SINGLE AND DOUBLE FISH TRAPS
See pages 241-2
FISH SPEAR WITH DETACHABLE HEAD
Throughout the whole length of the river the natives use large cone-shaped traps made of split canes and bamboos. These traps vary in size from 6 feet to 12 feet in length, and from 2 feet to 7 feet in diameter at the mouth. The sides run straight for two-thirds of the length, and then taper off to a point. Inside are several partitions running in semicircles and at an obtuse angle to the sides, so that it is easy for the fish to enter; but if they try to escape, the sharp, irregular ends of the canes forming the partitions probe them, and effectually turn them back. These large basket-like traps are weighted and dropped into deep water with their mouths upstream. Some have only one smaller circle of canes arranged inside a larger. There is also another trap having the same diameter for its whole length, and a mouth at each end with a smaller cone-shaped partition arranged in each opening, so that fish coming from opposite directions can enter.
Fish-spears are of different shapes, but their hafts are always long—from 10 to 12 feet—and tapered towards the end. Sometimes the handles are of sticks, and sometimes of bamboos. The fish-spear is often a simple prong, sometimes an ordinary spear shape, but the commonest form is the barbed—single, or double, or triple. The two former are always tightly fixed in their handles, but the barbed kind is always detachable, having two or three yards of string loosely wound round the handle near to the spear-head. This allows the barbed head of the spear to remain in the fish, and the handle to float and show its whereabouts. I think the only reason for this difference is that the barbed spear-heads are scarce and costly, and on account of the detachable handles they are not so likely to lose them.
Fish poisons are used. One was the milky juice of a leguminous, hairy plant, called botoko (probably Tephrosia toxifera), which was crushed and thrown into the streamlets and creeks and has the effect of partially stupefying the fish. The other was the juice of the Euphorbia, named by the natives kokotulu.
By permission: Musée du Congo Belge
Genyomyrus Donnyi
This remarkable fish is to be seen in different parts of the Upper Congo. It feeds on molluscs, worms, and maggots. Its eyes are protected by a transparent covering which permits it to probe among heaps of river refuse.
(5) The Libinza people, to whom I have referred several times, make the largest nets, and fish in a more business-like way than any tribe I have seen on the Upper Congo. These nets are of a large mesh, and are made entirely of native string. In shape the net is like a box without a lid. It is 15 feet long, about 8 feet wide, and from 3 to 4 feet deep.
