Fishing from the earliest times - Blog

viiiPREFACE(5) The conclusion that the Rod was apparently neveremployed by the Ancient Assyrians or the Israelites, despite theirlong connection with Egypt, where as early as c. 2000 B.C. it isdepicted in actual use ;(6) The point which, if not original, is rarely made orinsufficiently pressed, that the Line of both the ancients andmoderns down till the seventeenth century was a tight^ asopposed to a running Line.May I, as a last "bravery," state that apart from articlesin Magazines and Encyclopaedias, I do not know, with theexception of Bates's Ancient Egyptian Fishing, of any work inEnglish on Fishing, not Fish, in ancient Egypt, Assyria, Palestine,orChina, nor, with the exception of Mainzer's magazine articleon Jewish Fishing, have I come across one in French or German }If any object that I have cast my net too wide and enclosed afew things that are neither Fish nor Fishing, I must insist thatas these waters are not, as yet, adequately charted, it is well-nighimpossible to avoid some infringement of the three miles' territoriallimit. To drop metaphor, in the present state of archaeologicalresearch, it is notorious that no one subject can be fullyinvestigated without trenching here and there on allied topics.This indeed is not merely necessary, but desirable, unlessimportant side-lights are simply to be ignored.Moreover, every good Waltonian prefers the discursive to thecursive style, and would rather take part in a leisurely explorationof his preserves than skim the surface in a manner hasty and\x\-C07npleat.Whatever the demerits of my volume, written at intervalsbetween war-work and illness, I do trust that of the three countsof the indictment brought against Nicander's Theriaca, '* longa,incondita, et nullius farrago fidei," the verdict of my readers will,at any rate as regards the last, be " Not Guilty," for on this headIhave stoutly striven to avoid conviction.Reference to aid from any book or person is usually set forthin my pages ; but here and at once I acknowledge with glad