Greek mythology shows us that for a long time, perhaps many centuries,
the ancestors of the Greeks knew but very little about the sea or about
rivers. The numerous monsters of the sea, products of the imagination,
combined in their forms the parts of marine and land animals, including
man. The angry waves suggested to them some creature that was wroth; in
the ocean depths what more likely to be found than the caverns empty and
dry, the homes of the monsters with which they had peopled it? Their
knowledge of the sea was of very slow growth. It was yet a divine thing
in Homer’s time, who lived just before the dawn of history. Their
knowledge of marine life had made but little if any greater advance than
their knowledge of the sea itself. The people of Homer make no use
whatever of fish. We do not find a word indicating that either noble or
slave ate fish, although the bill of fare in the Homeric household is
given to us with considerable fullness.
Passing over two centuries or more to the Athens of Pericles’ time, we
will find that a great change has been wrought. Fish is now the
daintiest viand that comes into the Athenian market. The fishing
industry has developed and grown to immense proportions. The fishmonger
has taken on a character which seems destined to be eternal. Till this
day it has suffered no change except that he has transferred to his wife
some of the traits that once were his.
The task of supplying the fish-market of Athens and other cities must
have required a large number of fishermen. For at this time fish might
almost be called the national dish, hence an enormous consumption,
whereas the means of capture were far inferior to those of to-day. As a
matter of fact the market was supplied from a very wide area, but
chiefly from the seas to the east. Far along the north and south shores
of the Black Sea the industry was a flourishing one. Particularly from
these regions were salted and dried fish supplied. Here they were
prepared in the huts of the individual fisherman and were gathered up by
the traders, who sailed their little boats far and wide in search of
traffic. The fish were exchanged for merchandise, especially for earthen
utensils and for clothing. These salted and dried fish were the staple
varieties and were supplied to the market in great quantities, as they
were the principal food of the poorer classes and were sold very cheap.
The hours for the fish market in Athens must have been a time of very
great interest, not only to the Athenian householder but to the
foreigner sojourning within the city. To preserve order and also to give
all customers an equal chance to procure the rare specimens offered for
sale, several stringent laws were enacted to govern the market. Among
other regulations was one requiring the opening of the market to be
announced by the ringing of a bell. Apparently there was no fixed moment
of time when this bell should be rung, but the time varied little from
day to day. If we can believe our ancient authorities, the ringing of
the bell was the occasion for a rush, pellmell, to the market, each
seeking to obtain the first choice. Strabo tells us an interesting story
anent this custom. On one occasion a musician was performing before a
number of invited guests, and when, in the midst of a composition, the
bell rang, in a moment the guests were up and away to the market, all
except one man, who was deaf. When the lyrist had finished he was very
careful to thank his lone auditor for his courtesy in remaining to hear
him through, instead of running away when the bell rang, as the rest
did. “Oh, has the bell rung?” asked the deaf man. And when informed that
it had, he, too, hastened to the market.
The Greek interest in fishes seems never to have gone beyond their
utility as an article of food. The building of aquaria and fish-ponds
never came to be the sport of the Greeks, although they became
extravagant luxuries among the Romans. Likewise fishing never became the
sport of a Greek gentleman, unless, perchance, at a rather late period.
Plato excludes fishing from the sports of a free-born gentleman. The
only sport he would have him engage in was the chase, which, athletic
games aside, was about the only outdoor sport a Greek gentleman seems to
have indulged in. For instance, there is no mention in Greek literature
of horseback riding as a pastime, yet horsemanship was an accomplishment
in which every Greek gentleman received special training. Likewise,
though fishing was not a recognized sport, yet the science of angling
was well understood among them by the third century B. C., and probably
much earlier. This we learn from a beautiful poem by the Alexandrian
poet Theocritus, entitled “The Fishermen.” I will quote a portion of the
poem translated into prose, partly because it gives us a picture of some
ancient professional fishermen in the camp, partly because it mentions
all the ancient instruments of the business.
