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usually ate in the after shelter or on the poop near the galley. Sleeping arrangements naturally varied a little from family to family according to numbers, ages and sexes. In general the most recently married couples slept in the after shelter. Hired men always slept in the forward shelter, or, in summer, on the open deck. It has to be remembered that purse-seiner fishing normally takes place at night. Young children and perhaps the very old may sleep right through, but the able-bodied sleep only in snatches and have to make up for it during the day. Junk owners and women normally do this on board, but numbers of young men, including most of the hired hands, can be seen any day stretched out on the floor of the temple or in one of the shops or other houses for several hours. The provision of day-time sleeping places for the night-time fishermen is thought of as one of the major advantages of building a house ashore. Shortage of sleep is endemic among purse-seiners in the main season; it is compensated somewhat by an ability to fall asleep anywhere, any time and in any position.
Small Long-Liners
Rather less beamy than the purse-seiners and lacking the wooden cabin amidships, the small long-liners can also easily be distinguished by the different gear they carry. Instead of kerosene lamps with dark blue or blue-green cylinders and huge glass globes like goldfish bowls, there are small rectangular flags on short bamboo sticks fluttering in the wind at the prow or in the shrouds. They are usually black, occasionally red or white, and act as markers when the lines are put down.
Kau Sai's small liners were of two types, known locally as sharp-nosed boats (tsim tau teng) and blunt-nosed boats (tai t’au t’eng) respectively. The former, with an average length of about 21' to 31' overall and a breadth of, say, 8' or 9', is normally the larger of the two, Kau Sai's handliners were essentially similar in hold and deck layout to the blunt nosed boats.
Two major differences between the use of the holds on the larger of the two types of small long-liner and the purse-seiners illustrate their different kinds of catch and ways of living. Purse-
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