THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 



311 



pointed, usually curved inwards at the point, but 

 sometimes standing out very wide, occasionally 

 armed at the point with a piece of bone. The 

 best are hooks ingeniously made with the small 

 roots of the aito-tree, or iron- wood (Casuarind). 

 In .selecting a root for this purpose, they choose 

 one partially exposed, and growing by the side of 

 a bank, preferring such as are free from knots and 

 other excrescences. The root is twisted into the 

 shape they wish the future hook to assume, and 



Polynesian Fishing-tackle. 



allowed to grow till it has reached a size large 

 enough to allow of the outside or soft parts being 

 removed, and a sufficiency remaining to form the 

 hook. Some hooks thus prepared are not much 



