Figure 13.
Fishing Devices.
Small hand nets, spread apart by means of sticks held in the hands, are used by women in scooping up small fish. Ordinarily, it is scooped away from the body, but if a fish takes refuge under a rock, the net Page 383is placed under the opposite side, and the stone is turned over with the foot.
The most effective fishing-device is a large throw net made cornucopia shape. The large net is open and weighted with many sinkers of lead. The man throws the net with a full arm sweeping motion, so that it spreads to its full extent, and all the sinkers strike the water at the same time. The splash causes all the fish inside the circle to dart inward, and as it sinks, the net settles over them. The fisherman draws in the cord attached to the small end, causing the sinkers to drag along to the bottom until directly beneath him, when their weight closes the net. It requires much skill and practice to throw this net properly, but once the art is mastered, the fisherman is very successful.
Blanket fishing similar to that in use by the neighboring Igorot is found here. A large blanket is weighed down with stones, and is placed in the river. After one or two hours have elapsed, a number of men form a wide circle around it. Often they drag between them a rope to which many corn husks are attached. As they advance toward the blanket, they turn the larger stones with their feet so that any fish hiding beneath them will be frightened away. The circle of men and corn husks causes the fish to go toward the blanket, and finally to take refuge under the stones piled upon it. When the blanket is reached, the men seize the corners and lift it out of the water on to the bank, where the stones are thrown out and the fish secured. A somewhat similar idea is found in the lama. Quantities of leaf branches are sunk into a still pool, and are left for a few days until the fish have come to use them as a hiding-place. A number of men make a close fence of bamboo sticks about them, then go inside, throw out the branches, and catch the fish with their hands or with the nets. Streams are often diverted from their course, for a time, and then returned, leaving the fish in the artificial channels stranded.
A curious method of fishing was seen in the Ikmin river. A hook was fastened in the end of a bamboo pole, and close to this a minnow was attached to a short line, to act as a lure. When the other fish approached the captive, the pole was jerked sharply, in an attempt to snag them. On one occasion the writer saw fifty fish taken by this method in less than an hour.
Short lines attached to sticks are often baited, and are set along the embankments of the flooded rice-fields. Small fish spears with detachable heads are also used in the rice lands, as well as in the clear pools. The only occasion when the bow and arrow is used in this region is when the rice fields are flooded. At such times a short Page 384bow and an arrow with fork-shaped head are employed ([Fig. 13], Nos. 3–3a). A fish poison or stupifier is occasionally used. A small red berry known as baiyatin is crushed, and the powder is thrown into or just above quiet pools, where fish abound. Some of the fish become stupified and float on the surface, where they are quickly speared or scooped up. They are eaten without any ill effects. Page 385
[1] Head-hunting is widespread in this part of the world. It is found in Assam, in the Solomon Islands, in Borneo, Formosa, and, it is said, was formerly practiced in Japan. See Hodson (Folklore, June, 1909, p. 109); Rivers, History of Melanesian Society, Vol. II, p. 259 (Cambridge, 1914); Hose and McDougall, Pagan Tribes of Borneo, Vols. I–II (London, 1912); Shinji Ishii (Transactions Japan Soc. of London, Vol. XIV, pp. 7, et seq.).