EARLY FISH PROTECTION AND BREEDING 291 



W. Yen dates the epoch as probably that of Tao Chu Kung, 

 who Hved in the fifth century b.c.^ 



In Rome considerable trade was done in the sale of young 

 fish for stocking waters. In China the commerce in fish eggs 

 was on a vast scale and extremely lucrative. The Jesuit 

 missionary Du Haldc writes, " Le gain va sou vent au centuple 

 dc la depense, car le Peuple se nourrit en partie dc Poissons."^ 



The method, however, of both the Chinese and the Romans 

 was to gather eggs, already naturally fertilised, lying at the 

 bottom of, or adhering to weeds in, the water. The Chinese 

 went farther by employing special traps of hurdles and mats 

 to bar the rivers and catch the eggs deposited on these. 



During the long interval between the Roman Empire and 

 the eighteenth century, we note little or no progress in the 

 rearing of fish, although preserves became numerous in Italy 

 and France. Kings and nobles were zealous and jealous in 

 making and maintaining artificial ponds. Charlemagne the 

 Great personally ordered the repairing of old and digging of 

 new ponds. By sales from their vivaria, and by heavy royalties 

 from their fisheries the religious communities amassed large 

 revenues. 



Towards the end of the Middle Ages new methods to 

 counter the scarcity universally prevalent, despite the teaching 

 in the thirteenth century of Peter of Vescenza, were eagerly 

 sought. Dom Pinchon, a monk of the Abbey of Reome, 

 seems the first to have conceived the idea of artificially 

 fecundating the eggs of trout. He pressed out in turn the 

 milt of a male and the eggs of a female into water, which he 

 then agitated with his finger. He placed the resulting eggs 

 in a wooden box, with a layer of fine sand on the bottom, 

 and a willow grating above and at the two ends. The box 

 till the moment of hatching was immersed in water flowing 

 with a gentle stream. 



The process — described in a manuscript dated 1420, but 

 not published till about 1850 — naturally led to no practical 

 results. Consequently Pinchon's claim to be the father of 



' op. cit., 376, but see Chinese chapter. 



^ History of the Chinese Empire (Paris, 1735), vol. I. p. 36. 



