HUNTING AND FISHING. 



169 



Fig. 109. Fishing witli the fishing basket; Geelvink Bay. 



tation of the shark on the beautifully carved prow's. KONING [1903, 264] mentions peculiar 

 cérémonies taking place before the natives start for shark fishing, while a successful expédition 

 gives rise to great festivities (De CLERCQ and SCHMELTZ [1893, 101]). During our stay in 

 H. B., however, from March till June, the people did not set out for shark fishing. 

 The spears used for this work 

 are described by KONING [1903, 

 256]; they are 3 — 5 m. long, 

 made of wood with carved orna- 

 ments, and with one point. 



Catching turtle in H. B. 

 is done with long harpoons with 

 double métal points, and attached 

 to long lines ; the iron points are 

 bought from the traders at Metu 

 Débi. As I never saw anything 

 of this fishery, I don't know 

 whether turtles are caught by 

 nets, as reported by Mac GREGOR 

 [1897, 70], or by diving (Mac 

 Farlane [1888, 123], Annual 

 Report [1899— 1900, 25], Erd- 

 WEG [1902, 333]). One day 



while making an excursion along the coast with Tobâdi rowers in their little boats, whenever 

 a turtle showed itself, and there were great numbers of them near the reef west of Point 

 Tuadja (Cape Caillié), the oars lay motionless, so much did the animal attract the attention of the 

 rowers. KoxiNG [1903, 266] supposes the right to fish to be free there, the right of catching turtle 

 however is supposed to belong to Kajô; the fishing right on the reefs in H. B. (outer bay) 

 is divided among différent villages, and the chief of Tobâdi possesses one reef hère, where 

 fishery may be carried on only by himself or for his benefit. Turtle eggs are generally found 

 in the sand near the sea or the lagoons. The Tarfia men knew very well how to discover 

 the places where the eggs had been laid, and in the excursion of the expédition they could 

 not be persuaded to go on before the eggs had been dug up. I saw the empty eggs in 

 strings hanging on the outside of the temples, but also put on pegs as ornaments for the graves. 



How Halicore Dugong (De Clercq and Schmeltz [1893, 101]) is caught is 

 unknown to me; I never saw any stagings built in the sea, as those described from the 

 south coast (HADDOX [1890, PI. VIII, fig. 1]), or large nets in which the animal is caught 

 (Wyatt GlLL [1885, 288]; see also FlNSCH [1901]). Occasionally, knives with beautifully 

 carved handles, made of the teeth of dugong, were found in Geelvink Bay. 



I never noticed bow nets, fykes. However, they are met with in N. G. as far eastward as Wiak 

 (De Clercq and Schmeltz [1893, 102 — 103, PI. XXVI, figs. 3, 15, 16], but, according to Schmeltz 

 [1. c. 218], they are merely imitated from the West. Moreover they are known from K. W. Land, both of 

 places situated on the sea as well as on rivers and torrents. Even of the adjoining territory of German N. G., 

 the Berlin Harbour district, Parkinson [1900, 30] describes bow nets, made from bamboo strips, and other 

 Nova Guinea. III. Ethnography. 22 



