Chia Hand Net. 



506 TRADE IN DRIED FISH. Chap. XXIV. 



streams flowing into it. It is quite remarkable for the abun- 

 dance of fish; and we saw upwards of fifty large canoes 

 engaged in the fishery, which is carried on by means of 

 hand-nets with side -frame poles about seven feet long. 

 These nets are nearly identical with those now in use in 



Normandy — the 

 difference being 

 that the African 

 net has a piece 

 of stick lashed 

 across the handle- 

 ends of the side 

 poles to keep 

 them steady, which is a great improvement. The fish must 

 be very abundant to be scooped out of the water in such 

 quantities as we saw, and by so many canoes. There is 

 quite a trade here in dried fish. 



The country around is elevated, undulating, and very 

 extensively planted with cassava. The hoe in use has a 

 handle of four feet in length, and the iron part is exactly of 

 the same form as that in the country of the Bechuanas. The 

 baskets here, which are so closely woven together as to hold 

 beer, are the same with those employed to hold milk in 

 KaflSrland — a thousand miles distant. 



Marching on foot is peculiarly conducive to meditation — 

 one is glad of any subject to occupy the mind, and relieve 

 the monotony of the weary treadmill-like trudge-trudging. 

 This Chia net brought to our mind that the smith's 

 bellows made here of a goatskin bag, with sticks along 

 the open ends, are the same as those in use in the Bechuana 

 country far to the south-west. These, with the long-handled 

 hoe, may only show that each successive horde from north 

 to south took inventions with it from the same original 



