ANCIENT FISHING 
INTRODUCTION 
PART I 
“ And first for the Antiquity of Angling, I shall not say much ; but 
onely this: Some say, it 1s as ancient as Deucalion’s Floud: and 
others (which I like better) say that Belus (who was the inventer of 
godly and vertuous Recreations) was the Inventer of it: and some 
others say (for former times have had their Disquisitions about 1t) 
that Seth, one of the sons of Adam, taught it to his sons, and that 
by them it was derived to Posterity. Others say, that he left 2 
engraven on those Pillars, which hee erected to preserve the knowledge 
of Mathematicks, Musick, and the rest of those precious Arts, which 
by God’s appointment or allowance, and his noble industry were 
thereby preserved from perishing in Noah’s Floud.’”’—Isaak WALTON, 
The Compleat Angler. 
“ You see the way the Fisherman doth take 
To catch the Fish ; what Engins doth he make ? 
Behold how he ingageth all his wits, 
Also his Snares, Lines, Angles, Hooks, and Nets. 
Yet fish there be, that neither Hook, nor Line, 
Nor Snare, nor Net, nor Engin can make thine ; 
They must be grop’t for, and be tickled too, 
Or they will not be catch’t, whate’er you do.” 
Joun Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress. (The Author’s Apology 
for his book.) 
“ Elle extend ses filets, elle invente de nouveaux moyens de succes, 
elle s’attache un plus grand nombre d@hommes. Elle pénétre dan les 
profondeurs des abimes, elle arvache aux angles les plus secrets, elle 
poursuit jusqu’aux extrémités du globe les objets de sa constante 
recherche.’’—G. E, LACEPEDE, Hist. Nat. des poissons. 
“What song the Sirens sang, or what name Achilles assumed, when 
he hid himself among women, though puzeling questions are not beyond 
all Conjecture.’”,—Str THoMAS Browne, Urne-Buriall. 
* * * * * * 
THE craft of Fishing possesses an ancestry so ancient, or 
according to a Polynesian legend so literally abysmal, that for 
those who have their business on the waters, deep or shallow, 
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