Batek also fish with gill nets, which they obtain from traders. They usually stake the nets out in a stream in the afternoon and retrieve them, with any entrapped fish, the next morning. Fish try to swim through the openings in the net, and their heads get stuck; when they try to back out, the net snags their gills. Here two men are putting out a gill net.
Batek farmers use various methods to minimize the labor of chopping down large hardwood trees. Here two men have built a scaffold of poles tied together with rattan and are chopping the tree trunk above the buttresses.
Men often care for their young children while in camp. Here a man carries his baby while discussing business with a Batek man and a Malay trader (center).
By 1990, traders came to the upper Aring Batek by road in four-wheel-drive pickup trucks rather than by boat. Here some Batek swarm over a traders pickup, selecting items, including fresh bread rolls, which they receive in return for rattan or Aloes wood.
Nurses: Joan Flood Swetz, Peace Corps, Elaine Wach, Care Medico, and Arlene Craig, Care Medico. Jane Tyas, VSO, was a lab technician (second from right).
Batek occasionally contract with traders to supply live fish of the larger, more desirable species. Here a man pulls in a gill net which is full of leaves. The bamboo container in the water behind him is a cage for storing live fish.