CHAPTER XXVII 



FISHERIES— ATTEMPTED CORRELATION OF THE PRICE 

 OF FISH THEN AND NOW— SPAWNING 



" When a [fisherman) father casts his net, his fate is in the hands 

 of God. In truth there is no calling which is not better than it." ^ 



The classification of Egyptian society made by Herodotus 2 

 merits mention if only on account of its unexpected gradations ; 

 (A) Priests, (B) Warriors, (C) Cowherds, (D) Swineherds, 

 (E) Tradesmen, (F) Interpreters, (G) Boatmen. The position 

 allotted to the cowherd and swineherd before the tradesman, 

 if startling to modern eyes, characterises most early societies, 

 " For trader," as Seymour shows, " Homer knows no word." 3 

 Fishermen, although unnamed but presumably included under 

 boatmen, figure last, a rank consonant with that assigned by 

 the Scribe above. 



If their life was socially of the lowest and their toil of the 

 hardest, they must have earned a modest living, even though 

 no tacksman millionaire finds record. We may fairly assume 

 a general and constant demand for fish from (A) the revenues 

 yielded by fisheries, and (B) the taxes paid by fishermen. 



Of (A) Lake Mceris affords a striking instance. When the 

 water retired from the lake to the Nile, the daily sale realised 

 one talent of silver (reckoned by Wilkinson at lic^-^ 15s. o^.), 

 and when the current set the other way one-third of that sum, 

 but in all some £45,000 yearly. 4 We learn that the proceeds 



^ Maspero, Du genre 6pistolaire chez les Egyptiens, p. 65 f. 



2 II. 164. Cf., however, II. 47. It is not quite clear whether the order of 

 the hst is intentional. If so, it is certainly justifiable from the point of view 

 of primitive or early society. 



* See p. 65, antea. 



* Herod., II. 149, 



333 



