TUBA FISHING. 255 



place to wait under some stump, perhaps, or by the 

 roots of an old tree that had often afforded a refuge 

 from bigger fish or a place of safety in times of floods, 

 but which gave no protection against the insidious 

 tuba. A second taste of the poison and it had floated 

 helpless to the surface. 



Pawang Duhamat bade the man who paddled his 

 dug-out to turn towards the fish, and then he slowly 

 and deliberately speared it. He cut it in two, and 

 repeated over it this charm: 



"Pekih! Pekah! 



Ayunberdum is my bodyguard ! 



Jibrail is my weapon ! 



O Gathering of Angels at the Gate of Earth, 



Rise ye up to the Gate of Earth U 



O Children of the Gathering of Angels at the Gate of Sky, 



Come ye down to the Gate of Sky ! 



Let us all be joined in a Bond of Union, 



Let us all join in one Game ; 



It is not that I wish to thrust aside all the doings of the Jins, 



It is not that I wish to thrust aside all the doings of the 



Children of the Gathering of Men : 

 It is that I am under the Canopy of Allah ! " 



If there is not in this invocation, uttered in the 

 midst of the throng that floated on the breast of 

 the stream deep in the recesses of the boundless 

 uninhabited forest, something that touches the imag- 

 ination, let the fault be ascribed to the translator. 



Pawang Duhamat threw one half of the fish on to 

 the right bank as a propitiatory offering to the Jins, 

 and the other half on to the left bank for the 

 Sheitans. 



When this was done, all were free to find and spear 



