Near Tell Hum the guide called the attention of the youths to a man on the shore standing motionless as a statue, and holding a scoop-net with a long handle. While they watched him he brought the net to the water with a rapid sweep, and then lifted it almost in the same motion. As he swung it to land a fish was seen vainly struggling to escape from the meshes of the net. [Illustration: A GALILEE FISHING-BOAT.] Ali explained that they had witnessed one of the modes of fishing practised by the natives. They watch along the shore, and when a fish comes near enough he is secured by a rapid motion of the net, and it must be very rapid too. Another plan of catching fish is to render them insensible by poison, and then gather them as they float on the surface of the water. Europeans have some hesitation at eating fish caught in this way, but the natives are not so fastidious. Sometimes fish are caught in traps in the mouths of the little streams flowing into the lake or along the shore, but nobody troubles himself about seeking in deep water. Frank wanted to know what kinds of fish were taken in the lake, but the information he obtained was not very clear. Ali questioned the boatmen, and, as near as he could make out, the fishes of the Lake of Tiberias are the _binni_, or carp, and the _mesht_, or _coracinus_, which belongs to the cat-fish family. The latter are the most abundant, and sufficient for the wants of a population much larger than exists at present near the lake. [Illustration: RUINS AT TELL HUM.] They landed at Tell Hum, where they paid and dismissed the boatmen, and then strolled a short time among the ruins before going to their tents. A large town or city once stood here, and that it was an important place with the Jews is shown by the ruins of their synagogue, which must have been an edifice of considerable extent and excellent proportions. One writer says it was among the finest buildings in Palestine, and the fragments now on the ground reveal some admirable specimens of sculpture. Frank and Fred tried to take the measurements of a part of the wall of the building, but were unable to do so on account of the great number of weeds and vines that covered the ground. They found several blocks nine or ten feet long, and broad in proportion, that evidently formed a part of the foundations. Doctor Bronson told them that Tell Hum was thought by some to be the Capernaum of the New Testament; others believe Capernaum was farther to the south, and make Tell Hum identical with Chorazin. The latter theory is sustained by its proximity to Bethsaida. The words of Christ, "Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida!" would seem to indicate that they were near each other. Tell Hum is about two miles from Bethsaida, while nearly the same distance farther on is Khan Minyeh, which is claimed by several authorities to have been the Capernaum of the New Testament.