“Two fishers, on a time, two old men, together lay and slept; they had
strown the dry sea-moss for a bed in their wattled cabin, and there they
lay against the leafy wall. Beside them were strewn the instruments of
their toilsome hands, the fishing-creels, the rods of reed, the hooks,
the sails bedraggled with sea-spoil, the lines, the weels, the lobster
pots woven of rushes, the seines, two oars, and an old coble upon props.
Beneath their heads was a scanty matting, their clothes, their sailor’s
caps. Here was all their toil, here all their wealth. The threshold no
door did guard nor a watch-dog; all these things, all, to them seemed
superfluity, for Poverty was their sentinel. They had no neighbor by
them, but ever against their narrow cabin gently floated up the sea.”
Long before daylight one of them awoke and aroused his companion to tell
him the dream he had had. I shall quote the dream, as it graphically
describes an ancient angler busy at his task: “As I was sleeping late,
amid the labors of the salt sea (and truly not too full-fed, for we
supped early, if thou dost remember, and did not overtax our bellies), I
saw myself busy on a rock, and there I sat and watched the fishes, and
kept spinning the bait with the rods. And one of the fish nibbled, a fat
one, for in sleep dogs dream of bread, and of fish dream I. Well, he was
tightly hooked, and the blood was running, and the rod I grasped was
bent with his struggle. So, with both hands, I strained and had a sore
tussle for the monster. How was I ever to land so big a fish with hooks
all too slim! Then, just to remind him he was hooked, I gently pricked
him, pricked, and slackened, and, as he did not run, I took in line. My
toil was ended with the sight of my prize; I drew up a golden, look you,
a fish all plated thick with gold. Gently I unhooked him * * * then I
dragged him on shore with the ropes.”
I leave to the reader the pleasant task of comparing the ancient tackle
with the modern. It must be said, however, that the description is
rather ideal for the Mediterranean fisherman displays no science in
landing his game, but simply throws it high and dry or breaks his
tackle. This fact is well attested for the ancients, by several vase and
wall paintings portraying fishermen actually at work. These paintings
show us that the ancient outfit included a basket, frequently with a
long handle, and a vase painting in Vienna undoubtedly suggests its use.
The man has caught a fish which he is lifting straight up out of the
water, at the same time he is reaching down with his basket, evidently
to scoop up the fish just before it leaves the water, similar to the
practice in trout-fishing to-day.
Before passing over the Ionian Sea to observe what the Romans did in
this field of activity, the quasi-scientific study of fishes among the
Greeks, particularly that of Aristotle, should claim our attention.
Compared with the work of the moderns Aristotle’s work was crude indeed.
Estimated as the first attempts at building up a science his work
deserves our admiration and, in view of the fact that his writings were
standard for nearly two thousand years, it demands our respect.
Aristotle did his work in natural history under the patronage of King
Philip of Macedon, who drew upon the resources of the empire to provide
him with rare or little known specimens from far and wide. How some of
his conclusions were based on insufficient data and are consequently
very inaccurate, or even grotesque, his discussion of the eel will
illustrate. It must not be taken as a fair sample of his work in
general. In fact, it is very unusual. “Among all the animals,” he says,
“which have blood, the eel is the only one which is not born of
copulation or hatched from eggs. The correctness of this statement is
evident from the fact that eels make their appearance in marshy bodies
of water, and that, too, after all the water has been drawn off and the
mud removed, as soon as the rain-water begins to fill these lakes. They
are not produced in dry weather, not even in lakes that never become
dry, for they live on the rain-water. It is, therefore, plain that their
origin is not due to procreation or to eggs. In spite of this some
people think that they are viviparous, because worms have been found in
the intestines of some eels, which they believe are the young of the
eel. This opinion, however, is erroneous, for they are produced from the
so-called ‘bowels of the earth’ (i. e., the earth-worms), the
spontaneous product of mud and moisture.”
Turning now to the Romans, we find a somewhat different state of
affairs, but different only on the aesthetic side; from a scientific or
industrial point of view the Roman, though heir to all the Greek
civilization and learning, in this, as in many other lines, made but
slight advances.
