steamers and
Chinese enterprise having altered entirely the character of the trade
from the time when the old Brunai _nakodahs_ (master or owner of a
trading boat) would cruise leisurely up and down the coast, waiting for
months at a time in a river while trade was being brought in. The
workers in brass, the jewellers, the makers of gold brocade, of mats, of
brass guns, the oil manufacturers, and the rice cleaners, all have their
own _kampongs_ and are jealous of the honour of each member of their
corporation. The Sultan and nearly all the chief nobles have their
houses on the true left bank of the river, _i.e._, on the right bank
ascending.

The fishing interest is an important one, and various methods are
employed to capture the supply for the market.

The _kelong_ is a weir composed of nets made of split bambu, fastened in
an upright position, side by side, to posts fixed into the bed of the
stream, or into the sand in the shallow water of a harbour. There are
two long rows of these posts with attached nets, one much longer than
the other which gradually converge in the deeper water, where a simple
trap is constructed with a narrow entrance. The fish passing up or down
stream, meeting with the obstruction, follow up the walls of the
_kelong_ and eventually enter the trap, whence they are removed at low
water. These _kelong_, or fishing stakes as they are termed, are a well
known sight to all travellers entering Malay ports and rivers. All sorts
of fish are caught in this way, and alligators of some size are
occasionally secured in them.

The _rambat_ is a circular casting net, loaded with leaden or iron
weights at the circumference, and with a spread sometimes of thirty
feet. Great skill, acquired by long practice, is shewn by the fisherman
in throwing this net over a shoal of fish which he has sighted, in such
a manner that all the outer edge touches the water simultaneously; the
weights then cause the edges of the circumference to sink and gradually
close together, encompassing the fish, and the net is drawn up by a
rope attached to its centre, the other end of which the fisherman had
retained in his hand. The skill of the thrower is further enhanced by
the fact that he, as a rule, balances himself in the bow of a small
"dug-out," or canoe, in which a European could scarcely keep his footing
at all. The _rambat_ can also be thrown from the bank, or the beach, and
is used in fresh and salt water. Only small fish