The pagan tribes of Borneo - Get a Free Blog Here

LIFE ON THE RIVERS 135
the net is gathered up on his right arm, the free end
is held in the left hand. Choosing a still pool some
two fathoms in depth, he throws a stone into the
water a little ahead of the boat, in the expectation
that the fish will congregate about the spot as they
do when fruit falls from the trees on the banks.
Then, as the boat approaches the spot he deftly
flings the net so that it falls spread out upon the
surface ; its weighted edge then sinks rapidly to the
bottom, enclosing any fish that may be beneath the
net. If only small fish are enclosed, the net is
twisted as it is drawn up, the fish becoming entangled
in its meshes, and in pockets formed about its lower
border. If a large fish is enclosed, the steersman
will dive overboard and seize the lower part of the
net so as to secure the fish.
Or the boat is paddled to the foot of a small
rapid ; the fisherman springs out and runs to the
head of the rapid, and casts his net in the still water
immediately above it where fish frequently congre-
gate.
Or a party takes the same net to the mouth of a
small tributary, and, while some hold the net so as
to block the mouth almost completely, others run
through the jungle to a point some hundred yards
up the stream, and then drive down the fish by wading
down stream splashing and shouting. As soon
as a number of fish come down against the net its
upper border is thrown down so as to enclose them.
Another net, made quite flat and some fifteen
yards long by four feet wide, is suspended by wooden
floats across a small river so that the fish may
become entangled in its meshes.
Another net is used only by the women. In
shape it is like a deep basin ; its wide mouth is
attached to a stout circle of rattan, and a wooden bar
is tied across the mouth to serve as handle. With
this the women catch the sucker fish in the shallow