72 
FISH IN THE ZOUGA. 
Chap. HI. 
trot, which ends in its galloping and springing over bushes hke the 
pallahs. It invariably runs to the water, and crosses it by a suc¬ 
cession of bounds, each of which appears to be from the bottom. 
We thought the flesh good at first, but soon got tired of it. 
Great shoals of excellent fish come down annually with the 
access of waters. The muUet (Mugil Africanus) is the most 
abundant. They are caught in nets. 
The Crlanis siluris, a large broad-headed fish, without scales, 
and barbed—called by the natives mosala ”—attains an enor¬ 
mous size and fatness. They are caught so large that when a 
man carries one over his shoulder the tail reaches the ground. 
It is a vegetable feeder, and in many of its habits resembles the 
eel. Like most lophoid fishes, it has the power of retaining a 
large quantity of water in a part of its great head, so that it can 
leave the river, and even be buried in the mud of dried-up pools, 
without being destroyed. Another fish closely resembling this, 
and named Clarias capensis by Dr. Smith, is widely diffused - 
tliroughout the interior, and often leaves the rivers for the sake 
of feeding in pools. As these dry up, large numbers of them 
are entrapped by the people. A water-snake, yellow spotted and 
dark brown, is often seen swimming along with his head above 
the water; it is quite harmless, and is relished as food by the 
Bayeiye. 
They mention ten kinds of fish in their river: and, in their 
songs of praise to the Zouga, say, “ The messenger sent in haste 
is always forced to spend the night on the way, by the abundance 
of food you place before him.” The Bayeiye live much on fish, 
which is quite an abomination to the Bechuanas in the south; 
and they catch them in large numbers by means of nets made 
of the fine strong fibres of the hibiscus, which grows abundantly 
in all moist places. Their float-ropes are made of the ife, or, 
as it is now called, the Sanseviera Angolensis, a flag-looking 
plant, having a very strong fibre, that abounds from Kolobeng 
to Angola; and the floats themselves are pieces of a water- 
plant containing valves at each joint, which retain the air in cells 
about an inch long. The mode of knotting the nets is identical 
with our own. 
They also spear the fish with javelins having a light handle, 
