Page:Natural History, Fishes.djvu/47

Rh, shaped somewhat like a funnel, with a wide mouth, diminishing to a narrow hose at the extremity. The Sole and the Gurnards are captured by means of a trawl, a net of somewhat similar form, but fitted for dragging over the bottom; and the Salmon is taken in several sorts of nets, varying much from each other, and peculiar to this valuable fishery.

The spear is little used with us as a fishing implement. In the north of Scotland, however, it is employed to strike Salmon, as at Invermoriston, where a river flows in a narrow chasm between two projecting rocks. "The fisherman seats himself on a cleft of this rock, right over the cascade, with a spear in his hand, which has a line fixed to the upper end of the shaft, similar to the practice of fishing for Whales with harpoons. Whenever the Salmon makes a spring to gain the ascent over the cataract, the spearman strikes the fish and lets the shaft go, holding only by the line until the fish has exhausted his strength; then the spear and fish are thrown ashore by the stream, and taken out at the lower side of the pool."

In ancient Egypt a favourite mode of fishing was that performed with a bident, or two-pronged spear. Like angling, it seems to have been an amusement of the higher orders, who were accustomed to use a boat made of papyrus, "in which they glided smoothly over the lakes and canals within their own grounds, without disturbing the fish as they lay beneath the broad leaves of the lotus plant." "On these occasions they were usually accompanied by some of their children, and by one or two attendants, who assisted