FISHES. 37 



while the whole scene appears in bright contrast 

 with the deep and almost midnight gloom that 

 envelopes every other object."* 



The hook and line claim as great an antiquity 

 as the other implements of the fisher's art. In 

 that which has been considered the most ancient 

 of all compositions, the Book of Job, the Al- 

 mighty Lord of nature, in one of the sublime 

 appeals wherewith He humbles his too confident 

 servant, says, ** Canst thou draw out leviathan 

 with an hook ? or his tongue with a cord ichich 

 thou lettest down?^* In the burden denounced 

 against Egypt by the prophet Isaiah, " they that 

 cast angle into the brooks" are alluded to, in as- 

 sociation with those " that spread nets upon the 

 waters." And though the disciples of our Lord 

 seem chiefly to have used the net, they were 

 familiar with the hook also ; for when a single 

 fish was required to furnish the tribute-stater, 

 Peter was commanded by his Master to " go to 

 the sea, and cast an hook,'* The Egyptian monu- 

 ments are not wanting in pictorial representations 

 of this art any more than of the others already 

 alluded to ; individuals being depicted in the very 

 act of " casting angle into the brooks." 



In our times the hook is extensively used, both 

 by savage and civilized nations. In the beautiful 

 islands that stud, as with clusters of gems, the 

 broad bosom of the Pacific Ocean, around whose 

 coasts Fishes of various species are peculiarly 

 abundant, the ingenious and enterprising inhabi- 

 tants have turned their attention to fishing with 

 great success. Many artifices have been invented 

 by them for this purpose, some of them most 



* Polynesian Researches, i. 150, 



