TUBA FISHING. 261 



narrow gangway of the barricade, and with uplifted 

 spears waited for the coming of the fish. The tuba 

 water was still some way up-stream, but it was 

 driving the fish before it. 



In the press of the boats above the line marked by 

 the red flags an occasional spear rose and fell and rose 

 again, but in the open space immediately above the 

 barricade all was still. Suddenly the surface of the 

 water was broken, and a great fish launched itself at 

 the barricade. The gleam of a bar of silver and the 

 twinkle of falling drops, and then the fish hit the 

 bamboo framework some four feet above the level of 

 the river. With a mighty splattering of its tail it 

 managed to maintain its position for a moment, and 

 then it fell on to the platform just in time to escape 

 the thrust of a chief's spear. While the old man 

 was extricating his barb from the bamboo frame- 

 work the fish leapt free, and, leaving only some 

 glittering scales behind it, fell back into the river. 

 A moment later another huge broad back showed 

 above the surface, and we saw a fish carefully and 

 deliberately trying to find whether, in the length 

 and breadth of the barricade, there was not some 

 loophole of escape. A steady hand drove the spear, 

 and after a struggle a young chief laid the fish on 

 the platform. 



Soon the fish came in numbers, and we were 

 thrusting and stabbing on every side, now at one 

 as it hit the barricade, now at another in the water ; 

 now at one as it fell back on the platform; some- 

 times at one as it flashed through the air. While 

 we thrust at one, another would leap up beside us, 



