240 MODES OF TAKING FISHES. 



pears to be one of those wise and bountiful provisions 

 of the Creator, by which not only is each species per- 

 petuated with the greatest certainty, but a large 

 portion of the parent animals are thus brought within 

 the reach of man, who, but for the operation of this 

 law, would be deprived of many of those species most 

 valuable to him as food. It may be observed further, 

 that as there is scarcely a month throughout the year 

 in which the fishes of some one or more species are 

 not thus brought within the reach of man, a constant 

 succession of wholesome food is spread before him, 

 which costs him little beyond the exercise of his in- 

 genuity and his labour to obtain. 



The modes of taking fish are very variable, and the 

 practice of capturing them by hooks and speai*s is 

 probably of very remote antiquity.* Nets appear to 

 have been first used in this country about the year 

 678, when the peasantry on the coast of Sussex were 

 first instructed in the use of nets by Bishop Wilfrid ;+ 



* Although fish with fins and scales were allowed to the Israelites 

 for food, it does not seem that much use was made of this indulgence 

 until the later days of the Jewish History. 



In the Old Testament, the only direct reference to the consumption 

 of fish is where we learn that Mediterranean fish were brought 

 across the country by the Phoenicians for sale at Jerusalem, Neh. 

 xiii. 16. The fish brought to the city were sold at a particular gate, 

 called the Fish-gate, 2 Chron. xxxiii. 14, Neh. iii. 3, and xii. 39. 

 Fish-ponds are mentioned, Sol. Song vii. 4 ; and there are such 

 allusions to fishing with nets, Job xix. 6, Isaiah li. 20 ; with hooks, 

 Job xli. 1 ; Isaiah xix. 8 ; Amos iv. 2 ; and with spears, Job xli. 7; 

 as show that these operations were well known. 



In the New Testament we read oftener of fish and fishing. His- 

 tory of Palestine, by Dr. Kitto. 



t " Origins and Inventions," by W. Pulleyn. 



