FISHERIES AMONG THE ANCIENT GREEKS AND ROMANS. 7 



The Romans, like the Greeks, carried on their fisheries partly along 

 the coasts and partly in the open sea. A large number of fishermen's 

 societies had been organized, which fitted out large vessels and sent them 

 on long cruises all over the Mediterranean, and even beyond the Pillars 

 of Hercules, up and down the coasts of North Africa, Spain, and Por- 

 tugal. They well knew how to make use of favorable weather, and were 

 familiar with the best hours for fishing by day and by night ; as, for ex- 

 ample, just before the rising of the sun and the moon, and just after 

 their setting. 



The most ordinary fishing-implements were the harpoon, the line, and 

 different kinds of nets and seines. It will thus be seen that fishermen 

 in our time are not so very far in advance of their ancient brethren, 

 although of course these implements have been somewhat improved 

 during the progress of ages. 



Noel de la Moriniere gives the following account of the method of fish- 

 ing with lines : " The lines were generally made of horsehair, single, 

 double, and plaited. The hair of horses was preferred to that of mares, 

 and black hair was not esteemed as highly as white. According to 

 iElianus, the hair was colored in different ways. The fishing-pole was 

 chosen with reference to the supposed weight of the fish to be caught 

 and the resistance it could offer. The hooks, which were of copper or 

 iron, covered with tin, were single, or composed of several branches, 

 and of different thickness. If fish were to be caught having sharp 

 teeth, and hence able to injure the line, it was surrounded just above 

 the hook with a covering of horn or some other hard substance, e. g., 

 copper. For catching sharks, or similar fish, iron chains were employed. 

 Many details concerning these implements are found in the works of 

 the ancient writers." (Histoire generate des Peches, p. 188.) 



Special care was taken in the selection of bait for line-fishing. The 

 most common bait was small fish, larva), worms, or insects ; some- 

 times, also, the lungs and liver of hogs and goats, shell-fish, and polyps ; 

 and even at times the entrails of animals which had been saturated 

 with an extract of myrtle and other odoriferous plants. Oppianus, and, 

 after him, Cassianus Bassus, as well as other writers in the time of the 

 emperors, have described a large number of different kinds of bait. 

 Tbey were prepared to . suit the tastes of the different fish. Thus the 

 " aurata" was caught with almonds and the sword-fish with mullets. Op- 

 pian says that the " lycostome " (a sort of herring) was the best bait 

 for catching the " sargus." As soon as a certain quantity had been 

 thrown into the water they came in large swarms to eat it, and the fish- 

 ermen then seized the opportunity to inclose them in their nets, and 

 thus frequently caught large numbers.* 



* This use of bait in net-fishing reminds us of the sardine fisheries on the coast of 

 Brittany, as carried on in our own time. But here the roe of the cod-fish is used as a 

 bait for the sardines. To give an idea of the enormous quantity of roe used for sar- 

 dine-fishing, I will only mention that 30,000 kegs of roe are exported annually from 



