304 INTOXICATING ROOT. 



haul on the line, brought a struggling springer to the 

 boatside, where my Kaffir, slipping his hand in his gills, 

 landed him. 



I rarely succeeded in getting more than one at a time 

 by this plan, for the alarm soon spread, and I had then to 

 wait for a day or two for them to forget what had hap- 

 pened, or go to some other part of the bay where they 

 were not up to the dodge. 



A root grew on the Natal flat with which I fre- 

 quently captured fish; it had the effect of fuddling 

 them, and made them jump out of the water, if used 

 in a confined space. It was something like ground-ivy 

 in growth, the long fibres stretching for several feet 

 round ; the leaves were small and shaped like clover. The 

 root was discovered by taking hold of one of these 

 creepers and pulling it up until it led to the root, which 

 was then dug up. The root was about a foot long, and 

 half an inch in diameter. When a dozen or so had been 

 collected, they were bruised and fastened on to a long 

 bamboo. The large pools of water left by the high tides 

 on the bluff amongst the rocks, were the scenes of opera- 

 tions, into these the root was inserted, and then stirred 

 round for some time. In less than a minute* small and 

 large fish would dart out from the holes in the rocks, and 

 swim about the pool as though greatly perplexed, and 

 would very soon after turn on their backs and float, when 

 they could be taken with the hand. Sometimes with a 

 duck and drake sort of progression they skipped along 

 over the top of the pool and sought the dry land. If they 

 were placed in water that was uncontaminated by this 



