Throughout tropical Africa and in South America, the natives catch
fish by poisoning them. Dams are made, which, when the river is very low,
Enclose deep pools of water with no current; into these the poison is
thrown: it intoxicates the fish, which float and are taken by the hand.
Otters, Cormorants, and Dogs.--Both otters and cormorants are trained to
catch fish for their masters; and dogs are trained by the Patagonians to
drive fish into the nets, and to frighten them from breaking loose when
the net is being hauled in. Cormorants, in China, fish during the winter
from October to May, working from 10 A.M. to 5 P.M., at which hour their
dinner is given to them. When they fish, a straw tie is put round their
necks, to keep them from swallowing the fish, but not so tight as to slip
down and choke them. A boat takes out ten or twelve of these birds. They
obey the voice: if they are disobedient, the water near them is struck
with the back of the oar; as soon as one of them has caught a fish, he is
called to the boat, and the oar is held out for him to step upon. It
requires caution to train a cormorant, because the bird has a habit, when
angry, of striking with its beak at its instructor's eye with an
exceedingly rapid and sure stroke.
SIGNALS.
Colomb and Bolton's flashing signals, adopted in our Army and Navy, and
used in many other countries as well, are eminently suited to the wants
of an expedition.
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