256 



NATURAL SCIENCE 



[October 



A straw rope with a few stems of straw, put between strands of 

 the rope and suspended at regular intervals, forms the outer part. 

 The end of these straw stems nearly touch the ground. The 

 middle part forms the greater portion of the pound-net, and is 

 made of a netting which is stretched between bamboo sticks 

 to form a barrier. The central part is short. Its essential 

 portion consists of three wooden boards, placed in the shape 

 of the letter IT. The space between the boards and the ground is 

 cautiously closed by a netting. To catch fish, three or four persons 

 row a small boat very swiftly, and at the same time drive scattered 

 fish by beating the surface of water with oars or poles. When the 

 boat conies near the end of the net, whence it cannot go further, a 

 man comes out of the boat and continues the driving in the same 

 way, wading towards the centre of the net. The fish are at last 

 compelled to leap to clear the barrier, and are caught by the boards. 

 This net is used in a shallow ground at the outlet of a brackish 

 lake. The mouth of the net faces the outlet of the lake. 



There is another kind of pound-net (fig. 4) used in a shallow bay 

 where there is a great difference in the height of water between the 

 flood and ebb tides. It is a very long net, set by means of poles, 

 parallel to the coast line, and bent towards the coast at both ends. 

 There is a fold, or a series of pockets, which runs through the whole 



Fig. 4. 



length of the net at its middle part. The mouth of the pocket opens 

 towards the coast. When the tide recedes, the upper part of the net 

 is bent backward to form a roof. The roof is supported by a series 

 of floats. Fish are entangled in the pockets, or caught on the roof- 

 like part. 



The hand net (fig. 5). — This is a simple apparatus, but the 

 method of using it is somewhat interesting. It is trapezoid in shape ; 

 its upper and lower margins are strengthened by ropes, and the two 

 slanting sides by bamboo poles. This net is used on the shallow 



