135 



3O. " I GO A FISHING. 



So said Simon Peter. And the seven other disciples 

 said, "We also go with thee." Some of these disci- 

 ples, when Jesus first met them, had been fishing, and 

 were then mending their nets. They left their nets and 

 boats to follow him, but it seems that they occasionally 

 repaired to the Sea of Galilee to go a fishing, for the 

 purpose of getting necessary food and for recreation 

 or sport. 



If the fish in this sea were of the same varieties that 

 abound there now, we may know something about 

 those which Simon Peter and his friends caught. Dr. 

 Tristam, visiting Palestine in 1863, collected from the 

 Sea of Galilee fifteen species of fishes. One kind was 

 nearly like our bream or shiner, only much larger. 

 Other species resembled the cat-fish in having barbels 

 hanging from a large snout, but differed from the cat- 

 fish in being clothed with large scales. Another was a 

 species of eel, without scales, and of a black color. 



The fish of the Sea of Galilee are now, as they were 

 eighteen hundred years ago, exceedingly abundant. 

 In ancient times they were caught with a net ; probably 

 never with a hook. Dr. Tristam witnessed the present 

 method of taking them. "An old Arab sat on a long 

 cliff and threw poisoned bread crumbs as far as he could 

 reach; which the fish seized, and turning over dead, 

 were washed ashore and collected for market." 



The shoals presented a marvelous sight, for many hun- 

 dred yards black with the masses of fish, the back fins 

 projecting out of the water as thickly as they could be 



