750 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
spots it was found possible to drag it only a few feet at a time, and 
the fish usually escaped long before the net could be landed. The 
most successful method of capture was to place the seine across the 
mouth of pools in the reef, made by the action of the sea, and drive 
the fish into it. The seine was used as a kind of dip net, a man 
stationed at each end to lift it up at a moment’s notice when the fish 
crossed the foot-line. In this way 150 small fish of five species were 
captured. 
On the reef were hundreds of pools, many of which were connected 
by channels through which the fish made their escape to the sea. 
During the high water the sea breaks over the entire reef, and on 
receding leaves many small fish in the pools. At the outer edge of 
the reef, where the water suddenly makes off deep and the sea breaks 
heavily against the ragged coral, forcing its way into the numerous 
cuts and ravines, fish of considerable size could be seen; but it was 
impossible to use a seine, and a dip net was of little use. The fish 
were as shy as trout, and by the time the dip net touched the water 
not one could be seen. We could stand stationary without causing 
them any alarm, but the-slightest movement on our part would create 
a stampede. Each fish seemed to have a separate hiding-place, into 
which it darted. Occasionally a very heavy sea would sweep over 
the reef with great force. At such times it seemed as if the fish con- 
cealed in the gulches must be dashed to pieces against the sharp coral, 
but on the subsiding of the water they were darting back and forth 
as if there had been no disturbance. 
Shells, starfish, crabs, and holothurians were among the life gath- 
ered with dip net along the shore. That part of the reef left bare at 
low water is quite level, and the surf frequently sweeps over it, filling 
the cavities and pools with a fresh supply of water. In many of the 
depressions the bottom was covered with holothurians, in others small 
starfish and shells; crabs were found under the edge of bowlders. 
Hauled up on the beach was an old canoe, of the same model as 
those observed at Tahiti. Length, 10 feet; width, 14 inches; depth, 
11 ipches; outrigger float, 93 feet long, 8? inches in diameter, extend- 
ing out by the bow 6 inches. The outrigger float was made of koa 
wood. This wood is very light and buoyant. The crosspieces con- 
necting the float to the canoe were 5 feet long; forward crosspiece 
projecting out by opposite gunwale 18 inches, the after one flush with 
it. The canoe was poorly made, and on the whole a poor specimen. 
NIAU ISLAND. 
On the morning of October 7 a landing was made on this island. 
The atoll has no passage leading into it and canoes have to be taken 
across the rim into the lagoon, a distance of about a third of a mile. 
The natives informed us that most of the fishing was done in the lagoon, 
