VIII LIFE ON THE RIVERS 139 



with decaying cocoanut and thrown into the river 

 with a long rattan attached to it and tied to a pole ; 

 the trap sinks to the bottom and is examined from 

 time to time. 



Tuba Fishing 



Fish are caught on the largest scale by poisoning 

 the water with the juice of the root of the tuba 

 plant. This is usually practised in the smaller rivers 

 at times of slack water, all the people of a village 

 co-operating. The tuba plant is cultivated in 

 patches on \h^ padi fields. Pieces of the roots are 

 cut off without destroying the plants. When a 

 large quantity has been gathered, a fence is built 

 across the river at the spot chosen, and big bubu 

 traps are let into it facing up stream. Then all the 

 available small boats are manned and brought into 

 the reaches of the river extending about a mile 

 above the fence. Each boat carries a supply of 

 tuba root, which the people bruise by pounding it 

 with wooden clubs against stumps and rocks on the 

 bank or against the side of the boat. Water is 

 thrown into the bottom of the boat and the pounded 

 root is rinsed in the water, pounded again, and 

 again rinsed, until all its poisonous juice is extracted. 

 The water in all the boats, become milky with the 

 juice, is poured at a given signal into the river, 

 either by baling or by overturning the boats. 

 After some twenty minutes the fish begin to rise to 

 the surface and rush wildly to and fro. In the 

 meantime the boats have been put to rights, and 

 now begin to pursue the fish, the men armed with 

 fish- spears, the women with landing-nets. The 

 sport goes on for several hours. Some men armed 

 with clubs stand upon a platform which slopes up 

 at a low angle out of the water and rests upon the 

 fence. Big fish come leaping upon this platform 

 and are clubbed by the men, who have to exert 



