_A curious order that these Chinos haue to bring vp ducks in great
abundance, and with small cost: and of a pleasant and ingenious
order of fishing which they vse._
The great number of people that is in this countrie, and not permitting
any idle people to liue therein, is the occasion that it doth stirre vp
the wits of poore men (being constrained thereunto by necessitie, the
inuenter of manye thinges) to seeke new inuentions to get their liuing,
to relieue and supply their necessities. So that many of this kingdome,
seeing the whole countrie so throughly inhabited and tilled, that there
is not one foote without an owner, they do take them vnto the riuers
(which are verie great), and there they do make their dwellinges in
ships and barkes (as is aforesaide), where they have their whole
families vnder borde to defende them from the sunne and rayne, and
inclinations of the heauens. There they do vse the occupation that they
do knowe, or that which they did inherite of their father, and many
misteries to liue by, verie strange: whereof the most principall is to
bring vp in some of their barkes so great quantitie of duckes, that they
sustaine a great part of the countrey therewith; and the vse thereof is
as followeth.
They haue cages made of canes so bigge as the vpper most holde of the
barke, in the which may be foure thousand duckes at once. They haue in
certaine places of these cages made nestes, where these duckes do almost
euery day laye egges, the which they take: and if it be in the sommer,
they doo put them in buffes doong, or in the doong of those duckes,
which is verie warme, where they leaue them so many dayes as experience
hath taught them that they will come foorth. Then they doo take them out
of the doong, and do breake them one by one, and take a little ducklin,
the which they do with so great cunning that almost none of them doth
perish, which is yt which causeth great admiration vnto some that go to
see it: although they bee but few, for that it is an auncient custome
vsed for long time in that countrie. And for to haue the fruition of
this benefite all the yeare, in the winter they must vse an artificiall
helpe: to giue a little warmenes vnto the doong for the bringing forth
of their egs, they do vse then an other inuention as ingenious as the
first, and that is this: they take a great number of canes tied one by
another, whereon they do laye the doong, then vppon that they doo lay
their egges, and do couer them verie well with the same: this being
done, they put vnder the canes straw, or some other like thing, and set
it on fire, but in such sort that it dooth not burne, but keepeth a
naturall heat all the time, till they thinke that they are readie to be
taken out. Then doo they take and breake them, as aforesaide, so that
their pultrie dooth increase in such number as though they were antes.
Then doo they put them into an other cage for the same purpose, wheras
be old duckes brought vp for no other purpose but to couer the little
ones vnder their winges and keepe them warme: and there they doo feede
them euery day, till such time as they can feede themselues, and go
abroad into the fieldes to profit themselues in the companie of the olde
duckes. Many times they haue in number aboue twentie thousand, yet do
they maintain them with a small cost, and it is in this order: euery
morning they do giue them a small quantitie of boyled rice, then do they
open a doore of the cage, which is towardes the riuer, and doo put a
bridge of canes that doth reach vnto the water: then doo they come
foorth with so great haste one vpon an other, that it is a pastime to
see them. All the day after they do passe the time vpon the water, and
in the fieldes of rice vpon the land, wheras they do feede: the owners
of the rice doo giue vnto the owners of the duckes somewhat to let their
duckes go into their fields, for that they do destroy all the grasse and
other weeds in it, and hurt nothing of the rice.
When that the euening draweth on, then they of the barke do make a sound
with a taber or such like, ye which being heard of his duckes, they
throwe themselues with great speede into the water, and swimme straight
vnto their owne barke, whereas their bridge is readie put for them; and
euerie flocke doth know his owne barke by the sounde, without missing at
any time, although there be many flockes together. For euerie barke doth
vse a different sound the one from the other, to the which the duckes
are vsed, and their ears full thereof, so that they neuer fayle their
owne barke.
This manner of liuing is greatly vsed in all that countrie, and verie
profitable, for that it is a victuall most vsed amongst them, and is
esteemed as a thing of great sustentation and of small price, by reason
that at al times there is breeding of them and of small cost.
Likewise in this country they do vse a kinde of fishing, that is of no
lesse industrie then the bringing vppe of these duckes, and a thing to
be scene. The king hath in euerie citie founded vppon the riuers, houses
wherein euerie yeare is brought vp many cormorantes or sea rauens, with
whome they doo fishe in those monethes that the fish dooth spawne, and
that is in this maner following. They take the cormorantes out of their
cages, and carrie them vnto the riuer side, whereas they haue many
barkes ordeyned for their fishing, and they are halfe full of water.
Then they take their cormorantes, and with a corde they do binde their
mawes, in such sort that no fish can fall into it: then they do cast
them into the riuer to fish, the which they do with such good will and
couetousnesse, that it is a woonder to see; they throwe themselues into
the water with great swiftnesse, and diue, whereas they do fill their
throate with fish. Then they come foorth, and with the like hast they go
vnto the barkes that are halfe ful of water, and the fish which they
have taken they put in that water, which is put there for that purpose,
that the fish may not die; the which being done, they returne againe
vnto their fishing as they did before.
In this order they do indure their fishing foure houres together, in
such sort that the one doth not trouble the other; and when yt their
boates with water are ful of fish, then do they vnbind them, and turne
them againe into the riuer for to fish for themselues, for they haue
neede thereof, for that alwayes the day before that they will fish they
keepe them from their ordinarie victualles, which is a litle _millio_,
that they may ye better do their office. So after a while that they
haue filled their bellies and recreated themselues, they take them out
of the water and carrie them vnto the ordinarie places, whereas they are
kept; and euerie third day during the time of this fishing, they do take
them forth for the same exercise, which for them is so great pastime,
that they would it should indure all the yeare.
In these three monethes they do take so much fish, that they do prouide
the whole kingdome for all the yeare; as in the chapter past it hath
beene tolde you, which is the occasion that they are as well prouided of
fish as of any other thing: so that, if they please, they may eate
euerie day fresh fish, although they are farre from the sea.