The Philippine journal of science. [Vol. 67, no. 1]

182

The Philippine Journal of Science

1938

The drivers in their respective barotos leave the shore usually
about an hour later, when the banca is already quite far away.
Before the sun rises, or even earlier, the drivers, arranged in
a large semicircle, advance toward the position of the banca.
They then begin to drive the unseen fish by throwing stones
sideways and forward as they advance.
At the sight of the approaching drivers the leader orders
the spread of the net. Two men pay out the piled net while one
sees to it that it is not twisted. As the net is paid out, the
banca is rowed forward and steered into a position that will not
interfere with the spread of the net. The other end of the net
is taken by a man in the lawitan who ties the bahan, or scare
line, to the loop of the bridle line. The bahan is a 0.5-inch
hemp rope about 100 meters long, with bury palm fronds inserted through the strands at intervals of about 1 meter. The
other end of this scare line is fastened to the base of the mast
of the lawitan. Before the other end of the net is let out, one
end of the other scare line is fastened to the loop of the bridle
line and the other end to the base of the mast of the banca.
In the resulting position the net takes the shape of an arc, with
the banca at one end and the lawitan at the other. Stones are
thrown every now and then in the direction of the scare line
and the gap between the men and the approaching leader of the
drivers. As the drivers advance towards the net, they close
and complete the circle. The circle is made smaller and smaller
as the drivers advance toward the net to take hold of the float
line. Others tie their barotos to the scare line and take to the
water with their diving goggles to see to it that the fish do not
escape. Meanwhile the banca and the lawitan approach each
other. A 10-meter rope from the lawitan is fastened to the
prow of the banca. The scare lines by this time are being pulled
in. When the bridle line is reached at the lawitan this end of
the net is passed to the men at the prow of the banca, where
it is hauled in; the other end is collected at the middle portion
of the banca. When the ends of the purse lines come to hand
they are unfastened from the ring and slipped through the pursing blocks of the purse weight or tom (lingote). The latter is
then immediately lowered and suspended from a purse weight
line about 8 meters below the banca. As soon as this is done
the purse lines are pulled in while the ends of the net are
hauled in. When the bottom of the bunt is already pursed,
the purse lines and the purse-weight line are pulled together to