WITH A CASTING-NET
or four paddlers easily beat the barges with a dozen, but long before the river is reached the netters are as wet as the fish, and have a swim in the warm water of the river before changing into dry clothes.
Then there is a lull in the storm, and the more enthusiastic return to the netting and, unmindful of hunger, darkness, and rain, still cast the nets till IO P.M., when they return thoroughly tired out, but happy in the knowledge that the bag numbers over ten thousand fish.
Amongst these late comers and most ardent sportsmen are several ladies who, not satisfied with the ease and dignity of a royal barge, have braved the elements and gone fasting to share the excitement of the netting in the discomfort of the dugouts.
That is how the Sultan of Perak’s annual fishing party takes its pleasure, and about the very same time His Highness of Păhang will be leading a similar expedition in the quiet waters of an old channel of the Păhang River.
There, however, the method is rather different— the water is poisoned with the juice of the tuba root, and the stupefied fish are speared and netted as they float and swim aimlessly about, The fun is much
the same, perhaps, but the pursuit is less sporting
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