Page:The Aborigines of Victoria and Riverina.djvu/84

79 then the net is ready for work. One man now stands on the edge of the lagoon, holding one end of the net, whilst another native, holding the opposite end, stalks very quietly into the water, describing a considerable semi-circle in hi& progress, coming back to the bank about thirty paces from his mate, when the work of hauling begins in earnest, during which operation those holding the respective ends of the net gradually converge until within two yards of each other. Should the haul be a successful one, all the available muscle, in the shape of women—yes, and children, too—is called into requisition, when, as a matter of course, such a jabbering and clucking of tongues arises as is not heard anywhere out of an Australian aboriginal assemblage. The bellying centre of the net, however, is all the time being drawn nearer to the shore, as can easily be seen by the floating reed bundles, until at last, with one prodigious and final tug, the finny denizens of the lagoon are landed on the grassy margin in one struggling mass of dazzling glitter. We have on many occasions seen as much as half a ton weight of fish drawn from Murray lagoons at one haul, consisting of cod, perch (golden and silver), cat-fish, black fish, and turtle. It is quite a sight to see them all tumbling and jumping about on the grass. Codfish from fifty pounds down to two, and perch from ten pounds down to the same minimum, the large mesh of the net precluding the landing of lesser fish, unless on very rare occasions; and when it does happen that some few small fish are landed amongst the crowd of great ones, they don't take the trouble to throw them into the water again, and as they don't eat such small fry they are left on the grass for the delectation