410 NATIVE FISHING. 



banks of the river with their peculiar hand-nets, 

 called " Gniap :" this net is of a similar appear- 

 ance^ but of course smaller, to that used in the 

 " Sarambeau fishing rafts," at Manilla, of which 

 there is a very correct figure in the Voyage of 

 La Perouse, 8vo. Engl. ed. vol. ii. p. 322. On 

 examining the contents of the baskets, which 

 were rudely formed from the spathe of the Areka 

 palm, they were found to contain only a few 

 small fish, prawns, and biongs, or crabs. On their 

 success, my native attendants informed me, the 

 fishermen depend for their daily meal. During 

 the rice and betel nut harvest, they earn their 

 subsistence by cutting and threshing the former, 

 and gathering and shelling the latter ; but when 

 the season for those productions has passed, they 

 depend upon the fish caught with the hand-net, 

 as a subsistence for themselves and families. 



I stood by one of them to see "a haul:" 

 after a short time had elapsed, the heavy net was 

 raised, and contained only a solitary fish and 

 a few crabs. The nets were baited with crabs' 

 claws, tied about different parts. On a marsh 

 near this spot a flock of two kinds of crane was 

 feeding ; one species small and white, and named 

 "Ecuar," the other much larger, of a greyish 

 colour, and named " Ngnar, ngnar," by the 

 natives. 



Fruit was at this season scarce , a few guavas, 



