Ori FISHES. 



from tlie fact that many of the most valuable 

 Fishes have the habit of herdiner too^ether in 

 shoals. The engraving, copied from an Egyp- 

 tian sepulchre, represents a very ancient form 

 of drag-net used in the Nile ; the fishers are 

 stationed in part on the bank of the river, and 

 in part on board of their fishing-boat, on the 

 rigging of which the fishes are seen hanging up 

 to dry for preservation. 



Fishing by means of nets is frequently alluded 

 to in the Scriptures, and in particular, it was the 

 mode practised by several of the disciples of our 

 blessed Lord, both before and after their sacred 

 association with Him. The lovely Sea of Galilee 

 often bore upon its waves the Son of Man, who, 

 seated in the fishing-vessel of John or Simon, 

 cheered their toil with His gracious words, as 

 they launched out into the deep, and let down 

 their nets for a draught. 



Many are the varieties of this important ac- 

 cessory to human industry, the fishing-net ; from 

 the hoop-cast, which the fisher throws by hand 

 over the surface-swimming fry to secure bait, to 

 the elaborate tonnaro of the Italian shores, a mile 

 in length. Most of those kinds, the pursuit of 

 which is sufficiently important to be styled a 

 fishery, are taken by nets of some kind or other. 

 Thus on our own coasts, the Mackerel, the Her- 

 ring, and the Pilchard, are taken chiefly by drift- 

 nets, that is, nets of great length suspended per- 

 pendicularly from near the surface by a rope, 

 to which corks are attached, and kept extended 

 by a buoy, at one end ; and by the fishing-boat 

 riding on it, as if on her cable, at the other. 

 The Sprat and the Whitebait are taken by bag- 



