Fishing from the earliest times - Blog

46oCHINESE FISHINGpatiently for air-bubbles, like a destroyer hunting GermanU-boats, to rise to the surface and betray the fishes' lair in themud, and then plunged home his depth-charge, or rather hisbident.Fishing by cormorant was unique and peculiar to Chinaalone, according to Mr. Yen, who adds that " in our countryit was confined to one family, the Liu.i The fishes thus caught,however, are limited to those of small streams, unpalatable,and eaten only by very poor people."Few realise how great is the patience necessary for thetraining of an expert cormorant, or how good is the reward.These seemingly altruistic piscatores are taught to fish an areain flocks, and at a given signal return to their master withtheir prey, made unswallowable by means of a neck-ring.One boatman watches twelve to twenty of the birds, each oneof whom, although hundreds may similarly be hunting thesame water, knows its own master. If one seize a fish tooheavy for him, another comes to its aid, and together theyfetch it to the boat. More generally the ally (not unlikecertain nations in history) hustles the weaker and despoilshim of his catch, and of his titbit reward.The barndoor fowl, whose hospitable warmth and creduhtyall the world abuses, usually hatches out the young birds,whose piscatorial propensities increase and accentuate on adiet of fish hash and eel's blood.A curious and vicarious manner of Indian fishing can bewitnessed on the Brahmaputra. Birds of the cormorantfamily range themselves midstream in line, and advance towardsa bank, making a prodigious pother by flapping thewater with their wings. The fish, panic-stricken, flee to theshallows and even throw themselves on land. The birds, stillin close array, pursue and gorge themselves on their penned-inprey.^ op. cit., but in Japan, especially at Gifu, the cormorant is in commonuse, while D. Ross, The Land of Five Rivers and Sindh (London, 1883), statesthat on the Indus not only the Cormorant (Graculus carbo), but also thePelican and the Otter are similarly employed. Early in the seventeenthcentury an attempt was made to introduce Cormorant fishing into England asa sport, but failed (cf. Wright, op. cit., p. 182). There was at one time acourt official, styled The Master of the Herons.