6 INTRODUCTION 



for their lines, a piece of sharpened iron for their hooks, thorn- 

 sticks for their rods, and spHt grain for their bait," be potent 

 enough to produce a protagonist for the priority of the Rod, 

 the boldest advocate would shrink from championing either 

 the Spear or Net. The first mention c. 900 b.c. (I know of 

 none actually written before this date i), shows them, and the 

 Rod, in general and simultaneous operation. 



From Crete shines out no guiding light. The debris re- 

 covered from centres of the ' Minoan ' civilisation yields 

 frequent and in the main vivid pictures of fish, e.g. those on 

 the Phaistos Disc (which is considered the earliest instance of 

 printing in Europe at any rate) and the fljang fish on glazed 

 pottery from Knossos. But unfortunately neither in the 

 Annual Reports of Sir Arthur Evans to the British School at 

 Athens nor (he tells me) in his forthcoming book do modi 

 piscandi obtain notice. 



In Greece, a champion of any single method would be 

 sadly to seek. The Spear, the Net, the Line, and the Rod all 

 occur in our earUest authority, Homer, and, curious to note, 

 as a rule in similes. From the fact that the Spear finds 

 mention but once, the Net twice, and the Line (with or without 

 the Rod) thrice, a real enthusiast has deduced an argument for 

 the priority of the last two over the Spear ! 



This short survey forces the conclusion that we cannot 

 fix definitely which was the method adopted by the earliest 

 historical fishermen. 



Before proceeding on our search for further data two points 

 should be emphasised. First, the period covered even by the 

 longest historical or semi-historical record counts but as a 

 fraction of the time since geology and archaeology prove Man 

 to have existed on earth. 



Grant, if you will, the demand of the most exacting Egypto- 

 logists or Sumerologists, to whom a thousand years are as 

 nothing ; concede their postulated five or six thousand years ; 

 of what account is one lustrum of millenniums when compared 



^ The recent discovery of the inscribed bone fragments in Honan apparently 

 adds some six hundred years to the history, as apart from the legends of China, 

 for c. 1500 B.C. instead of c. 900 b.c. seems now our starting point. See 

 infra, p. 450. 



