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FISH-HOOKS OF WOOD FROM FRANCE,
MODERN FISH-HOOKS OF WOOD.
Some vinedressers who live on the banks of the Dordogne, in the parishes
of Ambes and Prignac-et-Cazelles (Gironde) indulge in the pleasures of fishing
during their leisure moments. The wooden fish-hooks which they make and
which they still use for eel-fishing, have for a long time attracted my atten-
tion. Those which I have, have figured in my collection since 1876.
These instruments are of two different kinds, called by the natives Hain
or In, and Clabeou or Claveau respectively.
Fig. 1. L'hain (wooden fish-gorge). Fig. 2. Clabeou or Claveau (thorn
fish-hook) Gironde. Fig. 3. Pre-historic fish-gorge of ivory, Cave-deposits,
Giroude. Fig. 4. Fish gorge from the Essex coast, recent.
L'hain (Fig. 1) is a small fish-gorge pointed towards both ends, in the
shape of a spindle, about two or three centimetres long, cut out of a slender
twig of heath (Erica scoparia) sharpened at both ends, firmly secured at the
centre by a mere thread, about 35 centimetres long.