Fishing from the earliest times - Blog

CHAPTER XXVIIFISHERIES—ATTEMPTED CORRELATION OF THE PRICEOF FISH THEN AND NOW—SPAWNING" When a [fisherman) father casts his net, his fate is in the handsof God. In truth there is no calling which is not better than it." ^The classification of Egyptian society made by Herodotus 2merits mention if only on account of its unexpected gradations ;(A) Priests, (B) Warriors, (C) Cowherds, (D) Swineherds,(E) Tradesmen, (F) Interpreters, (G) Boatmen. The positionallotted to the cowherd and swineherd before the tradesman,if startling to modern eyes, characterises most early societies," For trader," as Seymour shows, " Homer knows no word." 3Fishermen, although unnamed but presumably included underboatmen, figure last,the Scribe above.a rank consonant with that assigned byIf their life was socially of the lowest and their toil of thehardest, they must have earned a modest living, even thoughno tacksman millionaire finds record. We may fairly assumea general and constant demand for fish from (A) the revenuesyielded by fisheries, and (B) the taxes paid by fishermen.Of (A) Lake Mceris affords a striking instance. When thewater retired from the lake to the Nile, the daily sale realisedone talent of silver (reckoned by Wilkinson at lic^-^ 15s. o^.),and when the current set the other way one-third of that sum,but in all some £45,000 yearly. 4 We learn that the proceeds^ Maspero, Du genre 6pistolaire chez les Egyptiens, p. 65 f.2 II. 164. Cf., however, II. 47. It is not quite clear whether the order ofthe hst is intentional. If so, it is certainly justifiable from the point of viewof primitive or early society.* See p. 65, antea.* Herod., II. 149,333