The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1908-03-26
N[N FISH ON HORSEBACK
Odd Sights On the Belgian
Coast Near OStend.
GUIDED BY ANIMALS

In the water an rour-Women
Help in the Work.
OF all queer ways of fishing-shoot-
Ing with bow and arrow in the Anda-
man Islands, poisoning the water in
Niceria and using dynamite in Cor
ca the palm for picturesquoncss
goes in Flanders, says the New York
Sun.
Ostend is one of the most expen-
sive and fashionable resorts in the
world, but few of its summer visitors
realize that within a few miles OF
the great Casino and King LeoHolI5
villa there is a desert of rolling sand
pcopled only by rabbits and huie
colony of Flemish fishing folk who
arc almost as much cut or from the
world as though they lived In Ina %.
Some faint echo of Os,eni must
have penetrated here, because one end
Of the village now calls itself N.gu-
pJrt-Bains. 1t consists OF 4 row OF
email hotels where one may stay iUr
81 q day, and some t4y lodging
horses with perhaps half a dozen
bathing machines. There is oven
sleepy little pier but the whole air
Of the place is languid and faded as
il sinking back into oblivion after
spasmodic effort.
4 little further along the coast the
desert begins-a vast extent of max
Cd dunes stretching in some places
far inland and utterly worthless for
cultivation even by the poorest Of the
poor.
1t is here among the rabbit haunt
cd dunes that the queer fishermen
i've They and their wives and little
ones appear to have chosen the most
dreary and forlorn part of the coast
for their abode. They live the lives
of their forefathers over again, earn
ing their daily bread in exactly the
same way that their ancestors did
generations ago.
All along the North Seas edge
shrimping and fishing are the chief
industries Of the people, who supply
Paris, northern France and the great
er part of Belgium with sea food. Some
of them wade out into the sea or
drift in small boats. raking the bot
tom with their nets. But the wad-
ers cannot go out into deep en-
ongh water, nor can the boatmen
hair al
vigor to be successful.
Hence fishing on horseback and
mounted regiments Of old salts like
mediaeval warriors. Their slouch
hats recall the helmets OF Cromwell's
lronsides, their baskets might be
shields and bucklers, while the net
poles recall the pixies, lances and
halberds. And the big tarpaulin
jacket and long leggings glisten like
the armor of other days.
The men go foth when the tide is
almost at its lowest, for the catch
usually increases as the tide recedes.
In parties of three or six the mount
ed men meet in IA certain spot on
the beach, and descend to where the
white line of surf rolls in from tn,
North Sea. Sometimes there will be
twenty horsemen, often assisted by
equally robust looking women and
children, who spread out and fix the
simple nets, while the great patient
Flemish horses stand motionless
waiting for the signal to begin their
TO hn
places since the one who is farthest
out at sea gets the biggest take. And
one quaint thing about these "caval-
rymen' Is that they are perpetually
smoking long and strong cigars while
tsAing
- .ast all is ready and at a given
a,5nol the big horses step into the
looming water, advancing until some
show little more than their small
heads. Then lining up in a row they
commence their Journey parallel with
the coast, dragging the nets behind
them without regard to the dashing
waves, which to the onlooker threat
en- both horse and rider with des-
truction.
There are strong currents, and the
water is bitterly cold, yet neither
horse nor rider appears to meet with
disaster, Fhey never stop nor change
their pace, and the riders often
awash almost up to their breasts -
continue to pull at cigar or pipe.
Now and then the four men on the
extreme outside in deepest water sud
denly change their course and wheel
around shoreward while others slow
up. This allows the next four to oc-
elpy their place. and thus turn and
turn about is given to each man so
that the seas harvest may be equally
divided.
The horses are marvelously expert
In avoiding holes under the water =
indeed. their owners assert they are
nore sure footed at sea than on land.
II is said. too. they have decided