1902 Fishing Notes in South China 259 



fixed in a boat or " sampan," which is used in shallow water, 

 the net resting on the bottom. If used from the shore the 

 end of the pole is placed against a wall or heavy boulder, and 

 the apparatus pulled up and down by a cord, the upright 

 post being dispensed with. This net the fisherman raises 

 every minute or two, and when perchance he catches a few 

 miserable fry hardly bigger than minnows, he scoops them 

 out with a small landing-net. 



One may see these nets being used in a harbour amongst 

 a crowd of boats, where there is hardly room to swing a cat, 

 the fisher being surrounded and encouraged in his toil by an 

 interesting crowd of coolies, loafers, and small boys. This 

 he enjoys, and the louder the shouting, and the more the 

 mud and water is stirred up by the boat-people with their 

 bamboo poles, the more fish he seems to get. A modified 

 form of this net, but smaller, is used in padi-fields and ponds 

 for taking cat-fish and the Chinese edible frog, much as a 

 shrimping-net is used at home. 



The same style of net, but very much larger, mounted on 

 four poles secured by stays from falling sideways, and raised 

 by a windlass, is also used in shallow water, either from the 

 shore or from a rickety structure composed of a few bamboos 

 lashed together, which serves to support the windlass and 

 forms a foothold and seat for the operator. Generally these 

 nets are set up in gangs of three or more, sometimes, where 

 the sea is very shallow, three or more miles from the shore, 

 a boat visiting them in turn. 



There is an opening or bag provided in the bottom of the 

 net, the mouth of which is tied with a string, from which 

 the fish are emptied into the boat. This is taken right under 

 the net, the fishermen being practically nude, or wearing 

 their palm-leaf rain-coats. These big nets are wound up at 

 short intervals, the man at the windlass using his hands and 

 feet alternately on the machine. When the net is lowered 

 nothing is to be seen of it as it lies on the bottom. 



The fish taken are generally very small, and there is great 

 excitement over anything much exceeding a pound in weight. 

 Nothing escapes the native fisher ; everything down to the 

 size of a rather small minnow is " saved," and the wonder is 

 that the fish are not exterminated. 



