Page:Voyage in search of La Perouse, volume 1 (Stockdale).djvu/407

] which form the current, glide with facility upon the lower, and thus the friction is extremely diminished.

While there is a very rapid current towards the middle of the road, there is frequently none close to the shore; and sometimes one in a contrary direction, which ought to be ascribed to the different points of land, protruding into the sea.

In a deep part, bordered by a sandy bottom, we observed some fishing places, formed by a paling of bamboos so close together, that the fish could not escape through it. The entrance was dry at low water; so that the fishes which were thus encircled at high water could not get out when the tide had a little subsided. Besides, the fishes, which commonly prefer the deepest water, advanced towards the farther part of the inclosure, where the depth, even at low water, was still about three feet. This reservoir imprisoned those fishes which were most easily decoyed, and man was not the only fisher who frequented it; for we observed there several species of herons. Our presence drove some of them away, but others still remained, with their long legs deeply immersed in the water, patiently waiting till the fishes came within their reach. The fishing martens are also frequent attendants at those inclo- sures;