NILOTIC POLYNEME. 



153 



arrived at the middle, he drops the mass in the 

 deepest part of the stream, and cautiously holding 

 the ends of each of the strings slack, so as not to 

 pull the dates and hooks out of the middle of the 

 composition, he makes to shore again, a little below 

 the spot where he has sunk the mass, and separat- 

 ing the ends of the strings, ties each of them, with- 

 out straining, to a palm-branch fastened on the 

 shore, to the end of which is fastened a small bell. 

 He then goes and feeds his cattle, or digs his 

 trenches, or lies down to sleep : in the mean time 

 the cake, beginning to dissolve, the small pieces of 

 date fall off, and flowing down the stream, are 

 eagerly seized on by the fishes as they pass : they 

 rush up the stream, picking up the floating pieces 

 as they go, till at length they arrive at the cake 

 itself, and voraciously falling to work at the dates 

 which are buried in it, each fish in swallowing a 

 date, swallows also the hook in it, and feeling him- 

 self fast, makes ofi* as speedily as possible : the con- 

 sequence is that in endeavouring to escape from 

 the line by which he is held, he pulls the palm- 

 branch to which it is fastened, and thus gives 

 notice of his capture by ringing the bell. The 

 fisherman runs, and having secured the fish, puts a 

 strong iron ring through his jaw ; ties a few yards 

 of cord to it^ and again commits him to the water, 

 fastening the cord well to the shore. This is prac- 

 tised in order to presesve the fish ready for sale, 

 since fish in general, when dead, will not keep long 

 in these regions. It is rarely that on these occasions 

 a single hook is found empty. The inhabitants of 



