THE SEA FISHER IN FOREIGN PARTS 469 



sketched by ' Sarcelle ' in his descriptions of sport with fishes and 

 birds, were keen fishermen with the rod. Invoking Allah for 

 prosperity, they watch the times and the seasons, go afloat with 

 their rough tackle, and come back sometimes with from one 

 hundred to two hundred fish in their boat tasargelt, or what 

 not, averaging seven pounds in weight. ' We did not come in 

 till we had not a hook left,' naively said one of them after a 

 hot day among the shoals. The tackle used by these fisher- 

 men is a short stumpy piece of bamboo, about eight or nine 

 feet long, to which is attached on a strong cord line a couple 

 of yards of stout wire. The hook is often barbless, and of the 

 butchers' meathook order in size. Among the baits, whose 

 name is legion, there is used, especially for the tasargelt, an 

 attractive strip of octopus arm, threaded upon the shank of the 

 hook, and fastened to the wire above. Curiously enough no 

 care is taken to extend the bait beyond the bend, so that the 

 point, and the barb if any, together with a good deal of the 

 wire, are left bare. 



With his lifelong experience of sea angling ' Sarcelle ' 

 naturally improved upon these primitive methods, using proper 

 rods and tackle and trying a variety of the baits and flies of 

 civilisation, even a combination of white rag and red wool here, 

 as in every clime, proving efficacious. But the most expert fisher- 

 men with the best appliances are frequently smashed up by the 

 monsters of the deep. A boat must be used. The natives have 

 four or five rowers, the boats go out in fleets, and the fishermen 

 move amongst the immense shoal singing, shouting, yelling, and 

 flailing the water with their rods, lines, and hooks. When sport 

 is ' on ' no attempt is made to play the fish ; it is lifted bodily 

 in by sheer weight of pole and cord if not too big for such 

 summary jurisdiction, with the result of fishermen making it a 

 boast that they do not come in until they have lost every hook. 

 The experienced sportsmen who pursue the rules of the game 



