being great adepts at it, and relying upon it in a great measure for their sustenance. "We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely," complained the Jews in the wilderness (Num. xi. 5). No historical

instance of fishing occurs in the Old Testament, but the allusions in the prophets prove that the art was thoroughly known. Fishermen, nets, and hooks, are mentioned:-" Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them" (Jer. xvi. 16): "The Lord God . . . will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fish-hooks" (Amos iv. 2): "They take up all of them with the angle, they catch in their net, and gather them in their drag" (Hab. i. 15).

In the New Testament fishing is very frequently mentioned, inasmuch as it was the chief occupation of those among whom our Saviour dwelt on the shores of the sea of Galilee. It appears there to have been

wholly conducted by netting, and two kinds of nets

the large draw-net, and the small casting-net-are distinctly noticed, the former in the well-known parable named after it (Matt. xiii. 47), the latter on many occasions of actual fishing, such as the following:-"Now as (Jesus) walked by the sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed Him. And when He had gone a little farther thence, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; who were also in the ship mending their nets. And straightway He called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servant, and went after Him" (Mark i. 16-20).

The latter kind is still used in Palestine and Egypt, as the following extract shows: "We

DRAG-NET.

reached the lake Bourlos (in Egypt). . . . The fishermen

on shore were using a net resembling the poke-net used in the isles of Scotland. It is circular, and weights are placed round the circumference. The fisherman holds it by the centre, gathers it up in his hand, and casts it into the water; he then draws it slowly to shore by a line fastened to the centre. This probably is the very kind of net used by the disciples. We saw the same afterwards at the lake of Galilee.

"While we were bathing in the sea of Galilee, a fisherman passed by with a hand-net, which he cast into the sea. The net was exactly the net called in the gospel of Matthew ȧupißλnoтpov, the same kind of net which we had seen used at lake Bourlos in Egypt. The simple fisherman little knew the feelings he kindled in our bosoms as he passed by our tent, for we could not look upon his net, his bare limbs, and brawny arms without reflecting that it was to such men that Jesus once said by this sea, 'Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.'"-Narrative of a Mission of Inquiry to the Jews, pp. 62, 63, 294.

TUBAL-CAIN.-ORNAMENTS IN THE PATRIARCHAL AGE. THE TABERNACLE AND ITS FURNITURE.-EGYPTIAN METAL-WORKERS. - BIBLICAL NOTICES OF REFINING, &C. OVERLAYING.

CARVING IN IVORY.- EBONY USED FOR PANELLING, AND INLAID WORK.-MANUFACTURE OF SHRINES.-CARPENTRY.BUILDING. SHIP-BUILDING.-SPINNING AND WEAVING.-ROPEMAKING.-EMBROIDERY. - TANNING AND DYEING. - COINS, WEIGHTS, AND MEASURES.

THE original discovery of the mechanical arts is attributed in the Bible to Tubal-Cain, who is described in Gen. iv. 22 as 66 a whetter of every instrument of copper and iron," in other words as a smith employed in the construction of agricultural, warlike, and household articles. The smith's art took precedence of all

362

GOLDSMITHS' WORK.

other professions, inasmuch as he furnished the tools requisite for them: we are led to infer therefore that in addition to metal work, carpentry, building, and other useful arts attained a certain stage of advancement in the ages before the Flood.

In the patriarchal age we have frequent notices of ornaments which involved a thorough knowledge of the goldsmith's art, such as the large "golden nosering" the bracelets, and the articles of silver and of gold which Eliezer gave to Rebekah (Gen. xxiv. 22, 53), and the earrings of Jacob's wives (Gen. xxxv. 4). Whether these were manufactured in Palestine or imported from Egypt, we are not informed: the latter, however, is probably the case, as we know that the various processes in working in metals were known in that country in periods of the highest antiquity, while no notice of a similar advance among the Jews occurs until after the Exodus.

The construction of the Tabernacle and its vessels involved a knowledge of every kind of handicraft, and accordingly we find that the head artificer was supernaturally endowed with skill and taste "to devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship" (Ex. xxxi. 4, 5). We may take as an example of these various arts the description of the ark of the covenant: "They shall make an ark of shittim wood. . . Thou shalt overlay it with pure gold: within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about. And thou shalt cast four rings of gold for it.... And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold. . . . And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them (Ex. xxv. 10-12, 17, 18). The several processes here described, of overlaying with gold, casting and beating it with the hammer, required great skill and dexterity.