Under the system of granting remissions of rent, it has been calculated that in the districts of Semárang, where the assessment is comparatively high, on account of the vicinity to a large capital, a remission of eight rupees and a half, or about twenty shillings, being the average amount paid annually by each cultivator, government obtains a man's hard labour for six months of the year. But as the inhabitants of the same village are generally accustomed to labour in the fields alternately, and thus to assist each other, it has been found advisable to make the remissions of rent for the Blandongs to the village as a community, in order to avoid the delay and endless vexation which would ensue, in adjusting the petty claims of each individual.
In the maritime districts on the north-east side of the island, a very large proportion of the population is employed in the fisheries, and so moderate are the seasons, that except perhaps for a few days at the change of the monsoon, they are seldom interrupted by the weather.
The sea fish is taken either by the net, in stakes (wídi), or with the hook and line: the most considerable quantity is of course procured by means of the two former, generally distinguished by the term máyang, whence práhu máyang, fishing boat. The whole apparatus of the hook and line is called pánching, the usual term for angling among the Maláyus. The fishing-boats quit the shore at about three or four o'clock in the morning, and are driven out by the land breeze beyond sight before daylight. At about noon they are seen returning with the sea-breeze, and generally reach the shore by two in the afternoon. The stakes along the whole of the northern coast, wherever the banks and projecting land admit, are very extensive: they are often fixed in several fathom water, and constitute a very important property. They are usually closed in the night.
Nets are principally made of rámi, though sometimes of gadáng'an, and even of cotton. They are steeped in an infusion, which not only darkens their colour, but is considered essentially to contribute to their strength. Fish that is not eaten or disposed of while fresh, is salted and dried in the sun, or smoke-dried at a short distance from a fire, and in that state forms an extensive article of internal commerce. Besides the abundance of fish thus obtained from the sea, extensive tracts of country, salt marshes, and inlets of the sea, have in several parts of the island been converted into fish-ponds (támba). These ponds are to be found in most of the low maritime districts: those at Grésik, which are the most extensive, appear to have been first established during the visit of one of the early Mahomedan princes of the island in the fifteenth century. The bándeng is generally considered as the richest and highest-flavoured fish known in these seas: the young fry are taken in the sea, and transferred to these ponds, where they grow and fatten for seven months, when they are fit for the table. An annual supply of young fish from the sea is found necessary to keep up the stock in the tanks; and, whether from a desire to raise the value of the fish so obtained in them, or otherwise, the natives generally affirm, that the fish rarely attains its full size in the sea. The extent and value of these nurseries for the fish may be estimated from the rent paid for those at Grésik, which are the property of government.
The river fish are taken by a variety of methods: one is to throw a number of branches of trees into a deep part of the river; here the fish collect: they are then surrounded by stakes, or the branches are taken out, and the fish easily caught; this method is termed rúmpon. Bámbu fences are sometimes thrown across the rivers at night, and so constructed that the fish are easily entrapped as they pass down the stream: this method is called pásang wádong. The rivers and ponds are frequently dragged by nets of different sizes. The coculus indicus, and other intoxicating drugs, are sometimes thrown into the river, after which the fish are found floating on the surface and easily taken; this method, termed túba, is prohibited on large rivers: when the fish are afterwards driven down the river by a number of men into a snare laid below, the usual term is jámprong. In the western districts, a fishing party of this description affords a very favourite amusement on great occasions. A time is selected when the river is moderately low; temporary stands made of the trunks of small trees or stout bámbus are then thrown across, each consisting of three piles, fastened together at the top and expanding below, the bottoms being pointed so as to fix in the ground. On a small stage on each, just above the surface of the water, are piled a few stones, by which they are steadied while the current is allowed a free course below. The piers or stages thus formed, answer well for the construction of a temporary bridge over the rocky or stony bed of the most irregular river. A coarse matting, made of bámbu or some other material, is then carried from one to the other, so as to shut the current in within a narrow space, across which a temporary platform and shed is thrown, with a sloping floor rising above the surface of the water, to where the party is assembled. The drug having been thrown into the river, a considerable distance higher up several hundred people now enter the river, and driving the half-intoxicated fish before them, they come floundering one after the other on the bámbu stage, to the no small amusement of the party collected, fish of a considerable size literally jumping into their laps. On these occasions, when the entertainment is given to Europeans, a great concourse of people attend, a feast is prepared, and the wild and antic music and dance of the mountaineers, performing on the ánklang and rude drum, give great peculiarity and zest to the amusement. Fish are sometimes struck at night by torch light, both at sea and in the rivers; but this method is not very general.
Pearls are obtained in the vicinity of Bányuwáng'i, where the privilege of fishing for them is farmed out by the year, as well as in the vicinity of Núsakambáng'an, on the south side of the island; but they are generally of the description called seed pearls, and of little value.
FOOTNOTES:
[50] These vessels for large patterns are sometimes made of the cocoa-nut shell, and then hold a proportionally larger quantity.
[51] Dampier's Voyage, vol. ii.
[52] Journal of Colonel Mackenzie, 1812.