SUNIER: Marine fish-ponds of Batavia. 225 
the other extremity of the pond. Each of the fish-catchers is furnished 
with a cast-net (djala')). Now the two rows of catchers begin to move 
towards each other, the men wading through the water. Each time a fisher- 
man thinks he sees a bandeng he throws his cast-net; the bandeng if 
caught is put in a bag which each catcher trails behind him through the 
water. The bandeng trying to escape from the advancing catchers, are 
being driven, in so far as they have not yet been caught in the cast-nets, 
within the ever-narrowing space remaining between the two approaching 
rows of fishermen. When the two rows have come fairly close together 
an upright gill-net (djaring') bandeng) is placed vertically in the water 
behind each row of fishermen for the whole breadth of the pond. The 
bandeng, breaking through one of the two rows when closely pressed, dashes 
into either of these gill-nets. The pond to be emptied is usually searched 
and swept twice in this manner; if this was not done too many bandeng 
would be left behind in the pond. For it sometimes happens that a few 
bandeng dodge through the cordon of fishermen before the gill-nets have 
been put in position; others leap over the gill-net and so make good their 
escape, temporarily at least. 
. This sweeping of a bandeng-pond is an exciting scene. Soon after 
the fishermen have begun to move forward the cast-nets are in action all the 
time. When the two rows of fishermen have approached nearer and the 
gill-nets have been suspended behind them, the water between them 
begins to seethe with the bandeng madly dashing to and fro, their silvery 
glittering bodies leaping frequently high up above the water. Besides, the 
diligence of the fishermen is effectively stimulated by the fact that each of 
them is paid in proportion to the number of fish he has caught. 
According to the statements of the Batavia bandeng-rearers the bandeng 
reared in their ponds never attains puberty. This tallies with the fact that 
I dit not find any roe in any of the numerous empang-bandeng I could 
open in the course of years. Mr. E. J. REYNTJES however, the fisheries- 
expert (visschery-adviseur) at Pasuruan, showed me roe in October 1920, 
which he stated to have been taken from a five-year-old bandeng from 
the tambaks near Bangil. Also THOMAS (8) says about the bandeng living 
in a pond near Cundapur, where the water is only slightly brackish, that 
“they breed there freely.” 
Of sea-bandeng I have frequently seen roe. The sea-bandeng, however, 
in which I could ascertain the presence of roe, were always much bigger 
than the largest specimens of pond-bred bandeng that I have ever seen. 
So that considering all this it seems to me not improbable that the pond- 
reared bandeng is generally too young to contain roe. But as the animals 
in question are reared in a milieu widely divergent from their natural 
environment one has to be very cautious in drawing conclusions. 
1) ef. VAN KAMPEN (2). 
