CHINA, CRETE, GREECE— HORSE-HAIR LINE 7 



with the years — not less than two million according to some 

 geologists ^ — which have elapsed since Man first came on the 

 scene ? 



Second, all the above nations possessed an advanced 

 civihsation. Neither civiUsation nor fishing is a JoveUke 

 creation, springing into existence armed cap-d-pie. Both, like 

 our friend Topsy, "growed," and both demanded long periods 

 for growth and development from their primitive origin. 



In fishing these were retarded by the innate conservatism 

 of the followers of the cult. The psychology of the faithful is 

 an odd blend of dogged, perhaps unconscious, adherence to 

 the olden ways and of an almost Athenian curiosity about 

 " any new thing," which as often as not sees itself discarded 

 in favour of the ancient devices. 



Even in this year of our Lord a cousin of mine, who Ulysses- 

 hke many rivers has known, much tackle tested, habitually 

 (influenced no doubt by the recipe for the line given by Plutarch 

 and passed on by Dame Juliana Berners) inserts between his 

 line and his gut some eighteen inches of horse hair ! But 

 even in him the law of development works, for he does not 

 Pharisaically adhere to the strict letter of the text, and 

 insist that the hair comes only from the tail of a stalHon or 

 gelding ! 2 



Then, again, not less than two thousand odd years were 

 needed for the Rod and the Line of iEHan's Macedonian angler 

 to take unto themselves a cubit or so more of length than their 

 Egyptian predecessors. ^ The latter may, however, have been 

 rendered shorter than actually used from the regard paid to 

 artistic convention by the craftsman of Beni-Hasan. 



But the connection of the Une to the rod furnishes the most 

 arresting instance of conservatism or slow development. 



* Cf. Dr. J. T. Jehu's Lectures before the Royal Society, 1919. It is note- 

 worthy that whatever be the geological date of Man, the oldest true fish, as 

 we understand the term, seems the Shark family, which, although extremely 

 archaic, has but little altered. Next in seniority comes probably the Ceradotus ; 

 if now " merely a living fossil " and found only in Queensland, its form, 

 hardly modified, corresponds with remains found all over the world as early 

 as from the Trias. 



2 The urination of a mare was thought to weaken her hairs. Plutarch, 

 De Sol., 24. 



* Cf. however, postea, 315. 



