Food Sources: Earth, Water, and Air - Food Culture and Health in Pre-Modern Islamic Societies - page 75

one to the other. The halieutic vocabu-
lary for these two modes of fishing is quite
abundant. In fishing on the high seas,
associated with navigation, the principal
instrument used is the large pouched net
known as seine or drag-net ( ¡ arf, ¡ ārūf,
¡ arrāfa, aāa, baāna ) supported by floats
of cork ( awwām, urtī ¡ ) and terminating in
a closed end ( ¶ urūm ). It is towed by row-
ing boats and, when reckoned to be full,
dragged to the shore. For tunny fishing,
especially in Tunisia, the device used is
a huge enclosure formed of meshed cloth
with which the tunny bed is surrounded;
this is the tuna net ( mazraba ). The catch
is hoisted aboard the boats by means of
gaffs and grapnels ( ¶ am al-āī, mubulān,
mi ¡ ān, afā, uāfa ) or dispatched directly
with harpoons ( ¶ aūf, ¶ aāf, aūf, kullāb,
mu ¡ īr, muīn, mu ∞ ī º , musahhil ). A third
method of fishing at sea consists in
stretching out a long cable which is held
on the surface by floats and fitted, at
regular intervals, with fish-hooks ( sannāra,
innāra, ª i, mi ¶ tāf, mu ¶ ü āf ), baited
and slightly submerged; this rope with
fish-hooks is known as balāngar, brungalī,
ª īrīnbak . Finally, there is fishing by means
of dragging a line fitted with gull-feath-
ers; this is dūzan bi 'l-rī ª a or ª alū ª . The
fishing-line, made from plaited horsehair,
is called sa ¡ im, ª alīf, būlīs . The bait most
often used is the talitrus, a small leaping
crustacean, also known as the sand-flea
( Talitrus saltator ) or kūkra , in addition to
the arenicol ( trīmūlīn ), a small beach worm
( Arenicola marina ).
Once ashore, the fisherman ( ¶ annā,
arakī ) delivers his catch to a fishmon-
ger ( sammāk, awwāt ) who maintains a
shop ( ¶ ināa ) in the fish-market ( sū
al- ¶ annāīn ).
Fishing in fresh water, practised in
stagnant waters as well in the current of
any watercourse and large river, employs
diverse techniques. Where the depth

allows, the fisherman enters the water
directly, wherever he can find a foothold,
thereby dispensing with the need for a
boat. By this means he can deposit an eel-
trap ( salla, radfūn, rafūn, wahhār ) with bait,
which needs to be raised only once or
twice daily. In the absence of such a trap,
he contents himself with digging a chan-
nel in the water-bed ( annūra ), in the place
which he judges to be the best conduit for
the aquatic fauna, and baits it copiously;
eels, barbels, breams, carps and many oth-
ers will soon arrive to feed there. When
he sees his channel swarming with fish, he
needs only a landing-net ( ∞ irāfa, abb ) to
draw out what he wants; eels are killed
by means of a fishgig ( bāla, fāla, arba ). If
the catch is particularly abundant, he may
place some of the fish in buckets of water,
transferring them, as a reserve, to a fish
pond ( maān, ¡ als, i ¶ ā £ a, fala, birka )
prepared for this purpose. In the Ma ∞ rib
and the Near East, a very popular and
lucrative form of fishing, practised in fresh
water as well as on the sea-shore, consists
in the use of a stick fitted with the small
bag-shaped net known as a cast net ( ara,
arrā, bayyāa ) with weights attached to
its periphery in such a manner that it
sinks to the bed of the water. The caster,
who may stand up to waist-deep in the
water, draws it slowly towards himself,
thus imprisoning the creatures caught in
it; everywhere, young fishermen are adept
at this activity. Also to be mentioned,
finally, is the virtually universal sport of
angling with a fishing rod ( aba, annāra,
∞ awayyi ) formed, usually, of numerous
sections fastened together and terminat-
ing in a fine and very flexible tip ( £ abāb )
to the end of which the thread of the line
is fastened, and this bears a floating bob,
above the hook. The fishing rod is usually
made of pieces of bamboo ( ¶ ayzurān ) or
other types of wood; modern techniques
use metallic or synthetic materials. This