FISHING AND FISH-HOOKS, ETC. 323 



in shipbuilding, and to whom the present age is a 

 prehistoric time. This earliest fishing-boat was hewn 

 out of the trunk of a tree ; but we are not informed 

 of the nature of the instruments whether nets or 

 otherwise with which the fish were caught ; and it 

 remained for the higher genius of Vulcan, who, be- 

 yond doubt, is the Tubal Cain spoken of by Moses, 

 and who, as Sanchoniatho informs us, was the son of 

 Halieus, to bring the invention to its much higher 

 degree of perfection. There were giants in the world 

 in those days, and the floating tree may have been 

 suitable to the stature of its builder ; but as is the 

 case with most men who have been distinguished for 

 eminent mental qualifications, this remarkable in- 

 ventor appears to have been of even small stature, and 

 to him, therefore, the less unwieldy vessel, the pro- 

 totype of the coracle, built of planks, would be more 

 appropriate. But as well as being of small size, he 

 may even have been deformed ; for, added to the 

 fact that by the more modern mythologists he was re- 

 presented as a cripple, Herodotus refers to something 

 peculiar in his appearance as recorded by those whose 

 traditions are the most authentic, the Egyptians and 

 Phoenicians. This writer, in alluding to the actions of 

 the Persian Cambyses in Egypt, says that he forced 

 an entrance into the temple of Vulcan, which was 

 regarded as royally sacred, and derided the image of 

 the god there worshipped ; which, indeed, resembled 



