54 BRITISH BORNEO. 
up by a rope attached to its centre, the other end of which the 
fisherman had retained in his hand. The skill of the thrower 
is further enhanced by the fact that he, asa rule, balances 
himself in the bow of a small “ dug-out,”’ or canoe, in which a 
European could scarcely keep his footing at all. The rambat 
can also be thrown from the bank, or the beach, and is used in 
fresh and salt water. Only small fish and prawns are caught 
in this way. Prawns are also caught in small £é/ongs with 
very fine split bambu nets, but a method is also employed in 
the Brunai river which I have not heard of elsewhere. A 
specially prepared canoe is made use of, the gunwale on one 
side being cut away and its place taken up by a flat ledge, 
projecting over the water. The fisherman sits paddling in 
the stern, keeping the ledged side towards the bank and lean- 
ing over so as to cause the said ledge to be almost level with 
the water. 
From the same side there projects a long bambu, with 
wooden teeth on its under side, like a comb, fastened to the 
stern, but projecting outwards, forwards and slightly upwards, 
the teeth increasing in length towards its far end, and as they 
sweep the surface of the water the startled prawns, shut in by 
the kank on one side, in their efforts to avoid the teeth of the 
comb, jump into the canoe in large quantities. 
I have described the method of using the dip net, or seram- 
bau, on page 42. Many kinds of nets are in use, one—the 
pukat—being similar to our seine or drag net. 
The hook and line are also used, especially for deep sea 
fishing, and fish of large size are thus caught. 
A favourite occasional amusement is ¢uda fishing. The 
tuba is a plant the juice of which has strong narcotic proper- 
ties. Bundles of the roots are collected and put into the 
bottom of the canoes, and when the fishing ground is reached, 
generally a bend in a river, or the mouth of a stream which is 
barred at low tide, water is poured over the tuba and the juice 
expressed by beating it with short sticks. The fluid, thus 
charged with the narcotic poison, is then baled out of the 
canoes into the stream and the surface is quickly covered by 
all sorts of fish in all stages of intoxication, the smaller ones 
