The Lexington advertiser., 1904-08-18
FISH IN THE PHILIPPINES.
Meat Being Scarce Great Deal of the
Flesh Food Is Taken From
the Sea.

Writes William 4. Curtis, In a special
to the Chicago Record-Herald. There
are IL public market houses in Manila
owned and managed by the municipality
in which you can buy almost anything
you wish to eat and all sorts of cheap
general merchandise, but they are bar
reh of curiosities. There is very little
native handiwork. The best examples to
oe found in the market are baskets,
trays, mats, hats and other articles mace
of bamboo and the many natural tibres
Pin which the Philippines abound. The
meat is inferior; there is practically no
| beef whatever in the islands, and very
| few mich cows, because there is no
grass. This is true of all tropical coun-
tries Snow and frost are necessary to
make nourishing pastures. Tropical
grass is too coarse and fbrous to make
good forage. 1t would seem that alfalfa
and other forage plants might be easily
grown here, although | have not seen
them. The only cattle to be seen are the
carabaos-great, awkard, honest, ugly
beasts with long, rough black horns
stretching out straight from their fore
heads like cowcatchers on locomotives.
They are very strong and enduring and
thrive in this hot and damp climate If
they can be protected from contagious
diseases and other epidemics. They are
too tough for eating, according to the
popular report, but l suspect we have
had choice slices OF them served to us on
the hotel table.
The markets make beautiful show of
fish, which furnish the chief food of the
Filipino. and fortunately the river and
the bay abound in them. Scientists say
that the number of fish in the waters of
this archipelago is much larger than else
where, yet little scientific work has ever
been done among them. A large por-
ton of the population are engaged in the
fishing industries, and along the banks
of the rivers every citizen has his own
fish trap, which supplies his family regu-
larly with wholesome and nourishing
food. | have not seen these traps in any
other country. They are constructed of
Slender pieces of split bamboo, so that
they may be rolled up and transported
easily from place to place as the fish
change their feeding grounds. When
the fisherman selects location he drives
a number of stakes into the bottom of
the stream unrolls his pen and places IL
around them in the form of the letter IS"
1t fascinates the fish, which swim into it.
The natives say that they become bewil-
dered and are unable to find their way
out again, Although it seems incredible,
bushels of fish are caught daily in every
stream by these simple contrivances.
The fisherman goes down occasionally
and dips out his game with scoop net
Into a tub, which is supplied frequently
with fresh water. The fish are fed rice,
flour and meal in order to keep them
alive and in good condition until they
are needed.
AS you go up and down the river you
see other varieties of traps. On the
bank beside almost every cottage is a
large dip net suspended at the end of a
long pole like the old-fashioned we'll
sweep, so that it can be lowered and
raised AS the tide comes in, bringing
the fish with it, these nets are baited
with simple food and submerged. When
the farmer goes off to his work his wife,
or some other member of the family,
raises the net an hour or two later, takes
out the fish and sinks it again, and while
the results are not always certain they
are usually sufficient to meet the de-
mands Of the family.
Other traps take the form of loosely
woven bamboo baskets in the shape of
sugar loaf, five or six feet long IS inches
in diameter at one end and three feet
at the other. The smaller end is open,
with guards of bamboo points SO that
the fish having once entered cannot es-
cape.
Large pounds set in the bay are hand
led very much after the practice of fish
ermen elsewhere, and there is, a curious
method of shore fishing that have not
oCCh cloCWhC Hc IHelT
boats take net about 200 feet long and
20 to 80 feet wide with heavy weights or
anchors on one of the long sides and
large corks or buoys on the other. The
anchors and floats cause it to stand up
right in the water like tennis net. An
hour or so before daylight the fisher
men row out several hundred yards,
light bright fires on the bows of their
boats, and then scull slowly toward the
net, waving torches in the air shouting
at the top of their voices and beating the |
sides of their canoes with paddles to |
frighten the fish into the net. After they |
lave gone through this performance
three or four times they bring the ends
of the net together and slowly raise 1t |
to the surface and remove the catch. |
Their theory is that the fish, being |
awakened from sleep by the noise, run
away from 1t and are caught in the
meshes of the net.