QUEER WAYS OF FISHING.

Northland Age, Volume 2, Issue 43, 5 June 1906, Page 2

QUEER WAYS OF FISHING.

—* — In the great ocean world there is no creature more beautiful than the flying fish, which is found in all southern seas. There are many kinds of this fish, varying from six to eighteen inches in longth. As an article of food they are greatly prized, and wherever they abound men seek to catch them.

The South Sea Islander goes a-fish-ing at night. In his canoe he has only his paddle, a torch, and a net, fixed to a long bamboo handle. The natives paddle out beyond the surf which breaks continually upon the coral reef, and when he reaches a likely spot, he lights the torch and waves it above the waters. Victims to curiosity, the flying fish soon appear. They are at once attracted and confused by the glare of the torch, and are easily caught, either in the act of rising to the surface, or when they are flying through the air. In Barbadoes the catching of flying fish is one of the regular industries of the natives. The preparations are more elaborate than these above described. The boats used are much larger and heavier than canoes, they have a sail, also oars in case of calms, and they are painted all over a light blue, as nearly like the sea as possible. Everything is done to ensure quiet, and thus avoid alarming the fish. The men set sail at midnight. Often as many as two hundjtfH boats go out at the same time ; but once beyond the harbour, the fleet separates, each captain choosing his own ground. When he has decided where to fish he lowers his sail, sets aside the oars, and gives to each man his position. At dawn fishing begins, and from this moment not a sound is allowed on board. Fach man is armed with a net and a bucket containing as bait horribly smelling bad fish. The net is like a big shallow landing net, upon a hoop a yard in diameter. The fisherman leans over the side of the boat. With his right hand he holds the net below the surface of the water, and with the left he graspshis bait. This also he keeps under water ; squeezing it and letting little fragments fall off and sink. The evil smell attracts the Flying Fish, a fact which is not to their credit. They are dainty in appearance, but their taste in food cannot be called refined. Up they come in crowds. At first they appear like numberless black specks far below ; but as they shoot upwards they quickly show themselves to be hungry greedy fishes. At the right moment, with a deft movement of his wrist, the fisherman turns the net against the side of the boat, and draws it up full of fishes, often so many, that he can hardly lift it. These are emptied into the hold, and silently the net slips into the water again. In one night's fishing a boat will often take as many as seven or eight thousand fish. It is all done without a sound, for the fish are easily startled. If there is the least noise or a hasty movement they vanish like a flash, and nothing more can be done that day. The Chinese have thoir own quaint ways of doing everything. One naturally expects to find them fishing in a manner peculiar to themselves, and they do not disappoint us. In China great numbers of people live upon the waters ; their boats or rafts carrying their wives and children and all their household goods. Of course, their chief food is fish, and it must have tried their patience to see that the Cormorants also lived upon fish, and were extremely expert in catching them.

But a Chinaman is not soon daunted. Hundreds of years ago he seems to have decided that, instead of disputing the question of rights with the Cormorant, it would be better to make use of him and his talents as a fisherman. Thus we find the floating population of China busily employed in fishing with the able assistance of Cormorants. The training of these birds of prey commences even before they are out of the shell. The eggs are hatched by a steady-going old Duck, who begins the education of her foster children as soon as they make their appearance, and aided by her master she brings them up in the way they should go. Cormorants, used for fishing, are kept under cover, and when they are carried to the fishing grounds, they have a hood drawn over their eyes ; just as in olden days falcons were hooded by their owners and for the same reason. These poor prisoners greatly enjoy the sport of fishing, though they are not allowed to do it quite their own way. Their way would be to gobble up the fish as fast as they were caught, but this would not suit the master, so a cord is tied around the neck, loose enough to allow of easy breathing, but tight enough to prevent the throat from expanding, so that the fish caught in the powerful beak goes no further. The cord serves another purpose. It acts as a rein, and by means of it the bird can be checked in his career, and reminded that he is not free.

It is very interesting to watch the Chinaman and his Cormorant servants. They sit solemnly on the edge of the boat, awaiting orders, and as soon as the signal is given they dive into the water. They are wonderfully swift and clever in their pursuit of the fish ; swimming under water, and using their wings to add to their speed. If one catches a fish too large for him to manage, another of the birds come to his assistance, and together they carry the big prize to their master. The Cormorants are very well treated and cared for by their owner. He does not feed them while they are at work, but when evening comes he takes the cord from their necks and gives to each bird a good fish for his supper, which, indeed, he has well earned. In West Africa the traveller, as he nears the shares, sees before him a broad belt of white surf, then a margin of sand, and beyond that lies the dense, primeval forest, stretching on probably for many miles into the interior of the country. Landing upon this coast is dangerous work, for who can tell where the rocks lie under that ceaselessly tossing foam ? Many a white\man here comes to grief. His boat capsized, his worldly goods for ever lost, he is by and bye tossed ashore, battered, bruised, and forlorn. But the negroes who live in this district are quite at home In the surf, and understand it as no white man can. Their manner of fishing in these waters is most picturesque. A fishing battue is arranged beforehand, with some care, and with due regard to the rights of the various clans in the neighbourhood. In the first place they make very long and

■ thick wreaths of palm leaves, binding them firmly together with the tough, elastic stems of creeping plants, Which Nature provides for their use as string or rope. This beautiful palm wreath must strangely remind the traveller of the holly and yew wreaths festooning the walls, and twining around the pillars of the village church at Christmas time, in his English home so far away. But the plain leaf wreath made by the negro fisherman, however beautiful it may be, is not means for ornament, but use.

When it is long enough for the purpose, the men lift it and carry it out into the surf as far as their fear of sharks permits. Then it is allowed to drop into the water ; all the men returning to the shore, except those who support each end. The long wreath is now hanging down in a great loop or festoon, lying for the most part,on rocky sand beneath the waves ; the two ends only being above water. Then the men in charge of these ends begin to swim or wade in shore, and the big wreath acting as a sort of sea-broom, sweeps the frightened fish before it. Away they fly, helter skelter for the shore, where a worse fate awaits them.

A long line of women stand knee deep in the shallow water upon the sands. Each carries in. her hands a broad, deep, sack-like basket, and with this she sweeps up the fish, carries them to the shore, where they lie in heaps and then returns for another load. The fishing over, this harvest 0/ the sea is divided ; each family taking a fair share of the booty, and what is not at once consumed is smoked and drie'd for future use or for sale amongst inland tribes.—l. Cutler, in the "Weekly Telegraph."