COLLECTING SEA FISH AT MOMBASA 
5 
ment or the ethics of sport? I had the active assistance of 
officials and residents at Mombasa, who endeavoured to explain 
to the fishermen my object in securing fish, but it was without 
avail. I was supposed to have arrived to inaugurate a white 
man’s sea-fishing commercial industry, and if that was founded 
they saw the extinction of their profession. 
For ten days I played the well-known political game of 
‘ wait and see.’ I took a fish tank down to the market and 
placed some fish into a preservative solution after having taken 
many measurements, tying on leather labels, and asking endless 
questions. I also paid well for my specimens. Very soon this 
began to appeal to them, and I came to be well known to many 
of the fishers. They concluded I was peaceably inclined but 
mad, and therefore certain concessions might be made to me, 
and in this way I at last made a bargain for a sort of dug-out 
with a crew of four professional fishermen. 
Many of you may conclude that sea fishing in tropical seas 
is a very pleasant pastime, but I can assure you that, if you 
try, you will discover that the heat is most overpowering and the 
fierce glare from the shimmering water induces most violent 
headaches after being out, say, eight hours in a dug-out. Blue 
glasses give some relief, and should be worn constantly. 
The Mombasa fishermen are wonderfully skilled and in- 
genious in their devices for capturing fish. They make their 
own lines, and most serviceable material it is. Their ‘ owzeeo,’ 
or fish traps, are the same as those found amongst all fishing 
communities in Africa, and the owners make a good living out 
of them. Then they have huge lobster-pots or creels of some 
seven feet in length, four feet broad, and two feet high. These 
they sink inside and outside the reef in some four or five fathoms 
of water. To lift them, two men go out in a dug-out, and on 
reaching a creel one of them dives to the bottom and makes 
inspection. If there are fish caught, the creel is hauled up and 
dexterously placed athwart the dug-out and balanced there, 
a feat which no white man can perform. The fish are prodded 
out with a pointed stick, fresh bait is inserted, and over slides 
the fish-pot again, often accompanied by a fisherman who 
guides it to a good position. The bait used is a seaweed, 
gathered from the reef at low tide. 
