428 SINGULAR MODE OF FISHING. 



The Phyttanthm virosus is used in some parts of India 

 for the purpose of intoxicating fish, and in Jamaica they 

 employ the root of the Pisidia Erythrina for the same 

 purpose. At Sooloo, and in other parts, they select the 

 fruits of the Borassm Gomutus ; in the West Indies, the 

 berries of Sapindus saponaria, pounded and thrown into 

 water, are used with a similar intention ; and in Min- 

 danao the Barringtonia speciosa answers the same end. 

 Marsden, in his history of Sumatra, observes, that the 

 natives " steep the root of a certain climbing plant called 

 Tuba, of strong narcotic properties, in the water where 

 the fish are seen, which produces such an effect that they 

 become intoxicated, and to appearance dead, float on the 

 surface of the water, and are taken with the hand." The 

 Dyaks are very dextrous in spearing the poor stupified 

 fish which are under the influence of the weed. There 

 is another very singular mode of capturing the finny 

 tribes in Borneo. Floating ducks, made of light wood, 

 have a hook, properly baited, fastened to a line which 

 hangs from the under surface. A man in a small canoe 

 looks after the ducks at a distance, and when he sees one 

 begin to dive and plunge, he paddles up and secures the 

 fish. I have seen dozens of these dumb ducks floating 

 down the rivers with the stream. Sir George Staunton 

 says, that a somewhat similar mode of fishing is practised 

 in China ; and La Perouse, speaking of the Esquimaux, 

 observes, that " their mode of angling is very ingenious. 

 Each line is fastened to a seal's bladder, and set adrift. 

 One canoe has twelve or fifteen of them. When a fish is 

 caught, the canoe rows after it." Dixon, in his Voyage, 

 makes a similar remark regarding these people. He says, 

 " they bait their hook with a kind of fish called by the 



