NOTES ON FISHING METHODS OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 765 
AKTAKT ISLAND. 
On October 30 we touched at Akiaki, a small island not over a mile 
in circumference. It has considerable more soil than most islands 
visited in this group and is covered with a heavy growth of vegetation. 
No collecting of fish was done, our time on shore being limited to less 
than an hour. There are no permanent inhabitants, but the number 
of turtle here attract natives from adjacent islands. As fast as turtles 
are caught they are taken to the middle of the island and placed in a 
small pond, where they are kept until a sufficient number have been 
captured, when they are taken away alive and sold. 
NUKUTAVAKE. 
About an hour was passed here in collecting specimens of coral 
rock and other material. The inhabitants, numbering possibly 100, 
live entirely by themselves and seem to be contented. There are no 
white people among them. The village is built close to the beach, as 
is usually the custom in the South Seas. The houses, canoes, and 
everything connected with the village had the appearance of having 
undergone little change through the introduction of modern things. 
As near as we could learn, no white men had ever lived among these 
people, but they, of course, had come somewhat in contact with white 
people at different islands. The houses are neatly built and a great 
deal of skill is exhibited in decoration, the interior in every way 
corresponding with the outside. 
Mr. A. G. Mayer made a sketch showing half of a canoe, illustrating 
all the essential parts. Length, 17 feet; width, 3% feet; depth, 23 
feet; very sharp on the bottom and having a great deal of dead rise. 
The bottom, or that part of it corresponding to the keel and garboard 
strake of a boat, was made of one piece, dug out of a log. The out- 
rigger float was 19 feet long, 12 inches wide, 8 inches deep, flat on the 
under side, and turned up slightly at each end and attached to the 
frame 9 feet from the side, which gives the canoe considerable stabil- 
ity. The crosspieces forming the framework project outboard on the 
opposite side 3 feet and are fastened to the gunwales with coir sennit. 
The stanchions connecting crosspieces with outrigger float, 20 inches 
long, are seized together with sennit and braced fore and aft with the 
same material and counterbraced just inside the stanchions with a stout 
withe; the outer end of brace is fastened to the outside edge of float, 
the seizing passing through holes about 3 inches apart. The holes are 
formed on a curye, one leading into the other, deep enough to give 
the required strength. 
The canoes showed original design and workmanship of a very 
superior quality. All canoes examined at other islands were crude as 
compared to these. The Nukutavake canoe is put together in some- 
what the same manner as a boat or vessel, the construction being 
