326 FISHING GOSSIP. 
Ham, that Bishop Cumberland has 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. Butit was to one 
