DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49270#0338
Ancient Egyptian Fishing
251
as to catch fish swimming either up or down stream. There is no evidence to show whether
or not the pots were baited — in the majority of such modern instances as have come under
my notice they are not, but bait is not uncommon.
The large weels were of a more complex structure than those just described, and from
the representations it is difficult to understand exactly how they were built and manipu-
lated. The representation here reproduced in fig. 130 is only of service in a general way,
and it is on the example given in fig. 131 that we must chiefly depend for our knowledge
of these devices.189 The mouth of this trap (right) is bound with rope,190 and seems to be
tied to a stake (top of opening). Near its end the wheel is supported by a large float.191
Two fishermen are pulling on a rope which at this point gathers the weel to a diameter
as small as that of the necking at its end. At this second necking another rope, passed
twice around the weel, is attached. Just what the internal construction of the trap was,
cannot with certainty be said: it is not even clear whether the fishermen are taking their
catch or setting the trap. A possibility may be suggested:— the long part of the trap had
a mouth which, though funneled, was even larger than appears from the representation
(cf. the relatively greater width of mouth in fig. 130); the long part was fixed in position
by a stake at its mouth, and gradually narrowed until it entered the space between the
two roped neckings — a space forming a secondary chamber — by means of a funnel just
large enough to allow the comfortable passage of a large fish. If the long weels were
indeed thus arranged, it is clear that the tightening of the rope around the first necking
would be desirable when raising the end of the trap to take out the fish: their removal,
of course, would be here effected through the rear end of the weel, as in the case of the
smaller traps. Such an arrangement would have a parallel in the modern three-part,
two-chambered fish pots employed on the Victoria Nyanza by the Waganda.192
The funnel mouths of the ancient weels are not shown in the old representations:
it would have been quite contrary to the principles of Egyptian graphic technique to have
indicated them. Their character cannot, however, have differed from that of the modern
pots, two of which are given in figs. 133, 136. That shown in fig. 133 differs from the
ancient ones of small size in being conical instead of having rounded convex sides, and in
not being bound round at intervals throughout its lengths. It is employed in the canals
emptying into the Birket Karun (Fayum), and is thus described by Loat:—
189 F. W. Bissing, op. cit., vol. 1, pl. 18, gives a fine but badly weathered scene in which two boats’ crews are
pictured setting a big weel.
190 Cf. the copy in G. Maspero, The dawn of civilization,4 A. H. Sayce, trans. M. L. McClure, New York, 1901,
p. 61.
191 A pair of these floats, along with other gear, is seen hanging up in the hut of some marsh men in the tomb of Ti:
G. Steindorff, op. cit., pl. 117.
192 P. Kollmann, op. cit., p. 21 sq.
251
as to catch fish swimming either up or down stream. There is no evidence to show whether
or not the pots were baited — in the majority of such modern instances as have come under
my notice they are not, but bait is not uncommon.
The large weels were of a more complex structure than those just described, and from
the representations it is difficult to understand exactly how they were built and manipu-
lated. The representation here reproduced in fig. 130 is only of service in a general way,
and it is on the example given in fig. 131 that we must chiefly depend for our knowledge
of these devices.189 The mouth of this trap (right) is bound with rope,190 and seems to be
tied to a stake (top of opening). Near its end the wheel is supported by a large float.191
Two fishermen are pulling on a rope which at this point gathers the weel to a diameter
as small as that of the necking at its end. At this second necking another rope, passed
twice around the weel, is attached. Just what the internal construction of the trap was,
cannot with certainty be said: it is not even clear whether the fishermen are taking their
catch or setting the trap. A possibility may be suggested:— the long part of the trap had
a mouth which, though funneled, was even larger than appears from the representation
(cf. the relatively greater width of mouth in fig. 130); the long part was fixed in position
by a stake at its mouth, and gradually narrowed until it entered the space between the
two roped neckings — a space forming a secondary chamber — by means of a funnel just
large enough to allow the comfortable passage of a large fish. If the long weels were
indeed thus arranged, it is clear that the tightening of the rope around the first necking
would be desirable when raising the end of the trap to take out the fish: their removal,
of course, would be here effected through the rear end of the weel, as in the case of the
smaller traps. Such an arrangement would have a parallel in the modern three-part,
two-chambered fish pots employed on the Victoria Nyanza by the Waganda.192
The funnel mouths of the ancient weels are not shown in the old representations:
it would have been quite contrary to the principles of Egyptian graphic technique to have
indicated them. Their character cannot, however, have differed from that of the modern
pots, two of which are given in figs. 133, 136. That shown in fig. 133 differs from the
ancient ones of small size in being conical instead of having rounded convex sides, and in
not being bound round at intervals throughout its lengths. It is employed in the canals
emptying into the Birket Karun (Fayum), and is thus described by Loat:—
189 F. W. Bissing, op. cit., vol. 1, pl. 18, gives a fine but badly weathered scene in which two boats’ crews are
pictured setting a big weel.
190 Cf. the copy in G. Maspero, The dawn of civilization,4 A. H. Sayce, trans. M. L. McClure, New York, 1901,
p. 61.
191 A pair of these floats, along with other gear, is seen hanging up in the hut of some marsh men in the tomb of Ti:
G. Steindorff, op. cit., pl. 117.
192 P. Kollmann, op. cit., p. 21 sq.