o 



62 THE EARLIEST CONTRACT OF FISHING 



it is true, had to pay to the Government a quarter of the value 

 of their catch [TtTTapn] aXiiwv), but this seems to have been 

 a regular tax. Later on we find fishermen pa}ing to the 

 priests of Lake Moeris a ^o/ooc (not to be confounded with 

 'i\6vripa cfjimwr, or State tax) which presumably included the 

 purchase of the right to fish, as well as the hire of boats. But 

 this was in the nature of a royalty or rent, was a continuous 

 obligation, and proportioned to the catch, whereas in our 

 second document the time is hmited, and the paj-ment fixed, 

 not proportioned.^ 



(B) The second contract demonstrates that the custom of 

 additional guarantors is no mere modern institution. 



(C) It also tends to show that the sj'stem, previously known 

 as employed by Babylonian landlords, of letting their farms to 

 tenants for a fixed proportion of the crops, extended occasionally 

 to their waters as well. 



^ See a}:lea, 333 f., and Tebiuuis Papyri, vol, II. pp. iSo-iSi. B, P. 

 Grenfell and A. S. Hunt, 1907. 



