146 ANECDOTES OF FISHES 



mixture, and will adhere firmly together. They 

 then take two handfuls of dates, and break them 

 into small pieces, and stick them in different 

 parts of the mixture, which now adheres together, 

 like Cheshire cheese. In the heart of this cake 

 they put seven or eight hooks, with dates upon 

 them, and a string of whipcord to each. The 

 fisherman then takes this large mass of paste, and 

 putting it upon a goat's skin blown with the wind, 

 rides behind it into the middle of the river ; there 

 he drops it in the deepest part ; then cautiously 

 holding the end of each string slack, so as not to 

 pull the hooks and dates out of the heap, he goes 

 again ashore a little below where he had sunk the 

 solid mass, when he gently separates the strings, 

 aud ties them to palm branches ; to the end of 

 every one of which hangs a bell; the oil resists 

 the water for some time ; at last the cake dis- 

 solves, pieces fall off; the dates, dipped in honey, 

 flow down the stream, and the large fish below 

 ravenously catch them as they pass. The fish 

 follow these pieces up the stream, till they get to 

 the cake, when they voraciously seek the dates 

 buried in the composition. Each fish that finds 

 a date, swallows it together with the iron hook, 

 and feeling himself fast, endeavours to make off 

 as speedily as possible ; the consequence is, he 

 pulls the palm branch, and rings the bell fastened 

 to it. The fisherman runs immediately to the 

 bell, and secures the fish. Frequently, not one 



