Page:Seven Years in South Africa v2.djvu/355

 by the Marutse are of excellent quality; they are made with meshes of different sizes from bast twisted into cords about as thick as a man’s finger; they vary from fifteen to twenty-five feet in length, and are provided with proper weights; they are carefully cleaned and dried whenever they have been used, and this contributes very much to their durability. It is in the larger lagoons that they are generally supplied, especially in those of which the confines are not marshy. The Marutse, Manubas, and Masupias have the highest reputation for skilfulness, and have established fishing-stations, some permanent, others only for a season, all along the river.

A second way of catching fish adopted by the Marutse people is by weels, which are used either when the river is very low or very high, in which latter case they are placed against the dams; but at seasons when the water is low and parted into several streams at the rapids, they are fixed right in the current between two blocks of rock; in construction they are obliged to be narrow, seldom more than a foot in diameter, and they are mostly about a yard and a half long; in shape they are much like those used in Europe; they are made of strong reeds, and are fixed with their mouths facing the stream.

Another method consists in enclosing certain portions of the inundated plains, just at the time of the first abatement of the waters, with circular dams or embankments of earth. The flood subsides rapidly, and the fish are easily secured, the muddiness of the water facilitating their capture. In level places, especially near towns or villages, I noticed the remains of a good many of these dams, and I was Rh