viii PREFACE 



(5) The conclusion that the Rod was apparently never 

 employed by the Ancient Assyrians or the Israelites, despite their 

 long connection with Egypt, where as early as c. 2000 B.C. it is 

 depicted in actual use ; 



(6) The point which, if not original, is rarely made or 

 insufficiently pressed, that the Line of both the ancients and 

 moderns down till the seventeenth century was a tighty as 

 opposed to a running Line. 



May I, as a last "bravery," state that apart from articles 

 in Magazines and Encyclopaedias, I do not know, with the 

 exception of Bates's Ancient Egyptian Fishing, of any work in 

 English on Fishing, not Fish, in ancient Egypt, Assyria, Palestine, 

 or China, nor, with the exception of Mainzer's magazine article 

 on Jewish Fishing, have I come across one in French or German ? 



If any object that I have cast my net too wide and enclosed a 

 few things that are neither Fish nor Fishing, I must insist that 

 as these waters are not, as yet, adequately charted, it is well-nigh 

 impossible to avoid some infringement of the three miles' terri- 

 torial limit. To drop metaphor, in the present state of archaeo- 

 logical research, it is notorious that no one subject can be fully 

 investigated without trenching here and there on allied topics. 

 This indeed is not merely necessary, but desirable, unless 

 important side-lights are simply to be ignored. 



Moreover, every good Waltonian prefers the discursive to the 

 cursive style, and would rather take part in a leisurely exploration 

 of his preserves than skim the surface in a manner hasty and 

 \\\-Compleat. 



Whatever the demerits of my volume, written at intervals 

 between war-work and illness, I do trust that of the three counts 

 of the indictment brought against Nicander's Thcriaca, " longa, 

 incondita, et nullius farrago fidei," the verdict of my readers will, 

 at any rate as regards the last, be " Not Guilty," for on this head 

 I have stoutly striven to avoid conviction. 



Reference to aid from any book or person is usually set forth 

 in my pages ; but here and at once I acknowledge with glad 



