SENBI SPEARING— THE REEL 311 



two large fish ; beside him stands an attendant holding a 

 bident Harpoon and a Reel unfixed. 



In fig. 4 (an enlargement in colour of the preceding plate) 

 the harhed heads transfix the heads of two big fish : an attendant 

 holds a spare harpoon and a reel of cord evidently meant to 

 revolve in its handle. 1 



In the second 2 " Senbi, accompanied by his wife Meres, 

 stands in a skiff constructed of reeds spearing fish. The 

 subject is depicted over and over again in the tomb-chapels, 

 but here it is imbued with new hfe. How realistic are the 

 monster hippopotami who bellow, and display their gleaming 

 white tusks, as Senbi comes skimming over the water in his 

 frail canoe ! The inscription over Senbi fishing runs as 

 follows : ' Spearing fish by him who is honoured by Osiris, 

 Lord of the Western Desert, the Nomarch, the Superintendent 

 of the Priests, Senbi the Justified.' " 



Before passing to the Hook, a few words as to the Reel. 

 Although Wilkinson would limit its use to Hippopotami, as 

 in Khenemhotep's scene, may we not fairly deduce its employ- 

 ment also in the spearing of large fish ? 



The surprise sometimes expressed as to the absence of any 

 evidence that the Reel did duty with the Rod is quite super- 

 fluous. The Line of the Nile, and, indeed, of all Europe till 

 the seventeenth century, was the tight, not the running Line. 3 

 A possibility, but not a probability, of a Reel being used by a 

 man catching a catfish with line and hook has been detected 

 in Plate 141 of the famous tomb of Ti, which shows the right 

 hand carrying what may be merely a club, or more likely a 

 stick for the line to be wound on, when not in use.* 



From the beginning of the Middle Kingdom onward the 

 Reel, of which a fine example comes from Beni Hasan, ^ 



1 F. Ll. Griffith, Beni Hasan, Pt. IV. p. 3, PI. XIII. fig. 3. 4- See also 

 Newberry, op. cit., PI. XXXIV. 



2 A. M. Blackman, The Rock Tombs of Meir (London, 1914). vol. 1. 28. 

 Cf. also Steindorfl's Das Grab des Ti (Leipzig, 1913). PI- ii3- 



^ Cf. Introduction. 



* Steindorff, Ibid. 



s F. Ll. Griffith, Beni Hasan, Pt.' 4 (London, 1900), PI. XIII. 4. For 

 kind permission to reproduce this and the next illustration I have to thank 

 the Bgypt Exploration Society. 



