nous.

The swimming-bladder of the Skeat-fish is used in some countries for making a kind of isinglass, similar in character to that of the sturgeon, but of coarser quality.

The lowermost figure in the illustration on page 566 represents a species which is exceedingly plentiful in the Sea of Galilee.

On account of the mode in which their body is covered, the whole of the sharks and rays are excluded from the list of permitted Fish, as, although they have fins, they have no scales, their place being taken by shields varying greatly in size. The same rule excludes the whole of the lamprey tribe, although the excellence of their flesh is well known.

Moreover, the Jews almost universally declare that the Muræna and Eel tribe are also unclean, because, although it has been proved that these Fishes really possess scales as well as fins, and are therefore legally permissible, the scales are hidden under a slimy covering, and are so minute as to be practically absent.

The uppermost figure in the illustration represents the celebrated Muræna, one of the fishes of the Mediterranean, in which sea it is tolerably plentiful. In the days of the old Roman empire, the Muræna was very highly valued for the table. The wealthier citizens built ponds in which the Murænæ were kept alive until they were wanted. This Fish sometimes reaches four feet in length.

The rest of the Fishes which are shown in the three illustrations belong to the class of clean Fish, and were permitted as food. The figure of the Fish between the Muræna and Sheat-fish is the Long-headed Barbel, so called from its curious form.

The Barbels are closely allied to the carps, and are easily known by the barbs or beards which hang from their lips. Like the sheat-fishes, the Barbels are fond of grubbing in the mud, for the purpose of getting at the worms, grubs, and larvæ of aquatic insects that are always to be found in such places. The Barbels are rather long in proportion to their depth, a peculiarity which, owing to the length of the head, is rather exaggerated in this species.

The Long-headed Barbel is extremely common in Palestine, and may be taken with the very simplest kind of net. Indeed, in some places, the fish are so numerous that a common sack answers nearly as well as a net.

It has been mentioned that the ancient Romans were in the

habit of forming ponds in which the Murænæ were kept, and it is evident, from several passages of Scripture, that the Jews were accustomed to preserve fish in a similar manner, though they would not restrict their tanks or ponds to one species.

Allusion is made to this custom in the Song of Solomon: "Thy neck is as a tower of ivory; thine eyes like the fish-pools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bath-rabbim." The Hebrew Bible renders the passage in a slightly different manner, not specifying the particular kind of pool. "Thine eyes are as the pools in Heshbon by a gate of great concourse."

Buxtorf, however, in his Hebrew Lexicon, translates the word as "piscina," i.e. fish-pond. Now among the ruins of Heshbon may still be seen the remains of a large tank, which in all probability was one of the " fish-pools" which are mentioned by the sacred writer.

If we accept the rendering of the Authorized Version, it is shown that tanks or ponds were employed for this purpose, by a passage which occurs in the prophecy of Isaiah: "The fishers also shall mourn, and all they that cast angle into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish.

"Moreover they that work in fine flax, and they that weave networks, shall be confounded.

"And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof, all that make sluices and ponds for fish" (xix. 8-10).

This passage, however, is rendered rather variously. The marginal translation of verse 10 substitutes the word "foundations" for "purposes," and the words "living things" for "fish." The Jewish Bible takes an entirely different view of the passage, and renders it as follows: "The fishers also shall groan, and all that cast angle into the river shall mourn, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall be languid.

Moreover, they that work in combed flax and they that weave networks shall be confounded.

"And the props thereof shall be crushed; all working for wages are void of soul."

However, the mark of doubt is affixed to this last phrase, and it cannot be denied that the rendering of the Authorized Version is at all events more consistent than that of the Jewish Bible. In the former, we first find the fishers taking their prey with the

hook and line, then with different kinds of nets, and lastly, placing the fish thus captured in sluices and ponds until they are wanted for consumption.

The accompanying illustration represents Fishes of the Mediterranean Sea, and it is probable that one of them may be identified, though the passage in which it is mentioned is only an inferential one. In the prophecy against Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the prophet Ezekiel writes as follows: "I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales, and I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy

rivers, and all the fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales " (xxix. 4).

Reference is here made to some inhabitant of the waters that has the power of adhesion, and two suggestions have been made respecting the precise signification of the passage. Some commentators think that the " Fishes" here mentioned are the Cuttles, which, although they are not Fishes at all, but belong to the molluscs, are called Fishes after the loose nomenclature of the Hebrew language, just as, even in our stricter and more copious language, we speak of the same creature as the Cuttlefish, and use the word "shell-fish" to denote both molluscs and crustacea.

Others believe that the prophet made allusion to the Suckingfish, which has the dorsal fins developed into a most curious apparatus of adhesion, by means of which it can fasten itself at will to any smooth object, and hold so tightly to it that it can scarcely be torn away without injury.

The common Sucking-fish (Echeneis remora) is shown in the upper part of the illustration.

There are, however, other fish which have powers of adhesion which, although not so remarkable as those of the Sucking-fish, are yet very strong. There is, for example, the well-known Lump-sucker, or Lump-fish, which has the ventral fins modified into a sucker so powerful that, when one of these fishes has been put into a pail of water, it has attached itself so firmly to the bottom of the vessel that when lifted by the tail it raised the pail, together with several gallons of water.

The Gobies, again, have their ventral fins united and modified into a single sucker, by means of which the fish is able to secure itself to a stone, rock, or indeed any tolerably smooth surface. These fishes are popularly known as Bull-routs.

The centre of the illustration is occupied by another of the Mediterranean fishes. This is the well-known Tunny (Thynnus thynnus), which furnishes food to the inhabitants of the coasts of this inland sea, and indeed constitutes one of their principal sources of wealth. This fine fish is on an average four or five feet in length, and sometimes attains the length of six or seven feet.

The flesh of the Tunny is excellent, and the fish is so conspicuous, that the silence of the Scriptures concerning its existence

shows the utter indifference to specific accuracy that prevailed among the various writers.

The other figure represents the Coryphene (Coryphaena hippuris), popularly, though very wrongly, called the Dolphin, and celebrated, under that name, for the beautiful colours which fly over the surface of the body as it dies.

The flesh of the Coryphene is excellent, and in the times of classic Rome the epicures were accustomed to keep these fish alive, and at the beginning of a feast to lay them before the guests, so that they might, in the first place, witness the magnificent colours of the dying fish, and, in the second place, might be assured that when it was cooked it was perfectly fresh. Even during life, the Coryphene is a most lovely fish, and those who have witnessed it playing round a ship, or dashing off in chase of a shoal of flying-fishes, can scarcely find words to express their admiration of its beauty.

FISHES.

CHAPTER II.

Various modes of capturing Fish-The hook and line - Military use of the hookPutting a hook in the jaws-The fishing spear-Different kinds of net-The casting-net-Prevalence of this form-Technical words among fishermenFishing by night-The draught of Fishes-The real force of the miracleSelecting the Fish-The Fish-gate and Fish-market-Fish killed by a draught --Fishing in the Dead Sea-Dagon, the fish-god of Philistina, Assyria, and Siam-Various Fishes of Egypt and Palestine.

As to the various methods of capturing Fish, we will first take the simplest plan, that of the hook and line, as is mentioned in the passage quoted above from Ezekiel. Sundry other references are made to angling, both in the Old and New Testaments. See, for example, the well-known passage respecting the leviathan, in Job xli. 1, 2: "Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down?

"Canst thou put an hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn?"