CHAPTER I. 



THE AET AMONG THE ANCIENTS. 



the many arts 

 founded on pure phi- 

 losophy peculiar to 

 China, we find that 

 of propagating fishes 

 by artificial means to 

 have been practiced 

 there for many cen- 

 turies, as is proven 

 by their works, and 

 the intimate knowl- 

 edge of the art pos- 

 sessed by so many 

 of the inhabitants of 

 the Celestial Empire. 



Father Duhalde, one of the earliest missionaries from 

 France to China, was the first to reveal to the Christian 

 world that the inhabitants of China might teach those of 

 Europe the art of water - farming. " In the great River 

 Yang - tse - kiang," said Father Duhalde, " not far from the 

 city Kieou-king-fou, of the province Kiang-si, at certain sea- 

 sons of the year there assemble great numbers of vessels for 

 conveying away the fecundated eggs of fishes. Throughout 

 the month of May the river is barred at short intervals for 

 sixty miles with interlacings of osier and bulrushes, leaving 

 barely sufficient space for the passage of barks or double 

 chaloupes, with lateen sails, which are engaged in transport- 

 ing ova." The reticulated weirs of osier and bulrushes are 

 close enough to catch and retain the ova, and the vendor 



