them alive, and
send them in baskets to Thebes, and in that way get a fair price for
them."

"What sort of decoys do you use?" Jethro asked.

"Many kinds," the man replied. "Sometimes we arch over the rushes, tie
them together at the top so as to form long passages over little
channels among the rushes; then we strew corn over the water, and
place near the entrance ducks which are trained to swim about outside
until a flock comes near; then they enter the passage feeding, and the
others follow. There is a sort of door which they can push aside
easily as they pass up, but cannot open on their return."

"That is the sort of decoy they use in our country," Jethro said.

"Another way," the fowler went on, "is to choose a spot where the
rushes form a thick screen twenty yards deep along the bank; then a
light net two or three hundred feet long is pegged down on to the
shore behind them, and thrown over the tops of the rushes, reaching to
within a foot or two of the water. Here it is rolled up, so that when
it is shaken out it will go down into the water. Then two men stand
among the rushes at the ends of the net, while another goes out far on
to the lake in a boat. When he sees a flock of ducks swimming near the
shore he poles the boat toward them; not so rapidly as to frighten
them into taking flight, but enough so to attract their attention and
cause uneasiness. He goes backward and forward, gradually approaching
the shore, and of course managing so as to drive them toward the point
where the net is. When they are opposite this he closes in faster, and
the ducks all swim in among the rushes. Directly they are in, the men
at the ends of the net shake down the rolled-up part, and then the
whole flock are prisoners. After that the fowlers have only to enter
the rushes, and take them as they try to fly upward and are stopped by
the net. With luck two or three catches can be made in a day, and a
thousand ducks and sometimes double that number can be captured. Then
they are put into flat baskets just high enough for them to stand in
with their heads out through the openings at the top, and so put on
board the boat and taken up the Nile."

"Yes, I have often seen the baskets taken out of the boats," Chebron
said, "and thought how cruel it was to pack them so closely. But how
do they feed them for they must often be a fortnight on the way?"

"The trader who has bought them of us and other fowlers waits until he
has got eno