[583] The head of the ox was Thor’s bait when fishing for the monstrous Midhgardh serpent. See D. P. Chantepie de la Saussaye, _The Religion of the Teutons_ (Boston, 1902), p. 242. C. A. Parker, _The Ancient Crosses of Gosforth, Cumberland_ (London, 1896), p. 74 ff., describes and figures a relief representing Thor’s fishing. In this we see the line (below the boat) with an ox’s head, surrounding which are several enormous fishes. [584] For ἔρμα, “support,” perhaps we should read ἔρυμα, “protection,” _i.e._ against erosion. [585] See _Forest and Stream_, Nov. 7, 1914. [586] The shark finds great favour among the negroes; “you can swallow him in de dark,” is a commendation based on the absence of small tricky bones, such as the shad’s. But to the best black _gourmets_, the fish only attains its highest perfection in soup, after being buried for two weeks! The cook of the friend with whom I was staying in Jamaica only consented to cutting up my shark, on condition that if a gold watch was found in its belly, that was to be her perquisite—a condition postulated, I eventually discovered, because on a similar occasion one hundred years before, her grandmother _did_ discover a gold watch. Alas for her! two ship-bolts of iron were her only treasure-trove. [587] _N. H._, VI. 13. [588] _De Anim._, VIII. 3, p. 262. [589] Theodore Gill, “The Remarkable Story of a Greek Fish,” _Washington Univ. Bull._, Jan. 1907, pp 5-15. [590] _N. H._, VI. 13. [591] XIV. 8. [592] _Hal._, IV. 450 ff. [593] “Bobbing for eels,” with a bunch of worms on worsted is of like principle, but lacks the pneumatic touch. The eels seem to get their teeth caught in the worsted, and are pulled out before they can let go. See _antea_, p. 42, for the _garfish_ of the Solomon Islands being caught from a kite by a _hookless_ spider’s web. [594] _Equites_, 864 ff. [595] Fishing by “stirring up the mud,” is known in India. The agents employed for the trampling in the pools are elephants ranged in close order: the beasts enter thoroughly into the sport. Cf. G. P. Sanderson, _Thirteen Years among the Wild Beasts in India_. [596] Herodotus, II. 72, who states that it was sacred to the Nile. [597] Ælian, VIII. 4; Plutarch, _Mor._, 976A. See Chapter XVI. _ante_. [598] Athenæus, VII. 50. [599] Antiphan., _Lykon frag._ 1, 1 ff., _ap._ Athen., 755. [600] Anaxandr., Πόλεις, _frag._ 1, 5 f.; _ap._ Athen., 7, 55. [601] Contrast with the Greeks and Romans the abstention from the _Murænidæ_ by the Egyptians, Jews, Mussulmans, and Highlanders; in the case of the last, however, the abstention was due to no religious injunction but to physical loathing.