MALAYAN FTSHEa 



■2& 



TmigiJRmi MaUys^ male and female, look forward. When the 

 rivers iXTo m full iiooil, tlip aim ohscured, tlie N. E. iiioiu^otm blow- 

 hig half n ijnie, th*; !*urf tlninckrinj; on the Wneh aiul full of vpUow 

 yt'tisty foam, then you will >q€ all the Malay ladies trooping out in 

 their be^st silk i:mts and s«roii;j-, and all the old ljlfldt?s iuid yoiiug^ 

 ldoo<]s are in jitteiultince. 



Tliey are all out for the day to Dnjoy tJienisolves and to catch 

 mullet and the more it mim rtiid hknv^; the bettor they like it, thfr 

 ladies, jjerhaiJ.-^. lieraiijie their vivi<] silken rBinient looks liest wlica 

 it is wet, or may Iw it fit, tlit'ir fiffiiri-f; )>ebtcr so, and the men, 

 perhap.s het-ause they will eateh more muUett . 



The^e ladies have designeil and made their own costumes. 

 Haw Chinese silk has been teased, wound and spun; fast dies of 

 vivid tidoiir', oran^jt', pink, vomiilion, ^reen ; every cfdoiir and every 

 shade have been prepared from roots, linrk and leavi^s. and the 

 Lrnrnientj? liave Iwen woven in iutricatt^ desigiiji, tartans, fheek*, 

 watered silks and ^hot silks; a creative art wjiich \\m hmi lost on 

 the West, and will soon b« lost on the East Coast, in these days^ of 

 eheap iniikvtion ^ilks and aniline dyes. Bnt let us get hack to the 

 mullet and the raitu 



And the more it rains the fresher keop the flowers in the 

 ladies' hair, The&e ladiefi wear no hats and there are no eollars. 

 drfiggled skirts or squek'hy boot.« in thi^ picnic party. 



Tjefc us again to the mullet. Now thi^ catching of mullet is 

 an affair of casting-nets and he who catches the most mullet is 

 some ace. It is not a simple poaching trick of slinging a net over 

 a file«py fish in a pool, hut cjuite a ditlereiit business, I assure you. 



The nets are made of the line*t and strongest cotton^ water- 

 pniofed in white of egg which renders them to the touch, for a 

 m»noti, as thcni^h tliey were made of tlie finest gut or sinews. The 

 small net or j((J<f ^ntdinff when thrown eovers perhaps 100 ecpiare- 

 feet of surface and it i.^ weighted with little <'hains of pure tin. 

 The Uiila cord attached to the thrower't; wmt is usually 'M\ feet 

 Jong and the net is often thromi so as to drop fully expanded at 

 the full extent of the cord, and that throw is in the teeth of a 

 Korth-east gale. 



Each fisherman has perhaps two or three such nets and, in 

 reserve, a much l&Tgev and str^^nger easting net for the PeJony 

 which is the giant of all our mullet 



Keeping far back on the sandy beaehj the men follow thti 

 shore line until mullet (Anding) arc seen, and, to the novice, it is 

 a difficult matter to see them. But there they are, and when yon 

 know what to lof>k for, in the smother and foam, you will notice 

 little black heads, in hundreds, between the breakers. Now these 

 Anditig are the shyest fish that swim. A wave of the hand and 

 they have disappeared" to po-p up again at a distance further sea* 

 ward, where no man can hope to reach them. 



RAFFJ.es Lfci.^ARY 



