362 THE EARLIEST CONTRACT OF FISHING 
it is true, had to pay to the Government a quarter of the value 
of their catch (rerraptn adéwv), but this seems to have been 
a regular tax. Later on we find fishermen paying to the 
priests of Lake Moeris a g¢dpoc (not to be confounded with 
ixOunpa Spupev, or state tax) which presumably included the 
purchase of the right to fish, as well as the hire of boats. But 
this was in the nature of a royalty or rent, was a continuous 
obligation, and proportioned to the catch, whereas in our 
second document the time is limited, and the payment fixed, 
not proportioned.! 
(B) The second contract demonstrates that the custom of 
additional guarantors is no mere modern institution. 
(C) It also tends to show that the system, previously known 
as employed by Babylonian landlords, of letting their farms to 
tenants for a fixed proportion of the crops, extended occasionally 
to their waters as well. 
1 See antea, 333 £., and Tebtunis Papyri, vol. Il. pp. 180-181. B, P. 
Grenfell and A. S. Hunt, 1907. 
