No. 4.] THE HARVEST OF THE SEA. 131 



this reference to fishing with drags and nets (chapter i, verses 

 •15 and 16) : — 



"They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in 

 their net, and gather them in their drag ; therefore they rejoice 

 and are glad. 



" There foi'e they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto 

 their drag ; because by them their portion is fat, and their meat 

 plenteous." 



M. de Caux, a competent French authority, believes tliat 

 the drag spoken of by Habakkuk is nothing more nor less 

 than a beam-trawl. 



In Op})ian's Halieuticks, Book IH., written seventeen 

 hundred years ago, we find the following graphic descrip- 

 tion of the different methods of fishing employed then, 

 which aptly pictures the methods of to-day : — 



" By those who curious have their Art defin'd, 

 Four Soils of Fishers are distinct assigned. 

 I'he first in Hooks delight ; here some jjrepare 

 The Angle's taper Length, and twisted Hair ; 

 Others the tougher Threads of Flax entwine. 

 But firmer Hands sustain the Sturdy Line. 

 A third prevails by more compendious Ways, 

 While num'rous Hooks one common Line displays. 

 The next with Nets wide-wasting skim the Seas, 

 But different Forms, with ditf' rent Prosjiects please. 

 Some hurl the leaded Casting-Net around, 

 And drag: the Circle less'nino- from the Ground. 

 The wide extended Seine and Trammel sweep 

 The shelving Beach, the Drag-Net skims the Deep. 

 The Hoop-Nefs conick Lab'rinth plies the Shore, 

 Heave-Nets the Fishes oozy Beds explore. 

 A thousand Names a Fisher might rehearse 

 That shun intractable the smoother Verse." . . . 



From the English translation by Diaper, Oxford, 1 122. 



John Bunyan wrote, fifteen hundred years later : — 



" You see the ways the fisherman doth take, 

 To catch the fish what engines doth he make ! 

 Beholdeth how he engageth his wits ; 

 Also his snares, lines, angles, hooks and nets." 



There is nothing new under the sun, and it is quite possible 

 that our " new and improved methods " are only the old meth- 



