The centre of the illustration is occupied by another of the Mediterranean fishes. This is the well-known Tunny, which furnishes food to the inhabitants of the coasts of this inland sea, and indeed constitutes one of their principal sources of wealth. This fine fish is on an average four or five feet in length, and sometimes attains the length of six or seven feet. The flesh of the Tunny is excellent, and the fish is so conspicuous, that the silence of the Scriptures concerning its existence shows the utter indifference to specific accuracy that prevailed among the various writers. The other figure represents the Coryphene, popularly, though very wrongly, called the Dolphin, and celebrated, under that name, for the beautiful colours which fly over the surface of the body as it dies. The flesh of the Coryphene is excellent, and in the times of classic Rome the epicures were accustomed to keep these fish alive, and at the beginning of a feast to lay them before the guests, so that they might, in the first place, witness the magnificent colours of the dying fish, and, in the second place, might be assured that when it was cooked it was perfectly fresh. Even during life, the Coryphene is a most lovely fish, and those who have witnessed it playing round a ship, or dashing off in chase of a shoal of flying-fishes, can scarcely find words to express their admiration of its beauty. [Illustration: fishermen] FISHES. CHAPTER II. Various modes of capturing Fish--The hook and line--Military use of the hook--Putting a hook in the jaws--The fishing spear--Different kinds of net--The casting-net--Prevalence of this form--Technical words among fishermen--Fishing by night--The draught of Fishes--The real force of the miracle--Selecting the Fish--The Fish-gate and Fish-market--Fish killed by a draught--Fishing in the Dead Sea--Dagon, the fish-god of Philistina, Assyria, and Siam--Various Fishes of Egypt and Palestine. As to the various methods of capturing Fish, we will first take the simplest plan, that of the hook and line. Sundry references are made to angling, both in the Old and New Testaments. See, for example, the well-known passage respecting the leviathan, in Job xli. 1, 2: "Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down? "Canst thou put an hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn?" It is thought that the last clause of this passage refers, not to the actual capture of the Fish, but to the mode in which they were kept in the tanks, each being secured by a ring or hook and line, so that it might be taken when wanted. On referring to the New Testament, we find that the fisher Apostles used both the hook and the net. See Matt. xvii. 27: "Go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up." Now this passage explains one or two points.