The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1913-06-24

duU tWO WOMCuy OH OoAo
legged, the men with their
trousers rolled up we'll above
the knees, the women In short
independents. We sat in q large
boat with two sails and moved merrily
over the little waves. On board there
were fifty yards Of netting. q basket
Of black bread and picked cod. q ket-
tie and q pot, two bark boxes to COIL
tain the fish, and one or two heavy
deerskin jackets to put on II the night
should be very cold. The men were
Idle. the women rowed. ladled out
water now and then, for we leaked
badly, and there Is nothing more I'M
pleasant than to have ones food or
clothes splashed with bilge. writer In
the London Evening Standard says:
There was q little conversation.
"Why IL It so much fish comes up
the Dwina this season Of the year?"
"A bug drives them"
1T they didn't come up 1t would be
bad for U.S."
God sends the bug to chase them.
so that the poor moujik shall not
starve."
THAT IL true. Glory be to Thee. o
Lord!"
The women discussed whether the
tide was coming in or going out. They
agreed that II the tide were still com.
Ing in we should catch nothing but
"spittles," meaning thereby very little
fish or nothing at all. We all hoped
that the tide had turned.
Casting Nets on the DwIna.
BY 8 o'clock We reached the shore Of
q Dwina island, drew in on the sand
and prepared to tackle for our first
cast into the depths. The nets, fifty
yards long and ten feet wide. were
much entansled, and the stone weights
attached all along the bottom did not
make unraveling the easier. We spent
an hour extricating the stones and the
corks and repairing the big rents
through which, in their imagination.
the women already saw our finest fish
leaping. Attached to the four extreme
corners Of the netting were long ropes
, these were the pulling ropes. lkra'a
,, son and Laika took pair Of these and
Ikra and the two women took the loose
ready netting on board and rowed out
upon the water, throwing out the
tackle as fast as We travelled, so that
there was a long tail Of corks and rope
stretching behind US to the shore
where the other two held their ends
The women rowed, helped to throw
out the nets.
When we had reached . convenient
point we turned the boat and rowed
back to the shore, making the floating
line Of corks and rope into . hall
circle. Once on the shore we took oul
our ends Of the rope and pulled. Young
Ikra and Laika also pulled; one Of the
women went over to help them. The
nets were very heavy and yielded yer,
slowly to our tugging, 30 heavy thai
enc might have thought that they In
closed all the fish Of the sea. Al {
matter Of fact, It was the river tha1
resisted us and not the draft. w,
wound the ropes round our middlei
and lay back and dragged like captains
Of q tug Of war.
| Gradually, very gradually. we gaine<
the victory. and approached the othe
party pulling toward Us. We drew II
the first strands Of netting and thel
the second and third, our excitemen
and expectation increasing as the hal
circle narrowed in and decreased, an,
we saw little fishes darling to and IN
In the shadowy water.
We watched; but, alas! what dis
appointment! We did not catch fisl
larger than our middle fingers. The,
were all "spittles," and we all agree
that the tide had not turned yet.
1t was our lot to repeat this labc
rious and fruitless performance thre
times before success attended our e,
forts. II was at the fourth cast tina
our fortune suddenly changed.
AS usual we drew in the nets slowl
and heavily and approached one al
other, and then stood hopeful bu
ready to be disappointed. watchin
the finale. On this occasion we sa,
big fish swimming about, trying I