Fishing from the earliest times - Blog

242 TACKLE—CURIOUS METHODS—5/Lf/i?f/S—EELSthat the sargi were present not a few, these multiplied by onehundred must have yielded quite a decent creel. *The second method owes its success to the love for musicand for watching the dance, which Aristotle and yElian assertto be characteristic of several fishes, but especially of the skate.The recipe of this method, far pleasanter, certainly less odoriferousthan that of the last, demands i Boat, i Violin,I big Net, 2 Men, one of whom fiddles, while the other dancesas he unwinds the net. Attracted to the spot, and, likeWagner-devotees, so entirely absorbed by the melody as to beunconscious of all else, the skates fall easy and numerousvictims to the slowly drawn net.This method seems " the limit." It certainly trenched oneven Badham's credulity. He states that he would not havecited this statement of Elian's, unless it had been " singularlycountenanced and confirmed by no less a person than the greatFrench ichthyologist, Rondolet," whose mere name in thismusical context must presumably carry conviction, for (as isnot unusual with Badham) no reference is given. ^The third method, employed by the Mysians for capturingthe Silurus in big rivers like the Danube and the Volga, is1 Cf. Oppian, IV. 375 ff. I. Walton, citing the Sargns as an example of" the lustful fish," quotes Dubartas, " because none can express it betterthan he does," whose last two lines, a^ examples of this perfect expression,I cannot resist," Goes courting She-Goats on the grassie shoreHorning their husbands, that had horns before."2 But in confirmation of " this statement of ^lian," Badham, had hetaken the trouble, could have found several others by that and other authors.Thus iElian, XVII. 18, of the Sea-roach. Ibid., VI. 31, of the Crab, which onhearing the flute and singing would not only quit the sea, but follow theretreating singer to dry land, and capture ! JElian, VI. 32, of the Thrissastates that it was caught by singing to it, and by the noise of shell clapperswhich induced the fish to dance itself into the Nets and boats. Cf. alsoAthenasus, VII. 137, where the Trichias is so delighted with singing anddancing, that when it hears music it leaps out of the sea and is enticed on land !Cf. also Herodotus, I. 141, for the story of Cyrus likening the lonians todancing fish. Not only were there fish that dehghted in music and singing,like the dolphin (Phny, IX. 8, musicas arti, mulcetur symphonias cantu, sedpraecipue hydrauli sono), but according to Philostephanus there were others,that themselves made music, hke the Poecilics, who " sang like thrushes-"(cf. Pliny, XI. 112). Of singing fish Pausanias, VIII. 21. 2, says, " among thefish in the Aroanius are the so-called spotted fish : they say that they singlike a thrush. I saw them after they were caught, but I did not hear themutter a sound, though I tarried by the river till sunset, when they were said tosing most."set