BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 249 



sweet potatoes, or raw ripe pa])ayas were placed for bait. The canoes 

 thus provided would sail right into the midst of a school of these fish; 

 the basket being lowered a few feet into the sea, and the fish being at- 

 tracted by the scent of the bait, would rush into the baskets and feed 

 greedily. As soon as the baskets were full of fish they would be drawn 

 up and emptied into the canoe and then lowered again, with more bait if 

 necessary, and this would go on till the canoe was loaded or the fisher- 

 men were tired. These fish are very good eating when they first arrive, 

 as they are fat, with the liver very much enlarged; but after a mouth 

 they become thinner, not perhaps procuring their proper food here, and 

 then taste strong and rank. 



The fourth kind of basket is the largest kind used in fishing by the 

 Hawaiians. These are round, rather flat baskets, 4 to 5 feet in diam- 

 eter by 2i to 3 in depth, and about li across the mouth. A small 

 cylinder or cone of wicker is attached by the large end to the mouth 

 and turned inward towards the bottom of the basket. This cone or 

 cylinder is quite small at the free end, just large enough for the fish 

 ("kala") to get in. Immediately below the end of this cone, on the 

 bottom of this basket, is placed the bait, properly secured, which is a 

 coarse, brownish-yellow alga, on which this fish feeds and from which it 

 takes its name, ripe bread-fruit, cooked pumpkins, half-roasted sw^eet 

 potatoes, and papayas. The fishermen generally feed the fish at a given 

 place for a week or more before taking any, using for this purpose a 

 large basket of the same kind, without the inverted cylinder and wider 

 in the mouth, to allow the fish free ingress and egress. After a week 

 or two of feeding they become very fat and fine flavored, as also very 

 tame, and baskets full of fish can be drawn up in the taking basket 

 without in the least disturbing those that are still greedily feeding in the 

 feeding baskets. These baskets are occasionally used for other kinds 

 of fish, substituting the bait known to attract that particular kind. 



The Gilbert Islanders have of late years introduced fishing with a 

 basket in a manner difterent from any formerly practiced by Hawaiians. 

 This is an oblong basket, called by these people a " punger," larger at 

 one end than another, -with a flat and oval top, convex like a carriage 

 top, and gradually sloping to the small end. A cone -with the end cut 

 off is inserted at the large end, the bodj^ of the cone being inside of 

 and opening into tlie basket. A trap-door is fixed on the end of the 

 cone in such a manner that it will open by a touch from the outside, 

 but cannot be pushed open from the inside. The basket is taken to a 

 good, sandy place, in 2 to 4 fathoms of water, where there is i)lenty of 

 coral or stones handy. The fisherman then dives and places the basket 

 in the exact position he wishes; he then takes pieces of coral rock and 

 begins to build up and around the basket, inclosing it completely with 

 stones so as to form an artificial dark retreat for the fish. The entrance 

 to the cylinder or cone is left exposed, and the fish, seeing an inviting 

 entrance to a dark place, go on an exploring expedition till they find 



