24 



party, but as soon as one comes in touch with the naked 

 body it is cleverly caught by the native's hands, killed by 

 crushing its head between his teeth, and thrown on to dry 

 land. This method was observed among the Ginmus. 



When sawfish (Pnstis sp.) are seen in shallow water off 

 the beach, the natives cleverly seize them by the tail with 

 their hands, and before any harm can be done hurl them 

 high on to shore. 



Fishing-nets are made by first forming a ring, about 

 five feet in diameter, from the long shoots of Sfinifex grow- 

 ing in the sand-dunes on the coast. Two pairs of these 

 shoots are twisted, two-and-two, one about the other, and 

 bent into semi-circular shape, the two ends of each twisted 

 pair being tied together with vege- 

 table string, thus completing the 

 circle (as shown in fig. 9). Round the 

 inside of this hoop is tied a circular 

 net, which is made of long vegetable 

 Fig. 9. strands, usually derived from hybis- 



cus bark. The knitting of this 

 meshwork is done by hand, w^ithout the aid of tools. The 

 successive stages in the manufacture of the net are most 

 readily explained diagrammatically, and are given in the fol- 

 lowing figures, the knitting in the last case being repeated 

 indefinitely from mesh to mesh, until the required dimen- 

 sions have been attained. 



Fig. 10. Fig. 11. Fig. 12. Fig. 13. 



When this net is employed for fishing, two natives, 

 usually females, seize a side of the rim each with one hand, 

 wade out to a suitable depth, pulling the net along between 

 them, its mouth being inclined at an angle so that the lower 

 side projects beyond the upper. See fig. 14. The natives all 

 the while beat the water on either side to drive the fish into 

 the net, the mouth of which, as soon as one is noticed to have 

 entered, is quickly turned up into a horizontal position, and 

 the fish bagged.* 



* Cf. AV. E. Roth • Ethnological Studies, p. 9 



