16 BRITISH FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Jordan may be distinctly traced by a smooth 

 current right through the centre of the lake. 



The first of the two miracles referred to 

 occurred in a desert situation, where five 

 thousand men, besides women and children, 

 were collected to hear the words of life from 

 the lips of Him who " spake as one having 

 authority ; " and five loaves and two fishes not 

 only supplied them with sufficient food, but 

 even a superfluity : " They did all eat, and 

 were filled : and they took up of the fragments 

 that remained twelve baskets full." See 

 Matt. xiv. 17-20. 



On the second occasion, four thousand men, 

 beside women and children, on whom the 

 Saviour had compassion, were fed with seven 

 loaves and a few small fishes, and of the 

 broken meat that was left were seven baskets 

 full. See Matt. xv. 32-39. 



It was at Capernaum, on the borders of the 

 same lake, that our Saviour, in order to pro- 

 cure tribute money, (a didrachma, or about 

 fifteen pence per head,) again displayed his 

 miracfulous power, by commissioning a fish to 

 contribute to his necessities ; " for though he 

 was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor, 

 that we, through his poverty, might be rich," 

 2 Cor. viii. 9. It was then that He di-- 



