he day quantities are broiled and eaten, without salt or
chile, however, and the bones are invariably thrown into the fire. Most
of the fish are cut open in the back and placed on rocks or on trees
to dry for future use. Such fishing may last for two days and nights,
and is finished by dancing yumari and drinking maguey wine. On one
occasion as much was caught as ten men could carry. Expeditions of
this kind may be repeated two or three times a year; but when food
is plentiful a whole year may pass without one being undertaken.

Palo de la flecha, too, is used as poisoning material, and seems to
be even more powerful than the two plants mentioned. There is a milky
juice under the bark of this tree which, when it comes in contact with
the human skin, makes it smart like a burn. The water is poisoned by
cutting the bark from the trunk and boughs directly into the water,
the people taking care to stand to the windward. One man who neglected
this precaution got some juice in his eyes and was blinded for three
days, though an application of salt water finally cured him.

Although a single man may poison fish in a small way even in winter,
he is hardly likely to do so except in summer-time, when provisions
are low. The Indians dislike going into cold water; besides, they
say that the cold impairs the effect of the poison.

In summer-time the Indians may also improvise a net with the help
of their blankets, and drag the river at suitable places. Farther
down on the Rio Fuerte, I once saw them make a large and serviceable
net by fastening sixteen blankets together lengthwise with a double
row of wooden pins. Along the upper edge of this net they made a hem
three inches deep, and through this they passed vines securely joined
together by means of the fibres of the maguey to do duty as ropes. The
opposite edge of the net had a hem four inches deep and this was filled
with sand to sink it as it was dragged in. The boys and girls were
told to go ahead and splash all they could in the water to prevent
the fish in the net from swimming out, and it was funny to see them
dive heels over head into the water over and over like porpoises,
the girls as well as the boys, with their skirts on. The fishermen
advanced slowly, as the net was heavy. When it was brought in toward
the shore, the women, even those with babies on their backs, helped
to drag it. As the two ends of the net reached the bank, the big fish
were picked out and thrown la