The pagan tribes of Borneo - Get a Free Blog Here

VIII LIFE ON THE RIVERS 137
A rod and line and baited hook are also in
common use. The Kayans make a hook of stout
brass wire, cutting a single barb. The Kenyahs
use a hook made of rattan thorns. A strip is cut
from the surface of a rattan bearing two thorns
about an inch apart ; this is bent at its middle so
that the cut surfaces of the two halves are brought
into opposition, and the thorns, facing outward
opposite one another, form the barbs. The line
is tied to the bend, and the bait is placed over the
tip projecting beyond the thorns. When the fish
takes the hook into his mouth and swallows the
bait, the barbs being released spring outward and
secure the fish.
A rough kind of spoon bait is also used with rod
and line.
Fish are taken also in traps. The most generally
used is the bubu. This varies in length from
eighteen inches to eight feet or even more. The
body of the trap is a conical cage of bamboo. From
the wide mouth of the cone a second smaller flatter
cone passes upwards within the outer one ; the
slender bamboo strips of which it is made come
almost together in the centre, their inner ends being
free and pliable. This is fixed beside the bank, its
mouth turned down stream, and a few stakes are
driven into the bed of the river to guide the fish
into the mouth ; or it may be laid in shallow water,
two barriers of stones converging to its mouth.
The fish working up stream pass in at the mouth,
and, when they have passed the inner lips, cannot
easily pass out again.
A still simpler trap consists merely of a long
slender cone of bamboo strips. The fish entering
the mouth and passing up to the confined space of
the other end become wedged fast in it.
A Sea Dayak trap found in the south-west of
Borneo is a cylindrical cage of bamboo attached to