A Short
Distance Below The Weir, Nets Are Stretched Across From Bank To Bank,
So That It Seemed A Marvel How The Most Sagacious Sanjika Could Get
Up At All Without Being Taken.
Possibly a passage up the river is
found at night; but this is not the country of Sundays or "close
times" for either men or fish.
The lake fish are caught chiefly in
nets, although men, and even women with babies on their backs, are
occasionally seen fishing from the rocks with hooks.
A net with small meshes is used for catching the young fry of a
silvery kind like pickerel, when they are about two inches long;
thousands are often taken in a single haul. We had a present of a
large bucketful one day for dinner: they tasted as if they had been
cooked with a little quinine, probably from their gall-bladders being
left in. In deep water, some sorts are taken by lowering fish-
baskets attached by a long cord to a float, around which is often
tied a mass of grass or weeds, as an alluring shade for the deep-sea
fish. Fleets of fine canoes are engaged in the fisheries. The men
have long paddles, and stand erect while using them. They sometimes
venture out when a considerable sea is running. Our Makololo
acknowledge that, in handling canoes, the Lake men beat them; they
were unwilling to cross the Zambesi even, when the wind blew fresh.
Though there are many crocodiles in the lake, and some of an
extraordinary size, the fishermen say that it is a rare thing for any
one to be carried off by these reptiles.
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