Page:The Native Tribes of South Australia (1879).djvu/267

 FISHING. 193 Standing motionless, he is soon surrounded by fish, and the first that passes his feet is pierced by a certain and powerful thrust. Sometimes they make use of a canoe made of bark, from which they spear the fish, and have a fire in the middle, upon which they are immediately roasted. The nets are precisely similar in texture to European nets, though made without mesh and needle, and they display considerable patience and ingenuity in the manufacture. The string of which they are made is composed of the fibres of a kind of flag. It is prepared by roasting the leaves, and afterwards chewing them; the leaf is then divided longitudinally into four, two of these are twisted by being rolled upon the thigh, and are then twisted together by being rolled the contrary way; other lengths are added until as much line is made as is required. In the operation of netting the twine is wound round a short stick which answers the purpose of a needle, and the meshes are formed and the knot tied by passing the string over and between the fingers. Thus are made long pieces or ribbons of netting twenty or thirty feet long, and about a foot broad, which are afterwards put together to make a fishing-net. The net is kept extended by pieces of sticks, placed across at the distance of about four feet from each other. Some nets are furnished with a bag or pouch of netting, with smaller meshes placed at one end of the net, into which the smaller fish are driven as the net is hauled in. When the fish approach the shore the natives enter the water with the net, and swim about until they get the fish between themselves and the shore, they then spread out the net, those on shore directing them, so that they may enclose the fish, and as soon as this is accomplished they are drawn to the shore. Swans, geese, ducks, and other birds, which are plentiful at the Lake, are caught with a noose at the end of a long stick, with which the native steals upon them amongst the reeds which border the margin. Shell and crayfish they get by diving, the last generally by the women; in obtaining which, one woman last year lost her life, having by some means or other become jammed between the rocks at the bottom of the sea.