ted and to appearance
dead, float on the surface of the water, and are taken with the hand.
This is generally made use of in the basins of water formed by the ledges
of coral rock which, having no outlet, are left full when the tide has
ebbed.* In the manufacture and employment of the casting-net they are
particularly expert, and scarcely a family near the sea-coast is without
one. To supply this demand great quantities of the pulas twine are
brought down from the hill-country to be there worked up; and in this
article we have an opportunity of observing the effect of that
conformation which renders the handiwork of orientals (unassisted by
machinery) so much more delicate than that of the western people. Mr.
Crisp possessed a net of silk, made in the country behind Padang, the
meshes of which were no wider than a small fingernail, that opened
sixteen feet in diameter. With such they are said to catch small fish in
the extensive lake situated on the borders of Menangkabau.

(*Footnote. In Captain Cook's second voyage is a plate representing a
plant used for the same purpose at Otaheite, which is the exact
delineation of one whose appearance I was well acquainted with in
Sumatra, and which abounds in many parts of the sea-beach, but which is a
different plant from the tuba-akar, but may be another kind, named
tuba-biji. In South America also, we are informed, the inhabitants
procure fish after this extraordinary manner, employing three different
kinds of plants; but whether any of them be the same with that of
Otaheite or Sumatra I am ignorant. I have lately been informed that this
practice is not unknown in England, but has been prohibited. It is termed
foxing: the drug made use of was the Coculus indicus.)

BIRD-CATCHING.

Birds, particularly the plover (cheruling) and quails (puyu) are caught
by snares or springs laid for them in the grass. These are of iju, which
resembles horsehair, many fathoms in length, and disposed in such a
manner as to entangle their feet; for which purpose they are gently
driven towards the snares. In some parts of the country they make use of
clasp-nets. I never observed a Sumatran to fire a shot at a bird, though
many of them, as well as the more eastern people, have a remarkably fine
aim; but the mode of letting off the matchlocks, which are the pieces
most habitual to them, precludes the possibility of shooting flying.

GUNPOWDER.

Gunpowder is manufactured in various parts of the is