Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1886-08-08
HOW CHINAMEN FISH.
Intelligent Birds Trained to Do the
Work OF Hook and Line for
Their Masters.
An a ged Monaghan and Hts Cormoranis
Punishment for the Disobsdient.
A Big Catch.
New York Times.

"The Chinese fisherman may not gel
quite as much exercise out Of his sport AZ
you do, but he can give you big odds and
beat you out Of sight as to results" said
well known and much-traveled New
Yorker, who is one Of a camping party
quartered in the Pike county, Pennsylya-
mia, wilderness, few miles from West
brooks. He had been watching for a
Equarter Of an hour the well intended and
Industrious, but entirely fruitless, efforts
OF the writer TO induce piokerel or two
to take fancy to his SNOWY II not mag
netic troll
1.-THE Chinese fisherman" continued
the speaker, sis probably the LATEST NOR
tai that lives, but for all that he never
returns home from a stream or pond with
out a mess OF fish big enough for small
army Of caters. More than that, he never
bats hook, casts line, or drags net,
lie simply sits down in the shade, turns
loose his flock of trained cormorants, and
takes the fish from them as they swim In
with them and place them in their mas
ter's hand. IL is one Of the most inter-
estlng and amusing sights imaginable TO
see the fishing cormoTants at work,
spent over gear in China, and the first
time | ever saw Chinese fishery at work
was on the MIN river This was one day
soon after my arrival In that country.
was strolling along the banks Of the river
and came TO bamboo raft or float
moored to the pier Of a bridge. / noticed
native squatting on the raft, and saw
what at first sight thought was num-
Der OF ducks grouped at one end OF IT,.
| They were all faced toward the Chlnaman,
and he was gazing steadily at them, bend
Ing over with his hands resting on
his knees. The sight was a curious one to
me, and stopped TO see what was going
on. The man was an old fellow with
hooked nose, long, crooked fl gers, and
thin, sun-burned shanks, aud he looked
not little like the birds he was looking
at. Presently he held out his right hand,
palm upward, toward one Of the birds. 1t
waddled briskly up to the Chinaman and
hoped in his open palm. | then saw that
the birds were not ducks, and 1t came to
me that they were fishing cormorants,
and the Chinaman was about to set the
birds to their tasks. The oldnative fond
ly stroked the feathers of the bird on his
hand, rubbed his wrinkled cheek along its
neck, which nc kissed now and then, and
talked to 1t In Chinese, evidently 10 en-
dearing terms. The bird showed much
delight at the attentions OF its master
IL land Its head ON the Chinaman's arm,
and rubbed its bill against his face,
"These mutual caressings lasted min
ute or more, and then the master of the
bird stepped to the side Of the float and
placed the cormorant on the edge OF it,.
The native then sat down in an easy BAN
boo chair in the shade OF the bridge pier
and lazily lighted his pipe. The bird on
the edge OF the raft dipped its bill in the
water, snapped its jaws together, looked
In a scrutinlzing manner up and down the
| side OF the float, and then turned its head
and Fixed Its glistening black eyes on It's
master At signal from him-a slight
wave of his hand--the bird quickly slid
from the raft into the water and dlsap-
peared beneath the surface without a
sound, and scarcely left Il ripple to mark
/ where 1t had gone down. The other birds
remained motionless at the end OF the
float, with their eyes Fixed on their mas
ter In his chair, He pulled away at his
pipe, and took no apparent further inter
est In the proceedings. The cormorant
that had made the dive remained under
the water for at least quarter OF min
ute; then It reappeared, popping almost
clear OF the water as 1t came up 1t held
good-slZed llsh In Its bill, fish brill
liautly marked with red and black stripes
| The bird swan straight TO the raft,
climbed upon 1t, and, waddling to where
its master sat, laid the fish in his out
stretched hand. He dropped IL into a
covered basket which was fastened to the
raft, and floated In the water The Chin
aman stroked the neck and plumage of
the bird as he took the fish from II, and
muttered words of approval. The cor
/ morant shook out his feathers, and mani
tested ITS delight IN various ways. After
minute or so the Chlnaman again waved
his hand and the cormorant plunged once
more into the water as noiselessly as be-
fore. The other birds maintained their
stolidity, apparently unmiudiul of what
was going on about them. The cormorant
that was fishing again made successful
dive and placed the fish In its masters
hand as before II was eareased again,
and the third time sent into the water,
"The bird now seemed to be thor
oughly warmed up TO its work, and went
at 1t with an avidity that showed plainly
the pleasure II took In It, The third time
II was under water longer than usual, and
when 1t finally came up 1t had no fish.
The change In its action wes striking.
II swan frantlcally about In the water
twisting and turning, and eyinclng the
! greatest distress, but no matter which
way it turned 1t kept its sharp eyes fixed
intently on its master, with an expression
in then that was q mute appeal. The
distressed cormorant made no move To
approach the toat Tho Chinaman raised
his iorcanger, and then turned IL down
ward with jerk. The bird Owed again,
aud so quickly that Il was gone like a
nash. In q few seconds 1t came up, bear
ing In Its mouth a large fish IL swan
boldly for the raft, deposited Its prey In
its masters hand, and showed by the ioy.
fulness of It's action as ne stroked its neck
that II understood that il had redeemed
itself.
"When the Chlnaman had placed the
third Dish In his basket he made sign
with his hand and the cormorant strobe
proudly 20 the end Of tho RAFT opposite
the group OF birds, where 1t took an easy
position, IL seemed TO understand that
II had done It's work satisfactorily and
was entitled TO rest, AS soon as this sig
nal was gwen 80 the cOrmorant q visible
change come over the other birds. Each
one Strengthened itself up 10 its height,
arehed its neck, shook out Its feathers,
and seemed trembling with expectancy.
The Chinaman held out his hand as he
had done before, and the largest bird In
the group stepped out and waddled up
to the chair, Its master carassed VI as
he had done the first one. With the Sc