BEITISH 

 FISH AND FISHEEIES. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE GENERAL PREVALENCE OF FISHES AS THE 

 FOOD OF MAN. 



THE use offish as an article of food is of remote 

 antiquity. The Israelites, in their journey 

 through the wilderness, whea pressed by scar- 

 city of provisions, exclaimed, " We remember 

 the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely, the 

 cucumbers and the melons, and the leeks, and 

 the onions, and the garlic ;" and it is recorded, 

 that among the plagues brought upon the Egyp- 

 tians by Moses and Aaron, at the command of 

 God, one was the turning of the water of the 

 river Nile into blood, and the consequent de- 

 struction of the fish, Exod. vii. 19-21. 



The effects of this destruction were severely 



