My early years, the way I remember it...6

Sustenance 3

Tok's house was located right by the river bank but not real close as to be flooded over.  Our house was further inland.  Tok's pengkalan was on the deeper part of the river meander, what we termed as lubok.  It was real deep by any standard that there was a specially constructed jetty for the ladies to collect water, wash clothes and for the family to take their bath.  The more adventurous adults do dive into the lubok for their dip but children were strictly prohibited from doing so.  I used to join Tok's children on the jetty though it was no secret that there were frequent crocodile sightings in the vicinity.  We would use buckets made from nibong (Oncosperma sp.) sheaths as a dipper for our bath.  Tok Ya'kok used to weave these buckets for our use. 

The lubok was home to a lot of fish.  I cannot remember them all but I do remember lampan and tenggalan most.  Fried, cooked asam pedas style or grilled, they were real finger-licking good.  The could have been patin too but as Wan was (still is) no fan of fish without scales this fish seldom fared in our dish.  What I remember most about the fish from the river was the annual harvest that the community organized.  We had it tuba!  It was sort of illegal but looking back (not that I am trying to justify the community's conduct), it was done in the most sustainable way possible.  The preparation used was entirely organic, using crushed tuba plant (Derris sp.).  Through experience the community knew when best to tuba the fish while causing the 'least' damage to the fish population.  The tuba was initiated at Tok's pengkalan where the river was deepest thus the tuba was quick to be diluted.  There was strict self regulation and the tuba was done only once a year to allow the fish population to recover.

During the tuba 'party', male adults of the community would be in the deeper water to catch those big groggy fish.  Most were armed with fishing nets and scoops.  We kids and mothers would be in the shallow waters downstream to catch the smaller fish.  Armed with whatever gear at hand we were having fun scooping what ever fish that came by us.  We kids get to keep what we catch and it was plentiful for everybody.  One particular gear that came to mind was the three pronged spears that we made out of fig branches.  Fig trees were known to branch out in threes, thus sharpened they turned out to be useful indeed.

One thing I like most about this fish harvest was the sharing spirit in the community.  While the smaller fish were earners-keepers, the bigger and prized fishes were equally shared among those involved.  The way the elders went about it was most noble.  The fish caught were all laid out on a pandan mat (plastics were non-existence then!) and the most honoured among the group was asked to apportion the harvest equally and fairly among the family present.  A family was only allowed a share.  The fish were sorted out by type and size and were then divided out starting with the largest going down the pile.  The flow will be reversed in the next divide.  In this way every family will get on the average a fair share.  Then the head of each family was invited to make his pick.  Most gallant of all was that the man who made the division was the last to collect his share!  How more noble can one get.  Never was the case that everybody who got the share kept all to themselves.  At each own initiative the harvest went to others in the community who were unable to make it to the tuba party.

The smaller fish that the children and womenfolk caught goes to pekasam making.  I remember Wan constructing a shaded structure of sort to keep away the scorching sun for Ma to clean the fish by the river while we children continue frolicking in the waters.  No purchase was made for the structure materials.  The forest provided for all.