The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-04-29
FISHING WITH PIcKAxEs.
No Bait Required in Central Africa.

No Bait Required in Central Africa.
From the New York Sun.
II have had some remarkable adventures
with big game in Africa" said a returned
traveller but the experience which inn
pressed me most was a fishing trip. / had
an old college mate on one Of the rivers
branching from the Niger, and hearing
that l was In the country, he sent some OF
his people for me- A week later / was
at his plantation, in the very heart of the
game region. One evening my host said
to me:
John, the larder is pretty low. How
would you like a days fishing?
" Nothing better l replied It's a long
time since I've whipped a stream with a
rod
"'Oh.' said my friend. we don't use
rods here, especially at this time of the
year, There are the too.s, and he point
ed to a number of the natives armed with
picks and shovels.
II said nothing. as / supposed IL was a
joke, and Joined the procession that wound
away through the woods. 1t was a won
derful country, splendid forests, with
trees centuries old, so thick and inter
woven with vines that you would think
night had como on, then suddenly you
came out into a little glade, an oasis
among the trees, with tall grass where
the gorilla was said to sun himself, and
which so reminded me of the Indian tiger
country that ! did not feel happy as long
as we were In H. But nothing was seen,
and finally we came to an open country
covered here and there with low brush
and the men halted on the edge OF a pc
culiar and irregular saucer-hke depres-
sion about 100 yards across. Ia looked like
the dry bed of a lake, and such IL was,
an odd place to go fishing, but IL was the
place selected by my friend, and present.
ly the men were hard at work with pick
and shovel
THE earth was baked very dry, and the
dust flew in clouds. Finally one of the
men gave a shout and threw something
out that he had struck about two feet
down. 1t looked like a brick with the
edges worn off. My friend picked 1t up
and handed II TO me. saying; There's the
first fish; 1t Is yours as guest of the trip
l took II, and still thinking that / was
being fooled, dropped il into my pocket.
But my friend insisted that investigate,
so with a stone ! broke the brick-lke OBJ
ject into pieces, when out rolled FISH
almost a foot long, alive and opening its
gills as though il had been awakened from
a ten years sleep. The fish had been
packed away in case as deity as though
made by some skilled worker. The inside
was as smooth as glass ard the color of
mahogany. and. so far as could see air
tight; In this the fish had been hermetic-
ally sealed.
THE men were now tossing out fish
every few minutes. Some of the cases
broke as they fell and the fishes soon
died in the hot sun, but in most cases
they were kept intact and piled In heap
until twenty or more had been found
They lay at a depth OF from one TO two
and one-half feet and II was not acct
dental The fish, at the approach OF the
dry season, left the surface and wriggled
It's way down through the mud. then. bv
the aid OF the mucus on It's scales. formed
a smooth, hard case. In which Il lay until
the rain came again.
These dry lakes / learned had been
the cause Of reputed miracles. PEOPLE had
been camping In them possibly when the
first rain came, and where an hour or two
before WAS earth baked 10 a brlek-lfke
consistcnce. was now a small pond alive
with fishes. The moment the water pene-
trated TO them the soil melted away and
the fishes worked their way up through
che soft mud. When the natives had dug
up enough 1sh We returned to camp, where
they were piled W like cordwood When