348 



The Primitive Fish -Hook. 



SHELL HOOK. (NATIONAL MUSEUM, WASHINGTON.) 



To advance the idea that in all cases hooks have been improved 

 by slightly increased culture among semi-civilized races would be 

 a source of error. It is quite possible that in many instances there 

 has been retrogression from the better forms of fishing implements 

 once in use. This relapse might have been brought about, not so 

 much by a decrease of intelligence, as changes due to fortuitous 

 causes. A fishing race might have been driven away from a shore 

 or a river-bank and replaced by an inland people. 



Some primitive races still use a hook made from a thorn, and in 

 this practice we find to-day a most wonderful survival. On the coast 

 of France, hooks made of thorns are still used to catch fish, the fish- 

 ermen representing that they possess the great advantage of costing 

 nothing and of not fouling on the sea-bottom. The Piutes take the 



SHELL HOOK FROM SANTA BARBARA. (NATIONAL MUSEUM, WASHINGTON.) 



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