The Net.
ALTHOUGH the Net is but seldom employed for the purposes of general warfare, it was once largely used in individual combats, of which we will presently treat. In hunting, however, especially in fishing, the Net has been in constant use, and is equally valued by savages and the most civilised nations.
To begin with the fisheries. Even among ourselves there are so many varieties of fishing-nets that even to enumerate them would be a work of time. However, they are all based on one of two principles, i.e. the nets which are set and the nets which are thrown.
We will begin with the first.
On the right hand of the illustration, and at the bottom, may be seen a common Seine-net being “shot” in the sea. This form of net is very long in proportion to its width, some of these nets being several miles long. The upper edge of the net is furnished with a series of cork bungs, which maintain it on the surface, while the lower edge has a corresponding set of weights, which keep the net extended like a wall of meshes. Any fish which come against this wall are, of course, arrested, and are generally caught by the gill-covers in their vain attempts to force themselves through the meshes.
We may see representations of fishing with the seine-net in the sculptures and paintings of Egypt and Assyria; and in the Berlin Museum there is a part of an Egyptian seine-net with the leads still upon the lower edge, and the upper edge bearing a number of large pieces of wood, which acted as buoys, and served the same purpose as our corks.
In hunting, this plan has been adopted for many centuries, the upper edge of the net being supported on poles, and the lower fastened to the ground in such a manner as to leave the net hanging in loose folds. While this part of the business is being completed by the servants, the hunters are forming a large semicircle, in which they enclose a number of wild beasts, which they drive into the nets or “toils” by gradually contracting the semicircle. The ancient sculptures give us accounts of nets used in exactly this manner. There are represented the nets rolled up ready for use, and being carried on the shoulders of several attendants, who are bearing them to the field. Then there are the nets set up on their poles, and having enclosed within them a number of wild animals, such as boars and deer.
In various parts of India, hunting with the net is one of the chief amusements of their principal men, and the variety of game driven into the toils is really surprising, and affords a magnificent sight to those who view it for the first time. Even the tiger himself cannot leap over the nets because they are so high, nor force his way through them, because their folds hang so lightly that they offer no resistance to his efforts.
A very simple net on similar principles is used for catching elephants. It is formed of the long creeping plants that fling themselves in tangled masses from tree to tree. These creepers are carefully twisted into a net-like form, without being removed from the trees, and when a sufficient space has been enclosed the elephants are driven into it. Not even their gigantic strength and tons of weight are capable of breaking through a barrier which, apparently slight, is as strong as if it were built of the tree-trunks on which the creepers are hung.