 

 pursued by a dolphin. 



The ancients knew as well as we that certain natural advantages, 

 •wisely managed, would open up new and remunerative lines of business. 

 Hence, the Greeks developed their fisheries to such a degree as to enlist 

 a large amount of physical and mental exertion, and they gradually 

 became one of the most remunerative of occupations. Large salt- 



* During my stay in Paris, I had a long and interesting conversation with the 

 Chinese minister, and was astonished to hear how far advanced the Chinese are in pis- 

 ciculture, especially as regards the breeding and raising of fish. They also seem to 

 have a great many fishing implements which are unknown to us. He finally assured 

 me that M. Coste (the great French pisciculturist) himself might learn a good deal 

 by traveling to China, an opinion which was strongly corroborated by his secretary, 

 a Belgian. 



