52 INTRODUCTION. 



the animals themselves would suggest ; at first, 

 made of the rudest form and coarse materials — 

 as shell, or bone, or hardened wood — they did 

 their office ill, were only fitted for the larger 

 kinds, and exhibit a striking contrast with the 

 finely polished and tempered wire, and the beau- 

 tiful material gut, now in use. 



Fishing, from a pursuit of necessity, became 

 one of emolument, and during the Greek and 

 lloman ages, the profession of a fisherman was 

 one of the most common and respectable; and 

 farther intercourse and experience produced 

 improved hooks, nets, and lines of finer quality, 

 but equal strength, better fitted to retain and to 

 deceive, though the older practices of spearing 

 were still retained, accompanied with a greater 

 array of followers, and weapons of more ap- 

 proved form and delicate temper. Approaching 

 still nearer to our own times, we see hardy races 

 of men almost solely employed in providing for 

 the luxurious taste of the great European mar- 

 kets, and supplied with vessels, beautifully built, 

 materials and weapons of the best description — 

 the fisheries, supported by governments, becom- 

 ing the nurseries of seamen, and of great import- 

 ance in the revenues of kingdoms. 



From attention being thus necessarily and 

 unavoidably directed towards fish, and the means 



