"How do they get them then?" asked Louis.
"They fish for them."
"What, with a hook and line?" demanded Captain Scott.
"With a line, but have no fish-hook," replied the Bornean. "You must see them catch one."
"All right," replied the captain; "we will tow them down the river."
After the yacht had been moving about an hour, they came to a colony of saurians apparently, for several of them were in sight at once. Achang directed the reptile-hunters to catch one of them, and they paddled their sampan towards a large one. The Blanchita kept near enough to enable all hands to witness the operation, which the Bornean described to them as the Malays made their preparations, for they had all their fishing-gear in their boat.
The line they used was a rattan about forty feet long. At the "business end," as Scott called it, they attached a float to keep it on the top of the water. The steamer just crawled along on the river in order not to disturb the game, though the reptiles were accustomed to the sight of vessels.
"Now you see that stick the hunter has in his hand," said Achang, though each of them had one. "'Most a foot long, like a new moon."
"Crescent-shaped," added Louis.
"Called an alir in Malay. Made of green wood, very tough, pointed at the ends; they fasten the rattan line to the middle of the stick."