DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49270#0348
Ancient Egyptian Fishing
261
proportion to the papyrus raft of the fishermen, is just being hauled home. In figs. 172,
the fishermen hauling on one end of the seine are on the shore; the other end is being
manipulated by men in a wooden boat — an unusual feature —- in the stern of which,
with one hand placed upon the steersman’s head, stands a dwarf. The size of the boat,
despite the small number of the fishermen, suggests that the net here is a very long one.
The operation depicted may have been one of several which are today well known: the
simplest explanation is that illustrated by the diagram given in fig. 149. The first step
there shown is the paying out of the net (left). The seine is taken out from the bank,
where one end of it is held. When the net has been all paid out, the boat’s crew bring
their end to the bank at some distance from the place where the other extremity is held
(middle). This is the stage represented in fig. 172. In modern practice the boat’s crew
generally land to haul their end (fig. 149, right). In fig. 171 practically the same ma-
neuver has been executed: the net has been led out by the two men on the papyrus raft,
and swung back to the bank where, with the assistance of the boatmen, it is being drawn
ashore. Usually the Egyptian seining scenes represent the nets as being hauled to the
banks by two crews standing on the shore. To explain such scenes is impossible, for they
may represent the last stage in the operation just described, or the drawing of a back-
water after the manner indicated in fig. 210. They may also depict the end of such an
operation as that illustrated in fig. 211. There the net, folded on the bank, has been
towed across a canal, (right), on the opposite side of which the boat’s crew has landed.
The net, stretched across the canal, has been drawn by the men holding its ends (2nd
and 3rd positions from right) for some distance, when the men hauling on the nearer end
halted, allowing the boat’s crew on the other bank to go on for some distance further.
To the end held by the boat’s crew two ropes are bent: one is carried along by the boat’s
crew, the other is held by the men on the hither bank. When the latter party halts and
holds its end of the net stationary, some of their number lead forward this rope. On
this they begin to haul, while the boat’s crew on the opposite bank pays out their line
(4th position from right). Eventually the boat’s crew relinquish their rope, and their
end of the net is then rapidly drawn to the hither bank of the canal (5th position). I
suspect that the differentiation between the two ends of some of the ancient seines —
e. g., fig. 167, 168 (both from the same net) — may be due to their having been worked
in this manner. The end held on the hither bank would then naturally be finished off
as in fig. 168, while through the loop (fig. 167) would be passed the line or lines held by
the boat’s crew and those who drew that end home to the bank.
An operation which seems more involved than those just described is represented
in a New Kingdom tomb at Thebes. There, one end of a long net has been turned into
the curve of its middle part in a manner which tempts me to accuse the artist of having
261
proportion to the papyrus raft of the fishermen, is just being hauled home. In figs. 172,
the fishermen hauling on one end of the seine are on the shore; the other end is being
manipulated by men in a wooden boat — an unusual feature —- in the stern of which,
with one hand placed upon the steersman’s head, stands a dwarf. The size of the boat,
despite the small number of the fishermen, suggests that the net here is a very long one.
The operation depicted may have been one of several which are today well known: the
simplest explanation is that illustrated by the diagram given in fig. 149. The first step
there shown is the paying out of the net (left). The seine is taken out from the bank,
where one end of it is held. When the net has been all paid out, the boat’s crew bring
their end to the bank at some distance from the place where the other extremity is held
(middle). This is the stage represented in fig. 172. In modern practice the boat’s crew
generally land to haul their end (fig. 149, right). In fig. 171 practically the same ma-
neuver has been executed: the net has been led out by the two men on the papyrus raft,
and swung back to the bank where, with the assistance of the boatmen, it is being drawn
ashore. Usually the Egyptian seining scenes represent the nets as being hauled to the
banks by two crews standing on the shore. To explain such scenes is impossible, for they
may represent the last stage in the operation just described, or the drawing of a back-
water after the manner indicated in fig. 210. They may also depict the end of such an
operation as that illustrated in fig. 211. There the net, folded on the bank, has been
towed across a canal, (right), on the opposite side of which the boat’s crew has landed.
The net, stretched across the canal, has been drawn by the men holding its ends (2nd
and 3rd positions from right) for some distance, when the men hauling on the nearer end
halted, allowing the boat’s crew on the other bank to go on for some distance further.
To the end held by the boat’s crew two ropes are bent: one is carried along by the boat’s
crew, the other is held by the men on the hither bank. When the latter party halts and
holds its end of the net stationary, some of their number lead forward this rope. On
this they begin to haul, while the boat’s crew on the opposite bank pays out their line
(4th position from right). Eventually the boat’s crew relinquish their rope, and their
end of the net is then rapidly drawn to the hither bank of the canal (5th position). I
suspect that the differentiation between the two ends of some of the ancient seines —
e. g., fig. 167, 168 (both from the same net) — may be due to their having been worked
in this manner. The end held on the hither bank would then naturally be finished off
as in fig. 168, while through the loop (fig. 167) would be passed the line or lines held by
the boat’s crew and those who drew that end home to the bank.
An operation which seems more involved than those just described is represented
in a New Kingdom tomb at Thebes. There, one end of a long net has been turned into
the curve of its middle part in a manner which tempts me to accuse the artist of having