NATIVE HUNTING METHODS 131 



that any of the mullet could have swum off with it 

 without inconvenience . 



Straddling the stream side by side, we splashed and 

 ' shooed ' when the slightest symptom 1 of a sally on the 

 part of the fish was betrayed. A few brave leaders 

 darted down, generally in pairs, and flashed back in 

 fright at our noisy demonstrations, and so the blockade 

 of the mullet began. 



-While I stood guard shouting and ' shooing ' and 

 making such commotion as I trusted would convince 

 the fish that the blockading force was ever so much 

 stronger and more truculent than it really was, George 

 began to construct a pre-eminently practical wall. Its 

 design was evolved ages upon ages ago by black 

 students of hydrostatics and fish. George had im- 

 bibed the principles of its construction with his mother's 

 milk. He cut down several saplings, and, screwing the 

 butt ends into the soft sand about a foot apart, interj- 

 laced them with branches of mangrove and beach - 

 trailers and swathes of grass. But the tide began to 

 ebb. The pent-up current, strong and rapid, frequently 

 carried portions of the structure away. George had 

 to duck and dive to tie the vines and creepers to 

 the stakes close down to the sandy bottom. Though 

 armfuls of leafage floated to the surface and rolled 

 out to sea, George worked with joyful desperation. 

 Presently the fish began to make determined rushes. 

 Shouting and splashing, tearing down branches, cap- 

 turing driftwood, diving and gasping, his efforts were 

 unceasing. Understanding the guile of the fish, he 

 sought to make the deeper part of the weir secure, 

 and for an hour or so he laboured in the water with 

 head, hands, and feet. While with deft fingers he 



