two forms. One of these is made of ordinary fine
netting, and is bag-shaped, being strung on a round looped end of cane,
of which the other end is the handle, the net being about the size of
a good-sized butterfly net. The other form is also framed on a looped
cane; but the loop in this case is larger and more oval in shape,
and the netting is made of the web of a large spider. To make it they
take the already looped cane to where there are a number of such webs,
and twist the looped end round and round among the webs, until there
is stretched across the loop a double or treble or quadruple layer of
web, which, though flat when made, is elastic, and when used becomes
under pressure more or less bag-shaped.

The fishers first make a weir of upright sticks placed close together
among the stones in the river bed, the weir stretching across the
greater part of, or sometimes only half-way across, the river. The
side of the river left open and undammed is filled up with stones
to such a height that the water flowing over it is shallow, and the
fish do not escape across it. In the middle of the weir they leave
an open space or sluice, behind which they fasten the big net. [87]
Plate 76 shows a weir on the Aduala river, a portion of the open sluice
being seen on the left. After forming the weir, but before fixing the
net, the fishers all join in a sort of prayer or invocation to the
river. For example, on the Aduala river they will say, "Aduala, give
us plenty of fish, that we may eat well." This is the only ceremony
in connection with the fishing, and there is no food or other taboo
associated with it; but here again charms are often relied upon. The
big net catches most of the fish which are carried down by the rush
of water through the opening in the weir; but a group of fishermen
stand round it with their hand nets, with which they catch any fish
that leap out of the big net, and would otherwise escape, the ordinary
hand nets being usually used for larger fish, and the cobweb ones for
the smaller fish. They often have two or three of these weirs in the
same stream, at some little distance from each other.

A fishing party will often stay and live for some days at the place
where they are fishing, and eat the fish each day as they catch it;
so that what they bring home for the village or community may only
be the result of the last day's sport. But the women will sometimes
come to the fishers, bring them food, and take som