326 FISHING GOSSIP. 



Ham, that Bishop Cumberland lias no doubt of their 

 being the same person ; and it may have been from 

 this alliance with the family of the great artist that 

 this son of Noah found himself in possession of a 

 larger amount of knowledge in antediluvian science 

 than were his brothers, and perhaps with an incli- 

 nation to the same pursuits. At any rate it is certain 

 that his early descendants had recourse to the same 

 employments on the sea that had formed so prominent 

 a characteristic of the former inhabitants of the same 

 regions. At an early date at least after the disper- 

 sion of the families from Babel a little town of fisher- 

 men was built at Sidon, and this soon extended itself 

 to other stations as colonies, of which an important 

 one was Tyre or Tzur, where fisheries were also car- 

 ried on ; and the near connection of these with the 

 other descendants of Ham appears from Melkart or 

 Melchrat which name, as Selden informs us, means 

 " the strong king" and who, although termed the 

 Tyrian Hercules, was reverenced in a very ancient 

 temple in Egypt. Melchart's eminency is said to have 

 been derived from his voyages and discoveries at sea. 

 He formed a settlement at Gadir or Cadiz, where a 

 temple was erected, it seems, to his memory, and in 

 which, according to ancient custom, were two famous 

 pillars, the reputation of which, in course of time, 

 was transferred to the neighbouring mountains at the 

 entrance of the Mediterranean Sea. But it was to one 



