TUBA FISHING. 263 



more; but nothing could be more delicious. There 

 might perhaps be a handful of wild bird's-eye chilies, 

 culled from the river-bank during the day, and now 

 produced with exultation, and pounded with the rock- 

 salt to form a red pungent paste ; or there might be 

 a lime dragged forth from the depths of a wallet to 

 be sliced and sprinkled over a fish's richly browned 

 back. But for the most part we have nothing but 

 rice and salt and grilled fish and we want nothing 

 more. We have no curry, because it takes too long 

 to prepare. Besides, ,who wants a curry to-day ? 

 There is nothing like grilling to bring out the true 

 flavour of a fish, and nothing like rice and salt to 

 make one appreciate that flavour. 



We feel it our duty to eat of every kind of fish ; 

 partaking, sparingly perhaps, of the inferior in order 

 to know the difference between it and the moderately 

 good, and taking helpings of the moderately good in 

 order to realise how sweet the best kind are. " Take 

 some of the belida," an old chief will tell you, " and 

 then see how succulent is the kelah." 



But of all the day's strange sights the strangest 

 sight is to see the fish fry playing and splashing for 

 the rice grains that fall from the plates on the scene 

 where all the great fish had been speared a short 

 hour before. Except where it is first poured into 

 the water, and where the poison permeates top and 

 bottom of the river, tuba does not kill the fry. The 

 fry, keeping to the surface, escapes the tuba, which 

 follows the bottom. 



Some years ago I was present at a tuba fishing 

 party given by His Highness the Sultan of Pahang 



