THE PRACTICAL FISHERMAN. 



CHAPTER II. 



THE GENERAL HISTORY OF ANGLING, TACKLE, 

 AND BAITS. 



WAS Adam an angler P Did he solace himself in the intervals of his 

 delightful work in medio ligni paradisi in the midst of the trees of 

 the garden with luring the beauties of the four rivers Gihon, Pison, 

 Hiddekel, and Euphrates ? or was angling a pleasure not then included in 

 the plan of human happiness? It boots not to know the answers to 

 these questions, and they may well be passed over, but it may be interest- 

 ing to my readers to have a slight sketch before them of the general 

 rise and progress of angling from early times, that when I come to an 

 enumeration and consideration of the exigencies and appliances of the art 

 in future chapters they may in some sort compare the ancient fishing 

 with that of to-day. 



It has been presumed, and certainly the presumption seems to hold 

 good, that the ancient Egyptians were not only catchers of fish, but 

 artistic anglers also. Certain figures on their monuments clearly exhibit 

 their knowledge of the craft. The Greeks also appear to have had some 

 knowledge of it also ; witness a passage in Homer, in which he speaks 



Of beetling rocks that overhang the flood, 

 Where silent angler cast invidious food, 

 With f raudf ul care await the finny prize, 

 And sudden lift it quivering to the skies. 



Certainly the idea of throwing the fish over one's head does not represent 

 the method of the angler to the best of advantage, but the reference is 

 distinct enough. The Bible furnishes other undeniable references to 

 angling, and, if I am not mistaken, in the Book of Job we find the 

 first reference to the using of a hook : " Canst thou draw out the 

 leviathan with an hook ; canst thou bore his jaw through with a thorn?" 

 Again, in Isaiah, chap. 19, v. 8 : "And the fisher shall mourn and 

 lament, and those that cast the hook *into the river." The word hook 

 is here, I am informed by a celebrated Hebrew scholar, properly 



