SENBI SPEARING—THE REEL 311 
two large fish; beside him stands an attendant holding a 
bident Harpoon and a Reel unfixed. 
In fig. 4 (an enlargement in colour of the preceding plate) 
the barbed heads transfix the heads of two big fish: an attendant 
holds a spare harpoon and a reel of cord evidently meant to 
revolve in its handle.! 
In the second? “‘ Senbi, accompanied by his wife Meres, 
stands in a skiff constructed of reeds spearing fish. The 
subject is depicted over and over again in the tomb-chapels, 
but here it is imbued with new life. How realistic are the 
monster hippopotami who bellow, and display their gleaming 
white tusks, as Senbi comes skimming over the water in his 
frail canoe! The inscription over Senbi fishing runs as 
follows: ‘Spearing fish by him who is honoured by Osiris, 
Lord of the Western Desert, the Nomarch, the Superintendent 
of the Priests, Senbi the Justified.’ ”’ 
Before passing to the Hook, a few words as to the Reel. 
Although Wilkinson would limit its use to Hippopotami, as 
in Khenemhotep’s scene, may we not fairly deduce its employ- 
ment also in the spearing of large fish ? 
The surprise sometimes expressed as to the absence of any 
evidence that the Reel did duty with the Rod is quite super- 
fluous. The Line of the Nile, and, indeed, of all Europe till 
the seventeenth century, was the ight, not the running Line.3 
A possibility, but not a probability, of a Reel being used by a 
man catching a catfish with line and hook has been detected 
in Plate 141 of the famous tomb of Ti, which shows the right 
hand carrying what may be merely a club, or more likely a 
stick for the line to be wound on, when not in use.4 
From the beginning of the Middle Kingdom onward the 
Reel, of which a fine example comes from Beni Hasan,5 
1 F. Li. Griffith, Beni Hasan, Pt. IV. p. 3, Pl. XIII. fig. 3, 4. See also 
Newberry, op. cit., Pl. XXXIV. ; 
2 A. M, Blackman, The Rock Tombs of Meiy (London, 1914), vol. i. 28. 
Cf. also Steindorff’s Das Grab des Ti (Leipzig, 1913), Pl. 113. 
3 Cf. Introduction. 
4 Steindorff, Ibid. 
5 F. Li. Griffith, Bent Hasan, Pt. 4 (London, 1900), Pl. XIII. 4. For 
kind permission to reproduce this and the next illustration I have to thank 
the Egypt Exploration Society. 
