Fish-Poisoning in the Hawaiian Islands 



With Notes on the Custom in 

 Southern Polynesia 



By John K. Ct. Stoke;s. 



HOLA, FlSH-PoiSONIXG IN HaWAII. 



One of the many methods of fishing practiced hy ITawaiians 

 was the kola, a term which signifies: (1) the material as pre- 

 pared for fishing, (2) the particular system of fishing, (3) to take 

 fish by poison. As the food of the Hawaiians consisted largely of 

 fish, they, like other Polynesians, were expert fishermen. Not only 

 were their fishing implements well developed, but their working 

 knowledge of the habits of the local fishes was remarkably good. 

 It may seem surprising, therefore, that a people so largely depend- 

 ent on fish food should resort to a method which with the 

 mature fish destroyed also the immature. But this quick and cer- 

 tain means of taking fish being carried on during only part of the 

 year, the damage to the fishing industry was probably not so great 

 as might be expected. 



The natives state that the poison most frequently used for 

 hola-fishing was obtained from two plants, aitliiilni^ and akia (see 

 p. 226), and that they were pre])ared in the same way — commin- 

 uted by being pounded with stones. The resulting mass was en- 

 closed in various kinds of packages and then quickly applied. It is 

 the odor emanating from the freshly crushed vegetation that af- 

 fects the fish, according to the native idea, and so no time was 

 wasted. It would seem that the strength as well as the odor of the 

 liolo was soon dissipated and that the poison quickly lost its efifect. 



'The toxic principle of auhuhii, as identified recently in a preliminary 

 study of the plant by Mr. C. E. Warriner, chemist of the Hawaiian Sugar 

 Planters' Association, is Glucoside. It is hoped that an exhaustive investi- 

 gation of the vegetable poisons used by the Hawaiians may be undertaken 

 in the near future. 



[3] (-219) 



