Hexham, and consequently has the exclusive right to the fish. No other tribe can catch them without permission, which is generally granted, except to unfriendly tribes from a distance, whose attempts to take the eels by force have often led to quarrels and bloodshed. Spearing eels in marshes and muddy ponds is a favourite amusement. Armed with two eel-spears, the fisher wades about, sometimes in water up to his waist, probing the weeds and mud, at the same time gently feeling with his toes. On discovering an eel under his feet, he transfixes it with one spear pushed between his toes, and then with another, and by twisting both together he prevents its escape, and raises it to the surface. He
then crushes its head with his teeth, and strings it on a kangaroo sinew tied to his waist. In instances where old men have very few or bad teeth, it is amusing to see them worrying the heads, while the tails of the eels are wriggling and twisting round their necks. If the marsh is shallow, the eel can be seen swimming in the water. It is followed to its hole in the ground. The fisher probes the spot with an eel-spear, and, feeling that he has transfixed the eel, he treads in with his heel a round portion of the mud and weeds, lifts the sod to the surface of the water, and removes the eel. Sometimes two spears are needed to secure the fish. In summer, when the swamps are quite dry on the surface, but moist underneath, eels are discovered by their
air-holes, and are dug up.
For night fishing in deep waterholes, a stage is formed of limbs of trees, grass, and earth, projecting three or four feet from the bank, and close to the surface of the water. A fire is lighted on the bank, or a torch of dry bark held aloft, both to attract the fish and give light. The fisher, lying on his face, spies the fish through a hole in the middle of the stage, and either spears or catches them with his hand. In shallow lakes and lagoons fish are caught during very dark nights with torch and spear. The torch is made of dried ti-tree twigs, tied in a bundle. The fishers wade through the water in line, each with a light in one hand and a spear in the other. Fish of various kinds are attracted by the light, and are speared in great numbers.
Crayfish and crabs are caught by wading into the sea, and allowing them to lay hold of the big toe, which is moved about as a bait. The fisher then reaches down and seizes the animal by the back, pulls off its claws, and puts it into a basket, which is slung across his shoulders. Freshwater mussels are found in the rivers. When the water beetle is seen swimming on the surface of the water in great numbers, it is a sign that there are 'plenty of mussels there.' Hence the water beetle is called the 'mother of mussels.' Tortoises abound in the
