FISHING EXTRAORDINARY.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume I, Issue 208, 19 August 1911, Page 1 (Supplement)

FISHING EXTRAORDINARY.

E ! XTRAOR DENARY methods of fishing arc practiced by people of different countries, -which are not the result of ignorance but of that ingenuity which dire necessity and the instincts of self-support exert in original metiiod.-.. Those of the Chinese are especially qnaiui and curious away inland, •.■.here they bate not yet adopted the generally accepted system of working nets. A very popular method far up the Ning-Po river is generally practised at night, and depends on the attraction which a white screen stretched under the water appears to possess for the fishes, decoying them to it and making them leap. A man. sitting in the stern of a long, narrow boat, steers her with a single i paddle into the middle of the river, and there anchors. Along the right-hand side of his craft a narrow sheet of white j canvas is stretched, which, when he j leans to that side, dips under the sur I face, and if it be a moonlit night gleams ; mysteriously through the water. Along : the other side of the boat a net is fas- > toned to form a barrier two or three ; foot high. While the boatman keeps I perfectly still, the fish attracted by the! white canvas, approach and leap over | the narrow boat, coming in contact j with the screen of netting, which stops ; them, and throws them down at the | man’s feet. . i The lakes and rivers of China, and : especially of the north of that ancient ! empire, are so stocked with scaly life > that in some places the men called i fish-catchers make their living bv seiz- j ing and drawing the fish out with their | hands. The fish-catcher goes into the I water and proceeds half - swimming, j half-walking, raising his arms above his i head, and letting them drop, striking ' the surface with the flat of his hands | At the same time his feet are moving ' on the mnddv bottom. Presently ho j makes a swift dive, and brings up a I j£h in his hand. Th” striking of the ; surface is intended to frighten the | fi=h. that when alarmed sink to the ( bottom, then with bis naked feet he ■ feels them among the mud. and once } felt the practised hand gets them in an i instant. . ! Some tribes of South American Tn- ! dims catch fish bv drugging them. They i make the soft branches and loaves of ■ the Endian milk-bush into pulp, which thev strew in the water. When the fish : taste it they lose the power of swim- - ming, and are easily caught floating , helplessly on the surface. Other aborigines mix with dough a powder made , from a shritu, the ’ cocculus Indiciis," the effect of which, wnen thrown into the water, is to stupify the fish, and l..ey s.-. tin in ■ irel' - ., on the surfa e, where they are caught by tlie hand er nets. The Fuegians have a wonderful contrivance for killing the sharks which abound off their coast*. A log of wood : shaped like a canoe is set afloat, with a I tope and large noose hanging from one [ end. Before long a shark attacks the I supposed canoe, swimming after it, and is caught in the noose hanging from the stem. It tightens, so that ho cannot extricate him-elf, and the weignt ot the log keeps hint swimming slowly without being able to sink. The natives in their canoes then approach at their leisure, ami kill tho huge fish with thou : sfc.n s. | Every one must have heard of th? I fishing cormorant of tho Chinese. On i tho rivers and canals near Ning-l’o. j Shanghai, ami Foochou, the use of these ) birds is by no means an uncommon I sight. A man takes out ten or twelve ■ of these web-footed birdg in his boat, | and as soon as the craft stops, at his I word they plunge into the water and i begin searching for and capturing fish. If one of them is seen by him to be swimming idly about, he strikes the water near the bird with the tip of a long bamboo; and, thus recalled to its work on hand, the intelligent bird dives once more on its business. Immediately it catches a fidi a word from the Chinaman brings the cormorant swimming ards him; he draws it into the boat, and it drops the fish out of its bill. Round the bird’s neck there is always a string tied, to prevent the fish from being swallowed. The cormorants, of course, have previously been given a system of training, which is carried on | in the birds’ breeding and fishing es- j tablishments. _ | The most singular method of fishing i is. without a doubt, by means of the i sucking fish or remora. In different | parts of the world this fish is trained i by the natives to attach itself to its scaly prey, to which it sticks so tena- j ciously that the fisherman is able to lift | both into his boat or canoe by means j of the cord fastened to tho fish that catches fish.

FOR PRINCES AND PEERS

For those who actually took part in tho Coronation ceremony, a book which is now bi ing prepared by tho Somerset tieraid. Mr. H. Farnham Burke, C.V.0.. will bo carefully treasured. This is tho historical roeord of the Coronation, and is produced under the authority o.' she Earl Marshal, with the approval of the King. Only std>scribers will lie .able to obtain a copv. and the price has been fixed at four guineas. Tho volume, of royal quarto kgs. wid he bound in purple morocco, and will bear tho monograms of the King and Queen in rich gilt. It, will contain an official account of the Coronation. illustrated bv twenty coloured plates of portions of tho ceremony and costumes worn. Altogether, the hook w’ll bo one worths' of taking its place in tho libraries of 0.--ers.

ALL ON Hl> OWN “ lou sav that your boy has confessed to the act of breaking iny window? ’ said Mr. Bongs to his neighbour. Mr. Jaggers. lie 1.’.-," said Jagger.-.. - Did he confess of nis own accord? *• Absolute! v. Of course. I had to pers i.-il ■ him. hut he confessed quite voluntarilv." •• Indr-. ■<• ! ITow d:d you porsumm him ? ” . ■ Well, tii st i gave him a whipping then I sent him to bed without any supner. and told him L<’d have to stop ho confessed. This morning iiis ov, accord. You children!” and