424 



Contributions from the Aiistralian Museum. 



METHOD OF SUSPENDING THE PALU, OR SO-CALLED 

 " SHARK "HOOKS, AS DEDUCED FROM A MODEL. 



By R. Etheridge, Junr., Cukator of the Australian 



Museum. 



(Pate xxxvi.) 



The misconception that has arisen as to the use of at least 

 some of the "remarkable large wooden hook(s) from Micronesia 

 and Polynesia,"* termed fche " Shark-hook," has been dispelled 

 by Mr. C. Hedley, who has shown that the latter is used in the 

 capture of the Palu or " Oil Fish " of the Pacific, and possibly 

 not for Shark -fishing at all. So far, I do not think any descrip- 

 tion of the method of mounting these hooks on deep sea lines has 

 appeared. 



The history of this model is briefly this : — It was given to Mr. 

 H. S. W. Crummer, of the Department of Lands, Sydney, by the 

 well-known traveller and author, ]\Ir. Louis Becke, and by the 

 former given to our President (Hon. Jas. Norton, LL.D., M.L.C. ), 

 who generously presented it to the Australian Museum. It is of 

 course quite possible that Mr. Becke may have already described 

 this method in one of his numerous writings, but I am ignorant 

 of the fact. The model is from Nieue, or Savage Island. 



In explaining the method of Palu fishing at the Ellice Group, 

 Hedley has given f a very full description of these hooks, with an 

 account of their manufacture, history, and distribution. The 

 distribution of the hook has been supplemented by that of the fish, 

 by Mr. Edgar R. Waite, who states! that we now possess records 



* Hedley, Mem. Austr. Mus., 1897, iii. Pt. 4, p. 272. 



t Mem. Austr. Mus., 1897, iii. Pt. 4, p. 273. 



Xlhid., 1899, iii. Pt. 9, p. 540. 



