OF ALL COUNTRIES. 7 



correct. As, standing in the midst of the great palace, we 

 look back upon the history of fishing and fishermen from 

 the earliest times, it seems as if the abundant wealth and 

 -devices around us had risen from the ocean beneath the 

 wand of an enchanter. Rich and varied as are the products 

 here collected, there is no trade or occupation so peculiarly 

 distinguished through all times and all nations by the 

 poverty of its pursuers as that of fishing. From the boat- 

 less, netless, shiftless race of Ichthyophagi, described by 

 Arrian and Strabo, to the big-booted and oilskin-coated 

 individual who forms to the observant eye one of the most 

 picturesque and familiar objects of the seashore, poverty is 

 the badge which marks the fisherman. 



Among primitive and unsettled communities the prin- 

 cipal pursuits of life consist of fishing and hunting ; yet 

 even there the hunter claims the greater share of im- 

 portance, since before either agricultural and pastoral 

 pursuits have taken root, both food and clothing are alike 

 supplied from the produce of the chase, while fishing must 

 be content to confine itself to the former of these departments 

 of the commissariat. As civilisation advances and the 

 growth of agriculture converts hunting from a benefit into 

 a detriment, rivers and streams no longer lie open to every 

 chance comer, but yield their wealth only to a privileged and 

 limited number. But though the waters which formerly 

 supplied an industry for the many may now afford only an 

 amusement for the few, yet little improvement has accrued 

 to those who still follow that calling for their livelihood, no 

 longer in the streams and rivers, but on the wild and 

 dangerous seas. In character, as in habits, the fisherman 

 seems little changed from the days of Oppian. Physically, 

 he is still well-made, active and athletic ; morally, he must 

 needs be patient and enterprising. No calling indeed 



