Marble Gorby and Bubu

 My father loved trapping fish and he would buy several bubu (bamboo fish traps) from his Iban friends. These traps last a long time but he would replace one at a time over the years.

When we first moved to Sibu, and a huge rubber garden belonging to a Malay man was behind our house. This garden was tapped by the man's family members and a worker. Little paths were made through the garden by people who lived near by and one of the paths was to the Methodist Secondary School. As the land was swampy, those who had made the paths would put planks on them to keep people's feet dry. That was the normal thing to do in those days.

To keep the rubber tree roots a little drier and not completely submerged in water, the Malay land owner dug drains, probably about 30 feet in parallel lines. Most of the time the drains were full of water which was quite clear. Rubber leaves which turned brown could be seen at the bottom of the drains.

When it rained my father would get very excited and he would place four or five of his traps in different parts of the rubber garden. In those days people did not steal from each other. If the rain was very heavy, the traps would be completely submerged and after a rainy night, my father would go and collect his traps.

We would be pleasantly surprised by his harvest. Marble gorby and some catfish would be in the traps and my father would separate the fish and put them in different tins for sale to his hawker friends.

A bubu made by an Iban man.

Trapping fish was simple. My father would get ready rubber seeds and we would have the chance to crack them and he would roast them. These roasted seeds would be placed in the traps and the fish would be attracted to these natural baits.

When houses began to be built around our housing area, the rubber garden was subdivided and sold off, my father could no longer trap fish and enjoy his trapping. He had a good ten years of trapping fish in the large rubber gafden. After 1965, the area around Brooke Drive and the Methodist School became expensive real estate and shophouses rapidly were built.

Today this rubber garden is part of the Jalan Tuanku Osman and the rows of shop houses which are known as the Apollo Coffee shop area.