Fish culture never became a serious occupation among the Romans. It was
a pastime, one of the many directions which their senseless luxury took
rather than a carefully directed effort to stock ponds and rear fish for
food, or as a means of nature study. The immense ponds were stocked with
rare fish in preference to useful varieties. Next to the rare species
those that could be tamed were in favor. A qualification of the above
statements should be made probably, in favor of the Romans who lived
during the early Republican period of whom Columella, a Roman writer,
has the following to say in his book entitled De Re Rustica: “The
descendants of Romulus, although they were country folk, took great
pains in having upon their farms a sort of abundance of everything which
the inhabitants of the city are wont to enjoy. To this end they did not
rest contented with stocking with fish the ponds that had been made for
this purpose, but in their foresight went to the extent of supplying the
ponds formed by nature with the spawn of fish. By this means the lakes
Velinus and Sabitinus, and likewise Vulsmensis and Ciminus have
furnished in great abundance not only catfish and goldfish, but also all
the other varieties of fish which flourish in fresh water.” Such were
the practices of the Roman country folk in early times, but, strange as
it may seem in view of the extravagance of which the fish pond became
the object in later times, no measures were taken to secure the
reproduction and free development of staple food fishes.
It is well known that the ancients had a remarkable predilection for
fish as a food. The principal luxury of the Roman banquets consisted of
fish, and the poets speak of sumptuous tables spread with them
exclusively. In the period between the taking of Carthage and the reign
of Vespasian, this taste became a perfect passion, and for its
gratification the senators and patricians, enriched by the spoils of
Asia and Africa, incurred the most foolish expense. Thus Licinius
Murena, Quintus Hortensius and Lucius Philippus, spent millions on their
fish ponds and in stocking them with rare species. Lucullus was by far
the most extravagant of these fish fanciers. A fish pond was to him very
much what the yacht is to the modern millionaire. It is his name that we
find so frequently in Cicero’s letters, when he and his set come in for
several cleverly-framed rebukes. “No matter,” says Cicero, “about the
state, if only their fish-ponds escape harm.” It was Lucullus who had a
channel cut through a mountain at an immense outlay of money, in order
to let salt water into his fish-ponds. We are told by Varro that one
Hirrius had an income of nearly $700,000 from his Roman real estate, and
spent the whole amount on his fish-ponds. Some of these fish-ponds were
very elaborate. They were constructed with many compartments, in which
they kept the different varieties. The care of these ponds, and the
feeding of the animals, required a large force of trained men and
assistants who, we can infer, learned a great deal about the habits of
fishes, their favorite food, and how to propagate them, but their
information was never reduced to anything like a science.
That foolish extravagance of the Roman nobles produced but two results,
the less of which was the impoverishment of some of Rome’s wealthiest
families; the other and more unfortunate result was the destruction of
the fishes along the Mediterranean Sea.
Probably the sole contribution to fish-culture resulting from all this
extravagance, was the introduction of gold-fish into an artificial
habitat and providing them shell-fish for nourishment.
In conclusion, I will note some of the forms that were most popular
among the Romans, either for table use or for the aquarium. For these we
are indebted to a mosaic discovered in Pompeii. They are formed as they
were seen by the artist in an aquarium, but in the mosaic they are
supposed to be seen as if in the sea. The varieties found are: The grey
mullet, electric ray, gilt-head, muraena, scorpion fish, crawfish,
devil-fish, dog-fish, red-mullet, bass, spinola, red gumara, nautis
prawn, and from another mosaic may be added the soft prawn, squid and
some other species whose English names I do not know.
T. Louis Comparette.
[Illustration: ]
Description of Plate: A, flowering twig; 1, diagram of flower; 2, 3,
flower; 4, stamen; 5, pistil; 6, fruit.
CINNAMON.
(_Cinnamomum cassia blume._)
“_Sinament_ and ginger, nutmegs and cloves,
And that gave me my jolly red nose.”
—_Ravenscroft, Deuteromela, Song 7_ (_1609_).
The cinnamons of the market are the inner barks obtained from trees of
tropical countries and islands. The plants are quite ornamental; twenty
to forty feet high; smooth, enduring, green, simple and entire leaves.
