Page:Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje - The Achehnese - tr. Arthur Warren Swete O'Sullivan (1906).djvu/311

 of less importance, since there is a better supply of all necessaries on the North and East Coasts.

Fishing goes on all the year round, and in the lowlands many support life by this employment.

A distinction is drawn between eungkōt darat "land-fish," which live in the swamps and the padi-fields when covered with water, eungkōt kruëng, fish found in rivers and salt water creeks, and eungkōt laʾōt or sea-fish. Some kinds of fish belong to two of these classes, as they are sometimes to be found in the sea, and sometimes in the creeks and rivers.

In fresh-water rivers (kruëng ië tabeuë) there is but little fishing, owing to the rapidity of the stream; for the fisherman of Acheh proper kruëng generally means kruëng ië masén or salt water creek.

The means by which their capture is effected differ with the seasons of the year and also with the haunts and habits of the different fish.

The "landfish" are caught with a rod (kawé) or fish-trap (bubèë). In the rice-fields these traps are placed in the openings in the bunds. They are fastened in a horizontal position to a vertical stake (jeuneulòng) fixed in the ground. Inside the trap are set at intervals a number of little subsidiary traps consisting of circular rows of thin strips of bamboo. These stand wide open near the mouth (babah) of the trap, but close in together at its closed end (punggōng). These obstacles open readily as the fish enter and then resume their former position by their own elasticity and bar their exit.

A simpler sort of fishing trap is the geuneugòn, identical with that of which Newbold says: "Fish are often taken in shallows and marshes by means of a conical basket open at the top and bottom. The broad end is placed suddenly on the mud where they are supposed to lie; the hand introduced at the narrow upper part of the cone and the ensnared fish taken out."

Fishponds (mòn eungkòt) are also made in the rice-fields. Deep holes are dug out, and in these are placed bits of wood, twigs, leaves etc. to attract the fish thither. Then the entrance is blocked, the pond is baled out and the fish extracted.