fibre
to a piece of wood or bone, in such a way that the shell formed the
bend of the hook while the wood or bone formed the shank. Both
early remains and recent hooks from the Fiji Islands bear out this
supposition. It is also likely that flint, horn and bone were pressed
into service in a similar manner. The nature of the line or the rod
that may have been used with these early hooks is largely a matter
of conjecture. The first line was perhaps the tendril of a plant, the
first rod possibly a sapling tree. But it is fairly obvious that the
rod must have been suggested by the necessity of getting the bait out
over obstacles which lay between the fisherman and the water, and
that it was a device for increasing both the reach of the arm and the
length of the line. It seems not improbable that the rod very early
formed a part of the fisherman's equipment.

[Footnote 1: As to whether "angling" necessarily implies a rod as well
as a line and hook, see the discussion in the law case of _Barnard_ v.
_Roberts_ (_Times L.R._, April 13, 1907), when the question arose
as to the use of night-lines being angling; but the decision against
night-lines went on the ground of the absence of the personal element
rather than on the absence of a rod. The various dictionaries
are blind guides on this point, and the authorities cited are
inconclusive; but, broadly speaking, angling now implies three
necessary factors--a personal angler, the sporting element, and the
use of recognized fishing-tackle.]

_Literary History_.--From prehistoric times down to comparatively
late in the days of chronicles, angling appears to have remained a
practice; its development into an art or sport is a modern idea. In
the earliest literature references to angling are not very numerous,
but there are passages in the Old Testament which show that
fish-taking with hook as well as net was one of the common industries
in the East, and that fish, where it was obtainable, formed an
important article of diet. In _Numbers_ (xi. 5) the children of Israel
mourn for the fish which they "did eat in Egypt freely." So much too
is proved by the monuments of Egypt; indeed more, for the figures
found in some of the Egyptian fishing pictures using short rods and
stout lines are sometimes attired after the manner of those who were
great in the land. This indicates that angling had already, in
a highly civilized country, taken its place among the methods
of diversion at the di