THE FISHERMAN. 85 



Sometimes he has been heard to tell how he 

 escaped from the clutches of the siren, and stories 

 are told of experiences in this fairyland. 



The most dangerous inhabitant of the waters 

 is undoubtedly the perai ; possibly it is worse 

 than the shark, for it swims in shoals. Its teeth, 

 like those of the shark, are beautifully fitted for 

 cutting, and if it catches a finger or toe it is clean 

 severed in an instant. A wounded animal can 

 hardly swim across a river when the perai is at 

 hand ; little more than a skeleton sinks to the 

 bottom before reaching the shore. A fish has 

 been caught by a long line, and nothing but a 

 head and back-bone rewards the fisherman. It 

 is customary to clean a fish in the shallows, 

 but it is necessary to beware that fingers are 

 not cut off, for the smell of blood brings the 

 voracious shoal at once. Sometimes tame ducks 

 are kept, but nearly all of them walk on stumps ; 

 the mother learns by bitter experience to keep 

 her brood in very shallow places. However, the 

 fisherman finds the perai an easy catch as long 

 as it cannot cut the line, nowadays a piece of 

 tin is folded above the hook. 



The cayman will dispute with the fisherman 

 for his catch ; it rushes at him with a snort as 

 if a score of horses were neighing. The line is 