The flowers are small and very insignificant in appearance.
Cinnamon is an old-time, highly-priced spice. It is mentioned in the
herb book of the Chinese emperor Schen-nung (2700 B. C.), where it is
described under the name Kwei. From China it was introduced into Egypt
about 1600 or 1500 B. C. The cinnamon and cassia mentioned in the Bible
were introduced by the Phoenicians. About 400 or 300 B. C. cinnamon
still belonged to the rarities of the market and little was known
regarding its origin and cultivation. Plinius stated that it was not a
native of Arabia, but does not explain what its native country was.
About the fourth century of our era cinnamon found its way into Turkey
and Asia Minor, where it was employed as incense in church ceremonies.
In the sixth century Trallianus recommended the still very expensive
spice for medicinal purposes. During the tenth century the price of this
article became much reduced and it was used as a spice, principally in
the preparation of fish meats. In England it was used in veterinary
practice. Although China is undoubtedly the home of the cinnamons they
were apparently entirely overlooked by Marco Polo, the eminent traveler
and historian, who visited the greater part of China. Oil of cinnamon
was prepared as early as 1540.
There are several varieties of cinnamon upon the market. Cassia
cinnamon, which is a Chinese variety, is obtained from Cinnamomum
cassia. The bark is quite thick and contains only a small amount of
volatile or ethereal oil. It is of little value yet it is exported on a
large scale. It forms the cheap cinnamon of the market. There are other
Chinese cinnamons of good quality which constitute the principal
commercial article. The Saigon cinnamon is by far the best article. It
also is Chinese, obtained from an undetermined species. It is the
strongest and spiciest of the cinnamons and it is the only variety
official in the United States Pharmacopoeia. The bark is of medium
thickness, deep reddish brown and rich in volatile oil. The Ceylon
cinnamon, from India, is noted for the delicacy of its flavor, but it
contains comparatively little volatile oil. The bark is very thin and of
a lighter brown color than that of the Saigon cinnamon.
Nearly all of the cinnamon of the market is obtained from cultivated
plants. There are large plantations in southeastern China, Cochin-China,
India, Sunda islands, Sumatra, Java and other tropical countries and
islands. In many instances little or nothing is known regarding the
cultivation, collecting and curing of cinnamons. As a rule the trees are
pruned for convenience in collecting the bark. In the better-grade
cinnamons the bark from the younger twigs only (1½ to 2 years old) is
collected. This is removed in quills, the outer corky inert layers being
discarded and dried. As the drying proceeds the smaller quills are
telescoped into the larger for convenience in handling, packing and
shipping. The color changes to a reddish brown and the aroma increases.
Two crops are collected annually; one, the principal crop, in May and
June; the second from November to January. The blossoms are formed
during May and June and the fruit ripens in January; these periods
correspond to the periods of collecting. The older, dry, corky bark
should not be collected, as it contains little volatile oil. In all
carefully prepared cinnamons the outer bark layers are removed by
scraping.
Cinnamon is quite frequently adulterated; poor qualities are substituted
for good qualities or added to the better qualities. This applies
especially to ground cinnamon.
Cinnamon is one of the richest of the spices. Its flavor is quite
universally liked. It is employed in pies and other pastry, in drinks,
in the preparation of hair oils and hair tonics, in confectionery, with
pickles, etc., etc. Medicinally it is employed as a corrective, in
dysentery and in coughs. The excessive consumption of spices, cinnamon
included, is a pernicious practice, as may be gathered from the opening
quotation from Ravenscroft. Spices cause pathological changes in
stomach, the liver and other glandular organs in particular. Quite
frequently those addicted to the use of spices are also addicted to the
use of alcoholic drinks, and it is more than likely that the “jolly red
nose” referred to was caused by the alcoholic stimulants rather than the
spices.
The not fully matured flowers are known as cassia buds and are used as a
spice. They are not unlike cloves in appearance. The roots of the
various cinnamon trees yield camphor. The leaves yield volatile oil and
the seeds a faintly aromatic fat.
Albert Schneider.