192 FISHING AS PRACTISED IN 



Domesticated Fishing Otters. We passed a 

 row of no less than nine or ten fine otters, tethered 

 with straw collars and long strings to bamboo 

 stakes, on the banks of the Matta Colly. I was 

 told that most of the fishermen kept one or two 

 of these animals, who were almost as tame as 

 dogs, and of great use in fishing, sometimes driv- 

 ing the large shoals into their nets, or bringing 

 out the larger fish with their teeth ; it has always 

 been a fancy of mine that those creatures whom 

 we waste and persecute to death, might be made 

 sources of amusement and advantage to us. 



Bishop Heber. 



Catching Fish by Diving , peculiar to the Gulf 

 of Patrasso. The diver, with a rope made of a 

 species of long grass, moves his canoe to where 

 he perceives a rocky bottom. This done, he 

 throws his rope out to form a large circle, and 

 such is the timid nature of the fish, that it never 

 passes its barrier, but instantly descends and con- 

 ceals itself. The diver plunges downwards, and 

 seldom returns with less than four or five fish, 

 weighing from two to six pounds each ; the fish 

 greatly resembles the John Dory. 



Blacquiere's Second Visit to Greece, vol. ii. 



Method of Fishing in Polyneci, or Polynesia t 

 Fishing here is a general pursuit, many of the 



