CLXX REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



times tlie natives from their lookouts would discover the location of the 

 schools of fry, and then in their canoes, or by wading, would drive the 

 fry toward the pond walls, where they would escape through the inter- 

 stices into the ponds. In this manner the ponds were stocked. It is 

 probable that many again found their way to the sea, but a large part, 

 no doubt, learned the protection the walls afforded against predatory 

 fishes, and remained to grow up and fatten. At the present time the 

 walls are filled u^) solid, but openings or gratings, protected by grated 

 gates to prevent the entrance of the larger fishes, are left at intervals 

 for the ingress and egress of the tide waters. In stocking the ponds 

 the fry are caught in small nets of mosquito netting or other open 

 woven fabric, placed in pails and tubs, and quickly transported to the 

 ponds; some few are driven through the gratings with the entering 

 tide. The mullet are the only fish intentionally introduced, but natur- 

 ally by the methods employed a few other species enter, which generally 

 are destructive to the young mullet, and are removed whenever it is 

 possible to do so. 



Pond mullet are considered the finest, and when sea mullet bring 10 

 cents a i)ound those from the ponds find ready purchasers at 13 cents. 

 The pond mullet is the fish usually eaten raw by the natives ; from G,000 

 to 10,000 of them are marketed in Honolulu each week, besides those 

 taken at sea. 



OYSTERS. 



That the oyster was a native of these waters and occurred in great 

 numbers is evidenced by the numerous oyster-banks found in difierent 

 localities now raised above the sea level and having an earthy covering. 

 When visiting the fish-ponds on the Pearl Lochs, I examined the ancient 

 oyster-banks on the eastern side of the middle loch, on the neck which 

 joins Waipu with the mainland. The shore line here consists of a ver- 

 tical bluft" from 10 to 15 feet high, with a stratum of oyster shells 6 to 8 

 feet thick. This stratum is exposed on the loch face for at least half 

 a mile, and it can be traced for a long distance across the peninsula. 

 From specimens procured it seems that they closely resemble our own 

 oyster of the Atlantic coast. These are not shell heaps, like those on 

 our Southern coast and in other localities, but are entire, in situ, as 

 both valves are usually in place and can be readily removed. Tliey do 

 not seem to occur in masses or clusters, but are large single oysters, in 

 size resembling the better varieties of the marketable Chesapeake Bay 

 oysters. It is possible that these oyster-banks were formed layer by 

 layer, the upper ones smothering the lower, until through some natural 

 cause the beds were covered with mud and afterwards lifted above the 

 sea level. On this little peninsula, in two different places, I examined 

 the remains of large numbers of the pearl oysters, which seem to liave 

 occurred in pockets among the other oysters. It is said that at ijresent 

 a few pearl oysters are found off Beckoning Point. 



Upon invitation of Hon. John F. Colburn I visited his fish and oyster 

 pond on Pearl Lochs. In rejily to an inquiry requesting information 



