BARBLESS HOOKS— CONFUCIUS 453 



time in angling, but used no baits, as his object was not to 

 catch fish." ^ 



But the greatest Sage of them all, Confucius, whose philo- 

 sophy has for 2400 years permeated, perhaps even dominated, 

 public polity and private action, was not as one of these. 

 Humane, practical, and a sportsman, " The Master angled, 

 but did not use a net : he shot, but not at birds perching," 

 which Legge 2 in a note kindly expands into " Confucius 

 would only destroy what life was necessary to him ! " Since 

 netting in his era {c. 500 B.C.), as now, held the field, or rather the 

 water, the touch of the philosopher's sole device being the rod 

 implies a compliment, confirmed by the context, to his humane 

 sportsmanship. 



To Mr. Yen's statement as to the importance of fish, marine 

 or freshwater, as a staple of subsistence in China can be added 

 the evidence as regards ancient times collated by Werner, 3 later 

 times by Du Halde,^ and modern times by Williams,^ Gray,^ 

 and Dabry de Thiersant.^ While they agree with the rest of 

 the world in the economic necessity of fisheries, the people, 

 and especially the epicures of China, differ profoundly from the 

 European or American in ichthyic appreciation. 



As the Greeks and Latins at times saw not eye to eye as to 

 the palatal primacy of certain fishes, the people of the Middle 

 Kingdom eat not, and never ate, tooth to tooth with those of 

 the West. To the Sinitic opsophagist his salmon, indeed most 

 of the deep sea fishes, appeals not at all, 



" We delight,'' says Mr. Yen, " in eating those of the finny 

 tribe whose meat is soft and fine, and they are caught for the 

 most part in rivers, brooks, lakes, ponds, and the surface of 

 the ocean. On the other hand, there are products of the sea 

 which are regarded by us as delicacies of the table, but which 

 have httle or no consumption in the West. Just to mention 



* See Ibid., No. 34. 



- Legge, Chinese Classics, I. p. 67. 

 ' Op. cit., p. 250. 



* J. B. du Halcle, Description g/ographiqiie (etc.) de l' Empire de la Chine (etc.), 

 Paris, 1735. 



5 Op. cit., vol. II. p. 780, ff. 



* J. H. Gray, China (London, 1878), vol. II., 291-301. 

 ^ Op. cit., passim. 



