12 FISHERIES AND FISHERMEN 



ingenious Italian, Roscllini, yields a suggestion that the 

 device of using cormorants, or at least some kind of birds 

 as intermediaries between themselves and the inhabitants 

 of the waters, a kind of fish-hawking common enough in 

 China, was not unknown to the Egyptians. As, however, 

 the special point does not appear to have occurred to the 

 professor, it may be as well to quote his own words, 

 especially as they will illustrate the nature of the 

 records from which our knowledge of these most ancient 

 occupations is derived, and the amount of the skill required 

 for their interpretation. The author speaks of the hiero- 

 glyphic word representing a net, and then, says he, there 

 follows the figure of a bird with the signs of plurality. 

 Then comes another bird with beak and claws, and that 

 character expresses, as is evident from other places, a mode 

 of taking fish, and in general the idea of fishing. More 

 often one finds this symbol preceded by the phonetic word 

 which in the spoken language expresses the same idea with 

 the armed hand following the words indicating the action. 

 In fact, it is the figure of a fish with the note of plurality. 

 From these premises the learned and ingenious author 

 concludes that the inscription represents the inspector of 

 " bird-snaring and fishing. " Si esprime dimque in questa 

 iscrizione : /' ispettore della caccia colle reti agli iiccelli, e della, 

 pescagione dei pesci, che e 1' uffizio dell' uomo in quella scena 

 figurato." But with the most sincere deference to so high 

 an authority, we cannot help thinking that the representa- 

 tion may have relation, not merely to birds and fish, but to 

 catching the latter by means of the former. 



Snaring crocodiles was another favourite industry or 

 amusement with the people of ancient Egypt, as is shown 

 by the tomb of Sciumnes at Kum-cl-Ahmer. Men in flat- 

 bottomed boats covered with palm or papyrus seduced the 



