NETS—THE SEA OF GALILEE 419 
or the enticing cunning of the American flies used, viz. ‘‘ Queen 
of the Water,” “ Beaverkill,” and ‘‘ The Abbey ”’ (size No. 12 
American) the diarist stateth not. 
(C) The hand net (dugiBAnorpov), mentioned in New Testa- 
ment, still holds its own in the Sea of Galilee, and the coast. It 
in the main resembles the Roman funda. 
“It is like the top of a tent in shape, with a long cord fastened 
to the apex. This is tied to the arm, and the net so folded 
that when it is thrown, it expands to its utmost circumfer- 
ence, around which are strung beads of lead to make it drop 
suddenly to the bottom. As soon as the game is spied, away 
goes the net, expanding as it flies, and its leaded circumference 
strikes the bottom ere the fish know its meshes have closed 
on them. By the aid of his cord the fishermen leisurely draws 
up the net, and the fish with it.””1 A fuller description of the 
various nets now in use on the lake, with an account of present- 
day methods of fishing, will be found in Dr. Masterman’s in- 
teresting volume, chap. ii, The Inland Fisheries of Galilee (also 
in Pal. Explor. Fund Quarterly Statement, 1908, p. 40). 
Netting was the almost universal method. On Lake 
Tiberias (or the Sea of Galilee, or Lake of Gennesaret) which 
yielded then, as it does now, a most copious supply of fish, 
night lines and line and hook were also in vogue. The highest 
value was attached to these fisheries. According to tradition 
one of the so-called Laws of Joshua, while reserving certain 
privileges to dwellers on its shores, opened its waters to every 
comer. Weirs and fences, because of the damage their stakes 
inflicted on fishing boats, were strictly forbidden. 
The observance of this custom may have originated from a 
compact made by all the tribes, as the Talmud states, or from 
‘the blessing”’ (in Deut. xxxiii. 23) conditioning the allot- 
ment of the territory of Napthali and the Sea of Tiberias— 
“* Possess thou the sea, and the south ”’ (‘‘ the sea ”’ is the alter- 
native version in R.V. for “ the west ’’) ; or perhaps (according 
to Baba Kamma) from an absolute order of Joshua to the tribe 
of Napthali (Jew. Encyc., v. 404). 
By law, or rather custom, fishing was, except in private 
1 Encyl. Bibl., ii. col. 1528, from Thomson, The Land and the Book, p. 402- 
