VIII LIFE ON THE RIVERS 137 



A rod and line and baited hook are also in 

 common use. The Kayans make a hook of stout 

 brass wire, cutting a single barb. The Kenyahs 

 use a hook made of rattan thorns. A strip is cut 

 from the surface of a rattan bearing two thorns 

 about an inch apart ; this is bent at its middle so 

 that the cut surfaces of the two halves are brought 

 into opposition, and the thorns, facing outward 

 opposite one another, form the barbs. The line 

 is tied to the bend, and the bait is placed over the 

 tip projecting beyond the thorns. When the fish 

 takes the hook into his mouth and swallows the 

 bait, the barbs being released spring outward and 

 secure the fish. 



A rough kind of spoon bait is also used with rod 

 and line. 



Fish are taken also in traps. The most generally 

 used is the bubu. This varies in length from 

 eighteen inches to eight feet or even more. The 

 body of the trap is a conical cage of bamboo. From 

 the wide mouth of the cone a second smaller flatter 

 cone passes upwards within the outer one ; the 

 slender bamboo strips of which it is made come 

 almost together in the centre, their inner ends being 

 free and pliable. This is fixed beside the bank, its 

 mouth turned down stream, and a few stakes are 

 driven into the bed of the river to guide the fish 

 into the mouth ; or it may be laid in shallow water, 

 two barriers of stones converging to its mouth. 

 The fish working up stream pass in at the mouth, 

 and, when they have passed the inner lips, cannot 

 easily pass out again. 



A still simpler trap consists merely of a long 

 slender cone of bamboo strips. The fish entering 

 the mouth and passing up to the confined space of 

 the other end become wedged fast in it. 



A Sea Dayak trap found in the south-west of 

 Borneo is a cylindrical cage of bamboo attached to 



