248 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



brnuches of trees droop over on ibe water; the sbrimps take refuge iu 

 or under these and the fisherwoman places her basket under the leaves 

 and lifts them out of the water, when the shrimps drop into the basket; 

 she then unties the small end and drops them into a small-mouthed 

 gourd attached to a string, which she keeps floating after her for that 

 puri)ose, and i)uts some fern leaves inside the gourd to keep the shrimps 

 from creeping out, as they are lively little fellows living a long time 

 out of water and scampering about on land like cockroaches. 



The second is with a small basket made from the vines of the convol- 

 vulus, and it is renewed from day to day as wanted. A light frame- 

 work of twigs is first tied together and then the vines, leaves and all, 

 are wound in and out, round and round, till of the requisite size, 3 or 4 

 feet in circumference and about 1^ in depth. Slirimps pounded and in- 

 closed in cocoa-nut fiber are occasionally placed at the bottom of the 

 basket for bait, but usually the scent of the bruised and withering leaves 

 seems to be sufljcient. Women always attend to this kind of fishing. 

 They wade out to suitable places, generally small sandy openings in 

 coral ground or reef, and let the baskets down suitably weighted to keep 

 them in position, the weights being attached iu such away as to be easily 

 detached. Each woman then moves away from her basket to some 

 distance from which she can watch the fish enter the basket. When 

 all the fish that Jire in sight have entered, she takes the baslcet uj) and 

 transfers the fish to a large small-mouthed gourd, and moves the basket 

 to a fresh place 



Fishing in this way can be carried on only during a calm sunny day 

 and at low tide. Since the introduction of the weeping-willow, baskets 

 for this fishing are sometimes made of willow twigs. Such can be used 

 over and over tigain. Men sometimes take such baskets and using sea- 

 eggs for bait, with the top of the shell broken to expose the meat, jdace 

 them in comparatively deep water, piling stones around them to keep 

 them in place. They leave tliem thus for a day or two, and if the place 

 is a good fishing-ground the basket will be full by the time they come 

 for it. 



The third kind of basket is shallow, of about the same size as the 

 above but wider mouthed, used in deep water for catching a small, flat 

 fish called "uiui" that makes its appearance at intervals of from ten, 

 fifteen, or twenty year . At the last a])pearance of the "uiui," the im- 

 l)orted marketing baskets were generally used by those who could not 

 obtain the old-fashioned kind, as any old cast-away basket would do, with 

 a little patching occu])ying i)erhaps five minutes, and two sticks bent 

 over the mouth or opening from side to side and at right angles to each 

 other for a handle to which to tie the draw-string. It should be twisted 

 round and round above the jointure with a little of the sea convolvulus 

 with the leaves on, so as to throw a little shade into the basket to keei> 

 the fish from being frightened while they are being drawn u]) to the 

 surface of the water. In these baskets cooked pumi)kins, hall-roasted 



