[Journals Of Expeditions Of Discovery Into Central Australia And Overland From Adelaide To King George’s Sound In The Years 1840-1 Volume 2. by Edward John Eyre]@TWC D-Link bookJournals Of Expeditions Of Discovery Into Central Australia And Overland From Adelaide To King George’s Sound In The Years 1840-1 Volume 2. CHAPTER III 17/56
It is looped to a wooden hoop or bow, with a strong string drawn tightly across the two ends of the bow, and passed through the loops of the straight side of the net. With this two natives dive together under the cliffs which confine the waters of the Murray, each holding one end of the bow.
They then place it before any hole or cavity there may be in the rocks beneath the surface, with the size, shape, and position of which they have by previous experience become well acquainted; the terrified fish is then driven into the net and secured.
Fishes varying from twenty to seventy pounds are caught in this way.
It is only, however, at particular seasons of the year, when the female fish are seeking for a place to deposit their spawn that this mode of fishing can be adopted. Other kinds of hoop-nets are used for catching fish in shallow waters, or for taking the shrimp, and a small fish like the white-bait, but they need not be particularly described. The next principal mode of procuring fish is by spearing them, and even this is performed in a variety of ways, according to the season of the year, the description of fish to be taken, and the peculiarities of the place where they are found.
In the shallow waters upon the sea-coast the native wades with his spear and throwing-stick, and follows the windings of the fish with singular rapidity and skill, rarely missing his aim where he has an opportunity of striking. In the larger rivers, when the waters are low and clear, a party of natives varying in numbers from five to forty plunge in with their spears, which for the purpose are made of hard wood, with smooth, sharp points, and about six feet long.
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