The history of silk, cotton, linen, wool, and other fibrous ... - Cd3wd.com

NETS BY THE ANCIENTS. 455
VI.
YnoxH.
The inoxh, which is the fourth in Oppian's enumeration, was
the landing-net, used merely to take fislies out of the water
when they rose to the surface, or in similar circumstances to
which it was adapted. It was made with a lioop {kvkXos) fastened
to a pole, and was perhaps also provided with the means of
closing the round aperture at the top*.
Of the K^Xv/i//a we find nowhere any further mention.
VII.
TRAGUM, TRAGULA, VERRICULUM.
2ArHNH.
These were the Greek and Latin names for the sean.
Before producing the passages in which they occur, we will
present to the reader an account of this kind of net as now
used by the fishermen on the coast of Cornwall (England) for
catching pilchards, and as described by Dr. Paris in his elegant
and pleasant Guide to Mount's Bay and Land's End\.
" At the proper season men are stationed on the cliffs to
obsei-ve by the color of tlie water where the shoals of pilchards
are to be found. The sean is carried out in a boat, and thrown
into the sea by two men with such dexterity, that in less than
four minutes the fish are inclosed. It is then either moored, or,
where the shore is sandy and shelving, it is drawn into more
shallow water. After this the fish are bailed into boats and
carried to shore. A sea7i is frec[uently three hundred fathoms
lojig, and seventeen deep. The bottom of the net is kept to
the ground by leaden weights, whilst the corks keep the top of
it floating on the surface. A sean has been known to inclose
at one time as many as twelve hundred hogsheads, amounting
to about three millions of fsh."
* See Oppian, Hal iv. 251. t Penzance, 1816, p. 91