Page:The history of silk, cotton, linen, wool, and other fibrous substances 2.djvu/490

 APPENDIX D.

ON NETTING.

MANUFACTURE AND USE OF NETS BY THE ANCIENTS—ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES, ETC.

Nets were made of Flax, Hemp, and Broom—General terms for nets—Nets used for catching birds—Mode of snaring—Hunting-nets—Method of hunting—Hunting-nets supported by forked stakes—Manner of fixing them—Purse-net or tunnel-net—Homer's testimony—Nets used by the Persians in lion-hunting—Hunting with nets practised by the ancient Egyptians—Method of hunting—Depth of nets for this purpose—Description of the purse-net—Road-net—Hallier—Dyed feathers used to scare the prey—Casting-net—Manner of throwing by the Arabs—Cyrus king of Persia—His fable of the piper and the fishes—Fishing-nets—Casting-net used by the Apostles—Landing-net (Scap-net)—The Sean—Its length and depth—Modern use of the Sean—Method of fishing with the Sean practised by the Arabians and ancient Egyptians—Corks and leads—Figurative application of the Sean—Curious method of capturing an enemy practised by the Persians—Nets used in India to catch tortoises—Bag-nets and small purse-nets—Novel scent-bag of Verres the Sicilian prætor.

The raw materials, of which the ancients made nets, were flax, hemp, and broom. Flax was most commonly used; so that Jerome, when he is prescribing employment for monks, says, "Texantur et lina capiendis piscibus ." The operation of netting, as well as that of platting, was expressed by the verb [Greek: plekein]. The meshes were called in Latin maculæ, in Greek [Greek: brochoi], dim. [Greek: brochides] ., Aristoph. Lysist. 790. [Greek: Tôn peplegmenôn diktyôn], Bokkeri Anecdota, vol. i. p. 354.]