Fishing from the earliest times - Blog

—IfBRESLAR—MAINZER 405Mr. Breslar surmises (though his words convey no suchhint) that for his " rudimentary type of Rod in the Scriptures "Israel affixed a Une to his fishing spear, thus squaring withmy conjecture in the Introduction as to the evolution of themodern Rod, may I respectfully ask why did a race, so preeminentlyalert and proverbially acquisitive, handicap itselfby the selection of such a " rudimentary type " in preferenceto a weapon long invented, ready to hand, and far superior ?A friend, in the hope of helping me to some authoritativeinformation as regards Anghng, suggested Jagd, Fischfang,und Bienenzucht bet den Juden in der tanndischen Zeit, by HerrMoritz Mainzer, as the very last word on Jewish fishing.Unable (owing to the War) to obtain this in book form, Itracked it eventually to some articles under the same title inthe magazine, Monatsschrift fur GeschicMe und Wissenschaft desJudentums (1909). Except for a pearl or two such as " Fishermen,then as now in Palestine, worked hghtly dressed or naked,"—was this suggested by St. John, or P. Fletcher's, " Nowwhen Simon heard, he girt his fisher's coat unto him, for he wasnaked " ? Fischfang (at any rate) far from rewards one's search.Mainzer's two sentences (p. 463) assist not at all in determiningwhether or not the Jews used the Rod. " Die eigentlichehakkdh war ein eiserner an eine Leine {hebhel) befestigterHaken. Die Leine selbst konnte mit einer Rute oder einemStabe verbunden sein der zuweilen mehrere Schniire mitAngeln trug " (the hakkdh proper was an iron hook fastened toa fishing hebhel. This line might be attached to a rod or stick,which sometimes had on it several cords with fishing hooks).The supporting references come from no IsraeUtish source,but from Assyrian representations of hand-lining in Layard'sNineveh, and from Egyptian dehneations of Rod fishing inWilkinson's Ancient Egyptians. Not a single word doesMainzer quote from any authority on Jewish Angling. Thewords, " to a Rod which sometimes had on it several cordswith fishing hooks," simply translate Wilkinson's Plate 371.Had I weighed the title and duly appreciated the combinationof Hunting, Fishing, and Bee-culture ! I would havebeen perhaps prepared for a disappointment, but the output