INTRODUCTION. 105 



water; just somewhat below the surface of the 

 water, a notch is made in the stick, and a similar 

 notch at the thinner end where the hook is at- 

 tached. The stick is now bent, and by means of the 

 two notches it is kept in that situation, the hook 

 and bait being a little under the water ; but scarcely 

 is it touched by the fish, in his eagerness to seize 

 the seducing morsel, when it is not only hooked, 

 but, in consequence of the jerk, the notches part 

 from each other, and the fish is drawn by the elas- 

 ticity of the rod out of its element, and there it 

 hangs until it is secured by the fisherman. 



After we had passed the Christmas Cataracts of 

 the river Berbice, our ill success in securing game 

 would have left us in want, if we had not been in- 

 demnified by a large number of fish ; and I recollect 

 that our canoeraen caught, in one night, fourteen 

 large haimuras {erythrlnus) by means of spring- 

 hooks. If the fish is very weighty, and the elasti- 

 city of the rod or stick not in comparison, the fish 

 is only partly drawn out, and in its attempts to 

 disentangle itself, it struggles and lashes the water, 

 and this is a sign for the fisherman to secure the 

 captive; or the noise attracts the w^ily cayman, 

 always on the alert to seize some prey, which 

 is soon in attendance, and snaps at the entrapped 

 fish, carrying aw^ay hook and line. In this pirati- 

 cal system he is assisted by the pirai or huma, 

 who slashes piece after piece from the poor captive, 

 and when the tardy fisherman takes his round, he 



