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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 
DYAKS MAKING A DAM FOR TUBA-FISHING 
The poison from the tuba root is put in the water some distance up river, and the Dyaks 
follow it as it drifts, and spear and net the poisoned fish. 
the flesh of the fish, which can be cooked and eaten. 
These come to this dam, in which there is an opening leading to an enclosure; 
the poison. 
The tuba does not seem to affect 
Many fish swim down river to escape 
in this the fish congregate and are afterwards captured. From ‘‘Seventeen Years Among 
the Sea Dyaks of Borneo,” by Edwin H. Gomes. 
in fresh and salt water, and can be 
thrown either from the bank of a river 
or by a man wading into the sea. 
But the most favorite mode of fishing 
among the Dyaks is with the tuba root 
(Cocculus indicus). Sometimes this is 
done on a small scale in some little 
stream. Sometimes, however, the people 
of several Dyak houses arrange to have 
a tuba-fishing. ‘The men, women, and 
children of these houses, accompanied by 
their friends, go to some river which has 
been previously decided upon. A fence 
made by planting stakes closely together 
is erected from bank to bank. In the 
middle of this there is an opening lead- 
ing into a square enclosure made in the 
same fashion, into which the fish enter 
J. B. Lippincott Co. 
when trying to escape from the tuba into 
fresh water. The canoes then proceed 
several hours’ journey up the river, until 
they get to some place decided on before- 
hand. Here they stop for the night in 
small booths erected on the banks of the 
river. The small boats are cleared of 
everything in them, so as to be ready for 
use the next day. 
All the people bring with them fishing- 
spears and hand-nets. The spears are 
of various kinds; some have only one 
barbed point, while others have two or 
three. The shaft of the spear is made 
of a straight piece of bamboo about six 
feet long. ‘The spear is so made that 
when a fish is speared the head of the 
weapon comes out of the socket in the 
