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"In large parts of Central Africa, the natives know a way to stun the fish with poison, so that it floats to the surface of the water, where it is then easily picked up by hand. Even in our country, f...
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"In large parts of Central Africa, the natives know a way to stun the fish with poison, so that it floats to the surface of the water, where it is then easily picked up by hand. Even in our country, folk fishermen in their places understand how to get small fish for bait in this way. The poison that the Swedish fishermen use consists of one drug, which can be purchased at pharmacies. However, I do not think that this method of fishing is fully legal, but as a large part of the people in our country endure with a very spacious conscience, when it comes to hunting or fishing, the law's provisions in this case unfortunately have very little meaning. When the swamps want to fish with poison, they must first ask their neighbors babisa for permission to take enough leaves of the plant Tephrosia Vogelii for a fee, with which the fish poison is prepared. This plant is grown by babisa to be used in this type of fishing. According to an information in an English work on Northern Rhodesia, poison was used for fishing in general in most of this area. According to the same source, no less than five different plants are used in the preparation of the required poison, but the author does not know the Latin names of any of them. However, both babisa and batwa use Tephrosia Vogelii, which plant also leaves the raw material for the fish poison that is used in the balenge people described by me later in this work. When the required amount of leaves and thin twigs have been obtained from the bush in question, let the marshmen have their wives chop up a pit in hard, dry clay or, when such is not available, in a termite stack. The pit is made half a meter deep and half a meter wide. Men do not engage in this part of the work themselves, for the pit is made with a hoe, and here, as in many other parts of Africa, it is considered unworthy and inappropriate for a man to use this tool. In the mainland tribes around Bangveolo, the hoe is considered a symbol of female work, in the same way as the dragonfly used to be with us. The leaves and twigs are thrown into the pit. Some women are now starting to process the plant parts in the pit with more than a meter-long hardwood pestle. They continue to do so until leaves and twigs are crushed into a green moss-like mass. When several women do this work, they do not encounter it at once, but alternately. On these occasions, they always take off their magnificent leather coats, which they are afraid of getting sprinkled with fish poison. In Fig. 121 we see three batwa women pushing leaves to fish gall moss in a pit dug into the ground. When the leaf mass has been sufficiently crushed, it is picked up from the pit and placed in baskets made especially for the fish poison (Figs. 122 and 123). These baskets are made so that water can flow rapidly through the wickerwork, the sparse nature of which is shown in Fig. 124. This picture also gives a good idea of the technique used in the manufacture of such poison baskets. The material for these consists of reeds. The pictured basket is 23 cm. high and has a width of 30 cm. When the baskets have been filled with poison moss, they are carried by the women to the place on the swamp beach where they are to be used. Only now are they handed over to the men, who are to take part in the fishing." (pp. 216-217, von Rosen, 1916, translated from Swedish).
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