258 IN MALAY FORESTS. 



necessary ; whilst other fish will keep the occupants 

 of a dozen boats on tenterhooks for a quarter of an 

 hour, and give all the excitement of an otter-hunt. 

 Some fish are so affected by the poison, that it appears 

 to be necessary for them to come to the surface to 

 breathe. Though extremely alert, they cannot stay 

 below the surface for more than a minute or so. 

 When the boats surround a place where one of these 

 fish has been marked down, the men all wait with 

 uplifted arm for it to reappear. Perhaps some one 

 sees its lips at the water's surface by the roots of an 

 old tree : as he hurls his spear the fish dives, and the 

 Malay has to disengage the barbs of the spear-head 

 from the tree-roots with such patience as he can. 

 Two or three minutes pass and, as the fish does not 

 reappear, there are fears that it may have escaped, 

 until it is seen quietly hiding under the stern of a 

 dug-out. Before the occupant sees it, it is gone 

 again. Eventually, after many misses, a clever 

 thrust, delivered just as it rises to the surface, trans- 

 fixes it, and amid tumultuous shouts it is lifted 

 into a boat. 



The day wears on. Bend after bend the beauti- 

 ful forest-clad banks open themselves in front of us 

 and close behind us. In each dug-out rises a heap 

 of fish ; and an occasional splash, with a lift of the 

 light split-bamboo flooring, tells of an imprisoned 

 monster. 



The chief excitement of the day is occasioned by 

 the shout of " Buaia." Buaia, the crocodile, as a rule, 

 is found in Malay rivers only in tidal waters. But, 

 be the reason what it may, not only do a certain 



