Should it
get away--"Well! Plenty more alonga salt water. Catch 'em to-morrow."
When determined to secure a sucker whose haunt they have discovered, the
blacks will feed it at intervals for a day or two to overcome its
nervous apprehension. In other localities along the coast the fish is
plentiful and by no means shy, taking bait ravenously.
Having secured the sucker, the blacks farm it in their haphazard
fashion. They fasten a line above the forked tall so securely that it
cannot slip, nor be likely to readily cut through the skin, and tether
it in shallow water, when it usually attaches itself to the bottom of
the canoe. When, as the result of frequent use and heavy strain, the
tail of the sucker is so deeply cut by the line that it is in danger
of being completely severed, a hole is callously bored right through
the body beside the backbone, and the line passed through it for
additional security.
Turtle being wanted, the blacks voyage out each in a bark canoe, which
weighs about 40 lbs., is 8 feet long, 2 feet beam and 1 foot deep
midships, where the sides are much depressed, leaving little more than
an inch of freeboard. There is a good sheer forward and a slight tilt at
the stern, while the bottom is level.
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